Although there are a number of wine club subscriptions on the market today, it’s rare to find one offering biodynamic and organic bottles. Plonk, on the other hand, is a wine club that offers just that, making it a unique subscription to check out.
Plonk Wine Club is an award-winning subscription that has a wide range of wine bottles – from selections made of lesser-known grapes to more famous varietals. It has whites, reds, rosés, and sparklings from a range of different wine-making regions worldwide.
As someone who enjoys the taste of organic wine myself, I decided to try the subscription out and see if it was really worth joining.
In this guide, I’ll share more information about Plonk Wine Club, including how the ordering and delivery processes work. I’ll also go over some of the bottles that were included in my subscription to figure out if they’re worth buying.
Plonk Wine Club Overview
| Name | Plonk Wine Club |
| How it Works | Monthly, quarterly, or annual subscription of red, white, or mixed organic wines. |
| Minimum Orders | Four bottles |
| Rating | 4 (out of 5) |
| Price | Check on Plonk |
Contents
- How the Plonk Wine Club works
- Wine delivery
- Plonk wine reviews
- Plonk vs other wine clubs
- The verdict: is Plonk the best wine club for you?
How the Plonk Wine Club works
Plonk Wine Club is a wine subscription that focuses mostly on organic wines, making it popular with health-conscious shoppers.
The club has only been around since 2010, but offers premium wines that you can get shipped out on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis.
Here’s a closer look at how the wine club works.
Available memberships
Unlike Winc Wine Club, Plonk doesn’t offer any sort of quiz when you first sign up. This means that it’s not as personalized as some of the other clubs on the market.
Instead, you’ll be asked to choose between three different types of subscriptions:
- Mixed Organic Wine Club: a combination of reds, whites, and rosés sourced from more than 20 international and domestic regions
- Red Organic Wine Club: premium red wines sourced from top wine-making regions worldwide
- White Organic Wine Club: premium white wines from unique grape varietals sourced from local wineries
All of the subscriptions are organic, regardless of whether or not you choose red only, white only, or a mix of both.
Once you’ve chosen the type of bottles you want to receive, you’ll get to select how many bottles you plan to receive each shipment: four, six, or 12.
You’ll also get to choose whether you’d like monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, or annual shipments. This is great because it lets you customize your deliveries depending on the size of your household and amount of wine you typically drink.
Keep in mind that Plonk is quite high-end, so the prices get pretty steep once you start adding more bottles to your order. In fact, you could easily spend over $1000 a year with Plonk for frequent deliveries with lots of bottles in the order.
Another thing to note is that Plonk doesn’t have a way for you to personalize your subscription. The bottles are curated by sommeliers, but you can’t rate them once you try them, so you have the chance of getting two bottles twice even if you didn’t like them the first time. There’s also no satisfaction guarantee in the event that you don’t like something, so you won’t get a refund or replacement.
The good news is that Plonk offers a replacement or refund for corked, broken, or damaged bottles. So, if your wine arrives with any kind of issue, you can at least get compensation for this.
Besides its memberships, Plonk also lets you gift a wine bottle shipment to your friends or family for holidays and birthdays. All you need to do is order the club’s gift plan using your account. Then, select the gift option and enter the recipient’s details.
Placing your order
Getting started with Plonk is very straightforward. Because the subscription is curated and not personalized, you don’t have to do much to place an order.
All you have to do is choose which membership, how many bottles, and the delivery frequency you want. Then, you’ll add your shipping and payment details and place the order.
One thing to note when placing your order is that the four and six-bottle subscription consists of different bottles. But, if you go for the twelve-bottle shipment, you’ll actually get two bottles each of six different wines. Because of that, the twelve-bottle shipment is really better for families who get through a lot of wine.
Plonk offers an introductory coupon for your first shipment. They don’t charge you for shipping, either, which can help balance out the higher price of the club overall.
Wine sourcing
Plonk focuses on only sourcing organic wines. Because of this, everything they offer is grown and produced using biodynamic and organic methods.
All the wines are free of:
- Pesticides
- Acidifiers
- Colorants
- Artificial sugars
- Chemical substances
- Alcohol enhancements
Because there are no chemicals or additives in the wines, the bottles tend to be quite high quality. On top of that, you can really taste the nuances in the wines they select. If you’re a wine connoisseur who’s looking for rare finds and unique flavors, Plonk is a great pick.
Plonk sources its bottles from a combination of small-batch and premium wineries in various wine-making regions worldwide. This is interesting considering that ‘Plonk’ is Australian slang for low-quality and cheap wine!
Plonk Wine Club also includes younger wines aged between two to four years. This gives you a wider variety of flavor profiles, leaving you with a broader spectrum of flavors in your shipment.
The wine delivery
Wine delivery is a bit slow with Plonk. Shipments are sent out at the beginning of each month, so if you place an order past the company’s shipment date, you’ll have to wait a full month to get your order.
I placed my order around October 20th, so I had to wait until early November for my wines to ship out. I wasn’t in a rush, but if I had been, the wait would have been a bit frustrating.
Despite the potential delays with the shipping system, Plonk does let you reroute your delivery to another address if you won’t be home to receive it for some reason. So, if you’re out of town when the shipment gets sent out, you can reroute it via their website to wherever you’re staying.
Keep in mind that because of legal restrictions, Plonk can’t ship to Alaska, Arkansas, Hawaii, Mississippi, Utah, Washing ton DC, or Puerto Rico. So, if you’re traveling to one of those areas, you won’t be able to reroute it.
You’ll also need to have someone over the age of 21 receive the alcohol delivery when it arrives. Plonk uses FedEx as its courier service, so if there’s no one home to sign, they’ll store your shipment for up to two weeks in one of their warehouses. You can then go pick it up using the slip they leave on your front door.
In terms of the contents of the shipment, Plonk sends out a few gifts in addition to the wine bottles. These include:
- Tasting notes and pairing suggestions
- Additional recipes for meals that go well with the wine selections
- A free issue of IMBIBE Magazine
- Discounts for reordering
- One complimentary bottle if you have renewed your membership
- A free Plonk corkscrew for your first order
Plonk wine reviews
Now that you have an understanding of how Plonk works, and the way they source their wines, let’s take a look at the bottles included in their shipments.
When you place an order, you won’t have any control over the bottles. Instead, a wine expert will curate your box for you to put together rare finds and unique, organic bottles.
I received just four bottles in my box, and I did a review of each of the wines they chose to give you an idea of what Plonks curation is like.
Union Sacre, Sangiovese
Union Sacre Sangio Carbonic Sangiovese 2021 is a chillable red wine sourced from Paso Robles, California. The grapes come from the San Juan North Vineyard.
The wine is manufactured using whole, uncrushed clusters of the Sangiovese grape variety.
Because it’s a chillable red, this is a nice pick for summer months or warmer days. It has berry flavors as well as floral notes, and has hints of strawberry jam. There are also undertones of candied rose petal that give you a smooth and velvety finish.
Union Sacre is best paired with grilled chicken, sausage, potatoes, peppers, and onions. It also tastes great with pasta.
Longaví, Glup Naranjo
Longaví, Glup Naranjo 21 is a dry-framed orange wine made of pure Moscatel from the sixty-year-old vines in Itata Valley, Chile. It’s a pretty unique wine that undergoes a ten month aging process in French oak barrels.
The wine is on the sweet side with a lychee aroma and honeysuckle undertones. Still, it’s a bit dry, so it doesn’t feel overly sweet.
This orange wine is best paired with fish, such as mandarin and pan-seared salmon. It also goes well with pork tenderloin.
Dom Rafael, Mouchao
Dom Rafael, Mouchão features a blend of Castelao, Aragonez, Trincaderia, and Alicante Bouschet grapes. These grape varieties are sourced from Portugal.
The wine has honey and olive oil flavors with notes of star anise, clove, and deep ruit. It also has a subtle acidic taste that balances the grapes’ bitterness.
This bottle is best paired with your favorite bolognese pasta and meat. It also pairs well with lamb and pork chops.
EQ, Sauvignon Blanc
EQ, Sauvignon Blanc is a certified organic wine bottle from Hermoso Vineyard, just six miles from the Pacific Ocean in Chile. This Sauvignon Blanc is slightly savory, with salty notes.
EQ is a medium-bodied wine with flint and grapefruit notes. It pairs well with shrimp and South Asian flavors, such as Thai or Indian curry.
Plonk vs. other wine clubs
Like most wine clubs, Plonk has a wide variety of delivery options, letting you choose the frequency of shipments and number of bottles. However, unlike most clubs which start at a minimum of six bottles, Plonk starts at four bottles.
The advantage of this is that if you don’t drink a lot of wine or live in a smaller household, you aren’t inundated with wine. On the other hand, even their smallest shipment can cost you more than some other clubs that will send out six bottles.
Plonk also includes tasting notes and wine information, as with many other shipments. The difference is that instead of sending information about the club, they send a copy of IMBIBE magazine, which gives you more general industry information. This is a nice perk if you’re just looking for general industry news or to make other wine purchases.
One thing to note about Plonk is that this is a curated subscription, much like the WSJ Wine Club. That means that you can’t personalize your shipment, but you do get bottles that are selected by wine connoissieurs. As a result, they’re not necessarily tailored to your tastes, but are generally good wines anyway.
If you want a tailored club, Firstleaf might be a better pick. This club includes an introductory quiz and allows you to flag wines that you don’t like. That way, you get a subscription that adapts more to your taste preferences as time goes on.
In terms of the differences between Plonk and other clubs, the main thing to note is that they only include organic wines. Most subscriptions will feature a mix of organic and inorganic wines, so if you’re focused on natural blends, this is a great way to ensure that’s what you’re getting.
Another difference between Plonk and other clubs is that since the wines are premium, organic varietals, they’re also more expensive. Despite the higher pricetag, the club tries to offset the costs for customers by including shipping in the cost of the subscription.
The verdict: is Plonk the best wine club for you?
Overall value
⭐⭐⭐⭐
- Features wines selected by a certified sommelier
- All wines are organic and have no additives
- Has both international and domestic wine selections
- Offers smaller shipments for those who don’t drink a lot of wine
- Shipping is included
- You get freebies such as a wine magazine, tasting notes, and a corkscrew
- Doesn’t allow you to personalize your order
- No introductory quiz
- High price tag even for smaller shipment sizes
Plonk Wine Club boasts organic and biodynamic wines that are sourced from quality winemaking regions around the world. They have bottles with both famous grape varieties as well as lesser-known varietals.
Because of the premium quality of the wine, Plonk has also got a premium pricetag. So, it might not be best for those on a budget.
Plonk lets you choose from a number of different shipping frequencies and amounts of wine per shipment. However, if you go for their larger bundles, you’re likely to get repeat bottles in your order.
So, is Plonk Wine Club for you? If you’re a health-conscious wine drinker who’s got a lot of experience with wine, this might be a good subscription. Since you get high-quality, organic bottles, you’re more likely to get rare finds that are hard for you to come by on your own.
On the other hand, if you’re on a budget or are just getting started with wine drinking, Plonk probably isn’t for you. In that case, you’d probably be better suited to a more affordable, personalized subscription like Winc.
Because of the high price tag and lack of personalization, I’d give this club a four out of five. Still, if you’ve been drinking wine for a while and want to get your hands on hard-to-find bottles, I’d say it’s worth trying out the bottles, even if it’s just for a few months.
About the author
My name’s Jessica, and I’m a full-time writer and part-time wine lover. I love being able to share expertise through the power of words.
I’m a self-proclaimed wine expert who’s been a patron and member of multiple vineyards. As someone who’s lived in the California Napa Valley and studied wine formally at the university level, I’ve gained a good chunk of knowledge on wine, its origins, and the current market.
I particularly like a good burgundy, but failing that, dry white wine is my go-to. Today you’ll find me sharing my wine expertise with the world. I may or may not have a glass of wine by my desk as I do it.