Tell me about wine clubs

I’ve thought about joining one or the other several times over the past decade and just never have been able to convince myself that I really want to.

Someone mentioned being in one in another thread and I started to PM her for the inside scoop when it occured to me that this is an ideal question for the Dope and an excellent excuse for me to start my first thread in CS.

So please, share the good and the bad, and recommend specific clubs that you really like.

There are several different types of wine club. For general exposure to a fairly wide variety of wines, try The Wine of the Month Club.

The best way to use clubs is to find a couple of wineries you enjoy and join their clubs. Casa Silenus, for example, belongs to clubs from Mandolina Winery and Fess Parker Winery. Mandolina is every other month, Parker is every quarter. Both of our memberships are “Reds Only,” because neither of us likes white wine much. Both clubs are very friendly and responsive, and both tend to toss in lagniappes from time to time like extra bottles, or special releases from the cellar. We are very happy with them.
eta: Can you even get out-of-state wine shipments in Arkansas?

No wine shipments in Arkansas, period. After Granholm v. Heald, states had to either allow or ban both out of state and in state shipments. Arkansas was one that chose to ban both.

If there is a reputable local wine shop in your area, they may offer a wine club and you can pick up the wines once a month or so. My husband belongs to one like that here.
Or a local winery would be even better. You usually get perks like invites and discounts to special events hosted by the winery by being a wine club member.

Should my ears be ringing? (Funny, someone else PM’ed me about that.)

Our wine club is simply a buying club, not like Frasier and Niles sitting around tasting $200 wines with their rich friends and trying to out-snob each other. :slight_smile: At the wine shop, you can join for basically $25/month, with slight discounts for 6-month and 12-month memberships. Then Steve the wine guy uses this guaranteed buying pool to get deals on wines and passes them along to us. It’s a small shop, so these are wines that he might normally miss out on because he doesn’t have the buying power – or storage space! – of larger establishments.) He chooses 2-3 specific wines and we can pick them up starting on the first Saturday of every month. Their value is always more than $25, sometimes substantially. On pick-up day they also host a small drop-in tasting with 2-3 wines, hors d’oeuvres, etc. Their license permits only two 3-oz. pours per customer per day, so it really is just a tasting. We also get first crack at certain special deals on other wines.

ETA: The other neat thing is that because Steve chooses the wines, we get exposed to wines we might not normally choose. On the other hand, our friends get all the pinot noir because we’re not fans of it. :slight_smile:

It’s a pretty neat arrangement to have out here in the middle of Bumfuck, Wisconsin.