This weekend, I received my regular LinkedIn update and saw that Peter Harrison of Global Wine Company has launched the New York Times Wine Club. I probably asked myself the same question that a million other people asked: What does the NY Times have to do with wine?

In recent years, more and more wine clubs have been popping up in an effort to introduce consumers to new wines. The smarter clubs have been using name brand recognition, tapping into the notoriety of established household names. For example, the Wall Street Journal Wine Club, which launched last year, has no ties to the Journal. The club is run by a third party company (not unlike the new Times club) which simply tries to convince wine buyers that their wine is of good quality, in the hopes that wine buyers trust this statement because it seems to be coming from the Journal. All you need do is scroll to the bottom of their website to see WSJwine is operated independently of The Wall Street Journal’s news department.  Although a reader may enjoy the Journal’s wine articles, they have nothing to do with the club. Apparently, someone at the Times thought it was a good idea to begin competing with the Wall Street Journal Wine Club. And it is a good idea.

In this situation with the Times wine club, Global Wine Company has struck some kind of partnership with the Times, hoping that with enough ads, wine buyers will trust a wine club simply because it has the name “New York Times” in it. And maybe it will.  However, wine buyers can scroll to the bottom of the Times wine club page to read that while the Wine Club uses articles from the Times archives, the wines themselves are selected independently, and not by Times wine critics or other members of the news department.

But Global knows what they are doing when creating wine clubs built on the same principle, such as Napa Style Wine Club. Napa Style, led by celebrity chef Michael Chiarello, promotes a wine country lifestyle, from cooking to wines to entertaining and to home furnishings. The thought is that customers who enjoy the Napa Style brand should also enjoy a club with the same name.
Global also runs another club with a familiar name: Omaha Steak Wine Club. I would think this club pushes red wines that go well with steak. But I guess a wine club called “wine and steak wine club” just doesn’t have the panache as a club which includes a recognizable name.

So with the new Times club, we have just one more wine club with what appears to be quality marketers at the helm, betting that wine buyers will trust a familiar name. To some degree, I’m just as guilty by basing my club, South Beach Wine Club, on the famed South Beach Wine and Food Festival. However, not only have I based my club on something actually related to wine, but I also provide my own wine articles 5-6 days a week in the hopes that wine buyers trust my wine decisions. I try to earn peoples trust, and not pull a fast one on them. Call me old fashioned.

Tags: join wine club, Michael Chiarello, napa style wine club, new york times wine club, NY times wine club, omaha steak wine club, wall street journal wine club, WSJ wine club