Quarterly Allocations · Vol. XI / Issue 03
The bottles that exist only because members carry them.
A standing catalogue of 96+ point allocations, library releases, and under-the-radar boutique cuvées from 140+ estates — vetted by our 11-person sommelier panel before they ever reach your door. Updated each quarter; never offered at retail.
- Submitted this quarter
- 2,400
- Selected by panel
- 6.2%
- Average critic score
- 92 pts
Chapter I · The Curatorial Method
How an allocation earns its place.
Every quarter, the panel blind-tastes submissions from 140+ partner estates. Most never make it past the first round. What survives becomes the standing allocation list members see each season.
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i.
Selection
An average of 2,400 wines are submitted each quarter from estates across California, Oregon, France, Italy, Spain, and Australia. The 11-person panel — composed of Masters of Wine and Advanced Sommeliers — blind-tastes every entry across three flights. Only 6.2% advance past the first round; far fewer earn a place on the standing allocation list.
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ii.
Pricing
Because allocations are reserved against the panel's pre-season commitments rather than drawn from retail inventory, members see an average 38% savings versus comparable bottles offered at auction or through secondary retailers. Member pricing holds for the full quarter; library verticals are priced by release, not by hype.
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iii.
Release Cadence
The standing list refreshes the first Monday of each fiscal quarter. Estate-only allocations — the 47 bottles unavailable outside the winery's own mailing list — drop in the same window. Members are notified 96 hours before the public catalogue opens; unfilled offers return to inventory on the seventh day.
Chapter II · Standing Catalogue · Q3
This quarter, on the table.
Four standing allocations from the current release window. Prices shown are member price; figures in italic are the comparable retail or recent auction benchmark.
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Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru “Lavaux Saint-Jacques”
Vintage 2021 · 94 pts — Wine Spectator
“Lithe and aromatic, with crushed raspberry, cool stones, and a long mineral finish. Already drinking beautifully; built for the cellar.” — Panel note, June
Reserve access$118 / 750ml
Retail benchmark $192
Estate-only
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J. Daniel Cuvée — Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage 2019 · 98 pts — Robert Parker
“Floral lift over deep currant and graphite; a Napa Cabernet that remembers it is wine, not a brand exercise.” — Panel note, May
Reserve access$345 / 750ml
Retail benchmark $560
Library release
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Trinoro — Cabernet Franc / Merlot
Vintage 2020 · 97 pts — Vinous
“Dense, savory, and lifted by an alpine herb quality that sets it apart from the coastal Tuscan canon. Decant an hour.” — Panel note, April
Reserve access$210 / 750ml
Retail benchmark $325
Estate-only
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Hermitage Rouge — Syrah
Vintage 2018 · 99 pts — Jeb Dunnuck
“A vintage that will be discussed for two decades. Black olive, iodine, charred plum; grip without weight. Hold five years, drink across twenty.” — Panel note, March
Reserve access$425 / 750ml
Retail benchmark $690
Standing allocation
An additional 41 allocations, including 47 estate-only offerings, appear in the full members' table of contents.
Chapter III · The Mailing-List Wall
Forty-seven bottles the public cannot buy any other way.
Every quarter, 47 estate-only allocations pass through the panel — cuvées whose entire production is committed to the club's relationship with the estate. They are not listed on retailer shelves. They are not consigned to auction. They reach members because, in many cases, no other pipeline exists.
This is the single most defensible reason to join. The estates have decided that a smaller, vetted membership is worth more than a wider retail footprint; the panel has decided these specific bottles deserve the allocation. Members carry both decisions home.
- 47
- Estate-only allocations per quarter
- 31
- Partner estates that require a personal relationship to access
- $0
- Retail availability, anywhere
Chapter IV · The Quarter, Annotated
One quarter at the club, week by week.
Allocations arrive on a rhythm. Members know what to expect and when; prospective members can map the calendar before they join.
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Week 1
Panel Tasting
The 11-person panel convenes in Healdsburg for a three-day blind flight. Final selections are sealed and announced to members only.
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Week 2
Members' Preview
Ninety-six hours before the public catalogue opens, members receive the standing list, estate-only flags, and library drops via the concierge.
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Week 3
Allocation Window
Members confirm cases through the members' portal. Temperature-controlled shipping dispatches from the closest of five regional fulfillment hubs.
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Week 4
Live Tasting
Members gather for the quarterly virtual tasting — an average of 380 attendees walk the new catalogue with a panel sommelier leading.
From the Panel
“A bottle earns an allocation when you could put it in front of any sommelier in the world and they would want to know who made it — and then keep the bottle for themselves. We are not cataloguing wines. We are choosing the ones worth arguing about.”