47: Quarterly Wine Club

Sarah Hatton & Virginia Myers Tenaya Wine, Sheffield

In a nutshell: A customised version of the classic wine club set-up, with options to purchase an ongoing discounts.

Tell us more.

“Virginia was a winemaker in California and wine clubs are very popular over there. She was really keen for us to do our own. We select the wines in advance and we see it as a way of getting people to broaden their tastes rather than just sticking with the things that they know they love. Sometimes they just need a little nudge in the right direction.”

How have you set yours up?

“We’re fully aware that the economy isn’t that good at the moment, so we’ve taken a softer approach. Rather than the commitment of a rolling subscription, every quarter we send out an email announcing the new box. Customers can just duck out if they want to: they have the choice to buy the box every quarter or not. There’s no pressure.

“There’s a three-bottle (£50) or six-bottle (£100) option. For the first box we had some real summer classics that we love. There was a pet nat, a red and a white. We include tasting notes, and with a maximum of six bottles it feels more manageable to learn something about each one.”

What are the perks?

“If you buy a box you automatically get 5% off bottle purchases in store for the rest of that quarter. You also receive a free branded cotton tote bag. We had them made to easily hold six bottles. There’s nothing worse than a bag that’s too skinny!”

Boujee artwork – what’s the story?

her and see what happens? We messaged her and she said she’d love to do it.

“In the first year of business money is always super tight, but I think it was worth paying for this because it really sets us up as a brand. Aesthetics are really important to us.”

What’s next?

“We only launched it last month, and we had 10 people purchase in the first week, which I think is a good uptake for a new business. We’ll continue to build on that and keep doing something a bit different with it. I don’t like the idea of it just staying static. We want it to be a more interactive experience. Maybe at Christmas, for that quarter’s box, we’ll do an in-store tasting so they can get a sense of what they’ve got in there. We want to make customers feel that they’re included and getting a sneak peek into the world of wine and possibly getting a bottle of something that’s not yet been launched in the shop.”

“It’s by a wonderful artist called Louise Sheeran. Both Virginia and I have really liked her for a long time and we have some of her prints in store. We had one of those moments where we were daydreaming and said, ‘wouldn’t it be incredible if we could have someone like her design for us?’ We thought we could never afford her because she’s too amazing. We decided, why not ask Sarah

Sarah and Virginia win a WBC gift box containing some premium drinks and a box of chocolates.

Tell us about a bright idea that’s worked for you and you too could win a prize.

Email claire@winemerchantmag.com