When my weekends went from super busy to nothing, I fell into a rut real fast. Friday and Saturday nights were spent on the couch, watching movies I'd already seen. After a few weeks of doing nothing, I decided I needed something new! Something spicy!

I asked my friends if they were doing anything fun - there were nightly walks, organizing DIYs, some rewatches of Parks And Recreation… ugh, we'd really done it all, hadn't we? One friend told me she was waiting for her Tasting Room wine kit to arrive - she took a short quiz online detailing some taste preferences, like light or dark chocolate, and based on her answers, they were sending her 6 miniature bottles of wine to taste and rate, before she got 4 full-size bottles.

I'd tried a wine subscription before, but after 2 months, I really wasn't impressed with what they were sending me. She told me to be quiet about my mediocre experience - with Tasting Room's mini-starter kit, you get to really figure out the wines you like, and when you continue rating, the algorithm learns what you really like. And it's all high-quality wine, from some of the best vineyards from all over the world.

She and her husband were going to make a charcuterie plate and taste all the wines.

That sounded so cute! My goodness did I miss a good glass of wine with some fig jam, brie spread, and prosciutto. And we'd been buying the same 3 reds all quarantine. I'll admit, I'm nervous to try anything new.

I thought I'd wait for my friend's kit to arrive, and then her full-size kit to arrive before I thought about purchasing, but I was so bored, and the kit wasn't too expensive, so I bought it!

I picked up some soft goat cheese, hard gouda, this other cheese that smelled good, honey, dates, olives, thin crackers, and a little soppressata. When my friend's kit arrived, she told me she had so much fun, and she really loved a couple of the wines - she told me she could also finally articulate why she didn't love the others.

The kit arrived in a sleek black box. This was way easier than putting on a mask and going to the liquor store, trying not to bump into anyone as I browsed.

I opened it up to reveal my 6 little bottles. Yay! I assembled my cheese plate and grabbed two wine glasses - one for the reds, and one for the whites. As I drank, I followed along with the guidelines from the kit - it helped me describe the different wines. Were they dry? Jammy? Were there notes of chocolate? Melon?

It was really fun! And I'd been looking forward to it all day. I'm so excited for my first month's full-sized shipment to come - it ended up being super affordable at around $13 a bottle. The rating process is so thorough that I'm also confident it's going to be good. Tasting Room gives you notes on every bottle you get, so I'd get to do this tasting experience every time if I wanted to.

I never thought I'd have any interest in a wine subscription, but Tasting Room helps make nights-in a lot more enjoyable. Follow this link to get your wine tasting kit for only $9.95 (that's $30 in savings!)