AROUND HOME : A Wine Club

WINE AUCTIONS HAVE become very chic with the sort of people who like to impress their friends at the dinner table. If you like wine and but are not in the Latour league, consider joining Winewrights, an organization whose members drink some of the world’s most unusual wines--and don’t pay a fortune for them.

Winewrights is a sort of limited-editions club for wine drinkers. The company deals in wines made by dedicated wineries too tiny to distribute their wines through ordinary channels. These are not ma-and-pa places that make swill that one would be embarrassed to serve. To the contrary, some of the country’s most prestigious wines (Bonny Doon, Kalin, Laurel Glen and Randy Dunn) were first distributed through Winewrights. Recently, Winewrights members were offered the latest Chardonnay from Merry Vintners for only $99.50 a case.

A membership with Winewrights includes “The Winewrights Register,” a 256-page book profiling the wine makers whose wines are sold through the club. (This is more than a mere catalogue--it’s a fascinating tome.) Members also receive a market report six times a year; it contains a variety of information, but its primary purpose is to inform members about the current wines that the club has for sale. They are good wines at good prices: Belonging to Winewrights offers wine aficionados one of the nicest ways to shop by mail.

Membership in Winewrights is $40. Write 175 B Cascade Court, Rohnert Park, Calif. 94928. Or telephone (800) 321-4300.