UK's The Wine Society

[Gus]

Apologies if this subject as been covered too much already. Tried to do a search and it didn't yield anything, and I tend to contribute to the UK restaurants board, not this one.

Anyway, I've been given membership of The Wine Society (the UK co-operative), and wondered if it's any good. Should make clear that while I enjoy wine, I'm no expert, although want to learn more.

If anyone else out there is a member, are there any particular wines from it that they'd recommend, preferaby less than £15 a bottle.

One last thing - sorry if I'm asking too much - has anyone ordered the Exhibition mixed case (red and white mixed case of wines from their own Exhibition range)? How does it compare with the Dinner Party cases?

They looked like a good way to get a flavour of what's on offer, without needing to know which wines to choose, making it easy for a novice like me.

Grateful for any advice.

[slacker]

All my customers who are members of The Wine Society speak highly of it.

I haven't any first-hand experience of it, but I know that they at times sell (almost) as good wine as I do.

So I would definaelyt give them a go.

Thought about correcting the typo, but that it such a good one that I just HAD to leave it in.

[Charlene Leonard]

I was given membership as a wedding present and have been very pleased with the wines, including those in the mixed cases. They are far better than those Sunday Times Wine Club types.

[jackal10]

The Wine Society is good, solid, middle of the road stuff.

It is long established, reasonably efficient, and trustworthy.

However the wines it offers reflects to some extent ithe average taste of its membership profile.

The membership is interesting - you buy a share in the society, So don't expect miracles, on the other hand you won't go far wrong, or be ripped off, and occaisionally you will get very nice wines.

[Gus]

Don't suppose there are any specific wines or mixed cases you'd recommend?

I've got the list, but a little lost, being a novice.

[dallardice]

The Exhibition cases or even just a case of the Society's wines are a good place to start. If you can get yourself to Stevenage then you can browse in their Showroom, which we have often found an easier way to browse than using the list. Somehow it's much easier to make up a mixed case of 12 bottles you fancy from off-the-shelf (a la Majestic) rather than from the list. Order a couple of the Society or Exhibition cases to pick up at the same time and you'll save a few quid on delivery too.

As to recommending particular wines, that's difficult without knowing your tastes. We tend to buy from their special offers, where you can get some very good bargains, and in-bond burgundies and rhones - you can get on their mailing list and buy in-bond, keep them in the members' reserves at Stevenage, and then take them out when they're ready, several years later. A good way of buying wines that would be too expensive to buy off-the-shelf.

We find TWS best on 'old world', where it's built up years of contact with small providers. It's strongest on French, particularly Bordeaux, although it's starting to get a good range of the new Vin de Pays coming up from Languedoc-Rousillon. It's somewhat weak on the new world, and although it now has a reasonable range of US and Australian wines, they're not as good value nor will you find the gems you would get in their French or Spanish list.