We aren’t just another wine club - we provide our club members with everyday wines along with a daily blog full of great wine information. Our articles are full of wine news, pairing suggestions, restaurant reviews, and party tips designed to help wine buyers ranging from complete novices to experienced drinkers looking for the next best bottle. Sure, we want you to purchase a membership to The South Beach Wine Club, but we also want you to stop by every day to see what's on our minds. And once you're here, we hope you comment on what you read.

The club is designed for those who like to enjoy wine every day and those who know that wine helps make a party great - no matter what size! But who has time to make that extra trip after work to the wine store, trolling through endless bottles of wine? You should spend your time enjoying the wine, so we pick great bottles at great prices for you. No more guess work!

We keep it simple - 3 different tiers: 2, 4 or 6 bottles per month.

The price is listed in the total price - no hidden shipping costs at check out.

Customize your shipment to be all reds, all whites, or a mix - because you never know.

Perfect gift for those busy friends who always like to have a bottle of wine around.

Regularly updated blog to provide you with helpful party tips, wine suggestions, and pairing ideas.

This weekend is the Florida Gators’ first game of the season, and orange and blue will be running rampant through the streets of Gainesville. Sure, most of the college kids will be sticking to cans of cheap beer and plastic bottles of liquor that have “classy” names on them. But for us older alumni, wine can be the perfect pair with tailgate foods. And perhaps one of my favorite tailgate foods (that is also great for a tailgate party) is chili.

With its bold flavors and meaty appeal, chili may seem best suited to a cold beer – and certainly, you can’t go wrong there. But what about wines? Will they mesh with the Lone Star State’s most famous dish? In a word: Yes! Here are a few suggestions, and why they work:

Zinfandel: A spicy, jam-packed red Zin will match the big, spicy flavors of your most robust “bowl of red.”

Syrah/Shiraz: Also possessing hints of spice, Shiraz will delight you. Try Shiraz-Cabernet blends from Australia if your chili is especially meaty.

Riesling: Rather than complementing the rich hearty chili flavors, go for contrasts with a sweeter style of Riesling from Germany. Its fruitiness and brightness will play well against the depth of flavors in the chili.

Sparkling Wines: Akin to beer, a nice fizzy wine will prove refreshing between bites. An inexpensive sparkler from Spain will offer the easygoing appeal you want with such a casual dish.

So add a few bottles of wine to your tailgate shopping list, and remember – GO GATORS!

I spent this past weekend in Philadelphia, and although I was hankering for a Philly cheese steak (with provolone and onions), only pizza seemed to be in the cards for me. Pizza with mushrooms, pepperoni pizza, Hawaiian pizza – it seemed all my friends who were on a diet where eagerly awaiting my visit just so they could grub on their favorite fast food!

And although some ice cold Coke was good with lunch, wine was what we had with dinner. For the best match of wine with pizza, take a tip from your toppings. Focus on the dominant flavors in the topping and look for a wine that complements them. As a general rule, heat and spices will take well to a sweet or sparkling wine, while toppings with strong, earthy flavors get along best with wines on the dry side.

Start with the classic pairing: a pizza loaded with tomato sauce, mozzarella and pepperoni, alongside a bottle of Chianti, made from the Sangiovese grape. Chianti’s heartiness and acidity go well with the bite of the sauce, the creaminess of the cheese and the saltiness of the pepperoni. Chianti isn’t the only option, of course; Sauvignon Blanc, the near-universal wine, also works surprisingly well. But neither of these is right for every type of pizza.
Here are some pizza types and some wines that complement them. If your choice does not lead to love at first bite (and sip), just save the bottle for after dinner!

WHITE PIZZA WITH MUSHROOMS – The “white” means cheese with no tomato sauce base, so the usual high-acid choices that complement tomatoes will not do. If the cheese is only mildly salty and the mushrooms dominate, you could pair this pizza with the complexity and intensity of a Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot. Or elevate the pie into a total gourmet occasion with Champagne. The effervescence will cut through the richness of the cheese and accent the mushrooms indulgently.

SPINACH AND GARLIC – One of Brett Baxter’s favorites, this is one of the rare gourmet pizza types that can stand up to Chianti (a pesto topping is another). Why settle for the ordinary, though? Sangiovese, made from the same grape as Chianti but lighter, spicier and more complex, has a natural love affair with garlic. This earthy topping pair also goes well with the fragrant fruitiness of Valpolicella or the simplicity of a Pinot Noir.

GOAT CHEESE – Look for a dry Sauvignon Blanc, which has the versatility to support this cheese’s creamy mildness.

HAM AND PINEAPPLE – Usually referred to as a Hawaiian pizza, this style has a tricky one-two punch of salty and sweet. The combination requires a fruity white wine that’s midway between dry and sweet. Light, herbal Sauvignon Blanc fits the bill.

BARBECUE CHICKEN – One of my personal favorites, I suggest a German or California Riesling. This varietal  gets along with the peppery sweetness of this increasingly popular pizza.

THAI CHICKEN – The spicy peanut sauce calls for a sweet white wine, such as an Italian Pinot Grigio (or its West Coast relative, Pinot Gris), or a spicy, aromatic Gewurztraminer, which is widely produced in the United States now as well as in Germany. Don’t overlook a sparkling wine or Champagne. The bubbles bring a flair to sweet and spicy ethnic food.

Although I just returned from a weekend of eating way too much pizza, this article just put me in the mood for more. But now that I’m back on Miami Beach, my choices of quality pizza shops are quite tiny. I think I’ll head to Primo’s which is South of Fifth. If you don’t know it – find it. It’s the closest thing to New York style pizza on the beach!

In the evolution of form vs. function in wine packaging, natural cork progressed to become synthetic cork, and then advanced again to screwtops.  Anyone who tried to keep track of premium wines sealed with screwtops instead of traditional corks ran out of fingers long ago. The march toward twist-off closures has done nothing but accelerate in recent years. Why? Besides eliminating the possibility of cork taint, screwtops are just plain easier to deal with than corks. What’s more, the screwtop’s success has emboldened producers and marketers, leading to other innovations in contemporary wine packaging: the seal, the size, and the presentation.

Single-serving (187ml) packaging, for instance, is growing at double the rate of the overall market since 2003. Much of this boom comes from upscale bubblies. Taittinger, Pommery, and Piper-Heidsieck are a trio of famous French Champagne houses pitching teeny bottles (with chic straws attached). Francis Coppola went a step further, putting his Sofia mini in a can (yes I realize this seems sacrilegious). This wave of mini-vinos offers multiple advantages. They make it easier to enjoy single servings without having to deal with leftovers. They also are easier to tote on a picnic.  And for all the men out there with pregnant wives, just think of how much less of a tease a small wine bottle will be with dinner.

At the same time that mini bottles have blossomed, so have big boxes. These days, some prestigious producers are putting their bottle-worthy juice into efficient glass-free packages. Logically speaking, boxes are superior to bottles for the simple reason that their push button dispensers allow wine to flow out without air getting back in. The collapsing “bag-in-box” technology lets the wine stay fresh for weeks instead of mere days. Moreover, boxes are incredibly economical, both in terms of production and shipping. Wineries also pass along the savings to customers. The same wine that costs $7 to $8 in a standard 750ml bottle can be had in a 3-liter box (4 bottles’ worth) for less than $20. Do the math, and that’s under $5 a bottle.

“Tetra-packs” could be the next big step in the evolution of wine. The same technology used for juice boxes is being tried for Pinot Grigio in a 1-liter size by Three Thieves, the same California brand that scored big in 2004 with its consciously hip 1-liter jugs of red varietals. The snap closure doesn’t preserve the wine any better than screwtops after opening, but the nifty rectangular container fits nicely in a fridge door.

Retro jugs and colorful Tetra-packs fit right into another palpable trend in wine packaging, namely the emergence of so-called “fun wines.” Red Truck, Three Blind Moose, Jest Red, Fat Bastard, Twin Fin, Little Penguin, Smoking Loon, and Red Bicyclette are just a few examples of fun, everyday labels. It doesn’t take a Spectator-toting connoisseur to realize that these are not serious wines. In fact, it doesn’t take much more than a second or two. They just look like fun. And they taste fun, too: smooth, fruity, easy.

To be clear, I’m not saying that I would break out a 3-liter box of wine when I have family over for a nice dinner.  However, when having a South Beach style party, a big box of wine in the fridge will fit perfectly next to a case of…(fill in the blank with your preferred beer).