How Wine Clubs Work

Wine clubs of Napa Valley

Wine club - St. Helena, CA

Wine clubs are an established part of the traditions of California wine. If you’re not familiar with them, they work like book-of-the-month clubs. You buy a certain number of bottles a year, and the club delivers them to your door. You get discounts and other benefits, such as information on the wine and the best foods to pair it with. There shouldn’t be any cost to join, and you should be able to cancel at any time.

The most exclusive wine clubs are able to find quality lesser-known wines and bring them to members who might otherwise never have the chance to taste them. They cater to everyone from the expert to the novice trying to become an expert. Famous wine clubs include the Gold Medal Wine Club, the International Wine of the Month Club, the Original Wine of the Month Club, Lot 18’s Tasting Room and Uncorked Ventures. Each of these has slightly different rules, methods and traditions.

Some wine clubs offer your choice of what series of wines you would like. You might be able to choose to be sent wines from the Pacific Northwest, aged Cabernets or the most highly rated wines in California. Tours and tastings will give you the opportunity to meet the winemakers and chat with other wine lovers. You can avoid a common complaint about wine clubs — that members sometimes don’t get their wine because the club is waiting to receive it —by joining a wine club associated with a particular winery.

A most exclusive wine club near St. Helena

Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards produces world-class wines at affordable prices. The vineyard is a 40-acre estate just south of Howell Mountain, and has been owned and operated by the Anderson family since 1983. Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley, a 10-minute drive from downtown St. Helena, has its own wine club. By agreeing to buy six bottles a year in groups of three, you can get Level I membership with discounts on their wines, tickets to parties and invitations to a complimentary tasting. Agreeing to buy 12 bottles a year, or 24, gets you higher levels of membership with even more benefits. Once you’ve chosen a membership level, buying additional bottles won’t count toward your annual allocation.

An example of a library wine that might be available at an Anderson’s Conn Valley wine tasting is the 2009 Èloge. This dark ruby red wine, born from a particularly mild year, has a deep, full, layered aroma of cedar, cigar box and crème de cassis, with hints of red currant, violets, spice and toast. Its flavor is deep, full and layered, tasting of concentrated dark fruit, spice and mocha. Club members save $25 on the ’12 Èloge. Join the Anderson’s Conn Valley Vineyards Wine Club today.