Naked Wines review: We tested the $100 voucher to see if it's actually a good deal

When you buy through our links, Business Insider may earn an affiliate commission.Learn more

If you love discovering new bottles without splurging on a sommelier,Nakedwines.commight hit your sweet spot. The company partners with more than 150 independent winemakers worldwide and uses a direct-to-consumer model that cuts out the middlemen — meaning you get unique wines for less.

You may have come across a $100 voucher for Naked Wines and might be wondering if the offer is legit. Good news: it is. Here's my experience trying Naked Wines.

How Naked Wines works

Naked Wines isn't your typicalwine subscription. You can order wines as you like (a minimum of six bottles), but the real perks come with becoming anAngel member. Angels invest $40 a month — money they can later spend on wine — and get 40% to 60% off every order, access to exclusive small-batch bottles, tasting invites, and priority support.

Think of it as Shark Tank for winemakers: Angels help fund projects, and in return, get early access to great bottles. For example, 2,000 Angels once helped South African winemakerCarmen Stevens(reportedly South Africa's first black woman to graduate in wine-making) raise $200,000 in just eight hours to produce her wines.

Naked Wines $100 voucher: Is it legit?

I'd wager most people wind up on the site thanks to a generous$100 voucherfor new customers — I received mine inside the box of a Bloomingdale's purchase. Using the voucher, I got a Discovery Case with 12 bottles of wine for $79.99, instead of its current sale price of $179.99 (its traditional cost is listed at $264). The promo varies a bit depending on how many bottles are in the box — my colleague redeemed a $50 voucher for six bottles of wine.

For that price, the wines overdelivered. They're what I'd call "weekday wines" — easy-drinking, approachable, and consistently good. The Shiraz-Viognier from South Africa was a standout. Nothing overly complex or challenging, just crowd-pleasing bottles you'll actually want to open midweek.

Wine community

What makes Naked Wines even more appealing is that it's also pretty social. Winemakers and members interact with each other. Winemakers get feedback directly from customers, and customers can ask them questions. Indirectly, members can rate and recommend wines to each other or join discussion groups like "Wine 'n Dine," a food pairing message board.

This communication creates an optional whirlpool of discovery and self-improvement, which is baked into the business from the top down to the granular level of your account; if you don't like a wine, give it a thumbs down in your Naked Me account. From then on, they'll help steer you away from wines that taste similar to the ones you didn't enjoy. Naked Wines also uses this as an indirect polling system, helping them determine which winemakers are doing the best job of making wines people really love.

The bottom line

All in all, Naked Wines has good wine for an accessible price, with the opportunity to be as involved as you want to be. It's also easy to cancel right in your online account if you change your mind as opposed to calling or emailing customer service.

If you use Naked as a casual wine drinker, you'll discover great and affordable wines (even if you don't take advantage of the $100 off coupon) through an interesting system that makes you feel more involved than just ordering another case of wine online.