A few months ago, I was looking for a unique Christmas gift for some neighbors of mine who are very good friends. They’re not the kind of neighbors you make a batch of cookies, Snickerdoodles, Peanut Blossoms, and Magic Bars, put them on a plastic covered paper plate with a bow that won’t stay on and call it a day. These are the people who baby-sat your small children when you went to the hospital at 2 a.m. to deliver your third child. They are the ones who fed your oldest daughter almost daily because she was always over at their house.
C and K are the people who make sure you eat at the cul-de-sac party and always keep your red Solo drink cup filled with wine. They’re the kind of friends you don’t give subpar homemade foodstuffs to; they’re the people you research the gifts and then wrap them up with a couple $6.95 bows and a lot of creativity.
Some years it’s easier to figure out what to give as a gift, and others? Not so much. This year was one of those years and I was really struggling to come up with something worthwhile. Christmas 2015 was very stressful and my creativity was at an all-time low.
While hanging out on the computer one day back in October, I took a quick, stress-relieving trip over to Twitter. I saw a link to a quiz that led me to something called BrightCellars.com. I was intrigued because after taking the quick and fun quiz used by BrightCellars to determine my taste in wines, it showed me my matches. It’s like the “Pandora” of wine selection in that the company refines my matches on a monthly basis after I rate how I enjoyed each wine sent to me.
Hmmm….would this be an ideal gift for my friends? Maybe or maybe not but it seemed like an incredibly perfect gift for me! So I signed up and have been getting wines delivered to my house since October. It appears I’m one of those “one for you, two for me” kind of present giver.
My first box arrived via FedEx right before 3 p.m. in late October. FYI–an adult over 21 must be home to sign for the delivery for obvious reasons. You may be asked to provide ID. Unfortunately, I was not carded by the Fed Ex driver on the day my wine was delivered. Guess there’s not that many underage kids with wrinkles!
Because of this requirement, Bright Cellars recommends having your wine deliveries sent to your office. I work from home and so does my husband so it’s safe for the delivery to come here.
Bright Cellars sends out a delivery notification as soon as your wine has shipped and gives you an estimated day of arrival; however, I have to throw in here that my delivery has always arrived several days ahead of schedule but I received notification about that change as well from my wine concierge, Maria Santacaterina. Yes, you have your own concierge!
Interacting with the concierge (aka customer service) is really easy and you’re made to feel almost like you’re their only customer. I received a handwritten thank you card (in this technology driven day and age?) back when I first joined, and it’s only been top notch ever since.
Opening your wine box is like monthly Christmas only more fun because you know that great tasting wine is at the other end of the unwrapping. The wine bottles are well packaged and they even come with jokes on the stickers that hold packing paper on. I always read every single one, sometimes out loud to my family. Mainly, they’re very punny but it still brings a smile.
With every box, you also receive an educational piece about various wines. It’s not dry (pun intended) and hard to read, it’s as entertaining as the labels. My last bit of education included with my shipment was about muscato, and now I know why I like it so much!
I have enjoyed getting wines every month. Each month is something different and I get to rate each wine and give feedback as to why I liked it or why I didn’t. For someone who picks out her wine based on how pretty the label is, well, this is definitely a step up.
Bright Cellars offers an opportunity to earn more bottles of wine. How awesome is that? For each new person who signs up to receive wine monthly using your custom link (who wouldn’t want this?), you receive an additional bottle of wine. I haven’t tried too hard to convince anyone to sign up because I wanted to give the service several month’s time to prove to me they’re worthy of my recommendation. Haven’t you been gung ho on a company because you thought they were awesome but then they fell flat? Yeah, me too so I didn’t want to take the chance.
Bright Cellars has been consistent and nonstop in the endeavor to impress me even four months into our relationship. I love that about them, and you will, too.
I have given my honest opinion on Bright Cellars, however, if you sign up for their awesome monthly service, I will receive an extra bottle of wine. You can earn the same bonus!
BrightCellars.com is an excellent idea for a hostess gift, Valentine’s Day, birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, births, and any other happy occasions. You will be very pleased with your gift selection, and more importantly, your recipient will be, too!
Bloggoneit's Blog 