[Don Plumley]

The allure of the wine club (and I presume you are talking about general clubs as opposed to a winery specific club) is that they have "special finds" you can't get elsewhere.

Think about that. If the wine is really that wonderful, the theory is the winery should be selling all/most of their wines without being lumped in a grab basket of wines that are looking for a home. However, I will say that as RWebb pointed out, K&L, like many good speciality wine stores have a decent offering. Kermit Lynch (in your general neighborhood) has the single most outstanding regular purchase program (there is not a bad wine in the place) and is worth checking out.

I also agree that a good local retailer is your best avenue. Don't fall for the WSJ wine club, et al.

More to the the point, the deal sites that sell "special selections" of wines at a discount/spot buy? Many banks will call the loan/line of credit on a winery they underwrite if they find the wines on a daily deal site - it causes the value of the wine to decline so much.