Let’s just put this out there: Miss Kitty and Captain Love like their drinks. Though the Cap’n might not have been a wine lover before he met his beautiful bride, he’s been converted to her boozy ways in recent years. While both love a good cocktail (don’t ask about Miss Kitty’s Black Russian nights) and neither will turn down a craft beer (a nice crisp lager for him, a peel-the-paint-off-the-walls IPA for her), they’ve also been known to enjoy a bottle of wine (or two) while out and about (or from the comfort of the couch.)
Since Captain Love gravitates toward the finer things in life and Miss Kitty is frugal (a.k.a. a cheap-ass) and, since Miss Kitty does most of (ahem all) of the shopping, there was a discrepancy in the types and quality of wines that should be purchased. Miss Kitty saw nothing wrong with a $7 bottle (even that could be a tough purchase as she thinks that Trader Joe’s sells some REALLY EXCELLENT $5 bottles) while Captain Love tended to believe anything under $20 was probably swill. Swill that he would, of course, drink, but swill nonetheless.
Enter the FirstLeaf Wine Club. Captain Love had the very good idea to subscribe them to this club for Miss Kitty’s Christmas gift a couple of years ago. He was so excited to give it to her that it didn’t even make it until the end of December (and all the wine in the first order was drunk well before Santa filled the stockings.)
For the low price of $89.94 per month (with $9.95 in shipping and $6.93 in taxes), FirstLeaf delivers six bottles of wine to your home. What kind of wines, you may ask? That’s up to you. The Kit and Captain chose three reds and three whites even though the Mr. doesn’t really drink white (we all know who’s in charge of picking the wines, right?), but you could choose all reds, all whites, one and five, etc. etc. You can also opt into getting one or more bottles of rose. Six bottles not enough, you raging alcoholics? You can upgrade to more wines for $10 a bottle.
The wines are likely not ones you’ve bought off the grocery stores shelves. They come from South Africa, Argentina, Chile, Spain, and California and are all curated by the professional FirstLeaf team. Have we ever had a wine we didn’t like? That’s tough to say because Miss Kitty has really NEVER had a wine she didn’t like and Captain Love tends to think most reds (which is all he drinks) taste pretty similar. Both are currently working on refining their palates. Let’s just say this: none of the bottles have been poured down the drain.
But let’s get back to the ordering process. Each month, you get some say in which wines you will receive. Six are chosen for you based on your preferences and you have six swap options for that month. If you use a swap on a bottle of wine, another one pops up. If you don’t like that option, you can swap it again. Be careful with this option. Miss Kitty often tries to get an interesting white by continually swapping a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc (which she really enjoys) only to end up with a Chardonnay (her least favorite white.) Once you’ve used up the swaps, you’re done. If you get a bottle of Chardonnay from Miss Kitty for your birthday, now you know why.
Once your bottles have been chosen, you lock them in and can choose to have them shipped immediately, or on your previously chosen delivery date. If you like to live dangerously, you can skip the choosing and swapping altogether and be surprised once your box arrives in the mail.
Your box will look like this:
Note that you need to be home to receive the shipment as the company doesn’t want your 12-year old chugging Cab and throwing up on your carpet before you get home from work. Or anytime, really. If no one 21 or over is home during the day, you might want to consider having it shipped to your office as it’s very easy to miss deliveries. If you do miss it, they will try to deliver it again.
When you open your box, you’ll find it’s packed nice and tight so that nothing can happen to your precious wine.
You’ll also find a large flier with more information on a featured wine region as well as an envelope with cards for each bottle of wine.
There have been times when cards have not been provided for all the wines in the box. Miss Kitty reached out to the company to ask why and they explained that some of the wines were brand new and they had not had a chance to make cards for them yet. It’s nice when all the cards come, though, because they are very helpful—especially if you’re still learning about wine appreciation. Not only do they give more info on the wines, but they also suggest food pairings and have other helpful tips.
Once you’ve tried out your wines, you can rate them on the website so the FirstLeaf team knows what to send you more or less of in future orders. This is an option that Miss Kitty always forgets about and therefore probably is not getting the best wines possible. Though, again, she probably wouldn’t even notice if she WAS getting the best wines possible. Naivete can be a gift.
So what’s the verdict? Miss Kitty definitely gives FirstLeaf a thumbs up. She always knows there will be wine in the house, she doesn’t have to stress about whether she should get over herself and buy something nice or stick to her cheap ways, and she always loves finding a box of boozy surprises when she gets home. Captain Love also gives it a thumbs up because he knows it makes Miss Kitty happy and he knows the wine he is drinking is of good quality. He doesn’t get to make fun of Miss Kitty for being cheap when she brings home a $5 bottle of Pinot Noir, however, so that’s not as much fun for him.
If you’re learning to love wine and don’t want to be baffled in the liquor store, you should definitely give FirstLeaf a try.
