HOW OURGLASS WORKS
Who chooses the wines, what arrives, how the education compounds, and why you can leave any time.
THE SHORT ANSWER
Ourglass is a wine subscription that sends small-producer wines with the context to understand why they matter. You choose a tier, we choose the wines. Every box includes printed tasting notes, food pairings, producer profiles, and short video guides. You can pause, skip, or cancel at any time. We do not exist to send you wine. We exist to make you better at choosing it yourself. Tiers and pricing are on our subscriptions page.
Most people settle for the same four wines because choosing anything else feels like a gamble. We remove that gamble.
WHAT OURGLASS IS
Ourglass is a wine subscription built around small-producer wines and the context that makes them meaningful.
We built Ourglass for wine lovers, not wine bores. The wines are serious. The tone is not. Every bottle comes with material designed to make you more confident, not more confused. If you want to know what actually arrives in a box, we wrote a separate page for that.
HOW WE CHOOSE THE WINES
Ben and Julia taste together every month. The selection criteria are consistent: typicity (does this wine taste like where it comes from?), balance, regional accuracy, producer intent, and price-to-quality integrity. We are not chasing novelty. We are building a sequence that teaches you something cumulative.
We taste broadly and select narrowly. We avoid wines that feel engineered for ratings rather than for drinking. Most of what we try does not make the cut. The wines that do share a quality: they reward attention. They taste different on the second pour. They make you want to know what the producer was thinking.
The selection changes every month. That is deliberate. Repetition is comfortable but it does not teach you anything. Range does. To see what a recent selection looks like, see what is in an Ourglass box.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU JOIN
You pick a tier. You choose monthly or bi-monthly delivery. Billing happens at the start of each cycle. Boxes ship mid-month. You receive confirmation emails before billing and shipment.
Your first box is the one people remember.
You can log into your account at any time and change frequency, tier, or delivery preferences. If you want to switch from mixed to red only, or move up a tier, it takes about thirty seconds.
There are six tiers, from The First Time (3 bottles, £50 per month) to Northern Star (by invitation). The three most popular are:
If you are unsure, start with The First Time. Move up a tier the moment it feels easy.
The First Time. 3 bottles, £50 per month. Tasting notes, pairings, and a welcome guide. If you want to stop feeling like you are guessing, this is where you start.
The Next Level. 4 small-producer bottles, £90 per month. Detailed notes, food pairings, and video guides. If you are bored of your defaults and want range with structure, this is the step up.
The Producers. 4 critic-acclaimed bottles, £120 per month. Producer profiles and wines that set the benchmark for their region, with vintage context so you understand why. If you want proper context and not random variety, this is where you go.
The Traveller. 6 bottles, £180 per month. Regional deep dives with masterclass video library. If you want to understand a place through its wine, not just drink from it, this is the tier that travels for you.
The Master. 8 bottles, £270 per month. Everything in Traveller plus a personal wines concierge. If you have outgrown recommendations and want someone who knows your palate curating at the edges of what you know, start here.
Northern Star. 4+ bottles, £500 per month. By application. Private tasting events, exclusive winery trips, and access to allocations that never reach a shelf. If wine is already a serious part of your life and you want it to become an exceptional one.
| Tier | Bottles | Monthly Price | Perfect For | Includes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The First Time | 3 | £50 | Crowd Pleasers | Tasting & pairing notes, welcome guide, eco packaging, cancel or pause anytime |
| The Next Level | 4 | £90 | Explorers | Everything in First Time plus priority member support |
| The Producers | 4 | £120 | Cultists | Everything in Next Level plus first access limited wines |
| The Traveller | 6 | £180 | Terroirists | Everything in Producers plus masterclass video library |
| The Master | 8 | £270 | Rares | Everything in Traveller plus personal wines concierge |
| Northern Star | 4+ | £500 | Collectors | Everything in Master plus private tasting events and exclusive winery trips |
If you want to understand what makes a good wine club before choosing, that is worth reading first. If you are weighing up whether a wine subscription is worth it at all, we wrote that one too.
THE EDUCATION LAYER
Most wine subscriptions sell wine. We sell judgment.
That difference compounds.
That is not a slogan. It is the operating model. The tasting notes, food pairings, video guides, and producer profiles are not extras. They are the product. The wine is how you practise.
Each box builds on the last. The first gives you a vocabulary. The third gives you comparisons. By the sixth you are choosing wines in shops using criteria you did not have before, and you are doing it without looking anything up.
Our Taste Decoded series explains the science behind this: how context shapes flavour perception, why experience beats memorisation, and what the research actually says about developing taste. Our grape varieties guide covers every major variety you will encounter across the tiers.
As one member put it: "Our friends and neighbours now think of us as 'wine people' which is hilarious given our actual knowledge, but we go along with it."
FLEXIBILITY
Pause whenever you like. Skip a month. Cancel entirely. Change tier. Switch between mixed, red, and white.
No lock-in. No exit interview. No awkward emails.
We would rather you came back in three months because you missed it than stayed out of obligation. Confidence in the product means no clinginess.
WHO IS BEHIND IT
The team:
Ben Johnson founded Ourglass in 2017 after 20 years in brand strategy at Ogilvy, AKQA, BBH, and McCann. He runs wine selection, content, and the taste systems that connect every bottle to the education library. Julia leads wine sourcing and producer relationships, working directly with small estates across Europe. Dave leads design and brand. Kate and Nick handle operations and member experience.
The advisory board:
Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy, advises on behavioural science and the psychology of taste. Frank Cotroneo, former CFO of Mastercard Europe, advises on financial architecture. Matthew Gaunt, former CMO of Majestic Wine, advises on wine retail strategy.
The team makes the wine decisions. The board pressure-tests the system. They are separate roles and we keep them that way. More on the people and the thinking at /about. For Rory's perspective on taste, identity, and why confidence matters more than knowledge, read his conversation with us on Taste Decoded.
NEXT STEP
Pick a tier, choose monthly or bi-monthly, and pause or cancel whenever you like.
GO DEEPER
Is a Wine Subscription Worth It?
Taste Decoded A Beginner's Guide to Wine
Wine Grape Varieties: The Definitive Guide
FAQ
How is Ourglass different from other wine subscriptions? Most subscriptions optimise for logistics. We optimise for learning. Every wine is chosen to teach you something about a grape, a region, or a style. That is why each box builds on the last instead of repeating comfort favourites. For more on what separates a serious wine club from a box-shifting operation, read what makes a good wine club.
Can I really cancel any time? Yes. No minimum commitment. No exit fees. No retention calls. Cancel in your account settings whenever you want.
Who actually chooses the wines? Ben and Julia. Every month. The advisory board does not select wines. They advise on strategy, behavioural science, and business architecture. The wine decisions are made by the people who drink them.
What if I already know a lot about wine? The higher tiers are designed for experienced drinkers. The Producers tier features benchmark wines with vintage context and producer philosophy. The Traveller and Master tiers go deeper still. Our Taste Decoded series adds the behavioural science and sensory framing that even experienced tasters rarely encounter.
Do you ship outside the UK? Not yet. UK delivery only for now.
How do I know which tier is right for me? Start with The First Time if you are unsure. Move up the moment it feels easy. There is no penalty for changing tier and most members do within the first six months.