Wine Awesomeness is a monthly wine subscription that specializes in rare and unusual wines. They seek out "the coolest, craveworthiest wines" with plenty of crowd-pleasing appeal. The curatorial team includes a Food & Wine Sommelier of the Year! So far, this subscription has been a really fun way for me to expand on my amateur knowledge of wine. I'm excited to see what the team picked to send along this month!
Each Wine Awesomeness box comes with three wines. You choose whether you'd like the "All Red", "All White" (with a chance of rosé or bubbly), or the "Variety" (with a chance of rosé or bubbly) plan—they're all $45.00 per month. I'm down to explore the world outside the reds I typically drink, so I chose the "Variety" plan. If you're a more frequent wine drinker, or if you just want to grow your collection a little faster, Wine Awesomeness does offer all of their monthly selections for $75.00 per shipment in a plan called "The Six Pack."
Want to change your Wine Awesomeness preferences, skip a shipment, or cancel altogether? You can do all of the above via your online account at any time.
The shipment came in a giant, nondescript cardboard box. Inside, the bottles were safely sitting in specially made cardboard trays, which successfully kept them still, stable, and in great condition. No leaks or cracks here!
My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).
This review is for the Variety plan, which is $45.00 per monthly box.
The Subscription Box: Wine Awesomeness
The Cost: $45 a month for 3 bottles of all red, all white, or a variety of red and white wines. $75.00 per month to receive all 6 monthly selections (of reds and whites).
ACTIVE DEAL: get 20% off
CODE: MSA20
The Products: Three bottles of wine “curated for adventurous souls.”
Ships to: U.S. (Including states most other alcohol subscriptions don’t ship to, like PA and OK!)
Check out all of our Wine Awesomeness Reviews and all Wine of the Month Club reviews!
Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wish list!
Wine Awesomeness has its own mini magazine in lieu of a traditional information card or booklet. It's called "The Back Label," after the back of the wine label.
This month's theme is "Chocolate and Wine." If I have any vices, they're probably great chocolate, wine, and maybe... burritos? In other words, this theme couldn't delight me more.
This magazine is so great! There are 22 pages of well-written articles about wine and chocolate, details on all 6 of the wines up for grabs this month, recipes to pair with each wine, playlist recommendations, and more.
2014 Love Over Money Zazou Minervois - Value $14.99
The first wine I tried is a red blend called a "Minervois." I've never even heard of this kind of wine before, but apparently, it's a combination of a Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvèdre. As a wine culture newbie, I've got to be honest—I only recognize one of those words. But I can say with confidence that mixed together, they taste great!
The booklet says the wine has a "groovy barnyard vibe that makes you want to go take a long walk and breathe the clean air of the countryside." (Have I mentioned how much I love the poetic, irreverent, lyrical way this subscription talks about wine?) Reading that, I was like, wait, what? But taking a sip, I totally get it! The wine has an effortlessness to it. It's not one of those deep red wines that really smacks you in the face with flavor. Instead, the rich, earthy flavors take a few moments to come to fruition. I was surprised how satisfied I was with this wine—usually, I'm a two glasses of wine gal, but this one really hit the spot after one shallow pour. It's not that it was overwhelming or too much at once. It was more like the feeling of eating a tasty dessert and being 100% happy when you take that last bite. Indulgent, but not gluttonous.
2013 Smashberry - Value $15.00
The second red in the box is another blend. This time the components are Merlot, Petite Sirah, and Cabernet Sauvignon. The booklet describes this one as having "the ability to warm your soul and make you feel like you are wearing an XXL fleece sweatshirt before it has been washed." Awesome. The wine itself is light and sweet and hit my tongue more like a juice than a wine.
But I think because of the bold, juicy name and label design, I expected more sweet, dessert-iness than I got. Yes, it's a bit jammy and definitely fruity, but the flavor didn't overwhelm me like I was worried it might. I could see this wine subbing in for sangria on a summer picnic or patio party.
2016 Secret Identity Rose - Value $18.00?
I couldn't find this exact year of Secret Identity online, so I linked to a 2015 bottle to give an idea of value. Okay, so first impressions—I love the label. Apparently Iconic did a whole run of "Hero" wines, each of which features comic-book-inspired women on their labels. Heck yeah, Iconic! What better way to ring in summer blockbuster season with some superhero wine?
How did the booklet describe this Rosé? Their best line describes this subtle, balanced, clean wine as having fruit notes "akin to when your mom sent you to school with a gallon zip-lock bag full of fresh mixed farmers market berries, but after running around on the playground you open your backpack to find a mixed berry massacre." In my childhood, that bag of farmers market berries would've been a Jif peanut butter sandwich, but I get their drift. This rose has a carefree aspect to it. It's fruity and crisp at the same time—a wine that's complex enough to satisfy the winos at the party, but isn't challenging to the palette. It's a friendly, fun wine that tastes absolutely awesome when chilled just so.
4 Green and Black's Chocolate Sample Bars - Value $4.17?
This brings us to the second half of this month's theme—the chocolate! I couldn't find exact prices for these mini chocolate bars online (according to the booklet, these bars, which aren't listed for individual sale, are sort of a preview of Green and Black's new premium line, so I think they're promotional), so I linked to something similar to give an idea of value.
There are four bars in the box, each of which is about 3 inches long—dark chocolate, salted caramel, dark chocolate sea salt, and milk chocolate sea salt. The booklet actually pairs each wine with a different type of Green and Black's chocolate, though not every chocolate pairing is represented in the assortment of chocolates I got. It is wild how enjoying a bite of chocolate before or after taking a sip of wine can change the way you experience the flavors in each product. These chocolates were delicious and incredibly high quality—what a great bonus for this box!
Verdict: I really liked this month's Wine Awesomeness box! The wines themselves are all around the price range that I'd pay at the store, meaning they're wines that I could feasibly look for and buy for myself again. The box itself was $45.00 (with free shipping), and I estimated that there was about $52.00 of product inside (counting the bonus chocolates). Without the chocolates, the price of the box is pretty even with what I got inside. I consider it a good deal, though, since I'm in this to learn about wine as well as to enjoy it—the well-written, thoughtfully assembled "magazine" that comes with the box added a lot of value for me. So they get an A for the products, an A for effort, and honestly, an A for presentation—this is a subscription with a really strong brand voice and vibe. I love the irreverent, playful, smart way this subscription talks about its products and the culture it's trying to create. It's just plain cool!
Have you tried Wine Awesomeness? What do you think?
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