A wine club is a developing extension of modern wine culture. Wine clubs are designed to provide customers with a series of wine bottles on a monthly or quarterly basis that they would otherwise have to find and purchase on their own. Wine clubs often behave in a themed manner, providing recipients with red wines, white wines, or a mixture of the two. Wine clubs are most frequently offered by vineyards or specialty wine shops, but they can also be found as independent bodies.
History
Paul Kalemkiarian, Sr. created the Wine of the Month Club in 1972 while managing a small liquor store in Palos Verdes Estates, California. A 'The Wine Club' opened in 1985 in Los Angeles. In 2003, 24% of all direct wine sales in the US were made through wine clubs. By 2006, there were approximately 800 official wine clubs in the United States. In the UK, in 2005, Direct Wines, a leader in wine clubs and wine deliveries, accounted for only 2,5% of domestic wine sales. Many sommeliers created their own wine clubs to offer a way for their customers to buy directly from their lists.Liza B. Zimmerman, , Forbes.com, 10 April 2018 After the San Francisco Chronicle, KQED, Sunset Magazine, Forbes and The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times launched its own wine club in August 2009. The wine club is operated by Global Wine Company. In 2009, the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control ruled it illegal for third-party wine online vendors and newspapers wine clubs to benefit from wine sales since they do not hold the appropriate licence. Playboy launched its own wine club through a licensing agreement with internet wine merchant Barclay's Wine in 2012, and Martha Stewart launched her wine club in 2017, followed by NPR the same year. In 2019, the supermarket chain Aldi launched a wine club in the UK. In January 2020, the wine club startup Haus raised $4.5 million. Wine club software gradually became a feature of wine sales software, since most wine club sales happen through ecommerce websites. In March 2020, the state of Utah authorized a state-controlled form of wine clubs.
Variations and costs
Most wine clubs involve all red bottles, all white bottles, or a combination of both, known as "mixed" clubs. However, there have arisen many stylistic variations in what wines are shipped and Firstleaf hand out a short quiz to its new members before suggesting bottles based on their answers. The Plonk Wine Club and Vegan Wines focus on biodynamic and organic wines. Many wine clubs curate their selections by themes. The Napa Valley Reserve is an exclusive, $150,000-membership-fee wine club.
