AOPA Wine Club?

Skip Miller

Skip Miller

Final Approach
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Skip Miller
Someone forwarded me an email that is an advert for the AOPA Wine Club.

I was - and still am - a little suspicious as to the legitimacy of this email. However, it is using all the AOPA logos and Craig Fuller's name, etc. etc. Surely does look real! But I can't find any mention of it on the AOPA Website.

Anybody else get a similar email?

-Skip
 
I haven't seen one. Are you sure it wasn't a whine club? Perhaps we are trying to get you back on the forums.
 
Sounds like some kind of strange new affinity marketing program. I love wine, drink it every night, but this is, I dunno, weird.
 
flyersfan31 said:
Sounds like some kind of strange new affinity marketing program. I love wine, drink it every night, but this is, I dunno, weird.
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I'd swear this was an April fool's joke, if it wasn't, um, May.

The AOPA shilling wine? Really? From an aviation PR perspective, this seems a little, um, unwise...

Chris
 
Looks like they have some good wines, but the prices aren't anything special. We go with the Wall Street Journal Wine Club. Prices are pretty good. Of course they aren't using this to support a political organization either.
 
colohan said:
I'd swear this was an April fool's joke, if it wasn't, um, May.

The AOPA shilling wine? Really? From an aviation PR perspective, this seems a little, um, unwise...

Chris
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No doubt. It's caused quite a stir among many AOPA members.

I like AOPA, but the constant appeals for money via email, mail and phone calls are getting to be too much. I wrote to them today and asked to have my name removed from the mass mailings and not to share my address with third party affiliates. I also mentioned the "wine club", and that although I am a drinker and enjoyer of wines, I felt it was an inappropriate match for an aviation organization. I visited the Air Safety Foundation site yesterday and saw a "JOIN THE CLUB" banner ad on the right side of the page, with a glass of red wine being poured... ha!! (click here to see that screen grab).

They replied that they 'coded' my membership account 'so all marketing mailings and donation requests will stop. This includes wine club offers and solicitation from AOPA's certified partners.'

That was easy.

They went on to explain, however, that we can expect more things like the "Wine Club"; it, apparently, is just the start:

First, and most importantly, we are in no way supporting or encouraging drinking and flying [NOTE: I never suggested they were], but we understand your concerns and want to explain the strategy behind the program. The AOPA Wine Club is the first product of our newly-created "Lifestyles" program. The program goals are to build our AOPA community by working with members who want to share other interests beyond aviation. As new Lifestyle programs are offered in the future, know that any such product or service is meant to enhance the value of your membership, as well as provide the Association with a form of income that can be utilized to support AOPA's work.
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I guess these additional forms of income weren't enough, though... they upped membership dues and will charge now for the paper copy of the AOPA Directory that used to be included in your membership.

(Doesn't matter to me, I never used it, but just sayin'...)
 

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What was really funny was after I sent that email, I went and flew for a bit, then attended the AOPA Air Safety Foundation (soon to be "Air Safety Institute" under a NEW Foundation they're setting up) for the "Real World IFR" seminar.

After the break, they gave the floor to the Director for Planned Giving for ASF, who gave us a pitch about helping spread aviation to future generations by leaving money / property in our will to AOPA... as he put it, in football terms, "when you kick off, we receive". Nice.
 
I think the Wine Club goes hand in hand with the high end aviation they are pitching. As to the AOPA directory, I kept it nearby and did use it. When the new one came out, I passed it along to a guy at work who had an interest in aviation but yet to start flying.
 
This is the first I've seen of the wine club. I think its kinda cool. They offer some decent wines at fairly reasonable prices. There are about 40 wineries within 50 miles of my house. Too bad they don't offer any of those. Icicle Ridge and Nefarious are a heck of a lot better than Milbrandt.
 
AOPA said:
"The AOPA Wine Club is the first product of our newly-created "Lifestyles" program. The program goals are to build our AOPA community by working with members who want to share other interests beyond aviation."
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Hmmm... sounds like AOPA wants to become POA.

-Rich
 
I looked at this club. The wine selection is OK, and the prices are typical.
There are better clubs out there and frankly, if you like wine, there are better ways to sample and procure wine than many of these clubs.
 
flyingron said:
I looked at this club. The wine selection is OK, and the prices are typical.
There are better clubs out there and frankly, if you like wine, there are better ways to sample and procure wine than many of these clubs.
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Don't feed the spam bots :)
 
I am very leery of belonging to any wine club and having wine shipped during hot summer months. Top wineries refuse to ship wines by ground unless you live within certain distance, otherwise they ship by air and it ain't cheap.
In my opinion Costco has good wines for excellent prices, some high-end wines too if your budget permits.
 
I just received my June "gift of the month" as part of a year-long birthday gift subscription--it was 12 bottles of nice microbrew beers. Shipped in summer heat (the box was HOT when it got dropped off).

I'm eating right and exercising actively, and beer isn't on my menu... how long will beer keep / stay nice? Can I store it in a cool dark dry place and expect it to be good a year from now, or should I just start nursing it a bottle / week? PJ's going to volunteer now to come up and remove the problem from my possession.
 
TangoWhiskey said:
Can I store it in a cool dark dry place and expect it to be good a year from now,
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Yes, no problem. Actually some people argue that those specialty beers with higher alcohol content may actually improve with passage of time when stored properly.
Beer generally is also much more robust for transportation than wine.
 
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olasek said:
I am very leery of belonging to any wine club and having wine shipped during hot summer months. Top wineries refuse to ship wines by ground unless you live within certain distance, otherwise they ship by air and it ain't cheap.
In my opinion Costco has good wines for excellent prices, some high-end wines too if your budget permits.
Click to expand...

I see you are in California. I have two words for you: Clos Pegase.
 
olasek said:
Yes, no problem. Actually some people argue that those specialty beers with higher alcohol content may actually improve with passage of time when stored properly.
Beer generally is also much more robust for transportation than wine.
Click to expand...

Perfect! Thanks!
 
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