US: Boisset selling wine via home parties

(NVR) - Following the pattern made famous by Tupperware and Mary Kay cosmetics, Boisset Wine Estates is using home parties to sell wine.

The parent for Jean-Charles Boisset’s California wine companies has already grown from eight to a few hundred “Ambassadors” arranging parties and telling attendees about Boisset wines since May 2012.

Boisset owns Raymond Vineyards here.

The Boisset Wine Living at Home (www.boissetwineliving.com) program is run by Melissa Lynch, who with her husband previously started Wine Shop at Home, and before that (in 1998) created 1-800WineShop.com.

At present, most the Boisset Ambassadors are in California, but others are found in 28 other states where it can ship wine.

The program includes domestic Boisset brands because of shipping issues, and includes eight Boisset brands including Raymond Vineyards, Buena Vista, DeLoach, Lockwood, Lyeth and JCB by Jean-Charles Boisset.

To avoid conflict with other channels, the wines are smaller-production and higher-end wines that aren’t sold through distributors. Some are special selections made specifically for direct sales to consumers.

Boisset Ambassadors act as independent marketing agents. Boisset sets up websites for them, and they ask friends to host parties, conduct the parties and receive a commission on wine sales. It costs $199 to enroll as an Ambassador and receive a starter kit.