Explore Wine

Guide

How Winery Wine Clubs Work

By the third tasting of the day, someone will offer you a wine club. The pitch is always the same: join now, the tasting is free, and you get a discount forever. Wine clubs are how American wineries make a living, and many are a genuinely good deal, but you are signing up for shipments and charges that keep coming until you cancel. Here is what you are agreeing to.

How a club works

A winery wine club ships a set number of bottles, usually three, six or twelve, two to four times a year, charged to your card when each shipment goes out. Members get a discount of 10 to 25 percent on the wine, on reorders and often on tasting fees, plus access to wines the public cannot buy and invitations to member events. Most clubs let the winery choose the wines; better ones let you customise the box.

What it really costs

Do the arithmetic at the bar. A six-bottle shipment of $45 wine, four times a year, is more than $1,000 a year plus shipping, which the discount rarely covers. Shipping is the hidden cost: $20 to $40 per case from the West Coast to the East, and impossible to some states at all (see the shipping guide). Ask whether the discount applies to shipping, and whether the winery offers pickup in a tasting room near you.

Minimum commitments and cancelling

Most clubs require you to accept two or three shipments before you can cancel, and cancellation usually means calling or emailing the winery rather than clicking a button. Some charge a fee for cancelling early. Read the terms on the winery’s site, not the brochure at the bar, and note the date of the first shipment so you are not surprised by the charge.

The real benefits

For a winery you love, the club is the best price you will ever get on its wine and the only route to allocated bottles. Free tastings for you and a guest turn a repeat visit into a cheap day out, and member events at small wineries, harvest lunches, barrel tastings and release parties, are worth the price on their own. Join one club at a winery you would drive to, not four at wineries you liked on a Saturday afternoon.

Alternatives

Buying a case at the tasting room gets most of the discount without the commitment, and many wineries will ship it at club rates. Regional clubs run by wine shops in Napa, the Willamette Valley and Walla Walla send a mix of producers. Whichever you choose, the winery’s own website is the only place to read the current terms, and every listing on this site links to it.

More Than Fifty Winery Wine Clubs Worth Knowing

These fifty are established, well-run clubs from every wine region in the country, chosen for reputation and reach rather than by any ranking. Each name opens the winery’s own club page in a new tab, where the current terms live; the profile link is this site’s listing. Prices, shipment sizes and waiting lists change, so read the terms before you join.

Napa Valley

Sonoma County

Central Coast, Lodi and Livermore

Pacific Northwest and Idaho

New York, Virginia and the East

Midwest, Texas and the South

Frequently Asked Questions

How Winery Wine Clubs Work: where does this information come from?

Winery counts and locations come from the federal TTB permit list and each producer's own website. Nothing on this page is a paid placement and we publish no ratings.

Keep Reading

Direct-to-consumer shipping Tasting room etiquette Napa or Sonoma? Winery map

Find the wineries

Every producer in the country is on the map, with the address, phone and website we could confirm.

Open the winery map

Details are collected from public records and the producer's own website and may be outdated. theUSAwineguide.com is not responsible for outdated or inaccurate information; confirm hours and availability with the winery before visiting.