Best International Wine Clubs

Nakedwines.com isn't a new wine club, but we've only recently formally reviewed them. And we're sorry we waited. We were absolutely impressed with the 6-bottle introductory shipment we received. Before we get into that, it's important to know that Nakedwines.com isn't exactly a regular wine club, it's more of a wine-buying membership where your membership fees go toward your wine purchases and any unspent funds are fully refundable.

There are so many reasons to love Nakedwines.com and we outline them all in our full review, but here is a sampling of our favorite features:

A huge variety of wine is available. No matter what your existing wine preferences are, or how much wine tasting your way through the world you want to do, you'll find you can create a fantastic International wine subscription with their inventory. All kinds of red wine, white wine, sparkling and champagne are available. Every wine is described so you know if it's on the sweeter side, the drier side, or somewhere in between. Wine prices vary widely from $8 (a deeply discounted member price) to $45 with a great selection under $15.

You pick your own wine with the benefit of other members' ratings. This isn't just a personalized pick-em-yourself wine club, they make recommendations based on how you've rated your previous wines, but those ratings are shared with their customers, and the public, so you can pick only the most popular ones if you want.

You have a relationship with the winemakers. Your monthly deposits ensure there are funds to pay independent winemakers for the gems they produce. The winemakers are grateful for this way of working, as it allows them to be creative and guarantees them an income. We know this because when you comment on one of their wines, good or bad, odds are good you'll get a helpful or grateful response from the winemaker directly. It makes you feel good about buying your wine from Nakedwines.com.

A great introductory deal. We love it when wine clubs offer an low-cost offer to try their wares and Nakedwines.com has two options for you: a six-bottle deal for $49.99 or a 12-bottle deal for $89.99. Note: You don't get to pick the wines in this deal, so you may not love everything the way you would if you picked your own wine.

Plonk wine club doesn't use the label "International" wine when describing their Curated wine club, but it features a fascinating selection of unique wine from around the globe. This wine club appears on many of our best wine club lists because the wine is among the best you'll find in a wine club anywhere near this price.

We're also partial to the quirky selections and adventurous spirit of wine discovery promoted by Plonk.

VineBox is the first of its kind, a wine by the glass club. We love the wines that get delivered from VineBox and think it's the perfect way to enjoy red wine if any of the following apply to you: You typically only drink a glass a time, you are counting calories but still want a little indulgence without wasting a whole bottle, your weeknight policy is to cut back on alcohol, you wish you had more time to go wine tasting, or you want to expand your wine preferences and knowledge. It also makes a terrific gift.

International Wine Selection: Not content to merely develop a new technology to transfer any old wine into convenient and sleek single-serving pours, their sommelier excels at choosing interesting wines from abroad, primarily from lesser known wine regions in Europe's biggest wine producing-countries — France, Italy, and Spain. Their "Current Edition" is right up any somm-wannabe's alley: choose between a Bordeaux Vertical (2010, 2011, and 2012) or a Nebbiolo neighbor comparison (Barolo and Alba).

Love a wine you tasted? You can purchase more glasses and (sometimes) full-size bottles from VineBox through your membership page.

International Wine Prices: VineBox's wine subscription doesn't make it easy to do a cost comparison as it would be if it were a regular wine subscription. Their new format means you're getting a little over a bottle of wine in each shipment (900 ml vs 750 ml which is a standard wine bottle). The wines themselves sell between $30-60 a bottle. You're definitely paying a premium, but what you get for that premium makes up for it: wine tasting at home, sommelier-selected wines, excellent packaging, and in the case of the new format, wine education good enough for sommeliers.

International Wine Gift info: For certain kinds of wine drinkers, VineBox is one of the coolest red wine gifts you can give. Anyone with a curious palate who likes to try new wines will love this gift. It's also available as a white wine only and mixed wine wine gift subscription.

Gold Medal Wine Club also makes an appearance on many of our best wine club lists. They consistently deliver excellent quality (usually California) wine and they have excellent gift packaging which makes you look good when you give wine.

Their International wine club takes it a step further. Each quarterly shipment contains three bottles of wine from a single wine region somewhere in the world. We've received delightful shipments from Portugal, France, and Italy over the years. The full-color brochure that accompanies each shipment fills you in on the region, the winery, and the wines you'll be drinking, and it includes recipe pairing ideas.

The best feature of this wine club? You can upgrade it to include a Gourmet Adventure package which includes sweet and savory foodstuffs from the featured region. We've received teas, spices, cookies, honey, and so much more.

The California Wine Club (one of our favorites) also has an International wine club... who knew? This wine club highlights a new wine region around the world each month and comes with all the benefits of being a member of the most customer-centric wine club around.

Benefits of membership include: Each shipment includes a travelogue, Uncorked®, which is your guide to the featured region, plus insight to the region's wine scene, wine tips, wine luminary interviews and more; a 100% satisfaction guarantee; Savings up to 50% when you reorder your favorite wines; and a personal wine consultant you can call at any time for help with wines you've received or wines you'd like to buy.

Overview: A surprisingly high-quality affordable wine club offering a comprehensive range of wine regions, grape varieties, and wine styles. 90+ Cellars is a modern-day négociant, sourcing wine at all different stages of production to produce wine at very low prices.

What We Love: We've been fans of the Ninety Plus brand since we started working in the wine business. We especially love the affordable pricing, which allows wine shoppers on a budget to explore premium wine regions and the grapes they're known for.

Could Be Better: We'd really like to see a white wine (and rosé and sparkling) only option, as Ninety Plus Cellars makes a variety of interesting whites, rosés, and sparkling wines.

Overview: This is the entry-level wine club from the International Wine of the Month Club, but unlike some other wine clubs in this price range you'll always receive Estate-bottled wines. Also for a wine club in this price range you get excellent tasting notes and winery information for every wine that's shipped.

What We Love: Unlike some other wine clubs which focus on acquiring closeout wines to ship to their members, this wine club cares a great deal about coming up with consistent selections befitting their reputation of 25 years in the business. Their tasting panel includes proprietor Kris Calef, wine professionals, and everyday wine drinkers, so they excel at finding palate-friendly wines with wide appeal.

Could Be Better: We'd love to see four-bottle shipments offered by this wine club as a way to help mitigate the cost. The company offers a reliable, quality-driven service, so you don't really get deals on the wine in the shipments. While we'd probably pass on this particular subscription for ourselves, we think it makes a terrific wine club gift — especially if you mix it up with some of their other cool monthly clubs.

Overview: Among all of the case clubs (12 bottles, typically shipped quarterly), this 90+ International wine club is among the best two deals. The other focuses only on California wine, but this one takes you on a journey around the world. Enjoy eclectic wines at the best prices you'll find.

What We Love: It's so easy to get into a wine rut and stick with what you know. Wired For Wine ® helps you break out of that rut in a low-cost, satisfaction guaranteed way so you can find new wines to love. Also, when compared with similarly-priced case clubs, this one stands out for wine quality in a big way.

Could Be Better: Normally we'd ask for a deal for this club, but it's already priced as low as it can go, so it's nearly perfect as is! We'd love to see a little bit of customization available and also monthly clubs for people who drink more than a bottle a week.

Overview: These are the highest level wines you can get in a membership from The Original Wine of the Month Club ™, generally well-made wines from well-known areas. At $25-30 a bottle, it's competitive with several other wine clubs on price, but the wines are little more "traditional" and not discovery oriented.

What We Love: Paul Kalemkiarian, second generation proprietor at Wine of the Month Club ™ goes out of his way to source interesting wines, and in this price point that can be a challenge, particularly in finding California wines. So he leans on an International selection to bring you better value in this price range.

Could Be Better: This is our favorite wine subscription from Wine of the Month Club, but we think the marketing text on their website is a little overhyped. Expect very good wines for these prices, but "Special Occasion" seems too generous of a description.

Overview: We really enjoy this International wine club where each shipment contains six different wines from a single wine region somewhere in the world. Of the many clubs that offer an International selection, most aren't themed for additional wine discovery and education.

What We Love: We received shipments of this wine club for years because it always kept a good variety of food-friendly and affordable wines on hand, we never opened a bottle we were disappointed with, and we feel this club offers a good quality-to-price ratio.

Could Be Better: We'd love to see customers rewarded for buying bigger allotments. "Buy more save more" pricing would be a great addition to the line-up. We'd also really like to see the shipping costs come down dramatically.

Overview: Our favorite series offered by The International Wine of the Month Club, we really dig the interesting, high-end, European-focused wines that arrive at our door. We've been able to find Italian and French red wines we enjoy courtesy of this wine club, which helps us understand the wine from these countries in a more nuanced way.

What We Love: More than anything, we love surprise factor of these wines. Every time we open a box, we sort of grimace at the prospect of drinking a Rhone red or an Barolo (wines that we typically don't enjoy because of our own palate preferences), but we're always surprised at how the wines are enjoyable anyway, and usually much better than we were expecting.

Could Be Better: We'd love to see four-bottle shipments offered by this wine club as a way to help mitigate the cost. The company offers a reliable, quality-driven service, so you don't really get deals on the wine in the shipments. At the level of The Collectors Series (which we think has an over-inflated name), the discount aspect of the wine club is not a primary concern.