Sonoma Wine Clubs: A Club by Club Assessment with Author Jim Arnold

Wine Clubs are increasingly ubiquitous and wine enthusiasts have a plethora of choices when stocking their personal wine cellar. In the new book, , author Jim Arnold and Photographer Ingrid Larnis transform the broad spectrum of Sonoma County wine club offerings into a handy dandy guide that details each clubs benefits, costs, perks, and other pertinent information. IntoWine.com recently chatted with Jim Arnold about the book and the grand experience that came with researching it.

Why did you pick Sonoma versus Napa?

We live in Sonoma County, so it was most convenient. We're working on a book covering the Napa clubs now, along with a second edition of the Sonoma book. Plans for Mendocino/Lake County, then Central California.

Wine clubs are obviously a great way for wineries to generate repeat business. However, what are some wine club "benefits" consumers should be careful to avoid?

It used to be fairly common for wineries to dump the wines they couldn't sell into the club shipments, but that's become increasingly rare as competition for members has increased. Also, the developing culture of pride in winemaking, and the sophistication of the market, have made dumping unthinkable for all but the unthinking (and the shrinking).

One important issue you (any prospective member) will want to anticipate is how many bottles you’ll want to receive from any one winery in a year, and how much you'll want to pay for it. Some clubs expect a relatively large commitment. And if you want to receive reds or whites exclusively, be sure a club gives you that option.

If you owned a winery and were starting a wine club tomorrow, how would you structure the ideal wine club?

Most wineries have already got that figured out from watching each other and copying success. Assuming there’s enough production capacity to support a good club, I think providing a variety of shipping programs is important, with choices in the annual number of bottles and the types of wine. (That requires lots of staff time, of course.) Offering exclusive or first access to the best wines is an attractive benefit. A number of good, creative club events can be important to locals and frequent visitors. Providing easy access to the friendly winemaker is a special treat, as is an adequate and stable staff of people-persons who are not too overwhelmed to know the members’ faces, if not their names.

What was your litmus test for including or excluding a given wine club?

We've included only the wineries with regular tasting room hours (at least one day a week), with at least one annual event for club members, and with an interest in expanding their membership. A few of the wineries with remote corporate offices, and remote club managers, were unforthcoming or too late for publication.