You put the glass to your lips, take a sip, and ugh! “It’s too dry”, “It’s too lemony”. “Where’s the fruit”?”.
Wait!
Don’t pour it out!
Wine Tips
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE JOINING A WINE CLUB
Just about every winery you’ll visit in California has some form of a wine club. Each club is different, but typically they’ll require you to commit to a certain number of bottle shipments per year, and in return you’ll get discounts, access to events and other perks.
This stream of wine-club sales is crucial to wineries’ business models. Especially for small wineries, cultivating a healthy direct-to-consumer (DTC) business — that is, selling wine to customers themselves, rather than going through middlemen — is the only way to make the margins work. That’s partly because the middlemen, mainly distributors and retailers, take a cut of the wine’s price, but it’s also because boutique wineries see customer loyalty as the key to long-term success.
When you see the discounted prices, it may feel tempting to join every wine club. Most of us, however, don’t drink quite enough wine to join them all. So choose carefully. Is this a winery you’ll visit frequently? Most wineries waive tasting fees for club members, and often for a couple of guests. Ask about the event schedule, too. Some wineries even offer guesthouses on the property for members.