Mail Vin
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday April 30, 1990
RESEARCHING this story almost sent me stark raving mad. If you've ever read a direct-mail wine club brochure, imagine having to read 11 of them, understand them, work out what they're talking about, and decide if they're offering value.
Many of you will already have tried it. And probably failed.
You need the patience of Job. I was fool enough to taste a case of each club's wine as well. Maddening | You start seeing little animals flitting about in the corners of the room. The gee-whiz slogans start bouncing around inside your skull until they sound like commercial radio announcers on drugs... "Save 50 per cent off retail |" "Let me take you on a journey of wine discovery from the comfort of your own home |" "Treat yourself and your guests to exciting new wines at old-fashioned prices |".
There's been an extraordinary rise in popularity of wine clubs over the past five or six years, and the reason is laziness. People are now too busy and too lazy to shop themselves. But they want their guests to think they know something about wine, and the glossy brochure makes them feel secure. Presto |An instant business worth zillions. Only now, I suspect, it's getting crowded. Too many mail-order operators have started up.
Traditional retailers of course cried "Unfair competition |" when it began. Now they're also doing it. The Wine Partners and others have joined long-time operators such as Farmer Brothers.
And the value is there. Almost without exception, the clubs I checked out are selling good wine at very reasonable prices. And their services are good. The voices on the phones are friendly and helpful. They are doing a very good job.
THE WINE SOCIETY
If any direct-mail wine club can claim to being the best, it would have to be The Wine Society. It has been running 44 years, achieving phenomenal growth in the past five years, and has many unique features which set it apart, not the least being that it has a walk-in retail outlet rather than being a purely faceless mail operator.
The society has more than 33,000 members with turnover of about $13 million from sales of more than 200,000 cases of wine. Being a non-profit organisation, any surplus funds are passed on to members as cost savings and increased services. There's a $50 joining fee payable only once, no annual subscription and, to remain "active", members need only buy $100 worth of goods or services a year.
It claims to have the lowest freight rates of any wine club. Insurance is included, whereas other clubs add insurance on to their already high freight charges. Delivery in capital and major cities is $3.50 for one case; $2.50 a case for two; $2 each for three or four and nothing for five or more cases. To other areas: $4.50 for the first, $3.50 each for two, $2.50 for three or four, nothing for five or more.
The society also has a "continuous order" system for members in three price levels. It is optional and wellsubscribed. You authorise the society to send you a case or more every three months and automatically debit your credit card if you choose. The wine appears at your door each quarter and you don't have to lift a finger. The price-ranges are: "society dozens" $60 to $78 range; "premium dozens" $78 to $96 range; "special dozens" $96 to $120 range. At each level you can choose all whites, all reds or an even mix.
Having tasted samples from all three levels I found 10 of the 12 samples submitted to be of very good quality and exceptional value for money. The wines were half commercially labelled and half society own-labelled.
AMERICAN EXPRESS WINE CELLAR
Begun and operated by Cellarmaster Wines, this is the club that took Australia by storm in the mid- to late-1980s and revolutionised wine reselling. Cellarmaster operates four wine clubs - Amex, Westpac, Myer (very much a Victorian club), Wine of the Week - and in May will launch Australian Wine Cellars. Cellarmaster claims to be the biggest seller of bottled wine in Australia and has a sophisticated data base marketing set-up. This enables it to check customer purchasing history on-line and also to target its mailings to customers' needs. Cellar director David Thomas says his operators handle more than 200 phone calls a day asking for wine advice. He says this disproves the claim by some conventional retailers that mail-order clubs are impersonal because they lack a shop-front.
The Amex club is marketed to Amex cardholders. There's an annual subscription fee of $22. The first six months are free. The club is the biggest in Australia, with more than 70,000 members. It offers an unconditional "home-tasting money-back" guarantee. You can send the wine back and get a refund if you taste it after home delivery and dislike what you get
The wines are delivered via Cellarmaster's own home-delivery service in Sydney and Melbourne and delivery time is claimed to be less than four days from receipt of order for 90 per cent of cases sold. The delivery fees are Sydney and Canberra $3.95; Newcastle, Wollongong, Central Coast $4.95; country$5.95.
I sampled a mixed case of Amex wines, the December dozen, and frankly, the wines don't need to be supported by bluster. They are of good quality, none exciting but that's not what Amex is all about. It's about value for money and convenience wine buying. I rated most wines about 16 to 16.5/20 on the show judging scale, which is consistently good.
WESTPAC WINE CELLAR
Also operated by Cellarmaster Wines, this club direct mails its clients via Westpac Bankcard and Mastercard billing inserts. Like Amex, it also recruits members this way. There is a $25 annual subscription, first six months free.
The wines are selected by the same people as Amex's and the same Cellarmaster data base marketing system is available to target customers and provide information to phone callers. The wines also tend to be similar to those offered by all the Cellarmaster clubs.
Director Terry Davis has several "continuity programs" like The Wine Society, with a similar price/quality scaling. "Price fighter" cases are$59.76 mixed or straight dozens; "Four seasons" are all red, all white or mixed cases at $71.88; and "Classic wine selection" dozens have the same options at $89.88 a case. Customers can skip or change options or cancel any time without penalty. Deliveries and billing are automatic and quarterly. Delivery fees are $5.50 Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Newcastle, Wollongong et cetera; $7.95 NSW country.
I sampled a sextet of reds - "Red wine renaissance" - for $95.88 a case, two bottles of each, and thought it outstanding value. The wines were well-chosen and prices very competitive with what you'd expect to pay for the same or similar wines in a shop.
THE WINE-OF-THE-WEEK CLUB
Don't know why they call it that: it should be the wine-of-the-quarter club, as it works on three-monthly wine offers and invites members to subscribe to the automatic delivery and debit system. There are 12 different wines in each case, and the price quoted is an average: the one I tasted averaged $5.49 a bottle and was very good value. That's $65.88 a case, plus delivery and insurance: $5.50 a case mainland capitals, up to $9.95 for far-flung places, and 1 per cent of order value for insurance. That's not a lot of money. Plus you get a free bottle of Orlando port with your first delivery. Being a Cellarmaster outlet, the wines are by familiar makers and some the same actual wines as in other Cellarmaster club offers. No matter: they're pretty fair vino.
This club fishes for members in the print media by way of inserts. You pay a $15 membership fee after six months. This club seems like a good way for newcomers to wine to find out about it by sampling a broad range of wines, with very little fuss, and at very good prices.
DAVID JONES CONNOISSEURS CLUB
This up-market wine club, as befits the salubrious DJs stores, has an Australia-wide membership of about 10,000 (quality, not quantity |) and has been operating since 1984.
Winemaker and writer James Halliday is the sole consultant, writing the monthly newsletter which includes explanatory and tasting notes on the monthly"standing dozen" (the March 1990 standing dozen cost $107, plus delivery and insurance. The rates are very competitive: Sydney and metro $2.50 a case; NSW country, ACT, Vic and Qld $4.50; other states $6.50.) Interesting and unusual selections are taken from overseas as well.
Apart from the standing dozen, you can order whatever quantities and mixtures desired from about 20 described each month. These are divided into four groups: "rare & exclusive", "laying down", "drink now" and "outstanding merit/value". I have found the DJs own-label wines, of which there is a full range, to be of only average value for money on more than one occasion, but the commercial label wines - especially the imports - are of very high standard and often exceptional.
Members are recruited from DJs customers, with account holders being mailed a small colour brochure, which includes several mixed dozens and a membership application form, with their accounts twice yearly. There's no joining fee.
THE ANZ WINE CLUB
This club, directed by Richard Warland, a former Wine Society manager, began six months ago. Its customers are ANZ Visa and Bankcard holders. Brochures are mailed with card statements. The gee-whiz style of the mailings is very reminiscent of Amex/Cellarmaster.
I tasted the original "Classic series mixed dozen" which worked out at$5.99 a bottle on average. I couldn't quibble about the price; it's very good value, even when you consider it doesn't include freight ($5.50 a case Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong; $7.95 country NSW; insurance included). Working out a value for money on the 12 bottles delivered plus the two freebies for first-purchasers, a Sydney buyer would actually pay $71.88 + $5.50 = $77.38 which is $5.52 a bottle for 14 bottles - great value. You can also choose to pay in three, monthly instalments (prices frozen until 1991).
For the second and subsequent orders you can order mixed dozens of all reds, all whites, or reds and whites together.
ANZ also offers the "Connoisseur series" - a quite up-market case of wines($143.88), higher than one usually encounters in mail order although Amex does these sorts of better-wine offers too; they're just not the bread and butter of mail-order clubs. The value for money is much better with the cheaper wines. A promising club.
TIME WINE CLUB
Operated by Liquorland, this club is only six months old. It recruits members through Time magazine and has no walk-in premises at present. Only wines that are readily available are used, with no special club labels.
Wines are available for eight weeks. Half-case buys are available. Buyers can mix wines from two sections: premium and commercial. The quality of the wines is patchy, with prices being higher than most other wine clubs and the value for money being less. Several wines tasted were not of very good quality while others were outstanding - there was a gulf in between. Freight costs are capital cities $4.95; NSW and country Victoria: $6.95; all other areas $9.95.
THE WINE PARTNERS
This is a syndicate of nine Sydney conventional liquor retailers: Princes Street, Speziale, Magnum, Roseville, Spofforth Street, Sydney Road, Belrose, St Ives Chase Cellars and the Peter Bourne Wine Emporium. Between them these retailers have a formidable depth of talent and experience, and the wines so far have demonstrated their palate power. The brochures are no-bull, without whiz-bang claims and intelligence-insulting gimcrackery. There is a free champagne stopper and a bonus bottle of bubbly, but it's presented in a tasteful way.
Delivery is free in the Sydney metropolitan area on the next day; other rates and delivery times on application. The six wines are all under commercial labels, all in the $7 to $9 range, and can be ordered in individual dozens or as a mixed dozen. Prices are given for each case or a mixed case of two bottles of each wine ($89.95 or $7.49 average).
This is the only mail-order organisation I reviewed which made no claims as to savings off normal prices. It is the easiest offer to follow, the prices are fair although not extraordinary. If you order the mixed dozen you get the best value ($89.95 is $7.50 a bottle) and you get a free bottle of Lasseter sparkling wine which adds to the value.
THE ULTIMATE WINE CLUB
This is an unusual club, begun by Orlando Wines and launched on April 6. The hook is that you get a free bottle of 10-year-old Aberlour malt whisky with your first purchase. It's valued at $43 by the club.
The catch is that only wines produced by the Orlando group will be sold, at least in the first two offers. Still, that's quite a few labels, now that Orlando has Wyndham Estate, Morris and all the Orlando brands and agency lines.
Conventional retailers, of course, would cry blue murder if a wine company started direct selling. So to keep them on-side this club has cleverly recruited their help. All orders will be channelled through conventional retailers for delivery so the retailer gets a cut. A list of 37 retailers accompanies the first brochure.
The dozen bottles for $89.95 (average price $7.49) is enough of a giveaway, but the whisky makes it a ridiculously good offer. The club suggests the retail value would be $180.84 (this would be correct if it included the whisky).
Hence they call it a half-price offer, which should blow all the competition out of the water, but can they keep it up? Manager Philip Randall says there will be no joining fee, no membership fee, no delivery fee, and no insurance charges. These people mean business.
FARMER BROTHERS
The first conventional, highvolume retailer to combine a direct-marketing operation, Farmer Brothers began in Canberra in 1975 and began its mail-order business in '76 with ads in the National Times.
Farmers' excellent monthly newsletter features news and views plus a multitude of wines, many packed in straight and mixed dozens. Some excellent bargains can be found among the commercial wines; the Farmer Brothers own-label wines I have found less rewarding. But this is a very competent retailer which tries hard for its customers.
Farmers' freight rates are $2.85 for the first case to Sydney and Canberra, rising to $6.50 in distant country areas.
AUSTRALIAN WINE CLUB
The slogan "direct from the winery to you" sets this club apart from others: members' orders are passed on to the wineries, which despatch the wines direct to the member, which minimises handling. Members can buy through the club or take their membership to wineries and receive a 10 per cent discount at the cellar door.
Samples are tasted by a panel headed by Mark Shield, the contributing editor and written up in the club's magazine Wine News. The club's 10,000 members pay $15 to join and $35 a year subscription. They receive their magazine as an insert to Wine & Spirit magazine every second month, effectively receiving half a year's free subscription to Wine & Spirit.
The club claims to save its members 50 per cent off their wine bills.
NB: Diners Club and Len Evans Wine Club (Commonwealth Bank) were invited to submit wines and information but declined.
© 1990 Sydney Morning Herald