How to Start a Wine Club

As the lazy days of summer start to arrive, you may find yourself wanting to join a social group with your friends where you can hang out, relax, and just enjoy the good times. While book clubs are always popular and a good idea, a new trend to try this summer may be a wine club. Just you and a couple of friends and/or family getting together to try new wines. There are many ways to do this but here are a couple of pointers too start off with.

1) Decide what type of wine club you would like to have: While this may seem like a silly idea you have to ask yourself; do you want a wine-tasting club where you can try a little bit of different types of wines at once, or a wine club where (much like a book club) you try one wine a week and discuss what you like about it? With the former kind while it is true you can try many wines at once, it may be frustrating to not have a full glass of a wine you like whereas with the latter it may seem like you won't have a lot to talk about over one type of wine. You may find it turning out to be a dinner where you discuss life's little quirks while drinking and occasionally mentioning how good the wine is. Whatever the case this is the most important step because it helps to establish how your wine club will be run.

2) Who will be in your club: While it sounds weird keep in mind not everyone likes wine. My sister for example is not a big wine person; she only drinks Arbor Mist which most people, especially hard core wine aficionados, consider a wine cooler. So you have to make sure that the people in your club enjoy wine as much as you do. However you don't want to be gauche so extend invitations to close family and friends at least because it's better to be asked and turn something down then not to be invited at all. Plus you never know; the non-wine drinker in your group may join just to be apart of a social group and to maybe find wines they do like. But don't you go getting hurt feelings when someone turns you down because they don't like wine; at least they're being honest with you.

3) What type of wine do you want to drink: Okay, this may sound like a weird suggestion but remember the Arbor Mist from above? Well while some people don't consider it wine, others do, so you need to decide if you want to include it in your club. Also do you want just a specific type of wine? If you're a merlot drinker, you may be tempted to just drink merlot. Or you could just want white wine. The best option is to obviously try every type of wine since your club will more than likely be made up of eclectic wine drinkers you want to try different types of wine. I would suggest alternating between the types of wines; one meeting have a red, the next a blush, the next a white, then repeat. That way all the tastes are satisfied and it gives everyone a chance to try something they normally wouldn't try so everyone wins.
*Note: this only works for the club where you try one wine a month. If you're in a wine tasting club, you're already trying a variety of wines an a regular basis, so you have nothing to worry about.*

4) Where do you want to have your meetings: If you decide to have a wine tasting club there are a couple of options for this. You can have a wine tasting meeting at someone's house where everyone brings their favorite type of wine with a certain food (usually cheese as it is the easiest) or if you are willing to drive a little ways you could even go to a vineyard to taste the wine there. There is also an option called the Traveling Vineyard where a consultant comes to your house and gives you different wines to test out. If, on the other hand, you have the other type you're pretty much limited to two places; you can either go to a restaurant and everyone tries the same wine or at each meeting someone can suggest a wine and prepare an evening around that. With the first option, that is hard as when you have different options people are going to want different things and then it's more like a wine tasting because everyone gets something different and lets everyone else try theirs. The second one seems to be your best bet if you're going for this type of club because that way the hostess of the evening can prepare a meal that will compliment the wine or just have finger foods to go along and everyone can try the wine of the evening without having an option to try another one.

5) Will there be costs? In hard economic times such as these, everyone is concerned about how much something will cost. You have a couple of options here; you can either have dues which is an iffy thing as people may not like having to pay dues. Plus even with wines that don't cost that much, the dues would have to be a large amount to cover the different types of wines for every meeting. Your best bet are these; for the wine tasting group, it goes without saying everyone will pay for the wine and cheese they bring. If you choose to travel to a vineyard, carpool with everyone giving some amount for gas no matter how far the vineyard is. And if you have the Traveling Vineyard party, everyone pays for the wine they want to buy obviously. For the one-wine party, you can do a potluck style if you wish; that way everyone else besides the hostess does put something in to the gathering. However if you do this option, the hostess has to be sure to let everyone know what will taste good with the wine that she is suggesting. Or you could just decide that everyone who hosts will spend the same amount some way and leave it at that. Just make sure it's fair; these are hard times for everyone.

6) How often do you want to meet: With either option of what kind of club you will have you need to decide how often you will meet. Are you going to be a weekly club or a monthly? In actuality with both club options, monthly is your best bet as it gives everyone a chance to either gather money to buy wine and cheese for a wine tasting or to prepare a meal for a one-wine-only club. It's not hurtful to everyone's pockets plus with the latter club, it gives the hostess time to try out new recipes and have trial runs before she prepares it for a group.

7) Have fun!! Sounds hokey but it's true. The purpose of a wine club is to have wine as well as try other wines you have never tried, nor would ever had were it not for the group. If you have a wine tasting group? Don't get upset if people don't adhere strictly to the "tasting" rule and forgo testing other wines in lieu of a certain wine they like. It's just for fun. If you have a one-wine party, don't get upset at people for not liking your wine, or if their idea of wine is different from yours; different strokes for different folks (remember Arbor Mist?). Just relax and have a good time with your friends and family enjoying some good wine and hanging out. After all, you get to have some wine and in my opinion any time drinking wine is a fine time indeed.