Whole Foods Launches New National Wine Club

Whole Foods Market is one of the most adored retailers in this country by its fans, stocking a wide array of high quality foodstuffs that can be tough to find in regular supermarkets. While detractors like to call it “Whole Paycheck” for its premium and often impulse-inspiring upscale products, there is at least one area where they consistently deliver high quality and great selection along with value – the wine shop.

Whole Foods claims to have been the first national grocer to open wine bars in its stores, and the first to serve draft wine from kegs, a superior method for ensuring freshness that is more sustainable at the same time (though this represents only a portion of their offerings). They are also one of the only retailers to employ a Master Sommelier, Devon Broglie, of which there are only 219 in the entire world, most of whom work in the best restaurants. Broglie, Whole Foods’ associate beverage buyer, was also just nominated by Wine Enthusiast magazine as America’s 2014 Sommelier of the Year, and is the only one of the five nominees working for a brick and mortar retailer.

The debut selections from Whole Foods Market’s new quarterly wine club.

But what I like most about Whole Foods’ wine department is its regionality and focus on hidden gems, combined with bargain-inspiring buying clout. Unfortunately I don’t have a store anywhere near where I live, but if I did I would buy wine there, and I don’t buy my wine at other supermarkets. I check out the chain when I travel and often seek out its local wine (and beer) picks. When I visited the company’s flagship store, a retail theme park in Austin, TX, not only did they offer a great slate of the Lone Star State’s still underrated wines, but they even had by the glass pairing suggestions to match the food selections at the authentic BBQ smokehouse stand next to the wine bar – you won’t find that at your local grocery store.

But now I don’t need to have a store near me, because Whole Foods Market is taking its wine offerings to the next level, going truly national. As a lead in to holiday gift season, it is launching a quarterly Wine Club in October, which will offer six hard-to-find wines from around the world per shipment, delivered to your home four times a year. Like the wines in the stores, these are curated by Broglie and global beverage buyer Doug Bell, who travel the world’s wine regions looking for bottles emphasizing variety, regional nuances and value. They are mostly limited production wines, from varieties well-known to obscure, still and sparkling. Each half-case shipment is just $125, including shipping, and accompanied by tasting notes. The debut Wine Club shipment will include:

Santa Julia Magna 2011 (Argentina)

H&G Los Carneros Pinot Noir 2012 (California)

Sea Pines 2013 Chardonnay, Russian River Valley (California)

Ca’Selva Prosecco (Italy)

Chateau Boissezon-Guiraud St. Chinian 2012 (France)

Chateau Fonfroide Bordeaux Rouge 2012 (France)

Cheers!