From newspapers to NOW to the NRA, wine clubs take root in unexpected places

SAN FRANCISCO - Quick, what pairs well with feminism, guns and The New York Times?

Apparently, wine. The California National Organization for Women, the National Rifle Association and the Times are just a few of a growing cadre of unlikely groups launching wine clubs as a way to raise cash and strengthen ties with supporters.

"It's a way that you can get out there and you can get your thoughts out there and you can support the causes that you care about," said Mona Lisa Wallace, a member of the board of California NOW, which recently launched its own Feminist Wine Club.

Check the web and a host of other groups playing sometimes sommelier pop up, from a wine club run by the upper-crusty Debrett's (British etiquette experts) to clubs for dog-lovers. But because most wine clubs are privately held, it's hard to know how many there are.

Wine clubs run by wineries have been around for years, but the move toward organizational clubs - often run by another company specializing in the business - appears to be more recent, said Tom Wark, executive director of the Sacramento-based Specialty Wine Retailers Association, whose members include Internet wine retailers.

"I've noticed an uptick in organizations that you wouldn't necessarily associate with wine off the bat becoming in one way or another associated with wine," he said.

Wine clubs are a bit like a book-of-the-month club. Members sign up for regular shipments, selecting frequency and, in some cases, a general preference for styles of wine. The club then selects and ships the wines.

The clubs come as wine has grown in popularity in the U.S., said Larry Dutra, president of Sherman Oaks-based Vinesse, which runs about a dozen clubs, including the NRA Wine Club. "Most people find that an odd pairing, but their customers are, like every other American, enjoying wine in bigger numbers than ever before," he said.

That includes Michael Garner, New Orleans businessman, NRA supporter and wine lover. In four years of getting the group's wine club selections he hasn't been disappointed yet, he said, describing some recently delivered dry red wines as "just unreal."

The Feminist Wine Club, meanwhile, is run by Silicon Valley-based Bottlenotes, an online site, and features wine from women winemakers.

"We thought it would be a really fun and different way for us to have a fundraiser for our organization and support women winemakers," Wallace said.

The New York Times club is part of a larger effort by the paper to generate new revenue streams and cultivate reader loyalty in the current challenging market for newspapers. Like NOW and the NRA, the Times also uses an outside company, Global Wine Company. The wine club site features articles drawn from the paper's archives, but the venture is independent of the paper's newsroom to avoid a conflict of interest.

The club launched in August and "we've been pleasantly surprised at the response," says Alice Ting, executive director of brand development for the Times Company.

But wine clubs do face some obstacles, including restrictions on direct shipments in several states. And not every wine lover is in love with the idea of this unusual outsourcing.

Alder Yarrow, who writes the wine blog Vinography, says "you can get a lot more for your money just by trusting your local wine store."