04/20/05 Wine clubs

Welcome to Vine to wine, this is your host Linda Moran, and on today's program we are going to talk about joining wine clubs. Is it for you? We'll discuss some of the pros and cons after this short break. BREAK These days most wineries offer a wine club of some sort. The benefits and the costs will vary but the goal is to introduce you to new wines in the hope that you will buy more wine from them. Or that best of all they will become your favorite winery. I like this marketing idea it takes a lot of the time consuming work of it for us busy consumers. Usually what happens is that you pay a flat fee and a few times a year the winery sends you a selection of wines that are currently available. Hopefully, you try them over the first week or so that you receive them. Then you decide which wines you would like to buy more of and place your order. I want to reinforce the tasting of the wines in a timely manner as I speak from experience at having waited too long. When I finally tasted a wine and fell in love with it, it was sold out. So be forewarned. Now the other consideration I recommend is that, if possible, go to the winery to pick up your wine. It is always fun to visit and it saves you the cost of shipping. There are very often wines that are on sale only in the tasting room and sometimes you will receive an additional discount on special wines just for being a club member. Most likely the winery has a special event or two each year that are exclusively for Wine Club Members and they are not to be missed. Most wineries roll out the red carpet and have some great surprises for their most loyal customers. Most of all have fun trying new wines that you probably wouldn't have time to seek out on your own and thanks for joining me on today's Vine to Wine.