How the Best Winery OND Strategies Protect and Grow Wine Clubs
The strongest winery OND strategies are not built in October. They start in September, when club teams still have time to identify risk, prepare staff, segment members, and turn holiday traffic into wine club growth.
What winery teams need to know about OND
| What is OND for wineries? | OND stands for October, November, December, the three-month holiday window that drives a disproportionate share of annual direct-to-consumer winery revenue. Many teams now start in September, which is why some call it SOND. |
|---|---|
| What separates top winery OND strategies? | The best programs go in knowing things: which members are at risk, which segments to target, what worked last year, and where tasting room traffic can support club growth. |
| What do the numbers say? | SVB's 2026 Direct-to-Consumer Wine Report found top-quartile wineries grew revenue by 22%, the median winery reported flat DtC sales, and the bottom quartile declined by 13%. |
| What habits drive OND wine club growth? | Tracking member risk before the club run, using personal outreach before members cancel, connecting tasting room and club strategy, and using data to decide what to do next. |
| How does vinSUITE support OND strategy? | vinSIGHT tracks RFM data and gives each club member a churn risk percentage, helping wineries act before the season instead of reacting after it. |
The wineries that have their best OND seasons are not always the ones working harder. They are the ones who already know what they are walking into.
Why your winery OND strategy has to start in September
Quick answer: Wineries should start OND planning in September because member outreach, gift club setup, staff training, segmentation, and holiday campaign planning all need to happen before October traffic and club runs begin.
Most winery teams talk about OND. But the programs that consistently win the holiday season are already moving in September.
They have segmented their email list. They know which wine club members have not visited in 18 months. They have confirmed their gift club flow works. Their tasting room staff knows what to say when someone asks about holiday gifting. Their club team knows which members need attention before the next shipment goes out.
By the time October hits, the real work is done. What follows is execution, not scrambling.
That is the gap between a good OND and a great one. It is not just effort. It is not only the quality of the wine. It is whether the winery is running the season on current knowledge or last year's assumptions.
What the data says about OND wine club performance
Quick answer: Wine club members are more valuable, new member growth is harder, and tasting room traffic is not easy to replace. That makes OND both a revenue season and a retention season.
SVB's 2026 Direct-to-Consumer Wine Report made the stakes plain. Top-quartile wineries grew revenue by 22%. The median winery reported flat DtC sales. The bottom quartile declined by 13%. That is a 35-point swing between the best programs and the weakest performers in the same market.
The takeaway: The same season is producing very different outcomes for different wineries. That points to execution, customer relationships, and decision-making, not just market conditions.
A few more numbers are worth sitting with. SVB reported that tasting room and wine club channels account for 72% of winery DtC channel performance. Industry coverage of the report also noted that wine club member lifetime value reached $2,803, while net wine club growth fell to 2%.
That combination matters. The channel is not broken. The members you have are worth more than ever. But there are fewer new ones coming in to replace the ones who leave.
OND is not just a revenue opportunity. It is also when wineries protect what they have already built.
What separates the best winery OND strategies from the average ones
Quick answer: The best winery OND strategies combine retention, segmentation, tasting room execution, and data-driven decision-making before the holiday rush begins.
01. They know which wine club members are at risk before the club run
The programs that lose the most members during OND are often the ones that find out a member is gone after the declined charge, skipped shipment, or cancellation request.
The programs that retain more members ask a different question in September: who is already showing signs of disengagement before the next club run goes out?
For winery teams using vinSUITE analytics, that question is easier to answer. vinSIGHT, vinSUITE's built-in analytics layer, tracks RFM data, meaning recency, frequency, and monetary value, for each club member. It also gives every member a churn risk percentage.
A wine club manager can pull up a list of high-risk members in September and start a conversation before the club run goes out. That is the difference between a retention effort and a recovery effort.
vinSUITE proof point: vinSIGHT predicts club member churn risk with up to 94% confidence, giving wine club teams a clearer view of who may need attention before OND.
02. They do personal outreach before members cancel
One of the clearest patterns in winery retention is also one of the simplest: personal outreach still matters.
That does not mean calling every member on the list. It can mean a short personal email from the wine club manager. A note from the winemaker. A call to the top 20 members who have not visited or purchased in a while. A thoughtful reminder before the next shipment. A message that sounds like it came from a person, not just an automation.
Automated club emails are table stakes. They help with consistency. They do not replace a personal touch when the member is valuable, quiet, or showing risk.
The best OND programs use automation to find the right people, then use human outreach to protect the relationship.
03. Their wine club and tasting room OND plans are connected
Wine club growth and tasting room execution should not be treated as separate OND projects.
The tasting room is where many new club relationships begin. OND is also one of the highest-intent windows of the year. Guests are thinking about hosting, gifting, shipping, and buying for other people, not just themselves.
Wineries that connect their wine club strategy with their tasting room POS strategy are better positioned to turn that traffic into membership growth.
That means staff know the gift club pitch. The sign-up flow is fast. Member benefits are clear. The tasting room team knows which offers matter. The club team knows what is being promised at the counter.
The wineries that treat club and tasting room as separate departments often find that neither is working as well as it should.
04. They use their data to decide, not just to report
Many winery teams look at reports after OND ends. The strongest teams use data before the season begins.
InnoVint's 2026 State of Winery Health Report found that only 56% of wineries know their profit at the individual-wine level. The broader lesson is clear: knowing the right numbers changes the quality of the decision.
For OND, the right questions are practical:
- Which club tiers are growing and which are losing members?
- Which members are most at risk before the next shipment?
- Which segments responded during last year's OND campaigns?
- What does average order value look like by club tier during OND?
- Which tasting room offers drove the most new club sign-ups?
None of that requires complicated analysis. It requires looking at the right things while there is still time to act.
Your OND wine club checklist: what the top programs have in place
Quick answer: The best winery OND plans include a high-risk member list, staff training, a gift-ready website, a club-exclusive offer, and segmented campaigns before October begins.
If you are a wine club manager, DTC director, or winery leader heading into September, this is the minimum list to have ready before OND pressure builds.
- A list of high-risk members with outreach already in motion, not sitting in a dashboard.
- Staff who know how to sell a gift club membership and have practiced the conversation before the first holiday visitor walks in.
- A gift section on the website that is easy to find and easy to buy from.
- At least one club-member-exclusive event, offer, or experience on the calendar for October or November.
- A segment of last year's OND buyers already queued up for a targeted campaign.
- A clear path for tasting room staff to sign up a new member quickly, without slowing down the guest experience.
- A review of club member behavior using RFM, churn risk, spend, tenure, and recent engagement.
None of this requires a big team. It requires starting before the season is already moving.
Ready to see what your club data says heading into OND?
vinSUITE gives wine club teams the visibility to spot risk, act earlier, and make better OND decisions with member-level analytics, RFM tracking, churn risk scores, POS, ecommerce, CRM, and wine club tools in one system.
Book a DemoFrequently asked questions about winery OND strategy
What is OND for wineries?
OND stands for October, November, December, the three-month holiday window that drives a disproportionate share of annual direct-to-consumer revenue for many wineries. It is a key period for tasting room traffic, gifting, club shipments, ecommerce sales, and wine club retention.
When should a winery start its OND strategy?
A winery should start OND planning in September. By the time October begins, member outreach should already be in motion, gift club training should be done, holiday email segments should be built, and website gifting paths should be ready.
What is SOND and how does it relate to OND?
SOND stands for September, October, November, December. Many winery DTC teams use the term because the strategy work has to start in September, even though most of the revenue activity happens during OND.
What separates top wine club programs during OND?
Top wine club programs run on current knowledge instead of last year's habits. They track member risk in advance, do personal outreach before members cancel, connect tasting room and club strategy, and use data to decide where to focus.
What is churn risk tracking and why does it matter for OND?
Churn risk tracking helps identify which club members are most likely to cancel or disengage. Knowing who is at risk before a club run gives the winery time to reach out before the member leaves, not after.
What is RFM data and how do wineries use it for OND?
RFM stands for recency, frequency, and monetary value. Wineries use RFM data to understand how recently a member purchased, how often they buy, and how much they spend. Before OND, RFM can help identify engaged members, fading members, and high-value members worth personal outreach.
How accurate is vinSUITE's wine club churn prediction?
vinSIGHT, vinSUITE's analytics layer, predicts club member churn risk with up to 94% confidence.
How do tasting room traffic and wine club growth connect during OND?
The tasting room is one of the strongest sources of new wine club members. During OND, holiday visitors are already thinking about gifting, hosting, and future purchases. Wineries that train tasting room staff, simplify sign-up, and connect club offers to the guest experience are better positioned to grow membership.
The bottom line
The 22% revenue growth that top-quartile wineries saw did not happen because they simply had better wine. It happened because they went into the season with a clearer view of their customers, their risks, and their opportunities.
They knew which members needed attention. They knew which segments to reach. They had a gift club story ready at the counter. They used data before the season, not only after it.
vinSUITE gives your club team the visibility to do the same. With RFM tracking, member-level churn risk scores, wine club tools, POS, ecommerce, CRM, and analytics in one system, your team can act before the season instead of reacting after it.
Ready to see what your club data says heading into OND? Book a demo.
Sources: SVB 2026 Direct-to-Consumer Wine Report; InnoVint 2026 State of Winery Health Report coverage.