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Wine of the Month Clubs - Printable Version

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Pages: 1 2


- Wine Baron - 06-08-2002

I'm a member of a pretty good wine of the month club - The Global Wine Club.... they have a web site at [url=http://www.clubsofamerica.com]www.clubsofamerica.com[/url]
their phone is 1-800-258-2872.
Had a great Red selection from France last night!


- Drew - 06-08-2002

Hey Wine Baron, sounds like you have a vested interest in this club...if you do spamming is not nice.

Drew


- winoweenie - 06-08-2002

Hi Wine Baron and welcome to the board. In case what Drew surmised is correct you'll find we have a thread for ads and promos. WW


- Wine Baron - 06-09-2002

Excuse me?... i do not have a vested interest in this wine club Drew... i was just trying to help. This is "favorite wine stores" right? I did not know it is a sin to add contact info on this board.... relax dude.


- Innkeeper - 06-09-2002

OK that's a valid point. We do have a "once is enough" policy though, so please respect that in the future. Let's be friends.


- winoweenie - 06-09-2002

Hi agin' WB. Jes sos' you unnerstan' the meeny characters who inhabit this board.....Noone ever makes a post that isn't tongue-in-cheek, except on the wines. All of the personal shots taken here are in jest. I don't think Drew ever needs to relax as he's been disciplined 14 times for falling asleep at his desk. Again welcome aboard and hopefully you'll find lots of good info and some levity, Dude! WW [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb2/biggrin.gif[/img]


- Drew - 06-09-2002

Now don't make me come up thar to the windy city and drink all your wine...Baron. It was your half dozen posts throughout the board that smelled of spam. We are attacked by spamsters too often. No harm no foul. Welcome and come back often.

Drew


- Wine Baron - 06-10-2002

Okay - i get the humor now - sorry Drew i forgot to take my prozac on the last post.
Were friends now so lets drink!


- slovakwine - 11-03-2002

I am curious what people define as a "good" wine of the month club? Is it ok if they make you take 2 bottles a month? What is a fair price for wines you have never heard of? Etc?

I have a lot of doubts about the longevity of any business that sells wine online. It just seems like shipping fees are just way too daunting for the business to make sense. It is too bad, but wine is heavy and FedEx is not cheap.

Anyone else feel the same way or are there enough people in this world willing to pay $40/month for 2 bottles of maybe good, maybe not wine?

I live about 1 mile from Sam's in Chicago so I have never done the wine of the month thing before.


- Thomas - 11-03-2002

slovakwine, I'm with you. Columbia House Records cured me years ago of joining buying clubs, and that wasn't even online then...

Me, I want to touch the bottle, read the label, maybe get to taste the wine too, before I buy it.


- Botafogo - 11-03-2002

Shipping cost are not the only factor in this equation: We have MANY customers in Hawaii and even Guam who have to FED EX the stuff there and it still ends up cheaper than the local market not to mention our selection is much better. For the rest of the country, after you take out sales taxes (which are not paid in either state) almost any wine over $15 is still a value for folks in a lot of places and then you factor in the complete price meltdowns that happen here on a regular basis and you see why a third of our business is out of state...

To get back on topic, we do a different kind of WOM Club: we set up a data base for EACH customer with their likes and dislikes, preferences for price and style, number of bottles (or cases in some instances) and do an individualized order for each one every month. AND, we don't use it to clear out slow movers but to lead with new items. Most of them are started as gifts but we have maybe fifty folks who just like the adventure.

Roberto @ WINE EXPO, Santa Monica

[This message has been edited by Botafogo (edited 11-03-2002).]


- lizardbrains - 08-15-2004

I've joined a few wine clubs, locally. Since most are within 10 minutes driving, I can just go pick them up (have a few sips!) and save on shipping.

I also only join ones where I like most (if not all) of their wines. I figure that way I'm guaranteed to get ones I like.

Roberto, I really respect what you said about catering to the customer and leading with good ones instead of clearing out the old ones. One of the clubs I'm in does that, and I really appreciate it.

-Elizabeth


- californiagirl - 08-15-2004

lb- my rule of thumb is that I won't join a club unless they take awful good care of you, offer discounts to members and that you can't get the same wine at local discounters for what you get from the winery. Try Tobin James Cellars "James Gang"- discounts and no shipping charges in Ca.!


- Innkeeper - 08-15-2004

TJ ships additional orders free to CA folks, but ships all club shipments free anywhere in the U.S.


- doug'n'boston - 08-17-2004

Never really understood wine clubs. Was member of one, a gift, and the wines were from small ... sometimes can't be found ... vineyards. Clubs seem to make deals with vineyards to produce small batches under some unique name. My two cents ... find a great wine store and work with them to find the unique, different, new things and save on shipping!

Go Sox!


- Thomas - 08-18-2004

Doug-in-boston,

It is neither profitable nor smart to produce "small batches under some unique name." It's best to offer the same wine that is regularly produced and apply a special label for the club, which is likely the rule and not the exception.

That is the oldest gambit in the marketing world.

And whatever happened to winebaron?



[This message has been edited by foodie (edited 08-18-2004).]


- wondersofwine - 08-18-2004

Doug,
Welcome to the wineboard. I think Foodie and Roberto will welcome your philosophy of finding a good wine store and working with them on selections. That's mostly my approach although I would consider having particular wines shipped from California and Oregon that aren't available to me locally (through the winery itself). It's not the most expensive cult wines I'm after but more mid-range wines that just happen to have great appeal to me.


- doug'n'boston - 08-24-2004

Hi all ...

Foodie, I guess we'd have to define "small". As vinyards buy bulk wines all the time it would be easy to blend a wine different than that normally produced at a vineyard and label it as they wish. Some vineyards agree to sell the wine over the counter at their tasting rooms, making it a real wine label, sold at the vineyard but produced for the club. Not all are done this way, but I would have to guess that any national wine club slips in wines (smaller batches) made under agreement with them and big(ger) wineries.

Oh, and hey ... the wine club I was member of never sent a bad wine. All drinkable, most different.

I have the misfortune of living in a state that still blocks direct shipping ... so getting that case delivered proves to be difficult. I have the good fortune of having a job that brings me to Californa a few times a year. I have a great backpack that holds ... well the record (so far) is 14 bottles.

BTW - to be true to this section of the board, my current store of choice in Massachusetts is 5th Ave Liquors (Framingham), followed closely by Wine Cellar of Silene (Waltham) and Marty's (Newton).

Stay well everyone -

Doug'n'boston (drinking a 2001 Wilson Vineyards Petite Sirah - a suggestion from Marty's ... just 10 bucks and tasty)


- Kcwhippet - 08-25-2004

Hey, Doug. Have you tried Warehouse Wines and Spirits in Framingham? They're next to the Whole Foods on Rte. 9, just past Rte. 126 heading west.


- doug'n'boston - 08-25-2004

KC - I've been in, being a frequent shopper of Whole Foods (next door). Haven't bought anything there, nice selection, friendly people, clean store, easy to shop ... but they did one thing that bugged me and I don't find their prices to be "the lowest in Framingham", as they say. The thing that bugged me, and I havn't seen it in a while, was their in-store advertising of "average ratings". I asked once "average of what?" and they couldn't tell me. So were they picking the scores to average, leaving out ones that would bring it down? Why not just show all the ratings? Did it include their own rating? It just seemed, well fishy. Could be totally legit, but it didn't feel that way.

Maybe they'll win me over someday, but havn't yet.

What I like about 5th ave (over by BJ's in the Stop and Shop complex) is that Fred (just met him) gets hard to find stuff. He has a Turley Zin which I have not seen distributed outside a mailing list or resturants. He did steer me to a Malbec for a "value" bottle ... it was bad, but I think corked and not his fault. Next time in I'll be letting him know and see how he responds.

At the Wine Cellar in Waltham they remember you, and they remember what they recommended to you. It can be weeks, even months later and they'll ask, "how was that ...?" and once I made a face ... not a good one ... he replaced the bottle with out question. A month ago I was headed to a party, needed a gift for the host and thought of the new Riedel stemless glasses. Stopped there at closing ... they were locking the doors and unlocked the door, saying "come in Doug". Man, you gotta like that.

For deals ... I like making a trip to Mall Liquors in Cambridge (Fresh Pond). Have you been there?