What Is A Winery Membership?

How Do Winery Memberships Work?

Whenever you visit a winery, there is a high likelihood that you will be asked to join to be a member of their wine club. Usually members are signed up on-site versus joining online, however you can join online at some wineries. Most all wine memberships work the same way, although be sure to know the specific details before joining. 

Usually memberships are free to join. As part of the membership, the winery will send you 2-4 shipments per year and you are automatically charged for the wine each time a new shipment is sent. However, you can cancel the subscription once the first shipment has been sent. The wineries are hoping you will either forget to cancel or enjoy the wine so much that you keep getting wine shipped directly to you.

Wineries have made this a big part of their business on-site and often will even pay a commission to their employees for encouraging guests to sign up. This income stream is a fantastic way for the wineries to get their wines directly to people who love them, cutting out middlemen distributors and providing a continual source of income for the winery at the same time.

Winery Memberships vs Wine Clubs Subscriptions

These terms often get mixed around and can sometimes even be synonymous. In general, we think of a membership as something you join at a specific winery that you are visiting. You have more control over the wines you receive in the mail and you are also getting wine from wineries that you enjoy (we are assuming you enjoy the winery if you signed up for their membership).

A wine club is a subscription based service you sign up for from an online company or various wine shops that deal in volume sales and not just from a specific winery. These are also called wine subscription boxes or wine of the month clubs. Wine clubs often will ship bottles that are re-labeled, which is not ideal. Because if you find a wine you like, you have no way of buying more of it locally. You are forced to purchase from the online company instead of locally, which adds on cost for shipping (even if you get free shipping, that cost is baked into the wine).

While both memberships and clubs are essentially subscriptions, we feel like winery memberships are a much better option that gives you more control over what you receive in the mail and also have additional benefits of joining.

Pros and Cons of Joining a Winery Club

There are thousands of memberships you can sign up for and choosing the right clubs to join can be downright intimidating and sometimes confusing. The last thing anyone wants is to regret joining a club and not getting a great value from the club that they were hoping and expecting to get.

There are many benefits and downsides of joining a club. Be sure to pick a membership or memberships that are in your budget and from wineries you know you enjoy. Keep reading for different things to consider when picking out a winery membership to sign up for.

How Much Is The Average Wine Membership?

This really depends what winery you join, how much wine is shipped and how often it is getting shipped out. Usually, a winery membership will save you 10-20% off the retail value of the bottles. But pay close attention, because sometimes mass wine retailers can sell wine for less than the winery. So in those instances, it probably isn’t worth signing up for those winery memberships unless there are other perks that make the membership more valuable.

Are Winery Memberships Worth It?

This is the million dollar question! In general, we do recommend joining winery memberships if you are certain you like the wine and it stays within your budget. As mentioned above, we feel that winery memberships are a much better value compared to wine clubs subscriptions from  online companies. Even if the wine costs more, you have more control and it limits getting bottles of wine that you don’t enjoy being sent to you.

Selecting The Right Winery Club

1. Budget

So by now you have made up your mind that you will be signing up for a winery membership or several memberships. Here are some considerations to think about before making it official.

The number one thing to consider when choosing which ones to sign up for is your budget. It is easy to go overboard with ordering wine online and the next thing you know you’ve broken your budget, which nobody wants to do.

2. The Winery You Are Visiting

It is best to be sure that you like the winery and the wines they produce before signing up for their membership. It isn’t worth saving $20 on a wine tasting if you end up getting $100 worth of wine you don’t enjoy shipped to your house.

3. Types Of Wine

Most wine memberships do really care if you enjoy being a member of their winery club. Because of this, you can often select which types of wines you want sent to your house each time. It can be a great way to try new wines, or you can stick to the tried and true wines that you are certain you will enjoy. There is usually a lot of flexibility here on what is sent out to you.

4. Cadence Of Shipments

Determine how often you will need wine sent to you and how much wine each shipment. We typically recommend starting slow and increasing the cadence or size of shipments as you get used to getting wine delivered to you.