Join Us

  We offer memberships in the organization, although membership is not required...

  So why become a member..?   As you may have read (in About LADV), we are not trying to get you to buy certain wines nor to make any money from our events.  But neither are we trying to lose money.  We do incur some expenses which are necessary to keep things running; this ongoing overhead pays for this lovely website, for example.  But by far, the single biggest overhead is the cost to print and mail newsletters.

  We long ago decided that it wasn't fair for some people to get a "free ride" regarding these overhead costs.  We settled on an approach where "members" would help defray these expenses up-front with annual dues.  Others could have the option of a trial period where they could monitor what we were all about for a while without making a commitment; these "non-members" would contribute to the annual overhead costs by paying a higher per-event price.  (We will "get you", one way or another  ;-)

  To make the "membership" option more attractive to people, in addition to being the only permanent option, we do provide member-only perks.  The main benefit is that members receive top priority when we are forced to limit attendance; certain unique opportunities are even members-only.  We also try to assure that current members learn about events earlier than non-members.  And since each paid annual membership covers you and your "family" (however you choose to define it), even a liberal arts major can see from the event pricing that is doesn't take attendance at many events (sometimes even just one) before it is just plain more attractive economically to join.

  Because we are trying to keep this financial "dues" burden to a minimum, we asked everyone how they would prefer that we handle the pesky issue of keeping membership details up-to-date.  The majority of members told us that they preferred to take on most of that responsibility themselves, rather than forcing us to increase costs to cover additional administration and communication.  Therefore, remember it is up to each individual to keep their membership current (they expire December 31 every year) and to assure that we have current contact information should it change (e-mail address, contact phone number, etc.).  We're not fanatical about getting your dues; if you plan to see us at an event soon, we are more than happy to let you take care of things then, saving you a stamp.

   So contact us soon.  If you'd like to receive information and check things out on a trial basis, drop us a note and tell us so.  If you already know and love us, and want the benefits that come from current annual membership, join us for the current year and become a member