Blog, I

Recently I was asked to review some wine clubs from Gold Medal Wine Club of California. It’s been a few years since I’ve had the chance of sampling any wine, so this came as an enjoyable anticipated treat. This product review is an accounting of what I experienced, from start to finish…mailbox to presentation in front of family and friends.

The package arrived through normal United States Postal Service.
Protective packaging included a reinforced cardboard box for shipping, and styrofoam placeholders that kept the neck and base ends of the bottles about 2.5 inches from the box ends for impact protection.

Clearance between the bottles and interior sides of the box was nominal enough that further use of ‘packing peanuts’ wasn’t necessary. The box included a gift card for presentation as well as a newsletter from the company.

The bottles; pictured here; were of earlier vintage than I’d have expected, which was pleasing. I’ve heard of friends getting bottles of wine through similiar clubs that were only two years old. The bottle of Merlot sent was a 2004 vintage, while the Cabernet Sauvignon was a 2003…the latter being my favorite with beef.

Examination of the bottles led me to the discovery that these bottles may have been handled entirely by hand. No blemishes were found whatsoever in their application, but the Cabernet Sauvignon bottle’s upper label was affixed at an offset of 1 degree. Had a machine labeled them it would have been aligned correctly. This only adds more personality and character to the gift, and shouldn’t be considered negatively.

The Cabernet Sauvignon was paired with a beef dish. With the wine’s age falling past the needed time for it to be drinkable, it did really well in standing up to it’s expectation. The Merlot was paired with Chicken Cordon Bleu just last night…again a nice flavor and means to enjoy the meal more.

The last thing I wanted to look at was the price, since that’s a big deciding factor for anyone in both gift giving and personal purchasing of wine. These wines coming from a Camino California were part of a $32.00 gift set. Considering that they’re a nice quality gift complete with their own packaging; needing only a personal wrapping touch on the exterior of your liking; the price is fair. The added gift card and newsletter reinforce this more if you take a look at their content…they’re a personal touch of the company and don’t give the feeling of the company trying to push sales.

This year I won’t be giving any of these gift sets out unfortunately, since it’d be poor friendship to send a half bottle to friends. On the other hand, Gold Medal Wine Club of California has just been added to my PDA as a contact for considering hard to match gifts with friends hard to shop for.

Cheers guys! Nice product, great taste for someone with good taste!