Uncorked Ventures: An Adventure in Wine Delivered to Your Door

Complimentary samples were received to facilitate this review, but all opinions are 100% my own.

At the end of a long, stressful day (some people call it Tuesday), I enjoy unwinding with a nice glass of wine.  On those rare occasions when I get to prepare a nice meal at home for myself and my husband, a glass of wine is what I typically like to pair it with.  I try to keep a few bottles on hand for these moments, but sometimes I open my cabinet to find it grievously bare.  This happens because I don’t have a lot of time to shop for these things (in NJ, we have to make a special trip to a liquor store), and when I do, I never buy enough because I never know what to buy.  It would be nice if I could get good recommendations from a store employee, but I’ve found that most of them are clueless, so I’ve stopped trying.

The Exploration Wine Club from Uncorked Ventures has been a fabulous little solution to my dilemma.  Uncorked Ventures is a family business operated by food and wine lovers (and brothers-in-law) Matt Krause and Mark Aselstine.  These two spend their timing traveling around wine country where they develop relationships with top winemakers.  The result is that they are able to give their customers access to the best wines from California, Washington, and Oregon.

This particular wine club features one red and one white per shipment, but you can request only one or the other if you like.  Either way, you’ll be sent wine rated at 90 or more points.  Many of these wines come from small artisan producers whose wines are not widely available, so some of them haven’t even made it into the hands of wine critics, but you’ll always be getting high quality selections.

Let’s take a look at the two wines they sent me.

I generally prefer reds over whites, but I’ve found myself choosing white a lot more often than I used to.  It’s more refreshing during warmer weather, but it also effects me less the morning after.  The weather around here hasn’t exactly been warm lately, but I always have to worry about the morning after, so I sampled the 2013 Sola Chardonnay first.  White wines are often just too sweet for me, even the ones that I’m told are supposed to be dry.  This wine is described as having a “lightly toasted almond, slightly creamy citrus finish”, and I have to agree.  It’s not too sweet, but it is most definitely delicious.  Part of me wants to see if I can get my hands on more of this, but part of me is really excited to see what other white wines Uncorked Ventures might surprise me with instead.  I never thought I’d get so excited over white wine!

The red bottle in my shipment was the 2010 Mercy Pinot Noir.  SMOOTH.  I admit that I am partial to Pinot Noir, but this really is a very good one.  You can taste the red raspberry and black cherry here, but it’s silky and soft and not too sweet.  I’ll have a second bottle please.  A third wouldn’t be turned down either.

The Explorations Wine Club is their lowest-priced at $40 per shipment, and they also have a Special Selections and a Reserve Selections clubs if you want to be even more adventurous.  Each club offers several options for the frequency of deliveries, from once per month to a one-time shipment.  Other benefits of membership include a monthly newsletter and discounts on reorders.

Uncorked Ventures has been a really great find.  Not only are they doing all the work for me, but they’re bringing me options I can’t get at my local stores.  It’s a delicious adventure in a box, and I look forward to embarking upon more of them in the future.

A wine club shipment from Uncorked Ventures would be a great holiday gift, don’t you think?  In my opinion, experiences and consumables make the best gifts, no matter what the occasion; they’re fun and clutter-free.  This one definitely makes my own Christmas Wish List.  And would it be too much to ask to be able to trick or treat for this on Halloween too?  Chocolate is wonderful, but I’ll take wine over chocolate any day.

To learn more about their wine clubs, visit Uncorked Ventures.  You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.