A wine club card that is always on the member's phone.

What is a digital wine club membership card?

A digital wine club card is a pass in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet that identifies a member of your wine club, with the member's name, tier and a barcode for the cellar door. It stays on the phone, so a member can show it when they visit, collect an allocation or redeem an offer. Shakewell issues and updates the pass. It does not run the subscription, take payment or ship wine.

How it works for a wine club

• Issue: when someone joins the club, send them the install link in the welcome email, or issue the pass from your own system through the REST API (Growth and above). If your web shop runs on Shopify, the Shopify integration listens to order and customer events from the store.
• Check-in: at the cellar door, staff open the Scan page, scan the pass or search by name, email or phone, and see the member and tier. Use it to confirm membership before a member-only tasting or pickup.
• Update: keep a tier field on the pass, such as the allocation level, and change it when the member moves up or down. Set the status to expired or voided when a membership ends. Use a coupon template for a single offer, such as a complimentary tasting.
• Push: announce a new release, a pickup weekend or a members' lunch. Notifications reach installed passes only, and segment-based sends are available on Growth and above.

Wallet pass, app or plastic card?

Wine clubs rarely issue plastic, and a club app is a heavy build for a small cellar door. A wallet pass sits in between: a card the member always has, which you can change and message, with no app to build. Billing, allocation and shipping stay in your subscription or e-commerce platform. Compare it with other approaches on the membership cards page.

Selling alcohol carries legal obligations that sit with the licensee, so keep age checks and responsible service in your own process. The pass identifies a member and is not proof of age.

Using the pass at the cellar door

A cellar door sees two kinds of visitor: the member who comes for a pickup and the first-time visitor who might become one. Put a QR code on the tasting bench so a visitor can join on the spot, and use a member-only coupon for the first case that you want to reward, such as a complimentary tasting for a guest. Because you can update the pass, you can also thank members who reach a new tier.

Many wineries have a small team, so the practical test is whether the process is simple enough to run on a busy Saturday. Scanning is one step, and nothing needs to be installed on the staff device beyond a web browser.