About Bright Cellars
A blueprint for your palate. The Bright Cellars Wine Club review will show you how the founders of Bright Cellars, two graduates from MIT, created a formula that pairs you with wines specifically selected to match your tastes. Their wines are available for shipment to almost anywhere in the US and they were recently featured in 2020 Reader’s Choice selection for The 13 Best Wine Subscription Boxes.
This Bright Cellars Wine Club review will take you on an in-depth look at the brand, its algorithm, customer ratings, promotions, and more to help you decide if the service is right for you.
Overview of Bright Cellars
Bright Cellars features wines from vineyards all around the world, including Italy, Spain, Portugal, and South America. Only 1 out of every 12 wines tasted will make it into their monthly collections.
The Bright Cellars mission is two-fold:
- Match you with wines that will entice your taste buds and personalize your experience.
- Take you on a journey of discovery to educate you and transform your knowledge.
You might be wondering, where is Bright Cellars located? The online wine club was founded in Milwaukee, in 2014, by two MIT grads who roomed together as students. Their data driven algorithm sets you up for a wine adventure tailored just for you.
Here are the highlights that the Bright Cellars Wine Club review came across.
Pros
- Wine selections are calculated to match your specific tastes
- Your personal formula improves with each rating and gets to know you better
- Wine delivered straight to your door
- For each selection, the website describes the wine’s main flavor ingredients
- Glass Half Full blog educates you on your wine journey
- Receive a 50%/$40 off Bright Cellars discount code via email, for your first shipment
- Referral and Membership rewards
Cons
- Bright Cellars costs are a little higher compared to other subscription boxes
- There are no customer reviews on the site
- You can only make changes to your account by contacting the Wine Concierge team via phone or email
- It can take 3-5 business days for the concierge to respond to your email
- Redeeming your first-time discount is confusing, and you may miss out
How Bright Cellars Wine Club Works
First, you take the Bright Cellars online quiz. Your answers to seven questions set the baseline for your formula. The Bright Cellars algorithm then compares your answers to 18 attributes and presents four wine selections.
For the first order, you will receive a discount link in your email. Be sure to wait for that email and click on the Bright Cellars promo code link, or you may miss out on your 50% off savings. Club members receive four bottles of wine each month, with the option to change to monthly or quarterly if you prefer. If you want to take a vino break, there’s an option to skip a month at any time.
As you try the wines, you’re encouraged to rate them on the Bright Cellars website. Make sure to take the time to rate the wines! Each rating is entered into your formula to customize selections even further.
Bright Cellars Wine Quiz
Now, the fun part! Taking the quiz and setting yourself up for the best wine choices for you. In this Bright Cellars Wine Club review, we’ll go through the quiz together for an inside look at the matching process.
Question 1. What is the one type of chocolate you could eat for the rest of your life?
- Dark chocolate
- Milk chocolate
- White chocolate
- Reese’s cup
- Snickers
Yummy! Milk Chocolate all the way.
Question 2. How do you like your tea?
- Iced and sweet
- Iced with no sugar
- Hot with sugar
- Arnold palmer (with lemonade)
- Brewed strong
- No tea, no tea!
Fascinating! What does tea have to do with wine? Brewed Strong it is.
Question 3: What’s your go to drink? (when you’re out of wine!)
- Margarita
- Beer
- Martini (dry)
- Whiskey/Scotch
- Mimosa
Whiskey/Scotch, kind sir!
Question 4: What is your favorite juice?
- Orange
- Grapefruit
- Grape
- Tomato
- Cranberry
- Is coffee juice?
Cranberry please.
5: What is your favorite wine pairing?
- A fine dinner
- A summer day at the beach
- A good book
- Your group of close friends
- A wild party
Another surprising question. Where we choose to drink wine affects our taste buds?!? A good book sounds cozy.
Question 6: How adventurous are you with new food and drink? (you can change this later)
- I’m here to try delicious, unique wine. Surprise me!
- Throw in the occasional fun one you think I’ll love.
- No surprises please.
Spontaneity! Throw in the occasional fun you think I’ll love.
7: Last question! Do you have a preference for red or white wines?
- Give me my best matches, red or white!
- Mostly white wines, but I’ll try an interesting red.
- Mostly red wines, but I’ll try an interesting white.
- Red wines only please!
- White wines only please!
Mostly red wines, but I’ll try an interesting white. Thanks!
Next up in this Bright Cellars Wine Club review, we’ll see how my answers and the fancy algorithm comes up with my wine selections.
Bright Cellars Customized Wine Recommendations
The algorithm worked its magic (I’m not even going to pretend I understand how), and here are my results:
Flavors: Plum, Raspberry, Black Raspberry, Black Pepper
Flavors: Raspberry, Boysenberry, Bell Pepper, Baking Spices
Flavors: Raspberry, Plum, Black Cherry, Chocolate
Flavors: Plum, Mulberry, Baking Spices, Earth
For each match, Bright Cellars gives a brief description explaining the different flavors. The card will also let you know where the wine is from, and what year it was made in. From here, you decide if you’re happy with the selections.
Sometimes, they don’t get it right on the first try. If any of their suggestions were off base, you can click the link at the bottom of the match. For instance, Don’t like Cabernet Sauvignon? A message will pop up, letting you know that you can swap this wine to get a new match, but that the change will be permanent. You can choose to keep the original match or get a new match.
A red blend is a safe bet for most red wine lovers and the Bright Cellars Wine Club review results provided two. A promising start. Notice how each wine has Bright Points that tell you how other customers felt about the wines (rated out of 100). All my recommendations are in the 90’s, so it’s safe to say they’re popular among club members.
How Much Does Bright Cellars Cost?
Let’s take a look at the Bright Cellars cost. Each bottle of wine is priced at $20 and you receive four bottles per month, for a total of $80/month, plus $8 shipping. This plus tax comes to $94.30/month for an average of $23.60/bottle.
This Bright Cellars Wine Club review feels that the wine is a bit pricier than some of the other wine subscription boxes, but if their taste guarantee holds true, it’s worth it. Before give our stamp of approval, we’ll turn to the people who can give us an honest impression of the club: its customers.
Bright Cellars Reviews: What Do Customers Think?
There are no customer reviews on the site itself, so we have to do some digging in this Bright Cellars Wine Club review. The Bright Cellars review on My Subscription Addiction shows a 3.4/5-star rating out of only seven subscriber ratings. Two of the three written comments are positive. These customers were happy with the service and response times. The third review is a 1-star review, where they experienced slow service and ran into issues when cancelling their order.
Bright Cellars Wine Club review also found Bright Cellars on sitejabber with a rating of 2.65/5 out of 103 reviews. Skimming through the comments, there’s mention of Bright Cellars customer service issues, issues with shipping, cancellation, and dissatisfaction with the wine selections.
There are similarly unfavorable reviews on the Better Business Bureau site, but it’s important to note that the company has an A rating, which is quite impressive. CustomerVoice.org rates Bright Cellars 9.6/10, and ConsumersAdvocate.org gave the wine club a 4.5/5-star rating.
Is Bright Cellars Worth It?
Maybe you’re new to wine and the idea of receiving bottles matched to your tastes is intriguing. Learning about the different wines could be a new hobby on your bucket list. Or maybe, you’ve been a wine aficionado for years, and you’re interested in tasting new wines from around the world that Bright Cellars can introduce you to.
Keep in mind before making your decision, the small snags that Bright Cellars Wine Club review came across.
- The first-time discount coming through an email and not being automatically applied to the cart.
- The fact that the discount is 50% off and not $50 dollars off, as stated in the email.
- Mixed customer reviews.
Being perfectly matched to delicious bottles of wine can be worth it. If you are willing to take the good with the bad and take into consideration everything you gleaned from the Bright Cellars Wine Club review, we feel Bright Cellars Wine Club is worth a try.
Bright Cellars Promotions & Discounts
Bright Cellars gives you a discount on your first order. Sounds awesome, right? Well, it is. Saving money is always good, but follow these steps to make sure you don’t miss out on your savings.
- Ignore the countdown at the top of your screen that says Click on CHECKOUT to get discounts. If you go to the checkout now, you will be paying full price for your order.
- Do not checkout until you get your Welcome to Bright Cellars email. This email will include a link to your discount.
- Don’t be disappointed when you only get $40 off and not $50 off. The email clearly states that you will receive a $50 credit on your first wine shipment. But when you click on the link, and you return to the website, you see that it’s 50% off and not a full $50 credit. And since, 50% of 80 is 40, you are only saving $40 on your first shipment.
Bright Cellars also offers Referral Rewards and a Member Rewards Program. You earn points through each. These points can be used for bonus bottles. What tastes better than drinking wine that’s personally selected for you? Trying free wine that’s personally selected for you.
Bright Cellars Sign Up
Visit BrightCellars.com to take the quiz, then sign up for a Bright Cellars account to view your matches.
After you click My Matches, you’ll notice a countdown at the top of the page that says Click on CHECKOUT to get discounts or Your Discount is Expiring in. When you click CHECKOUT, the countdown doesn’t stop. It keeps ticking down, but the message changes to We’re holding your matches.
This is where you notice that the prices don’t have any discounts. And the countdown might make you nervous and make you want to order right away. Wait for your Welcome to Bright Cellars email to get your $40 discount.
FAQ
How do you cancel Bright Cellars?
Is Bright Cellars easy to cancel? The Bright Cellars cancel window is 24 hours from the time you receive your order receipt via email. If you miss that window, you cannot cancel your order.
To cancel your Bright Cellars wine club subscription entirely, you must contact the Wine Concierge team by phone or email (see the next section of this Bright Cellars wine club review.
What is Bright Cellars’ Shipping Policy?
Bright Cellars ships throughout the United States. The person answering the door and signing for the package must be 21 years of age or older. UPS & FedEx will try a total of three times to ship you your wine. After three attempts, if there is still no one available to sign for the package, or no one home, they return the wine to Bright Cellars.
You’re eligible for a refund on these cases, but only a partial one by request. Your refund total will include the cost of your order, minus $25 to cover the returned shipment fee.
If you want your package held at a specific UPS or FedEx for pick up, you can contact Bright Cellars by email to set this up. Note that some shipments might be held up due to harsher weather. Bright Cellars doesn’t want your wine getting too hot or too cold.
What is Bright Cellars’ Return Policy?
Bright Cellars returns are strict. If you receive a wine that you’re not happy with, there are no refunds. If you receive a damaged or defective product, they may choose to refund you, but the discretion is theirs, and you need to let them know within 30 days of the order date. Bright Cellars gift card purchases are similarly non-refundable.
How to Contact Bright Cellars
The Bright Cellars team can be reached Monday through Friday between 9:00 a.m. CT and 5:00 p.m. CT. When contacting them via email, be prepared to wait 3-5 business days for a response. You can get in touch with Bright Cellars via:
- Text: 84410
- Call: 844-223-5527
- Email: concierge@brightcellars.com
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