Jumping off from the recent thread about why people join clubs, I thought I’d inquire about why people DON’T join them.
What are your impediments or reasons not to join clubs? Assume you like the winery and their product.
For me, having been a member of numerous clubs:
A drag on cellar diversity. It can get to the point where you feel like too much of your cellar consists of a few producers.
A recurring expense that drags on your wine budget.
Shipping practices. I’ve cancelled a couple where they had club releases every 3-4 months year round, which meant that they would ship the summer selection in the summer, and wouldn’t hold for cooler weather.
Release frequency. I personally don’t need 4, 5, 6 releases a year, but some wineries only do this.
Releases are always the same wines currently available to non-club members. This makes club membership less exciting/interesting.
I buy wine I want, not wine someone needing to sell wine who knows nothing about my tastes decides I should have. The waiter at a restaurant doesn’t choose my entrée either.
For me, the choice isn’t here locally, and few interest me enough to buy a bottle, let alone case purchases very year.
However even if I lived on the doorstep of my favourite wineries, I still strongly value diversity in my cellar, and no wine is ever a case purchase a year for me. Only Ch Musar was briefly a wine I’d typically buy 2-3 bottles of most vintages.
…and if being in the cellar club was the only way to buy it, then c’est la vie, there are plenty of other great wines out there, so I’d not mourn its absence.
I don’t join wine clubs for wines that I do like if I can find it locally (Total Wine, Costco, local mom and pop) or if I can readily find back vintages for cheaper (usually from online wine auctions).
Mostly what Alan said. I don’t belong to any clubs. I once belonged to Ridge but that was years ago and it was because the price of their wine was so much cheaper than anywhere else.
The question is not what would prevent me from joining, since I am not inclined to join any club, ever. The question is what would be an offer I can’t refuse.
I like a lot of winemakers but can’t afford to support all of them all the time. I can get pretty good deals on wine and haven’t paid full retail for anything in many years. I have more than enough wine to last for many years, so I don’t need regular shipments.
My guess is that the audience for a wine club would break down into several categories. First is mostly going to be someone who just made a visit to some wine area and fell in love with the experience. They don’t really need special treatment, just a note once in a while.
The second group would be people who need to validate their taste by getting in on what their peers/friends/fellow board members like. They want to get the current vintages to discuss/argue over and they might be swayed by special treatment and “insider” access.
The third would be people who just like a particular wine and get it all the time. I have friends who religiously buy this or that Bordeaux or Napa wine. They tend to have cellars concentrated around a few things.
But if none of those are compelling incentives, why join?
I used to be in a number of OR wine clubs: Drouhin, Saffron Fields, Walter Scott, Bethel heights, Tendril, Ayoub, Cristom, Willakenzie, Big Table Farm + Chanin in CA.
But Oregon had a run of hot vintages in the teens and the reds started tasting the same. Plus my tastes shifted to Burgundy and storage piled up so I started trimming the list. At the moment its just Walter Scott whites
Nowadays I would rather buy the specific bottlings I want- I don’t mind missing out on club prices. Still lots of great quality in OR.
My wife enjoys OR Pinot a lot and we still buy some of her favorites, just not as much quantity.
Slight thread drift, here’s why to LEAVE a club. Had a 2 bottle club shipment in March, was charged $33 freight. 2 bottle shipment in May, was just charged $44. Only variation was the 2 bottles I chose for May were slightly more expensive. I’m out!
Like othere have said, the kind of wines I want don’t have club models. There’s not a single mailing list wine I’d join if offered the chance, even at a fantastic price, except if I wanted to flip it.
Is there a wine club (not mailing list but wine club) in existence that currently has significant flipping profit?
There probably were a few in the past (Ridge Monte Bello? But didn’t you have to buy a bunch of other wine with it?) but I can’t even think of one now.
There might be a given vintage of a given bottling you could flip for a profit, but I don’t know of any wine club that overall has flipping financial upside.
Unless you were given the spot and/or the pricing as a personal favor, or you made a promise in joining the club not to resell bottles, I figure you join their club on their terms, so you can do what you want with the wines after you buy them at the price the winery chose.
99% of wine club purchases can’t be resold for break even prices, is that exploitative by the winery?
I tend to assume that wineries with positive flipping value consider that a point of pride. Probably including many of those who publicly criticize the practice. Are the owners of Screaming Eagle, in private and candor, genuinely discouraged or pleased to see their wines reselling for thousands of dollars?
99.99% of why I won’t join a club is because I want to pick and choose what I buy and not be obgliated to purchase if I don’t want the vintage, need to cutback buying or spending and honestly there’s too month other wine to get tied down.
price (if I can get them cheaper elsewhere, then why be on the list?)
shipping (not so much the expense, but rather the fact that I hate having wine shipped to me — it’s mostly logistical concerns, but I also don’t like the idea of my wine sitting in the back of a hot truck for at least one day)
lack of flexibility (don’t want to buy wines I don’t want)
I don’t know that I agree. I think on one end, buying something that you realize you don’t need or can’t use and reselling happens to all of us from time to time. Tickets come to mind. I feel it’s an unfair practice to buy tickets with the intent to resell. Sure, you were first in line/on the computer(s) and you got them in your possession before others could. I think about that kid who wanted to see Pearl Jam but only had $50 to spend, but now scalpers are offering at $100 and they won’t be able to attend the show. Simply tough luck for that kid who couldn’t be in the online queue quick enough? I don’t see it that way.
I remember visiting both Pierre Gonon and Thierry Allemand about 11 years ago. I was offered and able to buy a little wine at the end of each visit. I believe 40 Euro at Gonon approximately and 70 Euro at Allemand. I bet producers like this don’t love to see their wines selling around $200-$400 in the grey market. The spirit I picked up from these guys was they wanted their wines to be enjoyed by more than simply the highest bidder.
