Join the Club
Exclusive new club delivers the best wines in Texas to your door
People have long looked to Texas Monthly as an arbiter of iconic Lone Star flavors. Now the publication is putting its stamp of approval on the best wines in the state with its own Texas wine club.
The TM Wine Club will send quarterly shipments of Texas wines that have been selected by Texas Monthly contributor (and former CultureMap Austin food editor) Jessica Dupuy. She says that by starting the wine club, the magazine is getting behind something that Texans can be proud of.
“Texas Monthly is a rare publication in that it represents a regional culture with a national presence. The Texas Wine Club is just one of many ways it represents that regional culture.”
Whether people are Texas wine lovers, exploring Texas wines for the first time or trying to overcome a negative bias they have, the club is a great way to discover some of the top wines in the state. Dupuy, a certified sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers as well as certified specialist of wine through the Society of Wine Educators, evaluates wines throughout the year and will share her selections not only through the pages of the publication but also through the club.
“I’m often asked about which Texas wines people should be drinking,” Dupuy says. “Many times the wines I’d like to recommend aren’t easy to find. With the momentum behind the Texas Monthly annual Best Texas Wines List, we are giving people an opportunity to get a hold of some of the wines from the list. Many of the wines are already sold-out or aren’t available in retail stores, so it’s a great way to share these wines with people.”
The first shipment will include wines from the Best Texas Wines of 2014 list, which was published in December. Because the wines are limited, it will be a six-bottle mixed case of different wine selections from both large and small producers based on availability. The limited availability of some wines means many of the shipments will differ from others.
All bottles in the first few shipments will be Texas appellation wines. In the future, the TM Wine Club shipments may include wines from other regions of the world as comparisons to the Texas varieties. For example, a shipment could include Texas Tempranillo with a couple of Spanish Tempranillo wines, or Texas Sangiovese with a couple of Italian Sangiovese wines, so that members can see how Texas wines fare on the world stage.
“There are a number of large producers in the state with great wine, and even more small producers making amazing wine,” Dupuy says. “We’re interested in spotlighting a good variety of wineries that are making a difference in pushing Texas wine forward as an industry.
“This is the first club of its kind. Not only are we answering the question of what Texas wines to drink, but we’ve found a way to get them in the hands of people are interested. I’m not aware of any other publication doing a California wine club, an Oregon wine club, etc.”
TM Wine Club shipments will occur in February, April, October and December. For members, each shipment is $150. Wine lovers can also purchase a one-time delivery for $175.
