“It’s the tiiiiiime, for the seeeeeaaason of… giveawaaaaaaaaaays….”
It does indeed seem to be the season of giveaway action here on 1WD, and this week we’ve got another one; I’m teaming up with ClubW.com to giveaway one month’s free subscription to their wine club (that’s three bottles, or about $50 worth)! We’ll also be announcing a discount code next week (so that those who play along and don’t win won’t have to wail and gnash their wine-stained teeth).
Living in the Communistwealth of Pennsylvania, I’m unable to indulge in activities that threaten the stability of the state, such as receiving a wine from a wine club. But make no mistake, I adore our enlightened Harrisburg dictators! Honest! Please, don’t bulldoze my home!
Anyway, ClubW.com happens to be one of the wine clubs that I wouldn’t at all mind checking out, given that their wine curators have picked some very interesting selections, all of which are $19 or under. The ClubW selections include capable, off-the-beaten-path producers like Colorado’s Infinite Monkey Theroem (remember them? I do, because they impressed me when I tasted their wares in CO last year), as well as other wine brands that I’ve been following for a little while now, like Tuscany’s Poggiotondo, and Yarra Valley’s Innocent Bystander (headed up by Giant Steps pioneer Phil Sexton). They also have wines I’ve liked from John Duval and Casas del Bosque (the latter of which really kicked ass in `07 with their Private Reserve blend).
One of the most interesting aspects of ClubW.com is that it offers you subsets of their selections based on a taste profile that you fill out before signing up for the service. So, in this giveaway, we’re going to explore, in practice, how it works…
The skinny on ClubW: their curators taste though hundreds of wines (now that sounds familiar!) and choose selections each month for the members. When you sign up with them, you fill out an online Palate Profile to help their system hone in on wines to recommend to you from their selections, based on your own tastes add recorded in the profiler (that’s the part I want to explore in the giveaway). As a member, you then get three bottles of your choice each month, shipped to your door for $39 (plus $6 flat shipping).
Here’s the skinny on the giveaway:
- Head over to ClubW.com and fill out their six-question “Tell us about your Palate” profile questionnaire (I did it, it will take you about 30 seconds, and that’s if you’re a slow reader).
- See what selections it gives you based on your answers, then come back here and leave a comment with your thoughts on how it pegged your drinking preferences, and which of the wines it picked would be the most interesting to you.
- You have until Sunday, May 12th at 8PM ET to leave a comment, after which I will randomly draw a winner from the commenters. The winner will be announced on 1WD on May 14th, at which time we will also share the exclusive discount code (which you can use if you didn’t win but still want to get signed up with ClubW to numb the pain of defeat).
To be eligible to win, you also need to be able to comply with all of the ClubW terms and conditions (so those living in Communist states like mine are almost certainly ineligible, I’m afraid, as are those of you who are under 21 – what the hell are you doing reading a wine blog if you’re under 21, by the way?!??).
How did ClubW do for me when I filled out the questionnaire? Not too shabbily at all. I’m most intrigued by its pick of Empordalia Sinols Blanc from Spain, which I’m guessing it matched up to me based on my love of all things citric. I’ve not had it yet, but now find myself having a serious hankering for it.
Cheers – and good luck!
They had some fun suggestions for whites. Reds were more basic. Fun though!
Thanks, SAHMmelier. Yeah, I enjoy this kind of stuff. I like to think that I'm not all that predictable, despite the fact that I know that well-tuned algorithms almost always outperform intuition in predictions…
i'd say their recommendations ranged from "might be good" to "safeway sale rack"
gabe – leave to the horse-drawn producer guy to point that one out… :) I feel for outlets like this, though, the job of trying to get the right combination of decent juice with the right distribution, etc., just cannot be that easy.
lol! i never said i wasn't a wine snob.
Gabe – and we love you for that!
They had some great red wine recommendations. They said I would like muscato but generally it's too sweet for me. Would love to try some of their reds, though!
Thanks, Cassidy.
Just by the varietals they chose, I think they were pretty accurate. I do really like Viognier so i was surprised it guessed correctly.
Thanks, barrelthief. Score one for the algorithm! :)
Not bad, actually; dead on with the Gewurtz and Rose, a little less so with the reds but nothing I'd refuse.
Thanks, Marie!
cool test, very similar to Tim Hanni's MyVinoType. Pretty accurate I'd say. Although I've never tried the specific wines they recommended, there were some DOCs I know I'm a fan of, specifically the Rosso Piceno. If I win I'm definitely ordering that! Also a big fan of Tempranillos, so the Flaco is right up my alley! Never had the white Spanish Viura, but I'm very curious about Spanish wines, so I'd be very interested in trying that one.
Thanks, Jonathan. Viura is an interesting grape, you can get very modern, very fruity wines out of it, but it can also factor into some very old school, oxidative, long lived wines from Spain, too.
Interesting, that it recommended a lot of the red wines I enjoy such as Malbac and Merlot but only the Gewurztraminer for a white. Since I really like Riesling I was surprised there were none recommended. The Loca Linda Rose of Malbec is something I would like to try. The other thing I found interesting was there was only one wine from the US recommended all the rest were European or South American.
Jim – regarding the EU and SA recommendations, I suppose there may be a good many of them simple because of the QPR that they offer. It can be tough for NA wines to compete in those price ranges sometimes, with higher land, grape and labor costs. Cheers!
First of all, I loved the survey questions and the graphics that went along with the questions. Since I hand-select Champagnes for all of our FC Club members, I was especially interested in this post. I like the feel of the website and the general idea is awesome (obviously). However, the selections left me puzzled. I too love high acid, so why pick a Moscato and a California Chardonnay for me? I liked the Vaucluse and Corbieres red wine selecetions, but questioned why the Smashberry Red showed up next to them… anyway, great idea, thanks for sharing!
Thanks, @fatcork!
Fun little questionnaire/results. They would be hard pressed for me to say "ugh, no I wouldn't try that!" to much of anything though as I am always looking to try something new. Videos with each wine are a good idea too. Some of the ones that looked interesting were:
2007 Chateau de Mattes-Sabran Dionysus Corbieres
2012 Banyan Creek Gewurztraminer
2009 Domaine de Milliere VDP Vaucluse Rouge
Thanks, Jeff. I liked the vids, too – short and descriptive and they seem to strike a nice balance between jargon and layman's terms. Cheers!
Interesting idea. I'm not sure I'd want to leave all my choices in the hands of a computer program. Would you do something like this to trust what you pick for dinner. The results were also a little predictable. I already knew I liked the same varietals. It would be cool to see what wines would come up if they had the entire wine searcher data base.
Nate – well, they gotta pick from what they've selected, logically. As for algorithms: in general, yes, I would, as there's ample evidence to suggest that they're much better at prediction in most circumstances than are people. If you're interested in learning more about that, check out the book Thinking, Fast And Slow ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00555X8OA/ref=a… ). Cheers.
Thanks, Ill check it out
Nate – it's an amazing book, in terms of revealing how frighteningly bad we are as humans at understanding how we really interpret the outside world! :)
The reds were dead on! Really interested in trying 2011 Loca Linda Rose.
Thanks, Lauren!
I couldn't complete the quiz because I'm not a member of Facebook. However, I like Pinot Noir.
I took the quiz to the end until it forced me to join Facebook, which I refuse to do. My favorite wines are Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, and Pinot Noir. Thanks for the giveaway!
Louis and Meryl – Thanks. So we managed to find the last two people on earth without FB accounts??? ;-)
Yeah, I'm holding out to the end! :)
Meryl – smart plan, then they might court you with swag or money to get you to join :-)
I thought they did a good job of getting what I like. Corbieres, Rioja Blanco, VdP Vaucluse…wines I am into, I just don't always get around to them. Malbec Rose was an interesting one I didn't consider before.
Thanks, Tony.