New York Times wine club on ice

new_york_times_wine_clubMembers of the New York Times wine club residing in New York are not receiving wine–and shipments might not resume until July.

The Albany Times Union has a detailed account of the wrangling that has led to the suspension (indeed, on the NYT wine club site, New York is not even an option for sign-ups–the wine club continues in other states). The NYT wine club is run by a group called Global Wine Company and does not, as the Club’s web site states, make selections with the NYT wine critic or members of the newsroom. The Club offers six-bottle shipments for $90 or $180 on various monthly schedules. Global Wine Co also fulfills the club shipments for the Williams-Sonoma, the Washington Post and Food & Wine.

The Times Wine Club told its New York subscribers last week that it would have to suspend shipments until July because of uncertainty over New York’s rules and regs about shipping. However, the State Liquor Authority spokesperson told the Times Union that the Club’s local retailer had stopped doing business with them since Global Wine Co, based in California, had received cease-and-desist letters.

I’m not a huge fan of wine clubs in general–I’d opt for spending a monthly budget at a local store where the wine discussion is free and you have more choices to get exactly what you want. But there’s no reason that New York consumers should not be allowed to subscribe.

While this particular incident revolves around the Gray Lady, what consumers and businesses need is to get out of a gray area: hopefully the new head of the NY SLA will clear the air and issue understandable guidelines for businesses to ship into and out of the state.

3 Responses to “New York Times wine club on ice”


  1. You live in a community that has multiple small, local wine stores. Most of us out here in flyover country are lucky to have one decent store available, and they in turn are at the mercy of their distributors. NY has more of those too.

    That said, the NYTimes wine club looks a lot like one of their cruise promotions.


  2. As a former New York State wine retail with first hand experience dealing with the State’s Liquor Authority, I wouldn’t want the NYSLA passing any new guidelines on interstate shipping of wine IN or OUT of NYS. They are always anti wine consumer and anti wine business “no” nuts!


  3. I loved the NYT Wine Club but if they can’t make deliveries, I’m going to have to use other easy solutions.

    Has anyone tried http://undergroundcellar.com before?

    A coworker of mine mentioned she got a Screaming Eagle from them.


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