A good wine club thank-you note is four lines: the member's first name, one detail only your winery would know (the bottle they chose, the day they visited, their third shipment), a plain thank-you, and the winemaker's first name. Send it at five moments: sign-up, the third shipment, a skipped shipment, the club anniversary and a big purchase. Seventeen notes to copy follow.
What should a wine club thank-you note say?
Four things: their name, a detail from their time with you, thanks, and the name of someone who makes the wine. The detail does the work. "The 2022 Syrah you carried out yourself", "the table under the oak", "your sixth shipment". Leave out tasting notes, scores, discount codes and the next release. The shipment email can carry those.
Personal is what members say they miss. Private Club Marketing, a consultancy, summarizes Silicon Valley Bank's 2025 direct-to-consumer survey as showing that 28 per cent of members who cancelled gave lack of personalization as a reason, and 48 per cent said they found better deals elsewhere (Private Club Marketing). We read that summary, not the survey itself, so treat the figures as second-hand. A card cannot match a cheaper bottle. It can answer the other complaint.
Notes at club sign-up
Many members sign up standing in your tasting room, on a good day. The card should reach them at home, after that day has faded.
Dear Hannah and Mark, thank you for joining the club on Saturday. You asked which block the Pinot came from. It is the one by the creek, and I picked it myself. Elena, winemaker
Hi Jordan, welcome. You tried all six wines and came back to the Grenache twice, so I have put two in your first shipment. Thank you for joining us. Luca
Dear Priya, thank you for signing up on your birthday trip. I hope the drive back was easy. Your first box leaves in March. Elena
Hi Tom and Aisha, welcome to the club. We are a small place, so I will know your names when you next visit. Thank you. Rosa, who owns the vineyard with Luca
Notes at the third shipment
Dear Hannah, this is your third shipment. You have now had wine from every block we farm. Thank you for staying with us through a whole year of vines. Elena
Hi Jordan, shipment three is on its way. The Grenache is back in it, because I remember. Thank you for nine months with us. Luca
Dear Grace, your third box went out on Monday. The white in it is the first I have made from the new hillside. I would love to know what you think. Elena
Why do wine club members leave, and can a note keep them?
Going by the survey summary above, members leave mainly over price and because the club stops feeling personal. A note helps with the second reason only. Nobody has tested handwritten notes in a wine club, so we cannot promise a number. What we can say is that direct sales are shrinking, that clubs are a large part of them, and that one good retail study found a handwritten thank-you lifted later spending.
Direct sales had their hardest year on record. The 2026 Direct-to-Consumer Wine Shipping Report from Sovos ShipCompliant and WineBusiness Analytics found winery shipments fell 15 per cent by volume and 6 per cent by value in 2025. That is 967,000 fewer cases and more than $230 million, the worst year since the report began in 2010 (Sovos ShipCompliant).
The wider market is soft too. Silicon Valley Bank's 2026 State of the US Wine Industry report put 2025 sales at about 329 million cases and $74.3 billion, down 1.6 per cent in dollars. It also noted fewer tasting room visits at smaller wineries that sell direct (Silicon Valley Bank). Fewer visitors means fewer sign-ups, so each member you keep counts for more.
Clubs carry the channel. Silicon Valley Bank's 2026 direct-to-consumer report says the tasting room and the wine club together account for 72 per cent of winery direct sales (Silicon Valley Bank). And members are staying for less time: the Private Club Marketing summary above says average tenure fell from 36 months to 30.
Now the note. In a field experiment with 1,232 customers of a Korean online store, shoppers who got a handwritten thank-you later spent about twice as much as those who got none: $52.07 against $25.97. A typed note did nothing, and the effect faded when a coupon came with it (Science Says). That was beauty products, not wine. It is still the best evidence there is, and it says: write by hand, and keep the offer off the card.
Notes after a skipped shipment or a declined card
A skip or a failed payment can come before a cancellation. Do not mention money on the card. Payment details belong in a private email with a link. The card just says you noticed they were missing.
Dear Mark, I saw you skipped the spring box. No trouble at all. I have set aside two bottles of the rosé in case you want them later. Elena
Hi Priya, you passed on this shipment, and I hope all is well. The club is here whenever it suits you. Thank you for the two years so far. Luca
Dear Grace, your autumn box did not go out, and we have emailed you about it. I did not want that to be the only thing you heard from us. Thank you for being a member. Rosa
Hi Dev, we missed you this season. Harvest finished on the 14th, and the Syrah looks like the best we have grown. I will keep you a bottle. Elena
Notes for the club anniversary
Dear Hannah and Mark, one year in the club today. That is four shipments, twelve bottles and one very good Saturday. Thank you. Elena
Hi Jordan, three years. You joined before we had a roof on the tasting room. Thank you for believing in us early. Luca
Dear Tom and Aisha, happy five years. I have signed a magnum of the 2021 for you. It is behind the bar with your name on it. Rosa
Notes after a big purchase
Dear Grace, thank you for the two cases for your daughter's wedding. I hope the toast went well and that some of the bottles made it to the morning after. Elena
Hi Dev, six magnums is the biggest order we have had this year. Thank you. They came from barrel 14, which is the one I would have picked. Luca
Dear Priya, thank you for the case of the reserve. Keep a few bottles for five years if you can wait. I will not judge you if you cannot. Elena
Who should sign a wine club thank-you note?
The winemaker, by first name. Members join a club to be close to the person who makes the wine, and a note from "The Hospitality Team" is a note from nobody. At a larger winery, the tasting room host who signed them up is the next best name. People tend to underestimate how much a thank-you means to the one who gets it, as Amit Kumar and Nicholas Epley found in 2018 (Psychological Science).
How do you send wine club notes without writing every card?
Keep a simple list and let it send the cards. MailMyCard writes each card with a real pen held by a plotter, in real ink, and posts it. We do not connect to wine club software, so the usual set-up is a Google Sheet or Zapier.
| Moment | When to post the card | What triggers it |
|---|---|---|
| Club sign-up | The week they join | A row in a Google Sheet, or Zapier from your sign-up form |
| Third shipment | The week it ships | A Google Sheet export of the shipment list |
| Skipped shipment or declined card | Within two weeks | A Google Sheet, filled in by the club manager |
| Club anniversary | Three weeks ahead | Schedules, from the join date |
| Big purchase | The week of the order | Shopify, WooCommerce or Stripe, if your shop runs on one |
Cards are posted from India. Abroad they take one to three weeks, so plan anniversaries ahead and see how long mail takes. One card is $14.99. Wineries sending 50 or more agree a price per card, from $8.99 for a pilot of 50 and falling with volume. See the For business page and the developer docs. Our hotel guest thank-you notes use the same four lines for visitors.
A card is only a card, with no wine in it. Rules on shipping alcohol, and on marketing it, differ from place to place. Check your state's rules.
Common questions
Should the note go in the shipment box?
A note in the box gets read while the bottles are unpacked. A card that comes alone in the post is a surprise, because nothing was expected that day. If you can only do one, post it.
Should a wine club thank-you include a discount?
No. In the retail study above, the lift from a handwritten note shrank or vanished when a coupon came with it. Members already get club pricing. Send offers in the release email.
How many members should get a card?
Those who reach a moment this month, not the whole list. A card to every member on one day is a mailing, and a 2025 field experiment with donors found handwritten and printed postcards did about the same in bulk (Experimental Economics).
Sources
- Private Club Marketing, "The Wine Club Retention Playbook", a consultancy's summary of Silicon Valley Bank's 2025 direct-to-consumer survey: privateclubmarketing.com
- Sovos ShipCompliant and WineBusiness Analytics, 2026 Direct-to-Consumer Wine Shipping Report: sovos.com
- Silicon Valley Bank, 2026 State of the US Wine Industry report, press release: svb.com
- Silicon Valley Bank, 2026 Direct-to-Consumer Wine Report: svb.com
- Kim, S., Choi, J. and Kim, S. H. (2022), Journal of Interactive Marketing, as summarized by Science Says
- Kumar, A. and Epley, N. (2018), "Undervaluing Gratitude", Psychological Science: journals.sagepub.com
- "Gratitude in fundraising", Experimental Economics (2025): cambridge.org
