I’m a Certified Sommelier, and this Online Wine Club Changed My Mind About Natural Wine – CNET

<div content="Review Card" id="fe12e773-6f5e-40b3-b40a-873e098c5b88" subhed description="" editorsmonth editorsyear editorsdate innovationmonth innovationyear innovationdate usepricing="true" overridecredit overridecaption="" offer techobjectinfo ng-block="{"id":"17sjkm5by6tgou0","type":"reviewcard"}" edition="us" data-key="reviewcard__fe12e773-6f5e-40b3-b40a-873e098c5b88" position="NaN" embeddedimages="[{"id":"c315ef47-527a-4dde-9e0a-bfb7af540448","filename":"screenshot-2023-11-21-at-8-54-00am.png","dateCreated":{"date":"2023-11-21"},"alt":"four wine bottles","credits":"The Waves","caption":"

The Waves is making a splash in online wine buying with one of the best selections of natural wines we’ve encountered.

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The Waves has a robust selection of trendy orange wines in every shade.

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There are also three-bottle bundles of wine you can buy for $104 without a subscription or in addition to your existing monthly send.

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five bottles of natural wine

9.3

The Waves

Like cupboards full of groceries, those who like to have a well-stocked wine rack on hand have a multitude of options to choose from when it comes to online wine retailers or wine subscription programs. You can get everything from single glasses of legendary wines to a case full of staples delivered on the regular. For wine aficionados and burgeoning enthusiasts both, it can be tricky to sort through all of the options to figure out what’s convenient, what’s actually good, and what fits any particular niche taste or consumption style you subscribe to.

steps for signing up to waves wine club steps for signing up to waves wine club

five bottles of natural wine five bottles of natural wine

three bottles of orange wine three bottles of orange wine

The Waves has a robust selection of trendy orange wines in every shade.

The Waves

Should you want to pick out your own wines, another highlight of The Waves’ model is how it’s tagged and categorized its selection in order to make choosing wines simple, and what’s more, fun. Wines are categorized under evocative, helpful descriptors, and many are cross-listed under numerous labels. These include rubrics like “Lean, Refreshing Bubbles,” Earthy, Balanced Reds,” and “Crowd Pleasing Whites.” Note the lack of pretentious sommelier-speak, or even hyper specific wine terminology. Even if you’ve not studied wine, you can easily get what each category is getting at, even if specific grapes are unfamiliar, and choose accordingly. If you do want to choose your own wines, though, note that you have a 10-day window each month in order to make choices. Otherwise, you’re getting what you’re getting.

The Waves’ curated selection will break you out of your four-bottle rotation

As someone who constantly scans online wine retailers, I really appreciate the selection at The Waves, and think that the exposure to lesser known regions and varietals is really important for consumers. There are thousands of wine grapes worldwide, but we tend to drink the same four or eight or so on repeat. The Waves makes discovering new wines extremely easy, and their categorization system makes it low-risk for finding something you’ll like. Clicking on an individual bottle will also give you additional context about the wine including its winemaker, region and/or appellation, ABV, vintage, degree of adventurousness, and serving temperature. (Not every white should be served ice cold, FYI.) Plus, it will introduce you to other wines with a similar wavelength. (As a writer, I also appreciate their clever but never sledgehammered wordplay throughout.) 

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