Destination Cellars
Members

One of the more unique "destination clubs" in the industry, Destination Cellars gives members once in a lifetime destination wine experiences throughout the world.

"Our members enjoy unique wine and food based-experiences and the unusual opportunity to go behind closed doors and enjoy truly unprecedented access to the 'rock stars' of the wine world, experiences and opportunities that are otherwise unattainable outside of Destination Cellars," writes the club. "These experiences include private tours and special tastings (similar to a private shopping experience, akin to closing Saks for the night), meeting these wine world celebrities, sharing a wonderful meal with them, and learning more about their passion for what they do. Members also enjoy special barrel tastings and the opportunity to blend their own wine as well as amazing dinners at private vineyard estates tasting wines from the vineyard’s private cellar - wines that are simply not available for purchase anywhere."

Created for "wine, food, and travel enthusiasts," Destination Cellars is a difficult club to fully analyze, so we asked club Founder David Keuhner to assist us.

While the club does have "members," many come in the forms of their "corporate members," including:

  • MasterCard
  • YPO
  • Exclusive Resorts
  • Merrill Lynch

"MasterCard works with us and subsidizes the costs of the initial membership fee so their World and World Elite cardholders have access to our services," said Keuhner as an example. Members of Exclusive Resorts and YPO have also used the club to enjoy luxury wine experiences. Since the club essentially has two sets of members, those who travel with the club directly and those who travel with the club as part of their partnership network, identifying the total number of members is "very hard to say" continues Keuhner.

So while most destination clubs publish their growth in terms of members, Destination Cellars uses revenue. With many of the industry's leading clubs filing for bankruptcy in 2009, Destination Cellars posted a 250% increase.