Wine Club Cancellation Requires Notarized Letter

Streamlining a signup process that now takes one click and roughly four seconds, a Sonoma County winery confirmed Tuesday that canceling its wine club requires a notarized letter mailed to a Delaware post office box during a 14-day window each February, sources reported.

Members must also give 60 days’ notice, which the winery said may only begin once the letter has been received and logged.

“We’re not trying to trap anybody. Ninety-eight percent of our members renew year over year, and that tells you everything about whether people are happy,” said direct-to-consumer director Alison Brackett, adding that the notarization requirement exists to protect members from fraudulent cancellations filed by third parties. “There is a whole industry of people canceling other people’s wine clubs. I don’t have hard numbers on it. But I know what I’ve seen.”

The club ships six bottles quarterly at $312 and charges the card on file without advance notice. The winery’s website lists a phone number for membership questions. It rings in a barrel room.

At press time, the winery had introduced a lifetime membership tier.