Issue No. 47 · Autumn Cellar Release
Club Ava Devine is a members-only allocation channel hand-delivering 96+ point wines, library releases, and under-the-radar boutique bottles from 140+ estates across Napa, Burgundy, Tuscany, and the Rhône. Every offering is blind-tasted by our 11-person sommelier panel before it ever reaches your door.
This Quarter's Allocation
The panel blind-tasted 2,400 submissions last quarter. These three were the unanimous selections — offered to members in the order their reservations arrive.
Headline Allocation
100 pts · Wine Advocate
A nine-year vertical of one of Napa's most allocated cult Cabernets — three bottles per member, shipped in temperature-controlled cases from our Healdsburg hub. Library verticals going back to 1998 available to legacy tier.
Reserve Allocation →Burgundy
From a parcel that has not appeared on the open market since 2017. Member allocation only.
Tuscany
Bolgheri benchmark from a cooler vintage the panel rated above the celebrated 2016.
Northern Rhône
Single-vineyard Syrah from a producer whose mailing list is closed to new buyers for the seventh consecutive year.
By the Numbers
4.7yrs
More than double the 1.9-year industry median for paid allocation clubs. Members renew because the curation compounds.
38%
Members pay estate-direct pricing on allocations that, when they resurface at retail auction, routinely trade 38% above our members' price.
6.2%
From the 2,400 wines our panel blind-tastes each quarter, only 6.2% clear the threshold for membership shipment.
96+ pts
Across every bottle shipped to members in the last 24 months — verified against the critic scores, not the producer's marketing.
The Panel
Every offering is blind-tasted by three rotating members of our 11-person panel — Masters of Wine and Advanced Sommeliers recruited from Michelin-starred dining rooms and three-star estates. None of them know the producer, vintage, or price when they raise a glass.
01
Founder · Advanced Sommelier
Fifteen years on the floor at The French Laundry before founding the club in 2014. Leads the Northern California panel.
02
Co-founder · Winemaker, Tuscany
Twenty-year veteran of Antinori and Tua Rita. Reviews every Italian and Southern Rhône submission before it reaches the table.
03
Panel Chair · Master of Wine
Master of Wine, Burgundy specialist, former head sommelier at Le Bernardin. Chairs the panel's monthly calibration tastings.
04
Advanced Sommelier · California Cult
Spent a decade at Single Thread in Healdsburg. Leads our California Cult and library vertical program.
Cellar Notes
"A wine club isn't a warehouse. It's a library — and every bottle that goes out under our name has been chosen with the same care our panel would give a private cellar. Since 2014 we've hand-selected a little over a million bottles for our members. We still taste every one."
