By Paola Vecchiolla

My cousin Heidi and her husband Mike were visiting from D.C. ready for the “New York” week-end of dining out, seeing friends and going to a play.  They came over Friday night for cocktails and we started talking about their recent vacation to Napa Valley and Sonoma County.  After visiting over 20 vineyards they had joined several wine clubs, including Keenan Vineyards, Alexander Valley Vineyards, and Dutcher Crossing Winery.  What a concept, I thought—wine clubs.  Why aren’t wine clubs popular in New York among New Yorkers?

First, I asked my cousin and her husband why they became members of so many clubs.  They recounted the many benefits. The wine clubs offer a locked in discount for wines that are very limited in supply. They can choose the wines they want through a mailing list and, most importantly, they wanted to support their favorite vineyards.  Most of the wines are estate bottled and the vineyards will send a new release—members get first dibs on this—so you can taste and decide what to order.  There is no membership fee. Shipping costs are not included, but you are afforded the convenience of the wines arriving at your door.

I started to investigate retail stores in Manhattan that offer wine clubs and I had heard the Italian Wine Merchants shop on 108 E.16th Street has an interesting one. I met with Chris Deas, vice president of sales and marketing, to discuss their wine club. The founder of IWM and promoter of the wine club is Sergio Esposito. He is known to be the leading Italian wine specialist in the U.S.

Esposito’s idea behind the wine club is to offer its members the passion he holds for the authentic experience. Esposito travels a good deal and most of his time is spent in Italy, meeting with vintners and selecting the wines that are most representative of the wine style of the region.  IWM has over 800 members in its wine club and I asked Deas what accounted for their loyalty. “The members have a trust in Sergio and his selections,” Deas said. The club’s offerings are not based on excess inventory, but driven by the desire to educate and provide an exceptional experience drinking high–quality wine. Deas noted that drinking these wines is like “having a vacation in a glass.”

The members get an extensive e-mail letter explaining why a certain producer is in the portfolio. Deas said, “its members are getting a more artisanal product,” and the wines are limited in production.  The club offers three types of membership:  “Exploration,” for the novice, “Big Wines,” for the enthusiast and “Sergio’s Cellar,” for the collector. Each level includes three wines per month; prices well below market value; producer and tasting notes; Vino Italiano (paperback); and six Spiegelau Brunello wine glasses.

A wine featured recently in the “Exploration” club was a Sagrantino from Terre de Trinci 2001.  This wine is produced by a cooperative, a group of growers, from the Umbria region in Italy. The grape Sagrantino di Montefalco is a DOCG status (Italian category reserved for a few wines that are required to produce wine under strict controls) with blackberry, cherry and plum flavors and a strong tannic structure. Sagrantino is not a common varietal and therefore this wine may be hard to find in retail stores but at IWM the cost of a bottle is $39.00.

So with all these benefits why aren’t wine clubs popular in New York City?  New York City is one of the largest wine capitals in the country with a variety of retail wine stores.  New Yorkers like to go into a store and see the labels. They feel reassured by observing the prominence of brands on the shelves. I also noticed that when one makes a purchase at a store such as Sherry Lehman, even if it is an average bottle of alcohol, there is a certain cache about buying it there.

There are so many choices available to the average consumer in this city and it can be just as easy to stop by a wine store and grab a bottle of wine for dinner as it is to pick up the meat and vegetables.

While working at Garnet Wines & Liquor a couple of years ago, I noticed that a friendship evolved with several of my customers who came in to ask for my recommendation. We built a form of trust together.  I guess joining a wine club or buying your wine at a favorite retail shop has to do with the type of business relationship one has with the commercial entity. I think New Yorkers like the “warm and fuzzies” they get talking to other people.

For more information on the Italian Wine Merchants and its wine club, go to www.italianwinemerchant.com.

Paola Vecchiolla, Woman Around Town’s wine columnist, is a wine consultant for Lauber Imports, a division of Southern Wine & Spirits.