October is Virginia Wine Month, and readers may want to consider joining the club at their favorite winery or wineries. Paul and I do belong to a few Virginia wine clubs, and we can attest to some of the benefits of club memberships. Here are some of them:
Flexibility—-Most wineries offer membership levels to make them affordable and/or convenient. For example, I prefer club memberships that offer a one case requirement and then you are “in”! Some wineries offer monthly or quarterly purchase requirements while others offer options that include all of the above.
Benefits—-The best memberships offer exclusive benefits such as the use members’ only (and usually quieter) quarters, exclusive members’ only wines, discounts on tastings, wine purchases and winery events such as barrel tastings, dinners, and concerts.
Experience—-Wine club members usually get to sample club wines poured by an educator who is dedicated to providing a quality experience. We appreciate the extra time given to us by educators who can answer our pesky questions about vineyard sites, microclimates, harvest experiences, etc. We are even treated to mini-verticals at times, and these allow us to know whether to drink now or hold on the wine rack!
Examples:
Warren: I renewed my case club membership to Slater Run Winery. The winery does offer a quarterly option; however, I like the convenience of the “one case a year option.” A case of wine allows me to appreciate the excellent skills of winemaker Katel Giraud whenever I like. I enjoy free tastings and discounts on purchases; furthermore, I get ample notice of winemaker’s dinners and other winery events. My recent case included the excellent dry Rose, old-world style Chardonnay, and the complex Bordeaux blend called Roots!
Paul: I’ve been a club member at Breaux Vineyards since 2006. I appreciate getting sneak peaks of wines that are released to club members first. Each quarter we get three wines that represent a the best of Breaux wines. Breaux has several vertical wine tasting events each year and we always enjoy attending a few of them. And the wine club pick-up parties are always fun!
Hey Dan…thanks for the comment. We completely agree about the perks associated with the wine clubs we belong to as well. We love having access to the winemaker to ask questions during special events. Thanks again!
I belong to four wine clubs that have the quarterly pickup, and two that just require the case purchase every 12 months. While I enjoy the discounts, free or discounted tastings, and events, I really enjoy that many of these allow you access to interact with the winemaker or they have incredible perks. At Arterra, your annual case purchase gets you invites to events, and the winemaker is so friendly and forthcoming when he discusses his wines and process. I found that at Bozzo too, at my first visit I liked the wine so much that I joined, and the owner/winemaker was great (fortunately he had plenty of time to chat before the afternoon crowds came). At Greenhill the best perk is the access to the member clubhouse, this gorgeous old building overlooking the pond, where you can reserve spaces for your group for free and enjoy tastings and bottles/snacks – it makes for a great getaway. The clubs are a great value, as long as you love the wine and don’t mind having a lot to cellar/store for a bit.
Hi Tammy….Thank you for your comment and contributing to the article. We appreciate your comments!
I’ve been a member of Stinson for several years. I love the winery, and the people are wonderful. We get four bottles three times a year and get to pick the ones we prefer. Tastings are free and we also get a free glass of our choice of wine at our pick-ups. We have also belonged at different times to Cardinal Point, Cunningham Creek, and First Colony. We left Cardinal Point and First Colony because we didn’t have the freedom to choose which wines we wanted and were getting too many that weren’t our preference (good wines, just not our taste!). Cardinal Point also offers free admission to some of its events to club members, but we were never able to take advantage of them, so we sadly and reluctantly left their club (I believe they actually call it a co-op). We were booted out of Cunningham Creek because we supposedly hadn’t purchased enough wine to meet our club obligations and were given a very short time frame to do so. I was not happy since (1) we had purchased many bottles over the relevant time frame and apparently hadn’t been given credit for doing so and (2) we weren’t given much time to get it straight (and the notice came while we were out of state). I definitely agree that there are many benefits to belonging to a wine club and have really enjoyed doing so.