Dear Wine Lover,

When people hear that I run the only private wine partnership in America, they assume I sit around in Napa tasting the latest ultra-smooth (and overpriced) cabernet sauvignon…

…or that I’m always jetting off to France to taste the latest 100 point St Emilion (which, surprise!… tastes the same as the 89 pt St Emilion!)…

They don’t expect to hear about the time our truck overheated on a single-lane mountain road with fog so thick you could barely see ten feet in front of you…

…or the number of times I’ve been kicked, trampled, and bucked off by horses…

…or the amount of strange meat cooked over an open fire I’ve eaten… or the even stranger dinner companions I’ve had (from guys who own private planes…to cowboys who have never even seen one up close)

In my weakest moments… say, when I’m trapped in a flashflood at night in the middle of the desert…

…well, in those moments I do sometimes wonder why I’m in this business at all.

After all it, would be far easier to buy a few thousand gallons of bulk juice from the California Central Valley (or southern Australia), mix in some oak extract and “mega-purple” dye, then slap a ‘cool’ label on it.

(Very common in the mass market wine world… especially in most so-called ‘wine clubs’… and that’s not the half of it… more on that in a moment…)

Of course, the members of my private wine partnership would never go for that.

Not that we’re wine snobs…

…we’re just a group of Americans who got tired of those flimsy wines you find at most supermarkets – you know the kind… the cheap throat-burning reds…the syrupy yellow whites…

The mass market wine industry’s best-held secret is just how similar their process has become to manufacturing at a soda pop plant… or worse, an oil refinery.

First, the vineyards aren’t your traditional old world vineyards… there are no gnarled fruit trees offering shade to the old vigneron as he carefully prunes his vines… tasting a grape every few minutes to see how they’re coming along…

These industrial vineyards stretch out for acres and acres… planted in rows wide enough for giant pesticide sprayers and machine harvesters to pass through…

Like a chicken farm, the operators take no chances when it comes to their profit margin.

Is this the new reality of modern wine making?

The grapes are often overwatered to artificially fatten them up (more juice = more money).

At the first hint of bad weather, they harvest the grapes still green… and later cover it up by adding more sugar during fermentation.

(A lot of those popular wines from California and Australia you find on kitchen counters are notoriously sugary – even if they cleverly use acids and tannins to hide the sweet taste)

In mass market vineyards, machine harvesters aren’t precise enough to grab only grapes… so the resulting juice also contains bits of twigs, leaves, dirt, and even insects.

So they run the wines through a centrifuge… then a micropore filter which completes the job of removing any trace of sediment…

It’s a sterile, safe way to make wine… but the sediment is precisely what contains those special aromas, unique to each vineyard, that we all seek in our wine…

And by the way, I’m far from the only one saying this:

As famous wine importer and best-selling author Kermit Lynch says:

 “Only in this century have we seen the hard-earned knowledge of the ancients discarded, almost overnight, in the name of progress…

“[Winemakers] feel secure with a sterile wine. I say if it is sterile is not alive.”

Or, as famous wine critic Robert Parker puts it:

“Anyone who tells you that excessive…filtration does not damage wine is either a fool or a liar.”

(Especially true for Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays… they get destroyed by this)

There’s a reason that modern wineries look more like oil refineries than the old “chateaux” behind legendary wines like Lafite or LaTour…

…Modern industrial winemaking is all about meeting ever growing demand…any which way you can…

When they can’t afford oak barrels… they used oak “flavoring” and other additives

When the wine isn’t dark enough… they add purple dye called “Mega Purple” (far more common than you think)

When the wine comes out cloudy with sediment from the soil and air… they use “fining agents” like potassium ferrocyanide (yes “-cyanide”)

When the aroma’s not “big” enough… they add enzymes

When it’s too flimsy or sugary… they add acids (which destroy any subtlety in flavor)

And that’s not including the chemicals that find their way into wine from the industrial growing process…

Would you drink wine made here?

Did you know that a 2013 study from France found traces of pesticides in 90% of wines sold in supermarkets?

And a lab test of 10 Californian wines found the weed-killer glyphosate in every single bottle (the World Health Organization recently determined that glyphosate, the main ingredient in RoundUp, may potentially promote cancer).

You can see why the alcohol industry fights tooth and nail to keep ingredients off of labels, spending as much as $30 million for lobbying last year.

You can also see why I go to such extreme lengths all to find a single bottle of wine.

Finding a wine that is truly “alive”… takes a little legwork…

That’s how I happened to find myself trapped in a truck… at night… in a flashflood all the way out on Argentina’s wild, northwestern frontier.

If you’ve had wine from Argentina before, it was probably from Mendoza.

Mendoza’s a nice place – five-star hotels, ultra-modern wineries with all the latest gadgetry… they even have paved roads!

500 miles to the north… lies a little valley, surrounded by miles of desert on one side and the jagged peaks of the Andes mountains on the other… a valley known as the Calchaquí…

The Calchaquí Valley – The World’s Most Isolated Wine Region

Calchaquí wine is almost impossible to find here in America… you can’t even get it at the finest restaurant in Manhattan.

Entire vintages sell out in 24 hours to private lists of rich private buyers.

A single bottle – if you have to buy it retail – can go for over $500…

A rare bottle from the Calchaqui

When I popped my first bottle of this bold wine… I first got a hint of smoke… vanishingly short (the locals claim it comes from cattle drive campfires that so often burn out on the high plains nearby)

…then came the blackberry, the herbs, the leather… a hint of charred earth drifting across my palate… and an incredible, rugged mouthfeel.

In that moment, I was instantly transported…

To a land where cowboys still sleep under the stars using their saddle bags as pillows

…where women work looms in the early dawn’s first light

…where the nearest city is six-hours away across a jagged mountain landscape

… where a small brotherhood of winemakers – operating at what feels like the edge of the earth – follow a tradition 200 years old…

If you enjoy wine… if you’d like to taste wine as it truly should taste… then you need to sample an extreme altitude wine from the Calchaquí…

In fact, with your permission I’d like to send a bottle straight to your door. No middle men. No inflated prices.

I’ll explain why I’m doing this in a moment… But first let me introduce you to the “wine from the end of the world”…

Wines from the Edge of the World

Argentina’s Northwest Frontier – The End of the World…

The Calchaquí is squeezed between miles of desert and the jagged peaks of the Andes Mountains…

After flying 5,000 miles to Buenos Aires… then another 500 miles to the small colonial town of Salta… you get in a 4×4 truck and begin your ascent into the mountains, reaching a plateau far above the clouds… then you continue into a vast desert…

(where you’ll be glad to have a couple spare tires in the back)

After six to eight hours, you finally reach the literal “end of the road”… the Calchaquí Valley.

The Hidden Vineyards of the Calchaqui – 8,421 feet above the world

8,000+ ft. Above the World, the Secret to a Great Wine

Journey through this vast landscape… and you’ll hear gale-force winds ripping through nearby poplar trees… before they nearly blow you off your horse…

You’ll find yourself suddenly short of breath in this thin atmosphere… (the locals claim the winds “drive away the oxygen”… and eventually you start to believe it!)

Despite the heat, you’ll wear long sleeves and pants… to protect from the intense UV rays (the sun here is 80% more intense than Bordeaux)

At night, you’ll add more layers as the temperature suddenly drops as much as 77 degrees!

Winemakers, they say, like their grapes to get a bit of challenge.

But here, they cling to the edge of survival.

Were they any other kind of grapes…they’d probably never make it…

Long Extinct in Europe, an Old Vine Lives on Here

Nearly two hundred years ago, a few brave souls carried malbec grapes across the Andes from a port in Chile.

A good thing too…because after malbec arrived in Argentina, all the European malbec got wiped out (along with most of Europe’s grapes) in an event called the “The Great Blight.”

In fact, the European wine industry was only able to recover by replanting with vines from America.

So when people talk about great French wines today… they’re not actually French at all! They’re American!

But the blight never touched the remote, isolated wineries of the Calchaquí. Today, the old French vines remain there today…much older than any you’ll find in Bordeaux.

30 years is considered old in most parts of the wine world… in the Calchaquí, a third of vines are older than 100 years…

In such an extreme environment, these “lost vines” yield a third of what they should…

…for making money, it’s a losing proposition…

…especially given the near-total lack of modern machinery and the fact that the nearest port is about 1,000 miles away…

But they also produce a one of a kind wine…

First time drinkers often note its inky, near-black color.

So opaque they call it ‘black wine’

That’s a tell-tale sign of extreme levels of resveratrol.

Here’s what we found when we had a certified lab test our extreme altitude malbec against a common California red:

• ✓ 10 TIMES more resveratrol
• ✓ 93% less sugar
• ✓ 80% higher levels of anthocyanin (an antioxidant that lab and animal models suggest has a “anti-angiogenetic” effect, which is to say that it may inhibit tumor growth)

What Extreme Altitude Wine Does to Your Body

According to Harvard Professor David Sinclair, PhD, the chief benefit of resveratrol is NOT actually as an antioxidant.

Rather, resveratrol activates what’s known as the “sirtuin pathway.”

The “sirtuin pathway” in grape vines is essentially what allows the vine to survive the extreme conditions of the Calchaqui. It’s one of the principal longevity pathways found in most plants and animals.

When the plant comes under stress, it becomes flooded with resveratrol, which activates this “sirtuin pathway” and changes the plant from weakling to ultra-resilient survivor.

Human beings also have a surtuin pathway that works in the same way.

For instance, surtuins likely explain why fasting – which stresses the human body – appears to increase the human body.

So what does resveratrol have to do with our own sirtuin pathway?

Well, scientists now believe that resveratrol passes into YOUR body…and activates YOUR sirtuin pathway just as it did in the plant.

Effectively, the resilience and longevity of the plant – hard won after years in the wilderness – is passed onto you!

To quote Harvard professor David Sinclair, PhD: “if you stress a grape, you’ll get great wine…but you’ll also get a lot of resveratrol…when we ingest resveratrol, we get the same health benefits as the plant…we get the benefit of the plant stress as longevity.”

A Wine 200 Years in the Making

It’s a strange feeling when your car’s partway underwater and you’re still in it.

Especially when it’s pitch black.

Actually, it’s not a strange feeling at all. It’s panic.

A ways across the raging torrent – a wide, bone dry river bed just an hour before – a light flashed. Likely one of the vine workers with a flashlight.

He had probably seen the headlights sink beneath the water.

My brother gunned the engine, hoping for the best.

Then…a miracle. The front wheels caught on something – a log or a boulder? Just enough traction to propel the truck forward against the current on to a sandbank. An old man with a flashlight came running over the truck

The people of the Calchaquí don’t scare easily. After a lifetime up at the edge of civilization, their faces range to placid to imperturbable.

Yet, this old man’s face showed something almost close to alarm.

Vino? we asked.

Bueno… he replied.

Minutes later, we were sitting in an old gaucho bar way out on the frontier, uncorking a bottle.

Your Extreme Altitude Malbec (10,800 ft)

(No Filtration, Natural Fermentation)

“The Malbec from the Top of the World”

This isn’t just any wine…

This malbec comes from the world’s 2nd highest vineyard… at 10,800 ft.

That’s the highest vineyard in South America!

And is aged in the old barium sulfate mine Cava Mina Moya (the highest altitude wine cellar in the world; higher even than the vineyard, at 12,100 feet).

To say importing a wine like this is rare would be an understatement…

In fact, back in 2018 the world famous Master of Wine – Tim Atkin, put out a plea on Twitter for someone in the US to import this wine…

Well, after months of negotiations, sharing a couple bottles of wine, and a brisk handshake (more binding than a signature in the mountains of Argentina), we pulled it off. And now you can benefit from our efforts…

The wine itself is so limited in production and located so remote from any civilization that the winemaker himself simply scribbled down our deal on a scrap of paper…

That’s just the way it works in the Calchaqui Valley. Everything is still done on a very human level. And we like it that way…

Make no mistake… The Bonner Private Wine Partnership is the ONLY place in the US where you can get a bottle of 2018 Uraqui

To find this bottle on your own, you’d have to be willing to endure the near three days worth of plane flights and four-wheeler rides up steep mountains just to get there.

Not to mention, the massive cost of purchasing these wines and then getting them safely back home – provided you didn’t break any bottles getting back down the mountains… a very common occurrence.

Safe to say, the cost to even do that is in the thousands.

Unless you “know someone” that is… which is where the Partnership comes in to play. We do the dirty work (at times, literally!) and you gain access to incredible wines like this one.

Uraqui is NOT available at your local supermarket. Or even that nearby fine wine shop. You’ll never see it in your local bins…

Yet, I’d like to send a bottle of the Uraqui 2018— right to your doorstep.

Plus, I’ll also include five more bottles created in the shadow of the Andes Mountains… the best of what Argentine, traditional, small-batch winemaking has to offer.

And there’s no financial risk to you either… More on that in second… First, I want to tell you about the rest of your wines included in this fantastic collection of Argentine wines…

Special Release: Bodega Ayni Vino Tinto Uraqui Red Blend | 2018 | Quebrada de Humahuaca, Argentina

Your First 6 Bottles of Dark Red Wines…

(including the 10,800 ft. Uraqui 2018 & 8,421 ft. Tacana 2021)…

Shipped (free!) Right To Your Doorstep…

You might assume these bottles are expensive… and they can be, depending on where you buy them. (If you can find them at all…)

But they will not be expensive for you… for the simple reason that we don’t pay retail… and neither will you.

Americans have been trained to think that a good wine must be more expensive.

But that’s simply not the case. Let me explain…

Let’s say a bottle costs $100 retail… how much of that $100 is actually paying for the wine?

About $20. That’s it.

The rest? Marketing costs and the layers of markups in the dreaded “3-tier system”… But I’m able to bypass that system… it’s one of the many perks I enjoy as head of America’s only wine partnership, called The Bonner Private Wine Partnership. And when you join us, you’ll gain that huge price advantage, too.

We’re a private group of wine lovers who source seldom-imported foreign wines directly… avoiding the usual middlemen, bad wine, or inflated pricing.

All year round, Diego, Barry, and me scour the globe for great wine, making deals directly with vineyards… mostly small batch places just like Sunal… And that brings me to the wines I’d like to send to your doorstep today.

Your First Shipment Selection

Your bottle of 2021 Tacana Malbec, from the Bonner family ranch, the wine which originally gave rise to the Partnership…

Your extreme altitude bottle of 2018 Uraqui (10,800 ft)…

Your bottle of 2016 Puramun Reserva, from Argentina’s top winemaker Pepe Galante (95 pts)…

Your bottle of 2016 Lamadrid Malbec Gran Reserva (91 pts), from 90 year old vines…

Your bottle of 2018 Casarena Cabernet Franc from the top spot for cab franc in Argentina…

Your bottle of 2019 Anko Flor de Cardon (93 pts) from Salta aka “the land of extremes”…

And in addition to your wines, there’s something else I want to give you today, too. While you wait for your collection to arrive, you’ll receive two special, exclusive e-books, written especially for club members by top international sommelier, Nigel Tollerman.

Nigel is a certified sommelier from Argentina’s top Escuela Argentina de Sommeliers. You may have seen him on the Food Network and National Geographic.

I think you’ll find these e-books fun to read and highly educating…

As a fellow wine adventurer, they’re yours FREE to read and enjoy. And you get access to them the instant you sign up…
You’ll also receive a bonus tasting video with our veteran Bordeaux winemaker Julien Miquel.

Julien has made wines all over the world, including at Chateau Margaux, perhaps the most famous winery in France.

He’ll take you through a virtual tasting for three of your wines making you an expert in Argentine wine by the time your bottles arrive. (Adding a bit of knowledge adds a lot more enjoyment… and a much deeper, richer experience to your wine tasting…)

Affordable Pleasure

Okay, so now that you’re intrigued, how much is a quarterly membership to the Bonner Private Wine Partnership?

Well, as I said earlier, a single case of Calchaquí wine goes for $450… and they sell out an entire vintage in less than 24 hours…

And I’ve seen bottles of a certain high-altitude wine being sold for as much as $598 for a single bottle (that would be over $3,000 for a collection of six!)…

(which is crazy because that certain wine actually has lower point scores than other bottles included in your collection)

But you won’t spend several thousand dollars here… you won’t pay $450… or even $300… We’ve set a great, introductory discount for your first shipment — because we want you on board. And we know that you are going to love having these wines coming to you regularly. So…

You’ll pay just $169 for your first quarter with the club (with shipping on us!)

That’s almost like paying ordinary bottle prices for these extraordinary wines!

Your 100% Satisfaction Guarantee

(and no, you don’t have to send back the wine)

If any wine fails to impress, we’ll credit that bottle back for you. (And, no, you don’t even have to send any empty bottles back…)

Yes, you could drink every single bottle and then ask for a replacement. There’s no way we’d be able to tell. (Of course we know as a wine lover like us, you are an honest and honorable person…)

But we’re totally confident that you’ll love what you get… and want to stick around for more! Hundreds of our very satisfied customers stay with their memberships long term.

After your $169 introductory shipment, your subsequent shipments will be billed at the normal fee of $249… but there is NO obligation. We will let you know when your bottles are ready to ship. And you can cancel at any time!

So as someone who’s a true wine lover… someone who enjoys a richer, deeper wine experience… and someone who loves experiencing new, powerful flavors… this partnership is the perfect setup for you.

Imagine having your own private sommelier… seeking out the very best, unique and flavorful wines for you from around the world. And then having them shipped right to your doorstep… every three months…

• Spare yourself those wasted bottles from disappointing choices
• Save money by getting the best possible pricing on these hard to get wines
• Spend more time drinking… and less time researching and shopping

So if you want more from your wine experience, if you crave new sensations, if you are open to a true wine adventure… this Partnership is perfect for you.

And since you’re still reading, you’ve likely already made your decision, haven’t you? Otherwise you wouldn’t have stayed with me this far.

So let’s take everything we’ve talked about and see how you’ll thrill to taste these unique vintages…

• You’ll learn more than ever before about wines and terroir
• You’ll have more wonderful experiences and create those memorable moments to share with friends and family
• You’ll experience new and different tastes and sensations
• You’ll have a deeper satisfaction and much more enjoyment on your wine drinking journey

And we’ve made it all as simple, convenient and affordable as possible for you. Because wine is a true passion for us- and we love sharing that with everyone we can.

Do you agree that it’s true life is short? And if you are at all like us, you believe it’s for living and enjoying… in every possible way. A modest investment in maximum pleasure (and fond memories) is money well spent in our book.

So start your journey with us today… there is absolutely no risk to you. Your total satisfaction is important to us. You must be thrilled with your wine. If not, just reach out to us and we will make things right with you immediately. And with no hassles, no silly questions and no lengthy delays. But we know you’re going to love your wines, so…

Simply click in the BIG ORANGE BUTTON to get started and we’ll get your first bottles on their way to you right away…

This is your chance to be among the first Americans to secure your own personal supply of rare high-altitude wine. Make this your new reality.

Place your order below. You’ll receive an email confirmation with shipping information and links to all your membership materials.

Become a member of the Bonner Private Wine Partnership! We’re excited to have you join us in this unique and flavorful journey. 

Frequently Asked Questions

How Often Does the Club Send Out Wine?

We send out collections of six bottles to you four times a year, once a quarter (every three months). We will notify you before sending you your wine. Please note that each shipment is billed separately. This way you can cancel anytime and not be stuck with any wine you don’t want.

How Much Does A Partnership Membership Cost?

Usually our membership costs $249 a quarter. However, as an introductory discount, your first quarter shipment – including your collection of Argentine wines – will cost just $169. On top of that, our refund policy guarantees that you’ll love what you receive… or we’ll simply give you a full refund (and the wine is yours to keep).

After your first quarter, subsequent shipments will be billed at the regular price of $249. We will notify you before shipping and you can cancel at any time. You are not locked in. We don’t want to charge you for wine that you won’t drink.

Am I Locked in For a Full Year?

No! Your membership is billed quarterly. We send you a notification before shipping your wine each quarter. You can cancel at any time. We don’t want you getting stuck with anything you don’t want. Please note: after your first discounted fee of $169, your quarterly fee will re-adjust to $249. But again – there’s no obligation to continue if you don’t want to. Simply cancel any time.

Tell Me About the Partnership Team

Will Bonner is an entrepreneur, author, and the founder of the Bonner Private Wine Partnership. His family “accidentally” got into the wine business about a decade ago when his father, Bill, bought an isolated mountain ranch with one of the highest altitude vineyards in the world. Will figured that there were probably other small wineries putting out great wines that most people had probably never heard of. So, he founded the partnership to bring these wines to your doorstep.

Diego Samper is the Partnership’s “wine explorer.” He puts his boots on the ground to make deals with vineyards and bring you great wine.

Barry Gilbert is a former tech executive and Vice Chairman of Sharper Image. After retiring, Barry’s passion for wine led him to create WineVIP, an importer and distributor that allows Americans to own foreign wines at “cellar prices.” He knows the ins and outs of shipping to ensure that your wines arrive tasting just as they did in the cellar.

Julien Miquel is a former winemaker from Bordeaux, France. He has made wines all over the world- from Spain to California, including at the famous Chateau Margaux. He is the founder of the award-winning site Social Vignerons. Julien is one of the top wine expert influencers in the world.

What Is Your Refund Policy?

As part of your introductory, first quarter offer, you will have 30 days to request a 100% refund. And you can keep the wine, as our gift to you for giving us a try.

On subsequent shipments, we also offer a 100% refund. But you must mail back the wine to us (with corks intact). Otherwise, only a 50% refund will be issued. We do this for necessary business reasons. The potential liability would otherwise be too great for a small club like ours.