Wine clubs can be a great thing, if you like a certain winery, enjoy discounts on wines and happen to live in a State that allows wine to be shipped in from places like Napa Valley.  I find myself currently a member of quite a few clubs for various reasons.

I joined Chappellet's wine club many years ago after trying their wine and meeting one of the family members at a wine dinner.  Since moving to California, we had the chance to attend several of their wine club parties at Pritchard Hill, which were really memorable.  And their wines keep improving with nearly every vintage, so it's hard to take myself off the list.

I joined Handley's wine club because we have focused on Pinot Noir wines in recent years as they have improved immensely, especially in California.  Handley is located in Mendocino County, which is a nice spot to visit for wine tasting, with several great wineries serving Pinot Noir.  Additionally, Handley has a nice balance of quality and price, so we like the value of their wines.

I'm not sure some of the lists are considered clubs, but during the US financial crisis, I signed up for a few cult wine lists, to see how hard or easy it was to qualify to buy some cult Cabernet from Napa Valley.  Well, sure enough, after waiting around a year, I was invited to join the list of Harlan Estates and their sister operation, Bond Estates.  While I have purchased some of their less-expensive offerings over the years, these wines have gone directly to my cellar for aging purposes.

Similarly, my wife and I discovered Roar Wines when visiting the Tahoe area and dining at Plumpjack Cafe at Squaw Valley.  Roar Wines are only available by applying for their waiting list, and after a short wait, I have been able to receive some allocations of their splendid Pinot Noir when it is released.  Roar makes a Pinot using Gary's Vineyard fruit, which is my personal favorite Pinot these days.  I also purchase Pinot's from Pisoni Vineyards and Lucia and find these wines to be similarly high quality and from some of the same vineyards as Roar's Pinot.

I discovered Rusack Vineyards at a local wine shop and have been ordering their wines for some time now through their wine club.  I even took on their new label, Catalina Island Vineyards, and while I received my first shipment, I might put that in the cellar as well.

Purely for collection purposes, I've joined a Magnum offering from Ridge so that I can accumulate their high end Montebello Cabernet in my cellar.  This arrives on an annual basis, and I'm waiting for a special occasion to open one of these Magnums.  More likely, I will have a huge vertical in a few more years and I can figure out when to start drinking them some day.