Best California Wine Clubs & Gifts

When it comes to California wine, one of the best places to start is The California Wine Club. Focusing on small-production wineries, The California Wine Club offers unprecedented access to high-quality California wines through several different wine clubs. They also have top-tier customer service and a personal wine consultant contacts each new customer to help them make the most of their new subscription or gift.

The Premier Series is focused on delivering quality wines at with good value. Additionally, this is the wine club level where they tend to offer the best deals, whether it's free shipping or bonus bottles, the Premier Series packs value into their wine club. Learn more about the Premier Series

The Signature Series is focused on the highest-quality California wines available. From boutique and in-demand wineries you'll receive two, three, or four bottles of red wine once per quarter. You can save 50% on your first shipment when enrolling in an ongoing subscription of the Signature Series. Use our exclusive coupon code WCRHALF to see the discount at checkout. Learn more about the Signature Series

The Aged Cabernet Series highlights beautifully-aged Cabernet Sauvignon from California's top Cab-producing regions. Expect a lot of Napa and Alexander Valley in these shipments. Each wine has been properly cellared at the winery before being transferred to the warehouse at The California Wine Club. The wines are meant to be drunk soon after arrival, but we'd wait 6-8 weeks for these bottles to get over the shock of transport after their long sleep in the cellar. You can save 50% on your first shipment when enrolling in an ongoing subscription of the Signature Series. Use our exclusive coupon code WCRHALF to see the discount at checkout. Learn more about the Aged Cabernet Series

The Gold Medal Wine Club focuses primarily on California wine, specifically small-production wineries featuring high-quality wines that are otherwise hard to access. With a superior customer service team, the phone never rings more than three times and a person always answers (during business hours, of course). Gold Medal wine California wine subscriptions also make a great gift with their artist-designed gift boxes.

The Gold Series is The Gold Medal Wine Club's value-focused wine subscription. Two great quality California wines go out in each shipment, helping you discover the great winemaking and grape growing happening in California. Gold Medal doesn't offer as many "deals" but their everyday pricing is a little lower than the competitors so you don't have to hunt for a deal. They do reward buying in volume, so upgrade to four bottles per shipment or pre-pay for 6 or more months to get discounts when you order. Learn more about the Gold Series

The Garagiste Series is their newest wine subscription box which features TINY production wines from California's up-and-coming winemakers. Everybody has to start somewhere and Gold Medal finds these new winemakers and wineries and brings their wine to you directly, most of them can't get distribution through stores and restaurants because they don't produce enough wine. For unprecedented access to the latest and greatest, we recommend this club highly. Learn more about the Garagiste Series

The Pinot Noir Series is a wine subscription designed to keep even the pickiest Pinotphiles well-stocked and happy. Beautiful Pinot Noir from California's top Pinot regions like the Russian River Valley, Carneros District, Sonoma's North Coast, Santa Ynez, and the Central Coast will delight when they're delivered to your door. Expect surprises from lesser-known areas with great winemakers showing off Pinot's special characteristics. Learn more about the Pinot Noir Series

The Diamond Series is Gold Medal Wine Club's top-tier wine subscription featuring the pinnacle of California winemaking from cult winemakers and sold-out productions. If you're fortunate enough to be able to afford these wines as your regular selections, you won't be disappointed, but we love to recommend these super-luxe wine clubs for those whose cash flow isn't as robust, too, because there is always a special occasion for which these wines will add the perfect complement. Learn more about the Diamond Series

The California Wine Club, while always a good value for boutique California wines, has really gone out of their way to demonstrate outstanding value in this Case Club Series. Normally you pay around $27 per bottle to have their terrific California wine delivered on a monthly basis ($53.95 for two bottles). We knew that it would be even better to buy those terrific wines by the case and be rewarded for being a volume purchaser, so we begged The California Wine Club to create a case club... and did they ever!

At 48% below their normal prices, you can now get 12 bottles delivered monthly, every other month, or quarterly for just $14.17 per bottle! This is the exact same price as other widely-published case wine clubs, but the wine quality is leaps and bounds above what you'll find in those other clubs. In addition to the boutique California selections, each shipment also contains 1-4 wines from their other wine clubs — Pacific Northwest and International Series — so you can discover wines from all over the world, too.

As if their value pricing wasn't enough, The California Wine Club still offers their full complement of great customer-centric services to their Case Club Series members: personal wine consultants available any time and a Love It guarantee which replaces any bottle you're not satisfied with.

Note: The Case Club is not set up for gifting. If you're looking to give a monthly wine gift, check out #3 on this list, it's the same wine in smaller quantities and configured for wine club gifts.

Around the world, the Napa Valley has challenged every great wine region for the title of "the best of the best." While preferences are subjective, the outstanding reputation and quality of the wine coming out of Napa is not. When it comes to Napa Wine Clubs, why join one winery club when you can join a subscription service which delivers different Napa wines to your door on a bi-monthly basis?

For anyone who wants to get to know Napa better, but maybe can't afford the pricey Napa Cabs, there is the Napa Wine Club from the Original Wine of the Month Club®. This wine subscription features Napa red blends and even Napa Cabernet Sauvignon when they can secure a really great price. With fun gift packaging, a 100% satisfaction guarantee, and reasonable pricing, this wine club is a great way for you to give a Napa wine subscription and feel comfortable doing so. They'll even get a little bonus gift in their first shipment!

Giving a gift? There's a red-only option or a red-and-white mix option. Shipping every other month, a 3-shipment gift is $220 plus shipping (varies by location). 4- and 6-shipment gifts available, too. Our readers save 10% on all gift club memberships. Use coupon code BESTWINE.

GrapeSeed Wine's Wine Club isn't labeled California, but for the foreseeable future all of it's wine comes from Napa & Sonoma, so it is one! This club is an awesome way to discover the joy of premium California wine. GrapeSeed works with pedigreed winemakers to produce creative new wines and calls its member "Partners" because your membership enables them to operate this way.

We're excited to have GrapeSeed on our website because the quality really impressed us and it's something we feel what they're offering is unique among wine clubs. To us, this wine club feels like a winery wine club in that we get to know the winemakers and the producer they way we would if it was a single winery, but of course every year the wines will change, and not just because it's a different vintage from the same vineyards!

GrapeSeed ships quarterly and you'll get notification before your order is charged, in case you want to change the contents or opt out of a shipment. You can also pick up a one-time shipment to see if you like the wine and give GrapeSeed wines as a gift. Shipment sizes vary, but the price never does.

GrapeSeed Selections is GrapeSeed Wine's "entry level" wine club, but there's nothing entry level about it. These delightful wines represent some of the best winemaking and fruit available in California for under $30 a bottle. A mix of red and white wine. Learn more about GrapeSeed Selections

Red Wine Club is GrapeSeed Wine's red-only wine club, and it's mostly the same as the Selections club, less the white wine. It costs a bit more per month to have only red wine, but if that's what you love, you'll love these California gems. Learn more about Red Wine Club

Cellar Select is GrapeSeed Wine's premium level wine club. These shipments contain new releases of their flagship wines. They're mostly red or all red, but you can always customize the shipment to get just what you want. Learn more about Cellar Select

Exclusive deal! Get free shipping on your first order with promo code WCR_REWARD.

Overview: Winc set out to change the wine industry by finding new ways to get better value to wine drinkers in the under $15 range, and boy have they ever. By delivering unprecedented value at $13 a bottle and personalized selections geared for every palate, Winc is a standout wine of the month club. If you're ready for more sophisticated wines, you can upgrade to Winc Select. Either way, you can save even more money by participating in their myriad rewards programs.

What We Love: We love how they go above and beyond to reward loyal customers with substantial savings and invitations to a premium level program. No other wine club offers this level of loyalty rewards, or this much fun! Also, as time has passed under wine director Ryan Zotovich, the selection of premium wines has both grown in selection and quality.

Could Be Better: Winc works so hard to make their service great that it's hard for us to think of something they should do to make it even better.

Overview: This wine club, one of our favorites, features hard-to-access, ultra-premium, mostly red wine, from California's boutique family wineries. An important thing to note: not all bottles shipped in this club have the same general cost. Instead of getting two $75 bottles, you might get a $140 and a $35 bottle. No matter how much it retails for, you'll always get interesting wine from the Siganture Series.

What We Love: We love the wine we've received from this club, in fact it's on our Editor's Picks list because we'd sign up for this one. Also, they reward volume purchasing! If you can afford it, by upgrading to the 4-bottle per shipment program you can save up to $11 per bottle. Get a preview of the killer selection in their online wine store.

Could Be Better: As a general rule, we think The California Wine Club has little they can do to improve. Whether you're buying for yourself or as a gift, they've really done a lot to create a wine club worth joining.

Overview: This wine club is perfect for Cabernet lovers who lack the patience to cellar red wines and those who want to explore aged wine with a Satisfaction Guarantee. Each shipment contains two bottles of perfectly-cellared, mostly Napa, California Cabernet Sauvignon that's ready to drink now.

What We Love: We like that they bring you a variety of aged Cabernet Sauvignon, at different levels of quality from exceptional to rarified. Each shipment explores the different wine regions of Napa Valley and Sonoma County, like Oakville, Alexander Valley, Atlas Peak, Howell Mountain, and Spring Mountain District. We also love that you can buy Cabernet online in their store.

Could Be Better: As a general rule, we think The California Wine Club has little they can do to improve. Whether you're buying for yourself or as a gift, they've really done a lot to create a wine club worth joining.

Overview: Grapeseed Wine started out as a way to have customers help fund one-time wine productions by acclaimed winemakers, but now it's a premium wine club, too. Get preferred pricing on all of their new releases and enjoy helping stellar winemakers stretch their winemaking creativity.

What We Love: We're big fans of any group that has exclusive wines because they produced them (as opposed to buying out a full production of someone else's wine)

Could Be Better: We'd like to see more options available, particularly for gifting, but also for delivery frequency. We're looking forward to the next release of Grapeseed wines to augment the selection.

Overview: This quarterly wine club features true luxury wines rated 93+ and finds California wines so exclusive that the club is limited to 500 members. You get collector-level access without the hassle of doing your own research. A lot of wines (and wine clubs) call themselves "super premium" but most of them fail to live up to the hype, this one does.

What We Love: This wine club ships mostly red wine and occasionally a stunning white at prices well below retail. We love seeing superstars like Blackbird Red Blend from Calistoga, Odette Estate Cabernet Sauvingon from Stag's Leap District, and the 97-point Matetic Syrah from Chile. You can shop these luxury wines online at their store.

Could Be Better: As a general rule, we think Gold Medal Wine Club has little they can do to improve. Whether you're buying for yourself or as a gift, they've really done a lot to create a wine club worth joining.

Overview: If you're ready to upgrade to a higher quality wine from California and explore what all of the artisanal buzz is about, this should be your first stop. These mostly red wines from the best small wineries typically retail in the $35-90 range but you pay a much lower price to have them delivered. Joining for yourself means variable shipment prices, but if you buy as a pre-paid gift subscription you'll know your price in advance. Hint: Buy yourself a pre-paid gift subscription instead of joining as an ongoing member.

What We Love: We spend a lot of time wine tasting in California and are personally familiar with many of the wineries shipped in Gold Medal's Platinum Series. They ship our favorites and must-try wines like Dilécta GSM from Paso Robles, Volker Eisele Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa, and Frank Family Petite Sirah from Napa to name a few.

Could Be Better: With such an amazing breadth of white wine being produced in California, we're sort of disappointed that all of the white wine in the Platinum series has been Chardonnay. We'd love to see some bold Rhone white selections from Paso Robles, some Sauvignon Blanc from Santa Barbara, and of course, surprise grapes.