Wine of the Month Club
Encyclopedia
Wine of the Month Club claims to hold the distinction of being the oldest sustained mail order
wine club in the United States
, having been founded in 1972 by Paul Kalemkiarian, Sr. and succeeded in ownership by his son, Paul Kalemkiarian, Jr., in 1989. Located in Monrovia, California
, the Club delivers two bottles of wine
, one domestic
, one international
, to the doors of members nationwide every month, every other month, or every quarter. The Club aims to expose members to a broad range of grape varieties and wine regions. Those wines that are featured have had to endure a series of appraisals by the owner and cellarmaster, Paul, Jr., based on both their quality and their price. Ultimately, only twelve of 300-400 or so wines that are evaluated each month are selected. The Club also offers wine gifts and made-to-order food
and wine gif
t baskets. Along with wine shipments, customers are sent the Wine of the Month Club’s monthly newsletter
which provides extensive background information for each of the featured wines.
, Paul Kalemkiarian, Sr., arrived in the United States
in 1949 in pursuit of a Master’s degree at the University of Southern California
, after having earned a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacognosy
(the study of plant-based medicines) at the University of Cairo, Egypt
. Soon after completing his degree, he began working for a pharmaceutical firm
in the product development department, where he concocted new cough medicine
s, antifungals, etc. Kalemkiarian, Sr. opened his first prescription shop in Inglewood, California
, in 1955. The company
eventually grew to a point where he had bought and sold over 12 pharmacies, having five open at any one time.
While running the Prescription Shop in Palos Verdes Estates, California
, located in the Malaga Cove, Kalemkiarian, Sr. set out to purchase Palos Verdes Drugstore from its owner, Walter Reese. Kalemkiarian Sr. offered to buy the pharmacy
only if it included the adjoining liquor store
. Walter Reese’s motivation to sell the pharmacy was greater than his desire to keep the liquor store
, and Palos Verdes Wines and Spirits was born.
Kalemkiarian, Sr. soon transformed Palos Verdes Liquor—which, up until this point, had sold mostly ice
, cigarettes, and liquor (with very little wine
)—into a fine wine shop which he renamed Palos Verdes Wines and Spirits. By the mid 1970s, Palos Verdes Wines and Spirits was one of the most prominent wine shops in the Los Angeles
area. Kalemkiarian, Sr.’s son, Paul Kalemkiarian, Jr., who was a teenager at that time, helped to stock the shop.
At some point in 1973, Kalemkiarian, Sr. began to select monthly wine selections, one red and one white, to aid the patron who would walk in asking for a nice wine on a budget
of $5.00 or so. Weekly tastings, meanwhile, were held in a precarious homemade loft
in the back of the wine shop. Kalemkiarian, Jr. would set up, brown bagging all the wines and laying out glasses; Kalemkiarian, Sr. would invite knowledgeable customers and physicians he knew through his pharmacies, and together, they would select the wines of the month. These selections were the impetus for the Wine of the Month Club as it exists today.
Eventually, store customers requested that their monthly selections be delivered to them. The day Kalemkiarian, Jr. received his driver’s license, he delivered his first round of Wine of the Month Club packages to local customers. Father and son continued to hand-deliver the selections until the number of customers requesting this service grew too numerous, at which point they moved to deliveries by the United Parcel Service
(UPS).
By 1979, Paul Kalemkiarian, Sr. grew weary of retail
and began the process of selling his pharmacies. Palos Verdes Wines and Spirits was sold the same year, but due to mismanagement on the part of the new owners, was closed soon thereafter. Paul Kalemkiarian, Sr., however, had retained the mail order rights, and trademarked the name “Wine of the Month Club,” which he soon operated as a freestanding entity.
In 1989, Paul Kalemkiarian, Sr. offered to sell the Wine of the Month Club to his son, Paul Kalemkiarian, Jr., after a six month trial period. At the time, Kalemkiarian, Jr. was a partner in a stable and growing software company
. In 1990, and after the six month trial period had elapsed, Kalemkiarian, Jr. was ready to make a career
change, and purchased the business
from his father.
Mail order
Mail order is a term which describes the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote method such as through a telephone call or web site. Then, the products are delivered to the customer...
wine club in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, having been founded in 1972 by Paul Kalemkiarian, Sr. and succeeded in ownership by his son, Paul Kalemkiarian, Jr., in 1989. Located in Monrovia, California
Monrovia, California
Monrovia is a city located in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 36,590 at the 2010 census, down from 36,929 at the 2000 census...
, the Club delivers two bottles of wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
, one domestic
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, one international
International
----International mostly means something that involves more than one country. The term international as a word means involvement of, interaction between or encompassing more than one nation, or generally beyond national boundaries...
, to the doors of members nationwide every month, every other month, or every quarter. The Club aims to expose members to a broad range of grape varieties and wine regions. Those wines that are featured have had to endure a series of appraisals by the owner and cellarmaster, Paul, Jr., based on both their quality and their price. Ultimately, only twelve of 300-400 or so wines that are evaluated each month are selected. The Club also offers wine gifts and made-to-order food
Food
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...
and wine gif
GIF
The Graphics Interchange Format is a bitmap image format that was introduced by CompuServe in 1987 and has since come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and portability....
t baskets. Along with wine shipments, customers are sent the Wine of the Month Club’s monthly newsletter
Newsletter
A newsletter is a regularly distributed publication generally about one main topic that is of interest to its subscribers. Newspapers and leaflets are types of newsletters. Additionally, newsletters delivered electronically via email have gained rapid acceptance for the same reasons email in...
which provides extensive background information for each of the featured wines.
History
Wine of the Month Club’s founderEntrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
, Paul Kalemkiarian, Sr., arrived in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1949 in pursuit of a Master’s degree at the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, after having earned a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacognosy
Pharmacognosy
Pharmacognosy is the study of medicines derived from natural sources. The American Society of Pharmacognosy defines pharmacognosy as "the study of the physical, chemical, biochemical and biological properties of drugs, drug substances or potential drugs or drug substances of natural origin as well...
(the study of plant-based medicines) at the University of Cairo, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. Soon after completing his degree, he began working for a pharmaceutical firm
Firm
A firm is a business.Firm or The Firm may also refer to:-Organizations:* Hooligan firm, a group of unruly football fans* The Firm, Inc., a talent management company* Fair Immigration Reform Movement...
in the product development department, where he concocted new cough medicine
Cough medicine
A cough medicine is a medicinal drug used in an attempt to treat coughing and related conditions. For dry coughs, treatment with cough suppressants may be attempted to suppress the body's urge to cough...
s, antifungals, etc. Kalemkiarian, Sr. opened his first prescription shop in Inglewood, California
Inglewood, California
Inglewood is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, southwest of downtown Los Angeles. It was incorporated on February 14, 1908. Its population stood at 109,673 as of the 2010 Census...
, in 1955. The company
Company
A company is a form of business organization. It is an association or collection of individual real persons and/or other companies, who each provide some form of capital. This group has a common purpose or focus and an aim of gaining profits. This collection, group or association of persons can be...
eventually grew to a point where he had bought and sold over 12 pharmacies, having five open at any one time.
While running the Prescription Shop in Palos Verdes Estates, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, located in the Malaga Cove, Kalemkiarian, Sr. set out to purchase Palos Verdes Drugstore from its owner, Walter Reese. Kalemkiarian Sr. offered to buy the pharmacy
Pharmacy
Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs...
only if it included the adjoining liquor store
Liquor store
In the United States, Australia and Canada, a liquor store is a type of store that specializes in the sale of alcoholic beverages. In South Africa and Namibia these stores are generally called bottle stores....
. Walter Reese’s motivation to sell the pharmacy was greater than his desire to keep the liquor store
Liquor store
In the United States, Australia and Canada, a liquor store is a type of store that specializes in the sale of alcoholic beverages. In South Africa and Namibia these stores are generally called bottle stores....
, and Palos Verdes Wines and Spirits was born.
Kalemkiarian, Sr. soon transformed Palos Verdes Liquor—which, up until this point, had sold mostly ice
Ice
Ice is water frozen into the solid state. Usually ice is the phase known as ice Ih, which is the most abundant of the varying solid phases on the Earth's surface. It can appear transparent or opaque bluish-white color, depending on the presence of impurities or air inclusions...
, cigarettes, and liquor (with very little wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
)—into a fine wine shop which he renamed Palos Verdes Wines and Spirits. By the mid 1970s, Palos Verdes Wines and Spirits was one of the most prominent wine shops in the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
area. Kalemkiarian, Sr.’s son, Paul Kalemkiarian, Jr., who was a teenager at that time, helped to stock the shop.
At some point in 1973, Kalemkiarian, Sr. began to select monthly wine selections, one red and one white, to aid the patron who would walk in asking for a nice wine on a budget
Budget
A budget is a financial plan and a list of all planned expenses and revenues. It is a plan for saving, borrowing and spending. A budget is an important concept in microeconomics, which uses a budget line to illustrate the trade-offs between two or more goods...
of $5.00 or so. Weekly tastings, meanwhile, were held in a precarious homemade loft
Loft
A loft can be an upper story or attic in a building, directly under the roof. Alternatively, a loft apartment refers to large adaptable open space, often converted for residential use from some other use, often light industrial...
in the back of the wine shop. Kalemkiarian, Jr. would set up, brown bagging all the wines and laying out glasses; Kalemkiarian, Sr. would invite knowledgeable customers and physicians he knew through his pharmacies, and together, they would select the wines of the month. These selections were the impetus for the Wine of the Month Club as it exists today.
Eventually, store customers requested that their monthly selections be delivered to them. The day Kalemkiarian, Jr. received his driver’s license, he delivered his first round of Wine of the Month Club packages to local customers. Father and son continued to hand-deliver the selections until the number of customers requesting this service grew too numerous, at which point they moved to deliveries by the United Parcel Service
United Parcel Service
United Parcel Service, Inc. , typically referred to by the acronym UPS, is a package delivery company. Headquartered in Sandy Springs, Georgia, United States, UPS delivers more than 15 million packages a day to 6.1 million customers in more than 220 countries and territories around the...
(UPS).
By 1979, Paul Kalemkiarian, Sr. grew weary of retail
Retail
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
and began the process of selling his pharmacies. Palos Verdes Wines and Spirits was sold the same year, but due to mismanagement on the part of the new owners, was closed soon thereafter. Paul Kalemkiarian, Sr., however, had retained the mail order rights, and trademarked the name “Wine of the Month Club,” which he soon operated as a freestanding entity.
In 1989, Paul Kalemkiarian, Sr. offered to sell the Wine of the Month Club to his son, Paul Kalemkiarian, Jr., after a six month trial period. At the time, Kalemkiarian, Jr. was a partner in a stable and growing software company
Company
A company is a form of business organization. It is an association or collection of individual real persons and/or other companies, who each provide some form of capital. This group has a common purpose or focus and an aim of gaining profits. This collection, group or association of persons can be...
. In 1990, and after the six month trial period had elapsed, Kalemkiarian, Jr. was ready to make a career
Career
Career is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a person's "course or progress through life ". It is usually considered to pertain to remunerative work ....
change, and purchased the business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
from his father.