Cali. Wine Clubs

[badthings]

What wine clubs to you belong to and why, and what are they like?

For example, I just joined two this summer:

Cline (Carneros): 4 shipments x 2 bottles

Preston (Dry Creek): 4 x 6 (2 bottles each of 3 diff. wines)

It is too early for me to describe these clubs in detail, but I joined as an experiment because I like both wineries. Both have pretty generous discounts (though these are off list prices a bit higher than I pay at my local merchants), and both let you buy wines you never see in stores (the rosés) or rarely (Cline's "small berry" Mourvèdre).

Personally, what I would love to find is a place where you could back in a couple times a year and fill a couple 5-gallon bottles with quality table wine for cheap, but I doubt that exists.

It would also be interesting to talk about higher end clubs.

[hollywood]

Personally, what I would love to find is a place where you could back in a couple times a year and fill a couple 5-gallon bottles with quality table wine for cheap, but I doubt that exists.

I've done that. Unfortunately, it was in the South of France.

[marie-louise]

Hafner-I really like their Chard, especially the reserve. Cabs not bad either. The only way you can get this wine outside of a restaurant is to belong to their club. There used to be a wait to get on the list, but they've increased production so you can get on right away. Six bottles a year.

Sausal Zin Club-nice reasonable Dry Creek zin and sangiovese. Being in the club gets you a discount. Good everyday drinking wine.

Navarro-I think they send about a case a year. Lots of stuff that sells out immediately, even to just the members, that never gets released to the public. For a lot of the things they send you, you have to taste and order ASAP. Fun place to visit, we get up that way often enough to stock up without paying for shipping. Lots of nice wine for a weeknight-$10. bottles.

I also am on "the list" so that I can buy A. Rafanelli and Williams-Selyem wine. No samples, just a mailing that allows you to buy their wine. Rafanelli is great zin; personally, I think W-S is overpriced. Good, but more expensive than it's worth. For the last few years, I've just recycled their mailings without ordering.

I used to belong to Dry Creek vineyards wine club. For a while after 9/11 UPS was being very rule-oriented, and wouldn't leave wine unless you were home, so had to let all of them lapse. For some reason, I never signed back up for this one again.

About 10 years ago, I belonged to a wine club called Ambrosia. It wasn't a particular deal, but it was a great way to learn about the different Napa wineries. Every month they sent 1 red, 1 white, from a different Napa Valley winery. I'd love to find one like that again. Anyone have any suggestions?

PS I love the store The Wine Club best of all. Great, helpful staff that never are the least bit condescending or snooty, plus... they're cheap!

[badthings]

It seems that the main reason to join the club is to have access to all these wines that don't make it to the store. Which is legitimate, particularly with something like Hafner. But it doesn't seem that there are great deals out there, unless the people who know about them aren't saying.

I wonder what the economics of bulk-wine clubs would be like. Never happen in Napa, obviously, but maybe it would work in the foothils?

What/where is this Wine Club store?

[hollywood]

What/where is this Wine Club store?

Santa Ana, Santa Clara, San Francisco. http://www.thewineclub.com/

[badthings]

I should note that Preston does make a "jug wine". It's $25 for a 3 liter bottle, and you can only get it on Sundays at the winery. (That's a little pricier than I was thinking of, but it's the right idea at least). I managed to procure one, and I will report when I have the opportunity to open it.

[Kouign Aman]

I belonged to a wine club called Ambrosia. It wasn't a particular deal, but it was a great way to learn about the different Napa wineries. Every month they sent 1 red, 1 white, from a different Napa Valley winery. I'd love to find one like that again. Anyone have any suggestions?

←

That sounds like a grand club. Does anyone know of one like it?

We just joined Jewel Wineries club, as our first foray into this kind of wine acquisition.

We've gotten two shipments so far, and are sadly lagging on consumption.

(Course, we also stocked up at the little wine shop down the road and are even further behind on those... but summer's a comin' soon.)

I asked on another forum (a wine industry board) - what's the benefit to the winery - why offer clubs?

Here, I am wondering - why did you join? What is the benefit to you?

For us, its the chance to try some wines we might not have, otherwise.

[dockhl]

As mentioned above, it also lets you get some wines that you might never get to try. A lot of the small wineries in our area sell out of their wines and the wine club members get the ones that are held back for them.

As for the winery, it is a guaranteed sale, normally at a higher price than you'd buy it at Albertsons !

[VenerableBede]

For us, there are a handful of benefits:

1) free tastings. since most wineries seem to charge a fee for tasting, one of the perks of being in a wine club is free tastings. that was one of our primary draws of joing the J wine club (along with a magnum of their sparkling every november), especially since their tastings came with a food pairing and cost $20 a person. sadly, they did away with the food pairing, so away went our wine club membership, since we could buy nearly every other bottle either at the store or at the winery if we really wanted it.

2) ability to do things with the winery/winemaker. alot of wineries off wine club only dinners and luncheons and whatnot at the winery that are unavailable to the public. we belong to the Sunce wine club, which allows us, once a year, to do the bottling with the winemaker- as a reward for doing it, everyone gets to take home a case of the bottled wine, as well as a substantial discount for that day only on all other wine for sale.

3) access to wines unavailable to others. we really haven't used this perk all that much, although for deloach, they do offer some wine club only wines as part of their pick-ups, and others like Chateau Felice and August Briggs allow access to library wines.

4) trying new stuff. it allows us a chance to try a wine we wouldn't ordinarily try, such as merlot. i won't beat that horse, but in situations where we love a cab or a zin or something, having a wine club that allows to try another varietal from the winery allows us to sample something we might not otherwise try. we have friends that are part of the castoro wine club, and they get a large variety of wines that they would not have otherwise tried.

[millions]

For us, there are a handful of benefits:

2) ability to do things with the winery/winemaker.  alot of wineries off wine club only dinners and luncheons and whatnot at the winery that are unavailable to the public.  we belong to the Sunce wine club, which allows us, once a year, to do the bottling with the winemaker- as a reward for doing it, everyone gets to take home a case of the bottled wine, as well as a substantial discount for that day only on all other wine for sale. 

Hey, we belong to Sunce, too - since about 2003. Maybe we've run into each other at barrel tasting.

We belong to quite a few (too many). Sunce, because I am of Croatian Ancestry, Frane and the staff are great, and I like staying stocked with a bunch of their Cabs and Meritages. Incidentally, we brought a bottle of Sunce's 04 "Suck Your Teeth" Cab to a blind tasting lunch which was attended by several restaurant owners, wine distributors, and the GM of Bastide, and it was one of the highest rated wines brought, many of which cost 3 figures. Sunce also gives a great discount to its members.

We also belong to: Bella, because of the fantastic Zin and great events in their caves; Schramsberg, just because we love the sparkling wine; Martinelli because of their list, and the dream of being able to buy the Jackass Hill Zin; Grgich Hills, because we visited recently, love the wine, and I think we thought we were getting a reasonable discount; Michel-Schlumberger (great reds); and Armida, I have no idea why. Maybe because my girlfriend likes their bocce and their BBQ during events. I'm not so crazy about their wine, but it is a fun place.

[Carolyn Tillie]

I belonged to a wine club called Ambrosia. It wasn't a particular deal, but it was a great way to learn about the different Napa wineries. Every month they sent 1 red, 1 white, from a different Napa Valley winery. I'd love to find one like that again. Anyone have any suggestions?

←

That sounds like a grand club. Does anyone know of one like it?

We just joined Jewel Wineries club, as our first foray into this kind of wine acquisition.

We've gotten two shipments so far, and are sadly lagging on consumption.

(Course, we also stocked up at the little wine shop down the road and are even further behind on those... but summer's a comin' soon.)

I asked on another forum (a wine industry board) - what's the benefit to the winery - why offer clubs?

Here, I am wondering - why did you join? What is the benefit to you?

For us, its the chance to try some wines we might not have, otherwise.

←

I would HEARTILY recommend Vintner's Collective. I wrote an article about this small collective of upscale, boutique wineries several years ago. They provide major quality juice and it is a reminder to me that I should probably join myself...

I belong to a handful of "clubs" which are more-or-less "lists" -- meaning they are limited release wineries which only make a limited amount of wine and sell on a first-come, first-served basis. They tend to be small-production facilities producing Rhone varietals (Copain, Culler, and Outpost, specifically).