How Wine Clubs Work
The Roche family has a long, proud winemaking tradition. You might say great wine runs in our blood.
Just don’t go looking for it at your local wine shop. In fact, one of the most distinctive aspects of the Roche winemaking tradition is the fact that we don’t distribute our wines to third-party retail stores. We never have.
So if you can’t make it to one of our two Sonoma-area tasting rooms — downtown Sonoma or our main production facility — the only way to purchase Roche wines is to buy them direct from us, or enjoy them from a restaurant wine list. And the most cost-effective way to do that is to join one of our three wine clubs. (Or our “club-like” Futures Program.)
Perhaps we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Many first-time Roche Winery guests aren’t familiar with the concept of a wine club, let alone what comes with membership in one of ours. Let’s review the basics first, then answer some common questions about Sonoma-based wine clubs like ours.
What Is a Wine Club?
When you join a wine club, you commit to purchase a certain amount of wine each year. Your membership cost is the cost of the wine itself, which is often sold at a discount to retail.
The amount you commit to purchase and the frequency of those purchases vary by club. Many wineries offer multiple quantity and frequency options. At Roche Winery, our flagship Carneros Club has three options:
3-Bottle Club: Four shipments per year of three bottles each
6-Bottle Club: Four shipments per year of six bottles each
Case Club: Three shipments per year of 12 bottles each
In addition to the discount to retail, most wine clubs have other benefits for members, such as complimentary onsite wine tastings, onsite wine-by-the-glass discounts, members-only events, and more.
These benefits generally begin after the member’s first purchase and continue as long as their membership remains active. They’re subject to change at the winery’s discretion.
One more thing before we dive into the details of wine clubs in Sonoma, the wine-producing region we know best: While some bigger “wine clubs” (that we won’t name) aren’t associated with specific wineries, we’re focusing this post on clubs that are. These winery-based clubs — including ours — tend to offer more member benefits, ship more innovative wines, and are just more member-friendly in general.
What to Know About Wine Clubs in Sonoma
Every winery is unique, so it should come as no surprise that every wine club is its own thing. That said, Sonoma wine clubs tend to have enough in common that we can accurately answer some general questions about what to expect from them.
How Much Does Wine Club Membership Cost?
The wine itself accounts for most or all of a wine club’s membership cost. Put another way, membership is the wine. You’re a member because you commit to purchasing a certain amount each year. You typically pay a discounted rate for those purchases (plus shipping, if applicable). (At Roche, we offer discounted shipping for Case Club members.)
Many Sonoma wineries don’t charge anything for membership itself. Others charge just a token annual fee.
Like other agricultural products, wine pricing is variable. Among other factors, the amount you pay for a particular shipment depends on its input costs — what it costs to produce.
Similar to what you’ll find with many other wineries, Roche Winery doesn’t publicly post Carneros Club shipment prices in advance. This is because we don’t set prices far in advance and because we allow members to substitute wines in each shipment to create a package they absolutely love.
We do publicly post prices for our Futures Program wines because those change less frequently and can’t be mixed and matched. For example, in early 2023, buyers could expect the following prices on select Futures wines:
2021 Reserve Sparkling Brut Rose: $410/case, down from $576 retail when bottled
2021 French Oak Reserve Chardonnay: $375/case, down from $540 retail when bottled
2021 Reserve Merlot: $410/case, down from $600 retail when bottled
2021 Tipperary Vineyard Reserve Pinot Noir: $420/case, down from $660 retail when bottled
2021 Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon: $530/case, down from $816 retail when bottled
How Often Do Wine Clubs Ship?
This depends on the club. Most clubs ship at least once per year, and many offer more frequent shipping options as well. Roche’s Carneros Club has two quarterly shipment options and one thrice-annual option.
Where Do Sonoma Wine Clubs Ship?
This depends on winery policy and applicable state law. If you live in California, rest assured, we ship to you. We currently don’t ship to the following states:
Mississippi
Utah
Other wine clubs may have different shipping policies. If you live outside California, check that your desired wine club ships to your home state.
What Else Can Affect Wine Club Shipments?
Wine clubs generally ship throughout the year so that members have ample time to savor each wine (and to bottle-age wines as they wish). Roche’s quarterly clubs ship in January, April, June, and September; our Case Club ships in February, May, and October.
We’re usually able to honor this schedule, but we can’t control everything about the shipping process. The biggest factor in whether we ship on schedule is weather. We’ll delay shipments in hot weather to reduce the risk of heat damage to wines sitting in trucks that aren’t climate-controlled.
Logistical issues with mail or parcel delivery can also delay our wine shipments. We work closely with our shipping partners to ensure timely delivery, but as we’ve all learned over the past few years, delays can and do happen.
What Are the Other Perks of Wine Club Membership?
Here’s a sampling of what you can expect as a Carneros Club member. Check out our Carneros Club page for a full list of member benefits:
Access to member-exclusive wine releases and library wines
50% off wines by the glass for the member and up to three guests
Discounts on private events, including weddings, held at our production winery or downtown Sonoma tasting room
Access to a personal account manager to assist with onsite visits and VIP tastings
10% off all non-wine merchandise
Access to invitation-only, member-exclusive parties
Every wine club has a different collection of members-only perks. We can’t speak for every Sonoma winery, but Roche tries to make ours as generous as possible. You’re committing to us, so it’s only fair that we commit to you.