Wine company offers mindblowing ‘lifelong subscription’ for just US$6,000

A Californian wine company is offering members four bottles of wine per month for the entire duration of their lives, despite acknowledging “This is a really bad deal for us”.

As financial gambles go, it’s quite the punt. California-based Obvious Wines has launched a deal for 2022, in which members can sign up for a ‘lifelong wine membership’.

For US$6,000, members can order any four bottles of wine from the company’s website per month, every month, for the rest of their life.

Any wine currently listed on the Obvious Wines website is eligible for order, shipping and taxes are covered, and limited-edition wines are also eligible.

Calling it “an excellent deal when considering rising inflation rates”, Jake Ralph from Obvious Wines says members will see a “return on their investment in just seven years”.

But, will Obvious Wines see a return on theirs?

With the current life expectancy for US residents in 2021 estimated to be 78.99 years old, essentially 79, according to UN projections, this means that if a 21-year-old legal drinker were to subscribe to the Obvious Wine deal, they would enjoy 2,784 bottles of wine throughout their lifetime membership, if they were to live to 79 years old.

That amounts to 46 cents per bottle of wine. A single purchase bottle of wine on the company’s website starts at $US18.

58 years of membership = 696 months x 4 bottles per month = 2,784 bottles of wine per lifetime

2,784 per lifetime divided by US$6,000 = 0.464 = 46 cents per bottle.

“We’ve done the math and is is a really bad deal for us, but hey, you only live once,” says a statement on the website.

Obvious Wines is marketing the deal as a savvy investment for subscribers, describing it as “a Roth WineRA”.

A statement put out by the company says: “Who knows what a sustainable and boutique bottle of wine will go for in 10-20 years?”

It’s unknown what would happen to the lifelong subscription were the company to be sold on, or whether a new buyer would be obliged to honour existing memberships. However, it’s one way for a relatively young company (Obvious Wines was founded in 2018) to get its hands on a lot of cash, quickly.

Brice Baillie, founder and CEO of Obvious Wine said: “What if you always knew you had a quality wine to come home to? What if you never had to worry about having wine for an unexpected guest again?

“Working in the wine trade, we can be somewhat desensitised to such conveniences as we often have an excess of great boutique wine on hand. Our goal is to make that same peace of mind more accessible.”

Obvious Wines describes itself as an eco-friendly, vegan wine collection that collaborates with family-owned, boutique wineries dedicated to sustainable practices ranging from solar-powered energy to organic farming.

Its wines include Bright & Crisp, a Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire Valley; Rich & Oaky, a Californian Chardonnay; Dark & Bold, a red blend made of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Tannat and Malbec.