The answer to this question begins with our unwavering commitment to deliver to our members two of the most interesting and enjoyable wines from a vast array of premium boutique producers, without our members having to travel the world or taste through hundreds of uninspired offerings to find a few gems. In order to accomplish this Herculean task, we retain Don Lahey, an acknowledged wine author, educator, and consultant to oversee the process of selecting our wines. A former wine importer and syndicated columnist, Don's career in wine spans nearly 30 years. Don manages several tasting panels and travels extensively with members of the primary panel in order to fulfill the club's commitment to its members. He also authors each monthly newsletter, detailing each vineyard, the featured wines, what to look for when tasting them and what foods accompany each best. To read an interview with Don spanning a detailed account of his life with, and passion for wine, click here.

Our Tasting Panels

The primary objective of each tasting panel is to identify noteworthy wines, exciting producers, and up and coming areas of production. With Don's guidance, a primary tasting panel comprised of 10 hearty souls performs the initial triage, whereby a lot of plonk is poured and a few potential pearls are uncovered. Only the top 10% of the wines that the primary panel tastes ever make it to our secondary panel, which can then include as many as thirty or more thirsty tasters. Nevertheless, the core mission remains the same: the search for quality, value, and variety. Special attention is paid to each wine's aroma, body, balance, varietal or generic character, style and unique attributes as well as its overall flavor. And as often as possible, without being parochial, the panel seeks to offer wines that are grown and produced using sustainable methods. When it comes to the making of fine wine, the club's overall philosophy is less (additives, interference, manipulation, or sculpturing) is usually more. The painstaking result is the unique and exciting wines we deliver to members each month. Often, these wines are both extraordinary and rare.

The tasting panels we employ include the gamut of wine enthusiasts – from neophytes to serious amateur collectors, and even a few professional tasters are thrown in for good measure. In this way, the diversity of experience, preference, style, and taste that engender our club membership are appropriately represented in the selection process. This practice may not guarantee that every single selection is the exact match for every palate, but it does serve the overriding purpose of learning how to please most of the people most of the time. And when all is said and done, we know that Don and our panels are doing their job, as over 97 % of our surveyed customers would highly recommend our service!

Finding outstanding, lightly distributed wine at great prices

Don's extensive career in wine included a seven-year stint holding the position of Director of Imports at New York based Atlantic Imports, a wine importing company and distributorship. His responsibilities required him to travel extensively, taste, and purchase wine. Atlantic Imports' specialty quickly became the importation of fine wine from boutique estates from around the world. He worked extensively in Burgundy, California, Champagne, and Chianti.

What does this mean to you? Value. Our featured selections retail in the $15 to $25 per bottle range and more often than not, on the higher end of that range as Don's established relationships and knowledge of the industry allows us to consistently secure outstanding wines at exceptional values.

It's a Question of Quality and Availability

Occasionally, our members have inquired if would ever offer a wine from Bolivia or Brazil, Botswana or Belarus, or some other remote locale. We suppose that somewhere, in someone's travels, somebody has come across a wine of distinction from one of these places, and he or she would like to share that treasure, real or imagined, with others; hence, the inquiry. The answer to the question is, "sure, why not, providing the quality, value, and availability fit our tasting panels' stringent criteria."

Unfortunately, there are only a limited number of truly fine wine producers, who make world-class wine. Although the legion of excellent wine producers continues to grow and no single country possesses a monopoly on fine wine, the law of averages, as well as the flow of capital, technology, and tradition necessary for the production of world-class wine favor the world's ten leading producers of wine. Moreover, climate and soil also play major roles in the production of premium vinifera grapes, and without a doubt (barring a few exceptions) the leading wine producing nations have the edge in this regard. A string of exceptional vintages in Italy, France, Spain, and California has further tipped the scale in favor of the major producers.

In order to understand who the major wine producing nations are, we have compiled a list of the current top 10 wine producing nations below. In order of their total production, the world's leading wine makers are:

Italy
France
Spain
United States
Argentina
Germany
South Africa
Australia
Chile
Romania

Certainly, we have featured wines from countries out of the "top ten", and we will continue to do so, when quality, value and availability prevail. Conversely, wines from at least one of the top ten producers have never found their way to your door for the reasons mentioned previously, but we are always looking and tasting, so perhaps one day we can offer a top notch wine from Botswana, or other unlikely locale!