The Grapevine: Wine clubs make their mark

The Grapevine: Wine clubs make their mark

TIM DWIGHT | THE GRAPEVINE | FOR FLORIDA TODAY | May 21, 2009
Link to full article: http://m.floridatoday.com/detail.jsp?key=212230&full=1


These tough economic times have led many a business owner to examine all aspects of their operations in an attempt to remain profitable.

The wine business is no different.

Despite recent national sales figures that show wine consumption continues to grow by about 2 percent, there's been a paradigm shift in the buying patterns of the vast majority of customers: They're spending less.

Discounts and bargains have become increasingly important and lead retailers to explore new avenues of revenue. For me, it was the (long procrastinated-over) decision to start a retail wine club.

I quickly learned that wine clubs can be divided into two sorts: national level clubs that ship selections from a central warehouse location, and local clubs that require customers to stop in and pick up the bottles.


The basic concept of these clubs works the same; you pay a monthly membership and usually receive two bottles of wine. You also can receive a discount on additional wine purchases.

Proclaiming to be the largest wine club of its kind in the United States, the folks at Gold Medal Wine Club have a dazzling Web site with all sorts of opportunities for consumers. There's the basic gold level, two bottles for $34 plus tax and shipping each month, followed by the increasingly costly platinum, diamond and international series, which can set you back $159 to $189 per shipment. (The highest-priced selections come quarterly rather than monthly.)

The large-scale wine club at Gold Medal certainly seems to be a commendable operation, though it left me with a few nagging thoughts:


With thousands of members receiving wine, wouldn't all wine selections have to come from large-production wineries? And how does shipping work in the dog days of summer? Not a problem if you live close to the west coast, where most of the clubs originate, but it's a long way to our sunny shores in Florida.

Anyway, the folks at Gold Medal were light-years away from what I had in mind for my retail store in Indian Harbour Beach. My pubescent club efforts would be focused on local operations; no shipping needed.

I decided to contact some friends in the business in Orlando.

Tim Varan's Tim's Wine Market has been around for nearly two decades. It's on Orange Avenue with picturesque views of Lake Ivanhoe across the street. It has had a locals wine club since 2004, and with the addition of two franchise operations in Lakeland and Windemere, is now up to nearly 500 members.

"We were probably the first ones in Central Florida to have a wine club," said Steve Butler, Tim's longtime manager, "and it was just a natural extension of what we'd been doing already. And although we've grown quite a bit over the years, we're still able to focus on small production wines that we feel represent great value to our members."

Tim and his staff alternate between two reds one month and a red and white the next.

In Brevard County, WineStyles, a franchise wine operation at The Avenues in Viera, has had a wine club since its inception in 2005.

"The club structure comes with the franchise package from the parent corporation," said manager Mike Bennett. "The wine selections are made at a national level by an associated board of sommeliers and trade professionals."

But occasionally, Bennett and owners' Manuel and Maria Rosales will override the selections to focus on something they particularly enjoy.

"We've got the flexibility to go locally or smaller production when we need it," Bennett said.