The In Good Taste wines pitch is easy to explain in a sentence: instead of gambling on a full bottle of something you have never tasted, you drink your way through small pours from real wine regions and find out what you actually like. This In Good Taste review looks at what the brand sells, who the format genuinely suits, and where it gets awkward.
Short version: the tasting flight idea is the strongest part of the business, the 750ml range is the reward for people who already know their palate, and the seasonal calendars are how most people find the brand in the first place.
What In Good Taste actually sells
The brand positions itself around tasting flights and wine gifts, and the flagship idea is the countdown format: 24 nights, 24 mini bottles, 24 chances to sip and explore. The wines are sourced from France, Italy, Napa, Sonoma and Paso Robles, which is a deliberately broad spread rather than a single-region specialty.
Alongside the mini-bottle format sit two other lines. There is a catalog of 750ml bottles under in-house labels including La Pluma, Wild Child, Andiamo, Mr. B, Balance of Powers, Fortune Favors, Stealing Thunder and Crimson Rosella. And there are the calendars, which now extend beyond wine into cocktails and food pairings.
In Good Taste is, in other words, less a traditional winery storefront and more a discovery engine with a bottle shop attached.
The tasting flight format, assessed honestly
Small-format wine has one large advantage and one obvious cost.
The advantage is that tasting is comparative. You learn far more about your own palate drinking several small pours side by side than drinking one full bottle across an evening. A flight lets you notice that you prefer the saline, herbal edge of a Vermentino to the ripe raspberry of a Grenache, and that is genuinely useful the next time you are standing in front of a wall of unfamiliar labels.
The cost is efficiency. Small bottles mean more packaging per ounce of wine and more handling, and that is baked into every sampler format in every category, not just wine. If your goal is the lowest possible cost per glass, a flight is not it.
So the honest framing is this: you are buying a structured education plus the wine. If that appeals, the format is excellent. If it does not, go straight to the 750ml range and skip the flights entirely.
The range and the calendars
What the in-house labels cover
What stands out reading through the catalog is how little overlap there is. These are not eight versions of the same crowd-pleasing red.
- Reds with structure. Mr. B Cabernet Sauvignon leans on blackcurrant, plum and firm tannins with a cedar note. Wild Child Mourvedre goes darker and more savory, with black olive, leather and a meaty undercurrent.
- Reds with lift. Andiamo Sangiovese brings ripe cherry, dried herbs and a tangy acidity. Stealing Thunder Pinot Noir is the silky option, with red cherry, dried rose petal and barely-there tannins.
- Whites with personality. La Pluma Gewurztraminer is rose petal and lychee with warm spice behind it. Fortune Favors Vermentino is lime zest, white blossom and an almost saline freshness.
- Sparkling and rose. La Pluma Sparkling Brut is dry and chalky with a hint of toasted brioche. Crimson Rosella Sparkling Shiraz is the outlier: an inky red sparkling with blackberry jam, dark chocolate and cracked black pepper.
That last one is a good signal of how the range is built. A brand playing it safe does not stock a full-bodied sparkling Shiraz. For a wider view of where this sits among direct-to-door food and drink brands, our roundup of the best craft food and drink brands covers the category.
The calendars are the real hook
The seasonal calendars are where In Good Taste has clearly put its creative energy, and they are the products most likely to turn a curious browser into a customer.
The Wine Cocktail Advent Calendar holds 24 ready-to-drink wine-based cocktails, running from a cult-classic Espresso Martini to a tropical Pina Colada, each one curated to hold interest from the first door to the last. The brand calls it a first-year release with very limited availability.
The Food Pairing Advent Calendar is the cleverer idea. It is 24 doors of curated snacks chosen to make every glass taste better: truffle potato chips, Greek olives, dark chocolate and artisan crackers. Wines are not included, and In Good Taste says plainly that you add a Wine Advent Calendar to your cart for the full pairing experience.
Running two calendars side by side is obviously the more expensive route. It is also the only version of this product we have seen that treats snacks as part of the tasting rather than an afterthought.
Where In Good Taste gets awkward
Three things are worth knowing before you order.
First, timing. The Advent 750ml bottles are listed as beginning shipping in July 2026, which means a bottle you add to a cart is not automatically a bottle that arrives next week. Read the dates on the product page rather than assuming standard dispatch.
Second, the member layer. Several 750ml listings carry a Member Exclusive note asking you to log in and check out with big bottles all summer long. It is a reasonable loyalty mechanic, but it does mean the browsing experience and the buying experience are not identical for a first-time visitor.
Third, scarcity is real here. Both the Food Pairing and Wine Cocktail calendars are described as first-year releases with limited quantity and the familiar once-it-is-gone framing. For seasonal gifting, that means ordering early rather than in December.
There is also a practical note buried in the listings that works in your favor: orders placed under the same email are combined and shipped together, which is worth knowing if you are building an order across several visits.
The verdict: who should buy In Good Taste
Who it is for, and who should skip it
In Good Taste makes sense if you are curious but not yet confident. If you have a vague sense that you like reds but could not name a grape you reliably enjoy, a flight answers that faster and more cheaply than trial and error at full-bottle scale.
It also makes sense as a gift, because wine is famously hard to buy for other people. You are guessing at someone else's palate. A calendar sidesteps the guess entirely: the recipient does the discovering. Our guide to gourmet food and drink gifts you can ship makes the same argument across other categories.
Skip it if you already know exactly what you drink. Someone who buys the same southern Rhone red every month is better served going straight to the 750ml range, where Balance of Powers Cotes du Rhone is waiting with black currant, star anise and a suggestion to try it slightly chilled.
The bottom line
In Good Taste is doing something genuinely useful: it has turned wine discovery into a product rather than a chore. The range is broader and stranger than the category average, the calendars are well constructed, and the food pairing concept is a real idea rather than a marketing line.
The trade-offs are the ones that come with any sampler. You pay for packaging and curation, availability is seasonal, and the member layer adds a little friction. None of those are dealbreakers, but they are worth understanding before checkout.
If the goal is finding out what you actually like, browse the current flights and 750ml range at In Good Taste.
In Good Taste FAQ
What regions do the wines come from?
The brand lists France, Italy, Napa, Sonoma and Paso Robles, which covers both classic European styles and California expressions of the same grapes.
Does the Food Pairing Advent Calendar include wine?
No. It contains 24 curated snacks only, and In Good Taste recommends adding a Wine Advent Calendar to your cart for the full pairing experience.
Are the 750ml bottles available year-round?
Availability varies by listing. The Advent 750ml bottles are noted as beginning shipping in July 2026, and several carry a Member Exclusive note, so check the individual product page before ordering. For gifting that ships on a more predictable schedule, see our best food gifts delivered roundup.