Wine Awesomeness Review 2023 How Good is This Wine Box?

Wine Awesomeness in a Nutshell

Thoughtfully selected wines with monthly themes and in-depth information.

Pros

• Every box has a unique theme

• Free shipping for almost every order

• Digital publication, The Back Label, provides in-depth information on bottles

• Two distribution centers keep shipping times down

• Suitable for wine enthusiasts and inexperienced drinkers alike

Cons

• Some folks may not like the lack of personalization

• No information on how sustainable and recyclable the packaging is

Wine Awesomeness Overview

I’ve gotta be honest, Wine Awesomeness was flying under my radar for a while. I had relatively low expectations going in, but I quickly realized how unique this service is. I’ve reviewed plenty of wine subscription services, and many of these companies have similar approaches.

Some of these companies have you fill out a quiz or questionnaire to determine what wines are likely to suit your palate. These are great fun, but not always the best way to broaden your horizons. I’ve also seen services that only offer wines from their own brands. This is also limiting, as the brands usually specialize in a small number of varietals (grape varieties). 

Wine Awesomeness breaks from these molds with its unique approach, encouraging subscribers to broaden their wine horizons.

Wine Awesomeness Membership 

Wine Awesomeness is a New York-based wine subscription box with the mission of introducing experts and newbies alike to an ever-changing variety of wines. Unlike many other wine delivery companies, which tailor your shipments based on your personal preferences, Wine Awesomeness ships the same selection of wines (connected by a central theme) to all of its subscribers. 

Some may be worried about this model, as it increases the chances of getting a wine you don’t necessarily enjoy. In my opinion, though, it’s perfect for folks interested in expanding their knowledge of wine. Offering a set selection of bottles every month allows Wine Awesomeness to provide more in-depth information on each wine.

A new issue of The Back Label, Wine Awesomeness’s exclusive online magazine, becomes available at the start of each month. In addition to detailed information on that month’s wines, The Back Label provides a bevy of lifestyle information on everything from travel to recipes to wine and cheese pairings. 

This publication is definitely one of my favorite things about Wine Awesomeness!

Wine Awesomeness Prices

Wine Awesomeness has two membership tiers, giving you the choice between three or six bottles per month. The three-bottle plan comes out at $49/box, and the six-bottle plan is $79/box. This works out at just over $16/bottle and $13/bottle, respectively. 

When purchased individually, most of the wines in the Wine Awesomeness shop are in the $15-20 range. That means you’re getting a good deal no matter which tier you subscribe to. Adding to the great value is the fact that Wine Awesomeness provides free shipping with its subscription boxes!

Speaking of the shop, you can order from the online Wine Awesomeness store at any time, even if you’re not a member. Prices range anywhere from $16-49+ with a selection that’s ever-changing. In the shop, members can reorder their favorite wines from past subscription boxes with a 20% discount, and other discounts are available as well.

The image above shows the discount model built into the online wine store. Members and non-members alike get free shipping on any order of at least three bottles (it’s a flat $9 shipping fee otherwise). Other discounts of 5% and 10% are available once you order six or twelve bottles, respectively.

Wine Awesomeness Wine Selection

Monthly boxes from Wine Awesomeness always stick to a theme, highlighting specific regions, varietals, or lifestyles. Past themes have included French Harvest (wines from France), Shades of Pink (focus on rosé), and Off The Grill (well-suited wines for outdoor cooking). These monthly themes give focus and a unique take to each box.

In its online store, Wine Awesomeness has a regularly changing selection of wines, including varietals from all around the world. The company brings a new batch of interesting wines for every month’s subscription box, and the remaining bottles are available in the shop until they run out.

After seeing some other wine subscription services that send the same three or four bottles in every box, the sheer variety offered by Wine Awesomeness is refreshing. There’s a large selection, making it likely that anyone could find a wine they love. And if you somehow don’t see anything you like, it’s worth taking another look in a month to see what new choices are available.

One fun feature that I really enjoy is the option to purchase a “mystery” wine. For $16 (the base price of all wines in the store), you can choose to get a surprise bottle of red, white, rosé, or sparkling wine. Besides being a fun way to get a wine you may not have tried before, the $16 price tag means you will likely be getting a great deal on whatever bottle you receive!

Top Wine Awesomeness Wines

For better or worse, not all of Wine Awesomeness’s offerings are here to stay. To allow for the ever-changing variety of monthly themed boxes, previous bottles tend to sell out before too long. This is good for those of us interested in trying new wines, but it can be a real bummer when one of your favorite bottles goes out of stock.

Luckily, Wine Awesomeness has an active community of users, which means most wines have a rating (on a scale from one to five “wine glasses”) to help you pick out the best crowd-pleasers. While it would have been nice if there were an option to sort by the highest rated wines in the store, I was pleased to discover that the majority of the wines had close to a four out of five rating.

One of the highest-rated wines I found was a sparkling rosé from Bacio Della Luna, with a score nearing a perfect five out of five. As with all of Wine Awesomeness’s offerings, I was able to see tasting notes, varietals, and other in-depth information in addition to the rating.

One feature I think would be useful would be if Wine Awesomeness allowed users to provide reviews as well as ratings. Just Malbec Please, an interesting wine I found, has 41 ratings and a score of four out of five, but I can’t help but wonder what specific experiences led to those 41 different ratings. Did people think the wine lived up to the provided tasting notes? What kept it from getting a perfect score?

I have to admit, though, despite being unable to read user reviews, Wine Awesomeness provides loads of information on each of its wines. It’s hard to complain that there isn’t enough info to pick out a bottle. Seasoned wine drinkers will appreciate the information on the nose and palate of each wine, while those with less experience can still get guidance from pairing suggestions (pictured below) and other notes from the company.

Sending A Wine Awesomeness Box As a Gift

This company was already shaping up to be one of my favorite wine subscription services, so it came as no surprise when I found that Wine Awesomeness also offers extensive options for gift-giving! Among the many gift options are dozens of curated gift boxes (see below), which offer a discount on thematically-related collections of wine (choose packs of 3, 4, 6, or 12 bottles). 

Other gift options include gift cards and gift subscriptions of any size and for any length of time. Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be any special gift packaging included for these orders, but the extensive options more than make up for this. If someone in your life is into wine, Wine Awesomeness will undoubtedly have the perfect gift for them at any budget.

Here’s a quick summary of Wine Awesomeness’s pricing and who it’s best for:

Wine Awesomeness Delivery

As I’ve mentioned before, shipping from Wine Awesomeness is almost always free! The company typically ships via FedEx, which is a common shipping service for many wine delivery services. 

As with any alcohol delivery, you’ll be required to provide ID upon delivery. For this reason, Wine Awesomeness recommends you have your shipments delivered to your business address or have them held at a local FedEx location for pickup. These strategies ensure you don’t miss out on your shipment!

I couldn’t find any information in the FAQ regarding whether Wine Awesomeness uses recyclable materials in its packaging. This was worrying to me at first because I believe sustainability should be of the utmost concern for everyone in this day and age.

Once I reached out to customer support, however, I quickly learned that the packaging is 100% recyclable! Besides the standard cardboard box, the only other materials are the recycled paper pulp trays, which are recyclable and compostable. I’ll share more about my interaction with customer service later.

In addition to offering free shipping, Wine Awesomeness ships from two locations enabling shorter delivery windows. Besides its headquarters in New York City, the company has a second warehouse on the other side of the country in Napa Valley. This means that no matter where you are, it rarely takes more than a few days for your wine to reach you.

The map below illustrates the locations of these two warehouses as well as estimated shipping times for every state. Note that only a handful of states have delivery estimates greater than four days! On the website, you’ll also be able to see which warehouse location ships to your area.

Wine Awesomeness Delivery Locations

It’s no secret that many states make it difficult (if not impossible) to ship any sort of alcohol. I don’t claim to know the intricate legal details, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that Wine Awesomeness offers delivery to more states than most other wine boxes I’ve seen. The map above shows which states inhibit wine shipments.  

The few states to which Wine Awesomeness can’t deliver are Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Mississippi, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Utah. Additionally, delivery in Alabama is limited to certain zip codes. If you aren’t in any of these areas, however, Wine Awesomeness is ready to ship to you from its two coastal warehouses! 

Wine Awesomeness Customer Service

When I clicked on the Customer Service link on the Wine Awesomeness home page, I was disappointed to be taken to the FAQ page. The FAQs are pretty thorough, but they didn't answer all of my questions. For example, I was really interested in how sustainable the company is.

I realized at this point, however, that there is a Help icon at the bottom of the screen – no matter what page you’re on. Clicking this icon brings up the option for a live chat. I appreciated how easy it was to get to the chat stage, and I was even more excited when I was able to connect to a real live person within seconds.

I typed my question, hit send, and before I could even take the screenshot seen above, a Wine Awesomeness representative was typing their reply. I happen to live in the same timezone as Wine Awesomeness’s headquarters, so I can’t say whether the chat is more active at certain times or if it’s monitored 24/7. During east coast business hours, though, I was incredibly happy with the speed of service.

I got a satisfactory answer to my question and had a pleasant interaction, all within a matter of minutes. If the answer to your question can’t be found within the FAQ, Wine Awesomeness has great customer support to take care of you. 

How to Cancel Wine Awesomeness

After impressing me this much so far, I was delighted to see that Wine Awesomeness makes it incredibly clear and easy to adjust or cancel your membership.

Image: Infographic from the Wine Awesomeness website on adjusting your membership

The process is simple and intuitive, which isn’t always the case with subscription companies. You can cancel your membership in just these few steps:

1. Log in to your account

2. Open your settings

3. Head to Manage Membership

4. Click Deactivate Membership

From the Membership menu, you can easily cancel your subscription or simply skip an order, as well as adjust your order frequency, payment information, or just about anything else you may want to do.

In my opinion, Wine Awesomeness has a lot to offer as a wine subscription service. However, I can understand if it isn’t the right service for everyone. In particular, those with a taste in specific wines may prefer a company that tailors your shipments to you rather than Wine Awesomeness’s “one size fits all” model. Here are two companies that fulfill that niche quite well.

The first is Bright Cellars, which offers one of the most customized wine box experiences I’ve ever seen. When you create your account, you fill out a simple quiz that gauges your taste in wine based on your preferences for other foods (for example, one question asks you to select your favorite fruit juice from a selection of options). Based on this quiz, Bright Cellars provides you with a personalized selection of four wines that are likely to suit your palate. 

You can get the full low-down on how Bright Cellars works in our expert Bright Cellars review.

The price for this increased personalization comes out to slightly more than Wine Awesomeness. Bright Cellars charges a flat $20/bottle and shipping is not included, so a four-bottle shipment is $80 plus tax and shipping (for me, the total was $96). This higher price may be worth it for you, however, if you tend to be picky in your wine tastes.

If you want the enhanced personalization of Bright Cellars without the enhanced price tag, Winc offers a good middle ground. Signing up to Winc is similar to Bright Cellars in that you begin with a quiz to align your taste preferences. Then, much like Bright Cellars, you get a recommendation of four wines. The difference is that Winc wines are much cheaper, averaging around $13/bottle!

Learn more about why Winc is such a good alternative in our dedicated Winc review.

Winc provides a little less descriptive information on its wines compared to Bright Cellars, but you also have more flexibility to customize your boxes. Shipping with Winc is also free for orders over $50, adding to your savings. Combine these with the lower average cost per bottle, and it’s easy to see that Winc offers an experience like Bright Cellars at almost half the price.

Bottom Line: Is Wine Awesomeness Worth It

If it wasn’t already abundantly clear, Wine Awesomeness has thoroughly impressed me. The level of in-depth information (especially in the online magazine The Back Label) and customer support is phenomenal, especially for a service I would say is on the more affordable end of the spectrum.

I think Wine Awesomeness is a great service for absolutely anyone looking to expand their knowledge of wine, whether you’re a newcomer, or already know your way around a vineyard. The only sort of person I would not recommend Wine Awesomeness to is someone who is picky about their wines. If you know what wines you enjoy and aren’t interested in broadening your palate, we’ve got you there. Check out our full list of top wine deliveries.

For everyone else, I definitely recommend placing an order so you can see just how awesome Wine Awesomeness really is.

FAQ 

What is Wine Awesomeness?

Wine Awesomeness is a wine subscription service that sends a preselected selection of bottles on a monthly basis. You can learn more in our above overview. 

You also get access to the exclusive online magazine, The Back Label, with in-depth information on the wines you’ll have received.

How much wine do you get with Wine Awesomeness?

Wine Awesomeness offers two subscription levels, allowing you to choose to receive three or six bottles every month. As described in more detail in our explanation above of how the membership works, you’ll have access to the online store, where you can buy bottles on an individual basis.

How much is Wine Awesomeness per month?

The monthly cost depends on how many bottles you choose to receive. It costs $49/month for three bottles or $79/month for six bottles  which works out to about $16/bottle and $13/bottle, respectively. You’ll also get a 20% discount on reorders of wine, and shipping is totally free on all but the smallest à la carte orders.