Free wine?
It seems that nowadays we can get almost all things for free – free samples, free trial, free subscription, free classes, free diet food boxes, so why not to talk about free wine?
We are to discuss not only how to get some free wine along the way, but how to buy your wine as gluten-free, sugar-free, alcohol-free, sulfites free (no added sulphites), but also with a free delivery and together with some free samples of food. Join our healthy and happy wine community and sign up for our weekly newsletter to reveal a promotion that includes free wine! In the meantimes, let’s crack on with this guide to all kinds of free wine!
Vegan, vegetarian and gluten free wines
First of all, what about your dietary requirements?
Most of supermarkets, only only and specialised wine retailers (think Majestic, Waitrose, Laithwaite’s) clearly mark their wines as vegetarian or vegan if you require wines which were not filtered or clarified using animal derived materials. I find it comforting to know that it has been made without such intervention.
Some people ask about gluten-free wines. We should add that most wines are gluten free as they are made from grapes, so they should be marked as gluten free. However there are a few notable exceptions – wines can be aged in oak barrels which were treated with glutenous substances (flour paste to seal them) and secondly those wines could be also fined or clarified with the substances containing gluten, so these wines will not be strictly gluten free! These winemaking procedures are fairly rare now yet there is no major requirement to mark the wines as gluten free as the amount of potential gluten is actually very low. You are safe, do not worry!
Sulfites free wines
We have been writing about no sulphites added wines since the beginning of this healthy and happy community. Have a look at our Organic Wines FAQ to learn more about organic, natural (in most cases sulphite free) and biodynamic wines. They all offer more health benefits due to a reduction in harmful chemical compounds presents in the conventional wines – think about loads of pesticides used in non-organic farming and imagine that you are drinking all that! We are regularly reviewing organic wines and run The Best Organic Wines top list, but also a list of wines to avoid; in additional that our monthly feature of Wines to buy or avoid regularly reviews organic and in some cases sulfites free wines. Check out November issue for 2 no sulphites added wines and other organic wines. Have a look also at Sulphite free wine cases sold by Organic Wine Club, it offers a very good value, so you can try it without breaking the bank.
Sugar free wines
Wine can be that sugary drink that will not contribute to your health at all. Dryness of wine is one of the factors to look at when buying your wine. Look at bone dry red or white wines or Brut Nature when choosing sparkling ones to get your sugar free wine. Otherwise you are to buy a dry one with 1-10 grams of sugar per litre, off-dry wine (most of sweet-ish New World reds and some off-dry whites like Vouvray) will cost you 10-35 g/l and sweet wines will be from 35 to whopping 120 g/l. We are talking about residual sugars - those which were left in wine after fermentation, it is more or less natural cause of why your wine is sweet-ish or very sweet. Look at the cheapest wines in the market - they were sweetened additionally to make them taste better (otherwise they would really taste awfully acidic and bitter) and should be avoided at all cost. Yet it is not simple as there is no requirement to state how much sugar is in wine (and its nature) on the label. Shocking, but true. This is when a term 'cheap piece of crap' comes in to play - most of wines that you find at £5 mark in the UK are with increased amount of residual sugar or artificially sweetness, so our motto is same - drink better wines and drink less!
Alcohol free wines
We must be honest with you - even though such thing exists as de-alcoholised wines (you can check out some examples of de-alcoholised wines produced by Torres and more at Amazon here), we are not fans at all. They taste awful and why not to buy a packet of Merlot grape juice from Waitrose instead?
Another point of interest here is actually lower alcohol wines - these are gaining massive popularity now as people decide to opt for lighter styles of wines, consume less alcohol units and stay healthy and happy. Check out our quick guide to alcohol units in wine here.
If you visit Amazon.co.uk, you can find a selection of lower alcohol wines including some examples from the UK. Ocado also offers a selection of 12 wines (at the moment of writing), which are grouped in a special Low Alcohol Wines webpage.
Majestic Wine does not have a special page for them, but you can search by abv - there are currently 27 wines that are below 12% abv, so you will have some options there too.
Wines with free delivery
So who is offering a free delivery for your wine orders? Waitrose Cellar is one of the most reputable companies to offer free standard delivery on all orders provided there are at least 6 bottles in your order.
Majestic Wine goes even further - they will offer the same free delivery on all orders of 6 bottles or more and on top of that they will arrange it themselves using their own drivers and vans, so expect a call to discuss when it is most convenient for you. Amazing service!
Perfect Cellar is a relatively unknown brand in the UK, so they are going one step further and offering a free next day (weekday) delivery on all orders of £50 or more and they will also ring you up to confirm the suitable time. If you live in London and urgently need to wine they are to offer a same day (not free unfortunately, but for a price of £12.5) delivery service. Is it what you may call an 'Amazon' of wine?
Free wine with food
We are big fans of organic food and organic produce in general. It does not have the prolonged shelf life and it is better to source your food locally. If you sign up for vegetable, fruit, meat, poultry, game and other (i.e. salad) boxes from Abel and Cole you are getting both gorgeous organic produce delivered weekly to your door in an environmentally friendly packaging and ability to add some wine with your food. We have partnered with them to get you the best signup offer possible, so you will get your 4th weekly box for free, but also recipe cards, free organic olive oil or a bottle of Prosecco, which is now one of the most popular Italian sparkling wine. Please note that the signup offers differ from season to season, so check them out today to reveal your Abel and Cole welcome offer.
Free wine when placing your first order
Perfect Cellar is one of these companies who reward joining their wine club generously - if you just place your first order (min £50) you are to receive a generous £12 off and free next day delivery - use our code IBTW12. If you decide to join their wine club and subscribe to expertly selected wine cases you are to get £50 off your first case - that is a lot of free wine don't you think (make sure you subscribe to their newsletter to reveal a code for £50 off)?
Free wine roundup
You can see that nothing is really free, but knowing the facts you can still do much better than everyone else - be it knowing more about wines, drinking organic and of course save money on your wine cases and orders - our advice is also free, but we hope you will make the most of it.
Cheers!
