Expand your palate with these wine clubs that drop high-quality bottles right at your doorstep.

If you’ve ever chatted up a sommelier to find the perfect bottle within a price point, flavor profile, or that pairs well with a specific dish on the menu, you know firsthand the value of outsourcing the decision of picking out wine. That’s the beauty of a wine subscription—only then, you get to enjoy their choices from the comfort of your own couch.

Even if you have a pretty good grasp of what you like (and don’t like) to drink, a subscription has so much to offer; as a wine writer and sommelier, I turn to these memberships when I’m feeling stir-crazy with what’s in my fridge and want to be introduced to new producers or styles. They’re also my go-to when I want to gift someone a selection of wines without having to rack my brain for what to get them.

To find the best wine subscription services, we ordered over a dozen popular options and had them delivered to our door. We evaluated each one based not only on the quality, condition, and variety of wines in the box, but also on factors like flexibility (including pricing tiers, commitment levels, and personalization options), shipping or membership fees, and how each shipment is curated. Expert curation by a certified professional is what separates a truly worthwhile wine club from one that falls flat.

• For the curious, quality-conscious wine consumer: Plonk

If you’ve sampled your fair share of full-bodied Bordeaux and crisp sauvignon blancs and feel ready to let your taste buds taste new terroirs, a Plonk membership is a smart starting place. This service focuses exclusively on natural wines that are grown using organic, biodynamic vineyard practices. (Meaning no pesticides, herbicides, or commercial additives such as colorants, acidifiers, artificial sugars, alcohol enhancements, or industrial chemicals get used in the bottles they source.) Every vintage is hand-selected by the brand’s founder and sole curator, Etty Klein, who holds certifications from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) and the American Sommelier Association.

What we love: In addition to solely supplying natural wines grown using sustainable farming methods, Plonk includes both old and new world wines in each shipment—think classic regions including Italy, France, Spain, Germany, and California as well as lesser-known wine regions such as Croatia, Austria, Uruguay, and Slovenia. And even within the most popular regions, you won’t find any vintages you’ve tried at a large commercial wine retailer.

'The idea is to expand our customers' wine horizons, encourage them to take a leap of faith, and thus expose them to new favorites,' says Klein. ‘Customers who began thinking that they only want to drink Cabernet Sauvignon or Sancerre are ordering bottles of Austrian Blaufrankisch, Hungarian Furmint, and German Muller Thurgau in droves.’

And after tasting what Plonk had to offer, I can absolutely attest to such an experience. My box included a 2023 Greek Kir-Yianni peach-and-pear-scented assyrtiko, Castello Romitorio’s 2023 Brio Toscana (a rustic red that spins sangiovese into silk), a 2021 Pence California red blend filled with sour cherry flavor, and my absolute favorite: Union Sacré’s 2023 unfiltered orange, made from a blend of Gewürztraminer, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, and Sylvaner grown on the central coast of California. In complete transparency, I thought I hated orange wine until I tried this one. Finally understanding the flavor potential of skin-contact was a treat, as was finding four totally unique wines I’d never known or heard of prior. Bottom line? Rest assured that your Plonk-ified palate is going to experience something new.

Plonk has three club options—red, white, or a mix of the two—and subscriptions can recur every month, bimonthly, or quarterly. Those who prefer custom cases can mix and match wines a la carte online, which means you can re-buy bottles you loved from a prior shipment. Shipping is free on all orders, there’s no membership fee, and a $10 discount is offered to all first-time customers.

What we’d leave: If you’re one to order the same styles of wine on repeat (no shade), Plonk’s off-the-beaten-path selection of different wines will probably taste very new. You can either embrace the element of education (and the rare grapes and unusual aromas that come with it), or opt for a wine club that’s more suited to whatever your palate’s used to sipping.