Hi
I know its not a sexy board pick but it does seem like they make good cabs and with the prices that cabs are going for nowadays the relatively low price increases by Mondavi seems to make then club good value especially the 30% off reorder. Wines like the Reserve and particularly the Oakville cab although not cheap seem to be increasing in value quotient and are pretty good wines from what ive read over the months.
Anyone got experience of the wine club and thoughts of if its worthwhile
Alan
While I haven’t had a chance to try many, their To Kalon Sauvignon Blancs have a cult following. I’d imagine the wine club would get you better access to those as well.
What does the cab res end up costing if in the club?
I’ve been a member for several quarters. I’m fortunate enough to live about 50 minutes away from the winery, so I save a bit on the shipping.
The standard discount on the wine club shipments are at least 20% off of list price, and 30% on reorders. The reserve cabs, To Kalon cabs, and I Block Fumes are generally excluded from their occasional 25% off sales on their website, so to get a discount on those, they would need to be released as a part of a wine club release. For example, I scored a bottle of the 2011 To Kalon Reserve Cab for $116.00 last September. I’m still waiting on a bottle of I Block Fume though!
Aside from those discounts, you get the typical wine club benefits: free tastings and tours, access to a member tasting room, invitations to events, etc., but I suppose those are only valuable if you frequent the winery enough.
I’ve been quite happy with the wine club membership as it served as my introduction to more mainstream wine. At the very least, it’s holding me over until I get my cult wine allocations (come on Rhys, MacDonald, and Saxum in 2016!).
Simon, have you compared your list + discount price against retail prices in the market? I know at least some of the time, the list price is higher, or even substantially higher, than the prices at retail for wines, so even with discounts and all, you aren’t necessarily getting a good deal.
Of course, there are other reasons one might belong to a wine club than getting below-market pricing, and I’m not trying to criticize you for belonging to the club in the least, regardless of how the pricing turns out. But since you were kind enough to share some information, I’m curious how this one works out.
One other thing - does everyone in the club get access to those special To Kalon wines, or do you need seniority and/or heavy purchasing of other wines to get to those?
Thanks!
Hi Chris,
Actually, you make a good point. It’s probably something I should have touched upon in my original post. In general, I do find that the wine club wines are priced at a slight markup with the 20% discount, and probably priced at parity with true retail prices at the 30% reorder discount (but obviously you would have had to buy one bottle @ 20% off first) provided you can actually find the wine in a retail setting and don’t have to pay much for shipping. In my defense, I do try to drink my weight in free wine when I am in their tasting room, and I suppose the premium I am paying gives me some peace of mind as to the provenance of the wine.
Here are a few examples (compared against wine searcher excluding shipping)
Unfavorable pricing (assuming 20% first bottle wine club discount):
2011 To-Kalon Reserve Cab, $116, WS: $89.99 to $135
2013 Moscato d’Oro, $20 Wine Club, WS: ~$13
Favorable Pricing (assuming 20% first bottle wine club discount):
2011 Mondavi Stags Leap Cab, $72 Wine Club, WS: $90
Sometimes a lot of the wines in the club shipments are winery exclusives, so it’s difficult to find a price to compare it to in a retail setting. For example, I also have a 2011 M-Bar Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville that I got for $68. No idea what it’s worth.
I should also mention that I can routinely get 2010 Mondavi Reserve Cabs for $100 at my local Costco, and the list price at the winery for those were $145 (minus any discounts you can get), so definitely unfavorable pricing there.
By the way, I didn’t do anything special to get access to the To-Kalon Reserve. I have several colleagues in the same wine club, and we all got the To-Kalon reserve that shipment.
Cheers!
Thanks, Simon. It sounds like you have a good arrangement there that works for you.
Simon,
A friend of mine purchased a 87 Reserve cab for me at the winery and it ended up costing about $70 more than on the secondary market. I’m a fan of RM but I prefer their 80s library wines but I do own several recent vintages that I picked up at online retailers.
I’d love to try their To Kalon Reserve Cab but is that something that actually makes it out via retail (non-restaurant)?