What Is a Boutique Winery and Why Should You Buy From One?

by | Oct 26, 2022 | Wine Membership

Wineries. They are places where wine gets made, and some locations are known for making high-quality wine. 

There are around 7,608 wineries scattered all across the United States. Some of these are boutique wineries, with people anxiously waiting to try out their newest bottles of wine. 

If you are more casual when it comes to the world of wine, you may be wondering what makes a boutique winery special. Why should you buy wine here compared to a regular winery? 

Read on to find out exactly what a boutique winery is and why you should buy wine from these places over other wineries. 

What Is a Boutique Winery? 

Before you can learn why you should buy wine from these types of wineries, you need to understand exactly what a boutique winery is. The best way to describe it is as a winery that has limited products available. 

Essentially, these types of wineries only make a few thousand bottles of wine every year. This means that there are limited bottles of wine available from these wineries and that you may not get as many chances to have wine from these wineries. 

That is a huge difference compared to the largest winery in the world, which sells over 900 million bottles of wine per year. 

Some people like to take advantage of this and collect the bottles while they can. 

So, why should you buy wine from a place that does not offer as much product as other wineries? There are a few good reasons to do so. 

Higher Quality 

While this may not always be the case for boutique wineries, it is a reasonable assumption that you can expect a higher quality bottle of wine when you buy from a boutique winery. 

Think about it like this. Since there is much less product going out, they can spend more time perfecting the bottles of wine that they do send out. 

They are not in a rush or on an extremely tight schedule to get a large amount of wine out, so they may have the flexibility to experiment with their process and go back and fix minor mistakes. True wine connoisseurs will appreciate this and can tell when a better bottle of wine is made. 

Once you discover somewhere that makes high-quality bottles, you could focus on places like these that focus on quality over quantity. 

Family Business 

Since boutique wineries have a lot fewer bottles shipped across the country than a normal winery, they do not need as much staff working in their wineries to make these bottles. With that in mind, the operation can be as simple as a family or a husband and wife that decided to go in on this business and spread their creation to the world. 

These tend to be simple businesses that are either family-owned or run by a small group of people. There are people out there that specifically like to shop at small businesses to support over-the-chain brands that feel like they are taking over the world at times. 

Given that the money people spend at a chain likely does not mean as much to them, they may look at a family business as something worth investing their money towards. A big reason is that the money can go further for the owners of this type of business. 

Passion for Wine 

Another reason why you should buy from a boutique winery is that the owners of this type of winery are more likely to be passionate about what they are making. As mentioned before, these wineries put out a very small number of bottles per year. 

Given that information, you can assume that they are doing it because they love it more for doing it to maximize their profits. 

Let’s face it. It can be easy to start in this industry because you love it, and then when it comes down to brass tax, you start to focus your business on things that will increase your profits. Here, because they are only putting out a small number of bottles every year, it is less likely that they are making these moves strictly for profits. 

If you want to support people who have a true passion for wine, this is more likely to be the place. 

Less Common Wine 

Finally, buying from a boutique winery can allow you to try something you are not likely to have very often. This can be very good for people that like to try a variety of products rather than sticking to the same thing. 

It is almost like eating candy for every meal rather than having it for a snack once in a while. As a kid, this sounds like a dream come true. But when you get older, you realize that you would get sick of it, and it is good to change things up. 

The same goes for wine. You might get tired of buying the same old wine or the cheapest wine bottles and may be having the urge to try something different. 

Buy From a Boutique Winery

These are some of the best reasons why you should buy wine from a boutique winery. You have the opportunity to try something different, support a small business, get a higher quality bottle of wine, and support people that have a passion for wine. 

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