Naked Wines.......anyone ever tried them? Any good?

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Dave7

Legendary Member
Location
Cheshire
Reason for asking is I bought some printer inks from Stinkyink,(thanks to those on CC who suggested them).
Along with the ink came a 'wine voucher' giving me a £75 discount if I buy 12 bottles at £115 (or more).

The voucher clearly states "NO requirement to join any wine clubs".
I cannot believe there will be no catch such as "you have agreed to purchas xyz every month".
Any thoughts??
 

Saluki

World class procrastinator
I was a member for a while and paid in £20 a month and got some very nice wine. Then changed my job so left, wasrefunded leftover funds, no hassle at all. Might join again sometime.
 
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Dave7

Dave7

Legendary Member
Location
Cheshire
I was a member for a while and paid in £20 a month and got some very nice wine. Then changed my job so left, wasrefunded leftover funds, no hassle at all. Might join again sometime.
So from your experience will I have to commit to regular purchase, even though they state "no requirement to join any wine club" ?
 

Arjimlad

Tights of Cydonia
Location
South Glos
I did this a while ago, and the wine was reliably very good. You do pay in so much per month but it is up to you how you spend it on their wines, or you could leave & stop paying as Saluki says above. So - no commitment to "join a club" but they do seek a monthly figure by direct debit which if you ring them up, I found was negotiable. The wine I recall being above average.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
Yes, it's the usual sort of deal. One case cheap then lots of pestering by email and phone to sign up to a subscription or at least buy a few full price cases. The wine's OK value (note: value not price) but about the same as any of competitor Laithwaite's many brands and, as I understand it, not quite as good as The Wine Society.

The pestering level may have changed since I bought an intro case about a decade ago, of course.
 
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Dave7

Dave7

Legendary Member
Location
Cheshire
Just found a forum discussing them, led by a wine taster. It would appear that the wine is ok for the money and the service is excellent.
The vast majority of the wines are from small makers and excusive to NW so there is no way to compare price/value.
The main criticism from punters is that they were unaware of the commitment to regular payment and thought they were getting a one off discount to try it out.
I will give it a miss.
 

PeteXXX

Cake or ice cream? The choice is endless ...
Location
Hamtun
Several places I buy from, online, include a voucher for Naked Wines. I've not been tempted tbh.
I might be wrong, but I seem to remember that some bottles were half size, not the 'normal' 75cl..
 

PK99

Legendary Member
Location
SW19
I was on board as an Angel early, soon after they launched the business.

Their model is essentially the same as Laithwaites - hook punters by deeply discounted introductory offers, keep some of the attracted punters long term by a tie in - Laithwaites , ST Wine club etc by a monthely membership in, Naked by monthly up front payments and with both plus a non-transparent pricing structure. Most wines are only available through them and have an Angels'/Members' discount. ie it is not possible to compare price/value with other suppliers of the same wine. Even known producers do special versions for Naked/Clubs.

From my experience of Naked, the value in the bottle at Angels price is ok, but nothing special wines eg the £13.99 Christian Patat Appassimento 2018 I'm looking at now available to Angels for £9.99 is most likely a £9.99 value wine. M&S are selling a comparable wine : https://www.marksandspencer.com/appassimento-rosso-puglia-rocca-pagliara-case-of-6/p/p60151297 for £54 for 6 = £9 per bottle. £13.99 for a Puglian Appassimmento is very high as a quick google will confirm > https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Puglian+Appassimmento&ie=&oe=

The Naked trick is that ordering using money you have already banked with them feels like wine for free!

I long ago saw the light and opted out.
 

Archie_tect

De Skieven Architek... aka Penfold + Horace
Location
Northumberland
I was a Wine Angel for a couple of years... loved the whole experience.

Typical initial case of 12 for heavily discounted for £40 then I went for the £20/month arrangement and got a case of 12 every 4 or 5 months. Their Darnault vineyard reds were fantastic as was a red labelled Sylvia... only had one bad one- a harsh dry white which they replaced with two others so got 12 next time and only paid for 9.

They also give away a bottle to try. after a year, if you buy a case of 12.

You can always go to Tescos or Asdas and buy 12 bottles with 25% discount once you know what you like.

I stopped because we just don't drink enough to make £20 a month worth doing!

Never had pressure selling, all done by email and never had a problem- they like to talk about wine so you can get as involved with it as much as you like. It's very well marketed. When I stopped they refunded the money without any hassle.

Even better go with a couple of friends on the overnight Caen ferry and drive to a 'U' or a 'LeClerc' in deepest Normandy and buy whatever the locals drink the most, by the caseload...
 

Saluki

World class procrastinator
Several places I buy from, online, include a voucher for Naked Wines. I've not been tempted tbh.
I might be wrong, but I seem to remember that some bottles were half size, not the 'normal' 75cl..
All my bottles were normal sized. No half bottles. I had a case of mixed reds.

I opted out of pestering emails and tended to buy when they had good offers on. Saving up £20 a month was simple enough and after opting out, I got a newsletter a month and would just visit the website on my own terms.
 
In terms of quality, the wines are mediocre to average...with some gems. Like Laithwaites et al, the difficulty is finding the gems. Getting value* is only really possible by becoming an 'Angel', otherwise they do not represent good value.
Go ahead and get the first case and then sign off. At least then, you can decide if the wines are then worth paying their 'full' price'. Be prepared for the marketing onslaught afterwards.

Depends on how you like to buy your wine too. And the sort of wine(s) you enjoy, it is very personal.

*Value - again, only you can decide this. It is possible to find value at £7/bottle or £12 or £17.
 
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