Wine Info, Commerce & the Club

Posted by Tom Wark on Dec 19, 2006

Ours is a culture in which information almost always serves commerce. This is particularly true of wine information. Nearly all of the wine information we consume leads us in one way or another to disposing of our income or our capital.

The critical question, then, is how good is the information we consume and use?

Lenn Thompson of Lenndevours and Appellation America as well as other information venues seems to me to have combined good information with commerce with the creation of THE NEW YORK CORK CLUB.

Lenn is best known for his Lenndevours Blog, perhaps the best source of information on the Internet about New York wines. The blog is a perfectly rendered example of NarrowBlogging, where the blog takes on a narrower strip of subject matter inside a larger category of information. Lenn has come to own the NY Wine category on the Internet. He’s done this by having others determine his information is
good and useful.

Combine this base of authority with a wine shop that carries NY wines and you get a wonderful confluence of information and commerce that should generate confidence among those ready to sample the wines of New York State on a regular basis.

The New York Cork Club works like this. Members of the club receive either monthly or quarterly shipments of wines from the  Green Grape Fine Wine Company in  New York. The wines for each shipment are chosen by Lenn, who is not making any money on the sale of the wines shipped. Members rely on Lenn’s seasoned palate to deliver to them the best and most interesting New York wines he can find.

The first shipment, for example, includes the 2005 Hermann J. Wiemer Dry Riesling and the NV Shinn Estate Red. Each shipment comes in at $40-$60 plus shipping.

The New York Cork Club is similar to the Appellation America Wine Store and to other wine clubs around, with the exception that it builds on this narrow, specialized niche. In fact, the choices of wine clubs abound into near infinity it seams. The question comes down to what kind of authority and information comes with this club that should inspire you to join.

The New York Cork Club has the authority necessary to inspire confidence. If you don’t believe me, read Lenn’s Blog or his wine reviews and articles at Appellation America. It all comes together nicely.