Kapcsandy Changing their Wine Club

I got an email blast from the winery about this. I have to say that it’s welcome news and, IMO, long overdue. I stopped buying largely for economic reasons, but I was also kinda ticked after buying a bunch of wines that I learned didn’t qualify for consideration in the club. It was my own fault for not reading the details, but I just felt unimportant to them. I wonder what is driving this. Are the economics changing? Is the list winnowing? Did they just have a change of heart?

So here is the letter:

Dear Friends of Kapcsandy Family,

Twelve years ago we launched our first wine club, the Grand Vin Club (GVC). Since those fledgling days much has changed… While the benefits enjoyed by GVC members were based upon purchasing a case-equivalent of each new release, history has proven this 12-bottle qualifier to be more confusing than need be.

As last year drew to a close, we reviewed our club memberships to see if the GVC still met the needs that it was supposed to fulfill.

Upon reflection, we believe 2016 is the perfect opportunity to revise our club system to better serve our mailing-list customers. Wine clubs based upon total annual purchases are far more representative of our customers buying practices. The bottom-line is that we are committed to recognize and reward each of our valued club members for their loyal support in a streamlined fashion.

Accordingly, we have updated our wine club system to three (3) specific tiers that will be based upon each club members’ total annual purchases between January 1 and December 31, of the previous year, as follows:

Level 1
ESTATE CLUB membership is available to customers who purchase from $1,000 to $2,999 every year.

Level 2
SILVER CLUB membership is available to customers who purchase from $3,000 to $4,999 every year.

Level 3
GOLDEN CIRCLE CLUB membership is available to customers who purchase a minimum of $5,000 every year.

To better understand the details and benefits of each club level, visit the “Club Memberships” page on our website > Account Login - Kapcsàndy Family Winery

Lastly, these changes will take effect April 1, 2016. Please contact us with questions or comments about these three (3) club memberships and their benefits either by email: > Alana@kapcsandywines.com > or by phone (707) 948-3100, ext. 7.

With our heartfelt gratitude,

Lou and Louis, Jr. Kapcsandy

couple concerns from reading the detail on the website

it doesn’t appear the Silver ($3000+) and Estate ($1000+) levels will get preferred pricing going forward…I’ve only bought recently but think those buying a mixed case annually of their 4 top wines received a discount historically…discount bar jumps from around $1500-1700 to $5000+ per year

also looks like you have to be Silver level to get 2 comp tastings at the winery per year…not the best message to send to your customers who spend up to $2999 with you annually…I think they charge around $150 per head for tasting visits!

Love the wines but looking like I’m resigned to the secondary market for the future.

That’s gonna take a lot of Muscat Blanc and Vin Rose for me to meet the threshold.

I don’t see the method for getting promoted to certain levels in order to spend the money to qualify for being offered the higher level wines. [cheers.gif]

Does one simply sign up for his desired ‘level?’

I’m guessing that any benefits are applied after your first year of membership. Presumably you would move up and down each year depending on how much you bought the previous year? Their past system may have been confusing, but I just find it odd that someone who might spend $4,500 per year at your winery isn’t really treated as one of your best customers. I guess that’s only about 20~ bottles of the Grand Vin though?

I also dropped this list. Having purchased >5 cases of what I thought was very good wine it became more and more clear I wasn’t the “high roller” collector they were looking for. My wine budget has been ridiculously high but to have to spend $5k a year to be a good customer I am out. That would be $50,000 to be a ten year collector.

Finally had a chance to review the details on the website. Good luck to them

Couldn’t agree more with this perspective. As one that is a substantial consumer of California Cabs and related blends there is just to much good wine to limit ones self to just one producer. In spite of a relatively high annual spend I just can’t see allocating even 10% to just one producer.

I’m assuming that it was set to go into effect on April 1 for a reason??
But then I can’t tell for sure from reading the link.
Tom