Membership has its Privileges – A Note About Wine Clubs

Hello Everyone! Before we begin to give you a recap of our recent trip to Napa and Sonoma, we would like to talk a little bit about wine clubs. Just about every winery has a club you can join if you’re able to receive wine shipments in your state. If you really like a certain winery’s offerings and have the ability to visit every so often, this may be a great option for you. In general, belonging to a wine club offers the following benefits:

(1) Regular shipments to your house. The shipping schedule depends on wine club. We belong to a few clubs that ship quarterly, and a couple that ship bi-annually.
(2) Discounts and notices of special wine deals. As a club member, you will receive a discounted price on the wines, and the option to reorder additional wines from the club shipment at even more significant discounts. Occasionally a winery may even offer free shipping.
(3) Access to wines that are only offered to club members or at the winery.
(4) Newsletters with articles, events, and recipes to go with your wine. Part of our recent visit included a winemaker’s dinner, and most wineries have special events for club members throughout the year.
(5) Complimentary tasting of wines being offered in the tasting room (and very special treatment as club members!).

There are some other benefits and privileges and that are dependent on the specific club. Additionally, if the winery is large and offers a wide variety of wines they are likely to have a few types of clubs:

(1) Red or White wine only. These are good if you really only prefer one over the other.
(2) Mixed where you get a red and white. This is a great way to get many different wines from your club.
(3) Reserve or Library clubs. These clubs are a bit more expensive but they give you access to special wines that probably would not be otherwise available.

We belong to many wine clubs in Napa and Sonoma and we really enjoyed visiting some of them on our recent visit. For the longest time due to shipping rules in our state, we were only able to join the clubs at two wineries. One of these specialized in sparkling wines, and we received a wide variety of reserve, vintage, non-vintage, and other cuvees, in addition to a few still Pinot Noirs, that are the base of the sparkling wines. The other club is a very small winery, with an annual production of only about 2000 cases, and that specializes in unique blends and some powerful and intense red wines. These wines were only available at the winery, through the club, or by ordering online. We were very lucky to get into its club – as it maintains only a small membership and is currently closed to new members.

Over the past five years, we have been able to join more clubs, giving us access to unique wines that we might not otherwise find. We generally use the following criteria for deciding what clubs we want to belong to (other than, of course, the fact that we love the wine!):

(1) The wines are generally not distributed in our area or are only available at the winery.
(2) The winery has some distribution in our state, but many of its gems are available only through the club.
(3) The winery has special properties in areas such as Napa’s Howell Mountain, or specializes in unique wines that are usually difficult to find (such as Rhone or Italian varietals).

During this past visit to some of the wineries where we are currently club members, we were really wowed by the treatment we received. We were able to taste a wider variety of wines than available to non-club members, all at no cost. A couple of the wine clubs have special rooms or locations on the winery only available to club members (which is really a plus if you’re visiting the winery on a busy Saturday). We were really given some special treatment that we were not expecting, and thoroughly enjoyed the experiences. Most wineries will roll out the red carpet for their club members. With approximately 350 wineries in the Napa Valley alone, the decision to join a club really tells the winery “We love your wine,” and they say thank you in a great way.

So, if you can visit a winery that has a club and are able to get direct wine shipments to your home, consider joining one of the clubs. Membership really does have its privileges and you will be rewarded by tasting some special wines and being treated like a member of the family.

Drink what you like, like what you drink!

Rachel and Bryan Gavini