One of the best ways to keep engaged with the winery, updated on the latest wine creations, and generate additional income is a wine club. Typically, for $30 to $100 a month, a winery will offer a membership providing benefits and reasons to visit the winery every month or so. Often the membership is good for monthly tastings, bottles of wine and member-only VIP events. Different wineries have different programs, so the benefits will vary, but the basic idea is the same.
For the wine enthusiast, VIP Clubs mean discounts on the wines they love. VIP members often get to taste special runs and have the first option to buy bottles of the limited edition wines. There are also member appreciation events, often every quarter, that bring in the members to enjoy the latest vintage and purchase bottles at a discount.
Here are just a few of the winery clubs available in Colorado:
- InVINtions, A Creative Winery is well known for their fun events. Their Pirate Party on Talk Like A Pirate Day was full of prizes, gifts and pirate attire. Movie nights, Trivia Nights and more are always on the calendar, with events for members and non-members as well. The winery has multiple club levels for every price range, each level offering a lengthy list of benefits including VIP bottles, tastings and member-only discounts.
InVINtions, A Creative Winery
- Kingman Estates holds a VIP only event that provides 4 hours of tastings of all of their wines, specials on their new wines, lunch and live music. It’s a great way to spend the afternoon with the winery owners and incredible staff! One of the few wineries in Colorado crushing their own grapes, VIP members get the chance to taste and purchase the newest blends.
Kingman Estates
- Blanchard Family Wines has a Colorado Club and a California Club. For the local Denver Metro area, the winery offers one bottle per month or two tastings flights in their Denver tasting room as part of the membership. The family makes wine in both states and offers a California Club that ships wine to VIPs from their west coast vineyard. The VIP membership adds benefits and discounts for additional purchases.
Blanchard Family Wines
The Wine Barrel in Parker has their VIP event every quarter with free samples of their latest limited edition wines, free bottles of wine and finger foods for the afternoon. As a member you also get a wine glass with your name engraved on it that you use when you visit the tasting room, plus discounts on tastings, bottles of wine and custom batches.
The Wine Barrel
Wild Mountain Cellars in Fairplay, Colorado is off the beaten path when it comes to Denver wineries. The Wine Club solution is to ship their VIP clients wine three times a year. Three levels of the club offer 4 bottles, 6 bottles or a full case of 12 bottles shipped about every four months. The small mountain winery has a fantastic lineup of craft wines. The VIP club provides access to all of the different vintages, shipped direct and with a discount!
Wild Mountain Cellars
- Water 2 Wine holds a variety of events with a theme. Think “pairings” with Water 2 Wine, their Halloween Chocolate and wine pairing was a twist on the wines they serve. Check out their upcoming Halloween event. They recently held a 4-course meal to pair with different wines, accompanied by live music. Water 2 Wine has several VIP Club levels that work with any budget. Beyond discounted bottles and tastings, the winery membership also includes discounts on batches of wine, for those who want to try their hand at making their own wine.
Water 2 Wine
Many of the wineries offer VIP programs, which makes it difficult to choose where to belong. A suggestion is to choose one or two wineries that you visit often to take advantage of the discounts and bottle promotions. Then pick a winery that you don’t know much about, sign up and get to know them and their own line of wines. It’s a great way to expand your knowledge of the local craft wineries and explore the long list of great Colorado wines!
