of Italy offering a wide choice of wine styles.  Currently we have one producer each from the following regions: Tuscany, Piedmont, Veneto, Friuli and Umbria offering you classics such as Chianti and Barolo as well as everyday wines such as Pinot Grigio, Barbera d’Alba and a few lesser known wines.  All wines will be exclusive to us in the UK.

 

 

Why are we different

 

The members of this club will be a de facto private wine buying consortium.  By keeping all costs involved to an absolute minimum and by cutting out the middle man, we will be able to offer you much keener prices than you would otherwise have to pay for these wines on a shop shelf.

 

In order to keep costs down we will not work out of a dedicated office, we will not store wine in a warehouse, we will not have any permanent paid staff, we will not spend anything on advertising, instead we will simply rely on free advertising through social network sites such as Facebook and word of mouth.  Any existing members will be rewarded to bring in new members; up to a point!  Because we do not want to grow too big which would then necessitate one of the above.

 

Prices will be quoted as ex-cellar prices to members.  The prices we have negotiated with the producers are significantly lower even compared to the price you would pay if you were to turn up at their cellar door, they are in fact the same as any wholesale importer would be quoted.

 

The wines will then be shipped directly as soon as we have enough orders to make up a shipping quantity, i.e. a minimum of 50 cases of 12 bottles, which makes up a standard palette.  We will pass on the costs of shipping and, alas, the duty and UK VAT onto the price of your wine at cost.  These costs will at all times be made transparent to you, but as we can ship in bulk the transport costs are still lower than if you were to order a small quantity on your own.

 

All prices (except the UK duty of course) will be quoted in Euros.  This may have the disadvantage of you being exposed to  currency fluctuations, but also means that we don’t have to add an extra percentage to insure ourselves against those variations as is standard practice for anyone importing from another currency zone.  The prices will be published on a web-site (yet to be created, but initially possibly on Facebook) with members only access.

 

So you know what we are offering we will organise at least two major tastings a year: one in the autumn in various locations around the UK and one in spring in Italy.  These tastings will be free for any member to attend.  However we will be asking a nominal annual membership fee (amount yet to be decided, but probably between €10 and €20) to help pay for the expense.  Both of us will be at hand at those tastings as well as some of the producers.  We are currently working towards a first tasting in October 2010 in the UK.

 

We are also looking at organising occasional organised wine tours for you to get to know the participating wineries as well as partaking in some food and cultural experiences.  This will be done in small groups.

 

In all we do we aim to be open and transparent.  We encourage contact amongst members, comments how to improve our services, any questions or requests regarding our wines or wine in general.

 

How do we start

 

All we expect of any member is payment of the membership fee and a minimum order of at least 1 case (12x75cl bottles) per year.  (n.b.: it will not be possible to mix cases as such, however some wines come in cases of 6.  If you live near another club member, you may be able to split cases with them).  No further small print.  If we don’t get your membership fee or no order, you will simply be taken off our list.

 

Initially we need to have at least 50 members (50 members ordering 1 case each = one palette) and as we won’t have a club without this we would like to encourage you by joining now for free.  This will only apply for the first 50, so first come first serve.  Therefore there is no risk involved for you to start off with.  If we don’t find 50 people interested, this club won’t get off the ground and no one will have lost anything.

 

Anyone who has joined and brings in another new member will be entitled to a reward, i.e. another year no membership fee or maybe a bottle of something special on your next order.

 

In the future the concept may be expanded to include wines from other countries than Italy and we may also open similar clubs in other countries.

 

If you have any further questions or enquiries please do not hesitate to contact either of us on

Heiko: tuscanytipple@libero.it

Vassil: vaskovino@googlemail.com