ProductReportCard Editors' In-Depth Review
Pros And Cons
Pros
- Premium, limited-supply Pinot Noirs from Californian & international wineries at exceptional values
- Excellent reordering discounts (up to 35%) and easy online reordering system
- GMWC has a rigorous selection process and publicly archives all previously featured wines from the Pinot Noir Series since the beginning of the club
- Refer a friend for membership to any club and received 2 bottles of wine as a referral bonus if they sign up
- Makes a great gift and wine arrives beautifully wrapped
Cons
- Bimonthly shipping is only option
- Doesn't offer instant gift notification by email
- Domestic Pinot Noirs only produced in California wineries (none from Oregon)
Key Features
Products
Members of the Pinot Noir Series will receive 2 different kinds of premium Pinot Noir from a Californian and an international winery every other month. Most of the featured wines have received 90+ ratings from a national wine publication and some have won even won a Gold Medal at a major wine competition. These bottles have been produced in limited quantities from some of the best boutique family wineries, and so you aren't likely to find them in your local wine shop.
Membership Options
Unless you are purchasing a gift membership with a certain number of shipments, membership is ongoing. When signing up, you will choose whether you want to receive 2- or 4-bottle shipments. The only shipping option is bimonthly, and so shipments will arrive in February, April, June, August, October and December. There aren’t any sign-up fees or additional monthly dues required to be a member, and you can cancel your membership at any time without incurring any cancellation fees.
Recently Featured
All of Gold Medal Wine Club's previous wine selections are available for viewing on their website, but here are a few examples of recently featured wines from the Pinot Noir Series:
- 2009 "The High Note" Pinot Noir from Misha Vineyard near Lake Dunstan in the Bendigo sub-region of Central Otago, New Zealand. It has received a 90-point rating from Robert Parker and a 93-point rating from Bob Campbell, Master of Wine (most prominent wine journalist in New Zealand).
- A 2009 Bien Nacido Old Vine Pinot Noir from Tantara Winery located at the base of the Sierra Madre Mountains in the Santa Maria Valley of California's Central Coast. It was awarded 91 points by Robert Parker.
Newsletter
The Pinot Noir Press is included in each shipment and provides more information on the featured wine, the growing region, winery and winemaker(s). There are also tasting notes and food pairing suggestions (+ recipes) for each bottle, as well as discount information if you like the wine and want to order more of it.
Extras
None, Gold Medal Wine Club's PLUS! Program is not offered with a Pinot Noir Series membership.
Gift Information
Gold Medal Wine Club offers a complimentary and customizable gift card that you can include in the 1st shipment that is sent to your recipient. The bottles are also each wrapped in colorful tissue paper, placed in gift bags and stored securely in a beautifully illustrated gift box.
Shipping Schedule
Shipments are sent out bimonthly (February, April, June, August, October and December), and they will arrive sometime after the 15th of the month depending on how far away you live from California.
Satisfaction Guarantee
Gold Medal Wine Club is confident that all members will be completely satisfied with their membership to the Pinot Noir Series. The Club will replace any damaged or corked bottles you receive at no extra cost, and you can always cancel your membership at any time without incurring cancellation fees.
Reputation
Overall, Gold Medal Wine Club has received good reviews from customers online and from publications such as Bon Appetit, Food & Wine and the Wall Street Journal. In the interest of full disclosure, I just want to say that Gold Medal Wine Club provided us with a complimentary sample shipment of their Pinot Noir Series when we mentioned that we wanted to review the membership. While we appreciated the free wine, we made it clear to Gold Medal Wine Club that it would not guarantee them a more favorable review.
The main drawback that we came across with the Pinot Noir Series is that it only ships every other month. We understand that it might be tough to try to find an amazing, unique Pinot every month, but bimonthly shipments aren’t really ideal, especially if you are trying to educate yourself on the varietal or are considering purchasing membership as a stand-alone gift. Therefore, we would probably recommend purchasing 4-bottle shipments and/or combining the Pinot membership with another one of Gold Medal Wine Club's memberships (ex. the Platinum Series). On a side note, we also wish that Gold Medal Wine Club would include some Oregon Pinot Noirs in their domestic wine selections because we think there are some amazing wines coming out of the region that we’d like to learn more about.
With all of that said, yours truly has personally been a member of Gold Medal Wine Club's Platinum Series since 2011, and I am admittedly a big fan of the Club in general. I received our free shipment of Pinot Noir a few days before my husband and I were having friends over for dinner, and, since they both enjoy drinking really good wine, we decided to save the bottles and incorporate a little wine tasting into the evening. It was so much fun to taste the wines using the newsletter as a guide, but, most importantly, everyone really loved both of the bottles we tried. For me, the experience just confirmed (once again) Gold Medal Wine Club's ability to consistently deliver high quality, unique wines. We would highly recommend membership to the Pinot Noir Series to anyone who loves Pinot Noirs or anyone who wants to learn more about the varietal.
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