It’s really not accurate anymore to say joining a wine club is a “trend.” A trend, by definition, can be something that’s fleeting. And the popularity of joining a wine club is much more than this. In fact, it’s quickly gaining traction in the way people taste and view vino. 

First, what is a wine club, anyway? And how does it work? Generally speaking, a wine club is just simply a way to provide customers with a variety of different wines on a quarterly or monthly basis. 

It provides options that customers may otherwise not be able to have, select or find on their own. Most wine clubs operate in a themed manner and therefore provide recipients with selections of red wines, white wines or even both. True, every wine club is different, but the underlining mantra is the same: to help patrons discover wines they’ll love.

In the Port City, wine clubs and sommeliers are evolving and challenging that cardinal saying in commerce: It’s not personal, it’s business. By offering members specific palate profiles and getting to know their clientele on a one-on-one basis they’ve managed to create, build and nurture relationships, which in turn keeps both supply and demand ongoing.

Michael Bevacqua, co-owner of A Tasting Room with Anthony Palermo, explains their particular format for a wine club is very simple, and it revolves around trust. 

“People sign up, we select offerings, they taste wines they normally wouldn’t find anywhere else, and it gives us an opportunity to open their mind and their palates in the security of their own home,” he said.

For him and Palermo, a wine club can help beat that certain intimidation that surrounds wine, because it shouldn’t be about pretense.

“[Wine] is subjective,” Bevacqua said. “I can like a wine for no other reason other than I just like it. It might not be in the press or get a good review, and that’s OK. Or I may like a wine that gets great scores – it’s a subjective art.” 

A Tasting Room builds its entire wine club inventory through the wines purchased for its wine tastings. All the wines must fit a certain criteria: under 25,000 case production, grown sustainably, organically or bio-dynamically and made without added sulfites or chemical preservative agents. 

By doing so, Bevacqua says, this keeps the club’s selection out of the big chain stores, which to him, is also kind of the point. 

There are also two club levels – $25 or $45 depending on bottle price points – in which members receive two bottles a month and discount on other purchases.

And every week Bevacqua and Palermo put out a newsletter with information on upcoming events, tastings, art openings and events in the courtyard of their wine shop at 19 S. Second. St.

“Our options change constantly, and repetition is rare,” Bevacqua said.

There’s one characteristic though, Bevacqua stressed, that every wine club should share: A wine club should always be about the individual. And this means being accessible to all. It’s a demand that has many sommeliers logging on to the internet.

Sommelier Zak Kilson, co-founder along with Olena Kilson of Wilmington’s Chien de Vin, for example, said there’s been a real shift in the way consumers shop for wine. 

And being a virtual store versus having an actual storefront allows his business and his club to be more accessible to customers, he said. Rather than operating behind a counter all day, he can go directly to his clientele and communicate with them the way he would a friend.

 “With millennials making up over half of U.S. wine consumption over the last couple of years, I believe it is the right choice to go where they are. Social media has been a great tool in getting exposure for the wines that we promote, and a lot of that is directly attributed to that specific demographic,” Zak Kilson said. 

Chien de Vin, a full-service wine club, also has a giveback component. The company donates 5 percent of its proceeds to animal rescue groups.

“Being that we give back to local animal rescues, we also felt the need to keep our overhead low to maximize what we can do,” Zak Kilson said.

Social media plays an increasing role for many of the wine club operations, with owners turning to Instagram accounts and Facebook posts to differentiate themselves.

“At 39, social media was and is still new to me. However, with practice makes perfect,” said David Andersen, owner of Taste The Olive in the Landfall Shopping Center. “Taste the Olive now has Google Plus, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Yelp, Snapchat and soon to be added LinkedIn.” 

The retail shop, which specializes in vinegars and olive oils along with wine, also recently signed onto customer loyalty app Flok.

“They are great for small business owners looking to give something back to their customers as a reward program,” Andersen said. “They have a great price for what they have to offer, and there are many ways to give back to your customers.” 

He said the struggle for many first-time business owners, like himself, of building a wine club can also be solved with social media. 

“I had to learn that old saying, ‘Nobody will feed your horse, except for you.’ So, I put my horse’s bucket in my hand and began to feed him. I fed him Facebook three times a day. He had Instagram for lunch and dinner. Social media was the key to his, our, survival,” Andersen said.

The advantages of joining a wine club include supporting small-production wineries – the wineries that cannot afford the high shipping licenses or marketing techniques. Still, it’s not about crunching numbers, it’s about becoming part of a club that you can call your own.

“I am of the opinion,” Zak Kilson said, “that if you are buying wine in a grocery store, you’re doing it wrong. There is a reason that small bottle shops and privatized online wine clubs like ours exist. 

“Once people gain access to wine professionals who they can trust to select wines for them, it is rare that they will go elsewhere,” he said. “It’s like finding a good doctor or mechanic. You don’t want just anyone performing surgery on you or putting new brakes on your family car. Why would you allow the person case stacking Barefoot be in charge of selecting a good wine for you?”