Good Evening, Wine Lovers!
We come to you on the night of the first snowfall of Fall/Winter 2018. So therefore, we are snowed-in and figured we would write a post!
We thought it would be helpful to write a post about our experiences with various Wine Club Memberships throughout New Jersey (and one in NY). With our experiences, we thought we could make recommendations on the best ones to join (based on the benefits). See below for a list of our current Wine Club Memberships:
William Heritage Winery (Quarterly shipments)
White Horse Winery (Tri-annual shipments)
Sharrott Winery (Quarterly shipments)
Amalthea Cellars (No wine shipments)
Hawk Haven Winery (No wine shipments)
Tomasello Winery (No wine shipments)
Mount Salem Vineyards (Quarterly shipments)
Unionville Vineyards (Quarterly shipments)
Bedell Cellars (Quarterly shipments) (NY)
Some of these memberships do not require commitments or wine shipments (quarterly or tri-annually). Our current memberships that fall under this category are Amalthea Cellars, Hawk Haven Winery, and Tomasello Winery. Amalthea Cellars and Tomasello Winery require a fee to join their wine club and you receive benefits (discounts, wine-related gifts, etc). Hawk Haven Winery required a total purchase price of $300 in wine in a single transaction for an annual membership into their club. With their club, you get many free tastings (both regular and premium). From this set of Wine Club Memberships, we highly recommend the Hawk Haven Winery club. If you find yourself visiting the Cape May area throughout year, the free tastings make this wine club valuable!
The other six memberships that we belong to require wine purchases/shipments throughout the year (both quarterly or tri-annually). These memberships include William Heritage Winery, White Horse Winery, Sharrott Winery, Mount Salem Vineyards, Unionville Vineyards, and Bedell Cellars. From these, our favorite would have to be William Heritage Winery. The benefits of joining their wine club are extremely valuable. You receive free tastings to William Heritage Winery as a member (all of the time). The remaining wineries on this list either give you a limited number of free tastings or none at all. We understand that free tastings will cut into a winery’s gross profit, but William Heritage Winery really knows how to make you feel like a VIP. Oh, and their staff has actually gotten to know us (is that bad?). They will truly make you feel special if you join their wine club.
*Update– We found out that the membership at Unionville Vineyards will give you free tastings every time you visit (similar to the membership benefits at William Heritage Winery).
Through our experiences, we truly feel that the Wine Club Memberships all provide their own type of value to a consumer. The majority do not require a fee and your only costs are purchasing wine throughout the year. Those wines do tend to be discounted, which is a huge plus. The benefit to the winery owner is that they have a guaranteed group of consumers that are committed to purchasing their wines. It’s nice when the winery owner is kind enough to pass that valued benefit along to us, the consumer!
We highly recommend that you join at least one Wine Club Membership throughout New Jersey. You are helping to guarantee the success of a local business owner! We do not plan on cancelling any of the local memberships that we are currently signed up for. We love to #supportlocal ! Let us know if you are involved in any memberships and what you think of them. We are dying to hear!
Wine is calling, we must go!
Nick & Ed