WSJ Wine Club Review (From a Paying Customer)

If you’re looking for a WSJ Wine Review from a paying customer, you’re in the right place!

In this review you’ll get the facts, pros and cons, buying process and pictures of what’s inside the box.

You’ll also get three suggestions for some WSJ Wine alternatives, in case you’re shopping around.  See below for that.

As a WSJ Wine customer, I wanted to do a review of the club and share my recommendation of what I think is a great deal.

Some background…  Being a reader of the Wall Street Journal, I had always seen the ads for the club and was impressed with the price point of the first case.  It works out to only $7.50 a bottle for a 12 bottle case of wine!

And as of late, WSJwine is changing things up so that you’re not locked into a membership right away.  You can just try the wines and see what you think.  If you like what you get, you can always join the club after you’ve tried the wines.

If you do join, the club is convenient and you get unique wines you probably won’t find at the store.

WSJ Wine Alternatives

Now, if you’re shopping around and looking for alternative wine club subscriptions, I have three options to recommend.

Each link will take you to my detailed review of my suggested club, where you can explore their unique offerings and find the perfect fit for your taste and budget.

Firstleaf

Firstleaf personalizes your wine experience by selecting bottles based on your individual taste preferences. Their quick and easy questionnaire helps pinpoint wines you’re likely to love, making each selection feel custom-tailored. I tried it myself and was genuinely impressed by how well their process matched my tastes!

Wine Access

Wine Access takes a different approach—they don’t ask you to complete a taste preference quiz. Instead, they provide access to a variety of wine clubs, giving you the flexibility to choose based on price, selection or style. If you appreciate having multiple options, Wine Access is definitely worth considering.

Wine Insiders

Wine Insiders offers a carefully curated selection similar to WSJ Wine, but what truly sets them apart is their pricing. With high-quality wines starting at under $6.00, they provide an incredible value—perfect for those who want great wine at an affordable price.

Now let’s get back to my WSJwine review.

WSJ Wine Review – What I Found

To be clear, I personally paid out of pocket to place an order with the Wall Street Journal Wine Club and test them out.

Below is a complete review of the process, and what I received.

Pictures included!

Also, be sure to check out my Customer Experience Updates at the bottom of this review.

I had an interesting conversation with someone about their wine club experience.  See #2 at the bottom of this page.

WSJ Wine Review:  General Facts

• Delivery is available to over 40 states.
• The introductory 12 bottle case is highly discounted ($89.99 plus tax and shipping) so you get unique wines at a great price.
• The price per case (one every 3 months) after the first case is $179.99 plus tax and shipping and is a 12 bottle case, if you decide to join the club.
• A wine concierge is available to you for free by calling so you can get personal service.

WSJ Wine Review:  Pros

• 100% money-back guarantee, even if you don’t like a wine they send you.
• You can cancel at any time if you decide the club is not right for you.
• An excellent rating for WSJwine on Trustpilot.
• Guaranteed savings on future cases.
• Option to choose all reds, all whites or a mixed case.  Can change preferences at any time which means you can tailor your choices to the season or your personal tastes.
• Confirmation email sent right away so you aren’t guessing if the order went through or not.
• Premium wines from unique, top quality producers around the world.
• 2-3 week advance notice of next case prior to shipping.  This makes it easy to delay or skip cases.
• Free tasting notes included with each case so you have accurate info about the wine you’re drinking and the story behind it.
• Can create an account that lets you manage your membership online, which is typical of most wine clubs these days.
• Rewards and upgrades for club members, including magnums, luxury bottles and credits.
• VIP offers for club members, including early access to some deals.

WSJ Wine Review:  Cons

• The introductory bottle case is limited to one case per household.  This means you can’t have multiple people at the same address signing up for the same deal, even if they each pay separately.
• The only available option for the club is to receive cases quarterly.  A monthly option would have been nice.
• Though reasonable, shipping ($19.99) is not included in the introductory price.
• Because it’s alcohol, someone 21 or over needs to be home to accept delivery.  Or, you can have the box held at a nearby FedEx location and pick it up yourself.

My Actual Experience

On the order page for the standard introductory offer you’ll enter your information and see the highlights of your case.

As you are entering your information you may get a message with the name and location of the retailer that will be putting your case together to ship to you.  The Wall Street Journal is a highly trusted financial publication and, since they have a reputation to uphold, they partner with high quality retailers for the Wall Street Journal Wine Club.  I like the fact that they did that because if there had been any problems, I had the name and location of the retailer.  Fortunately, everything went smoothly.

You’ll have an opportunity to create an online account.  I did this and found it helpful for managing my wine club and the wines to be sent to me.

After you’ve entered all your information you click on Confirm Order to place your order and join the club.  There’s just one screen to enter your info and place your order.

Nice and simple.

After that, you are taken to the order Thank You page (see below) where you can Print your Order Summary and see all the information about your order.  A couple of important points for you to note:  You are charged sales tax and shipping is $19.99 (a case of wine is fairly heavy so that’s not too bad a price).

I was impressed that my estimated delivery date was less than the 10-14 days stated on the WSJ Wine Club order page.

Here’s a picture of the Thank You page:

And here’s a picture of the Print Order Summary page (personal information is erased).

Another thing I liked is that when they start to process your order, you can see online which wines are going into your case.  Another good reason to create an account.

Within a few days I was able to see that my order had been sent to FedEx for shipping.  Soon after, my shipping date was established and I was pleasantly surprised to see that, sure enough, my wine would be arriving only 9 days after placing my order.  This was, again, even faster than the 10-14 days promised.

Once FedEx had my package, I received an email confirming the arrival date.

Here’s a picture of the tracking information:

My wine arrived on the day of expected delivery with no damage.

Inside the box, everything was as expected.

The box contained the wine, a welcome brochure, a catalog, and tasting notes for each wine.  Pictures are worth a thousand words, so let’s start with the box:

Next, the box after opening:

Here’s the binder and tasting notes:

Note:  The binder to hold the tasting notes now appears to be coming with the delivery of your second case, but you still get the tasting notes.

And finally, here’s the wines.  All very good and exactly as expected:

Overall Summary

So, in summary…  On time, no surprises, good quality and a great deal.

Update After First Shipment:

I’ve tried several of the wines and have liked them all.  I’ve especially liked the El Bombero and the Pillastro.

Following that, with each subsequent case, I’ve been getting an email from the Wall Street Journal Wine Club letting me know when my next case is going to be shipped.

They let you know about two weeks in advance.

Testing the Delayed Ship Process:

I decided I wanted to find out for sure if I could delay a case for a few weeks.

So, I went into my account online and easily moved one of my deliveries out a few weeks.  There was also an option to skip that case if I wanted to.

They did a great job of making it simple and quick (took about 30 seconds) and my case was delayed as I requested.

This was a good test of their service and I continue to be impressed.

Customer Experience Updates:

#1.  A reader sent me an email and asked if you get charged when you reschedule a delivery.  The answer is no, you only get charged when the wine is actually shipped to you, not before.

#2.  I had an email conversation with a reader who only likes sweet wines.  Moscatos and Reislings, for example.  I suggested she contact the club and ask to speak to their wine concierge about her preference.  She went ahead and did that.  They told her that most of the wines in the club are not the sweet type that she likes.  I was very impressed to find out that they didn’t try to steer her into a club that didn’t match her tastes.

After hearing about her experience, I’m now even more confident with their ability to do right by the customer.