Wineries go direct-to-consumer as on-site sales soar

What you probably already know: If you are a member of a wine club (I admit, I am a member of three), you may be getting a lot more emails soon. A new report out this week from Silicon Valley Bank (which is now a division of First Citizens Bank & Trust), found that premium wineries make nearly 70% of total sales directly through wine clubs and on-site tastings. One of the main ways they market to their members is emails, which, it turns out, are working really well.

Why? As someone who produces newsletters for a living, I’m hardly an unbiased source here, but I do know emails are a very intimate and direct form of communication with your customers. They aren’t generally subject to algorithm changes like social media, and once you’ve established yourself as a trusted brand with your customers, engagement can be really strong. Wineries are finding this to be true, particularly for bottles that cost more than $20.

What it means: That said, social media has also been an effective way to market high-end wines, according to the report. Direct-to-consumer sales for premium wines were up 1% in 2023 and wineries are increasingly requiring reservations for their tasting rooms as a way to generate additional revenue. Before the pandemic, wineries were more likely to allow walk-ins, but now the average fee for tasting room appointments is $72, up from $33 in 2018.

What happens now? Wine trips are never inexpensive — I’ve never been to Napa, Sonoma, Oregon wine country or Walla Walla and not signed up for at least one wine club — but the report showed that in Napa, visitors spent an average of $444 per visit, up from $316 the year before.

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