Before December: membership starts the day you pay.
December: your group enters together at the opening session.
The year: six group sessions, four shared bottle evenings, two private sommelier sessions, twelve Cellar Letters, the Room.
When your records are ready: certification.
What happens before your group enters
Membership begins the day you pay, not the day your group meets. Between payment and the opening session, you:
- Publish your cellar: photographs, capacity, what you collect, and one question for the room.
- Book your first private sommelier session.
- Start your temperature record, or continue the one you already keep.
- Receive the Cellar Letter, starting with the next issue.
- Receive your group's opening date and calendar.
Applications are open now. The first groups enter in December 2026.
The opening session
Your group of eight to ten enters together, live, and never alone.
One of our sommeliers leads the first conversation: each member's cellar, and the question each member submitted with their request. Belmour presents the program, the calendar, the rules of the Room, and what happens next.
By the end of the opening session, every member knows the group, the schedule, how to book a private session, and what comes next.
The six group sessions
Your group meets once every two months, live, with a host. These are conversations between members about real cellars and real collecting experience, not lectures. Each session has a set topic, and each builds on the last.
- Meet the cellarsWhat each member collects, and how each cellar was built.
- How we use our cellarsHow members organize their bottles and decide what to open.
- One real questionA real bottle or collecting question from the group, worked through together.
- Lessons and mistakesWhat members bought, stored, or handled differently once they knew better.
- Where the cellar goes nextHow each member's collecting is changing. Everyone leaves with a plan for the year ahead.
- The year in reviewWhat changed, what was learned, and what members want next.
The shared bottle, four times a year
The shared bottle is a Belmour-wide evening, separate from your group sessions, where members from different groups meet.
Once a quarter, Belmour names a wine theme and a short list of approved bottles available by region across the United States and Canada. You buy yours locally, and everyone opens on the same evening, live, with a host.
Belmour sells no wine and ships no wine. The evening is optional, it is not recorded, and a written summary follows.
The first shared bottle evening takes place in December 2026. It is a separate event from your group's opening session: the opening session forms your group; the shared bottle is the first evening open to all of Belmour.
Two private sommelier sessions
Every membership includes two private sessions a year with one of Belmour's sommeliers, the wine professionals who read your cellar. Thirty minutes each, booked when you want them.
Members use them for four things: a cellar review, buying direction, drinking windows, or one specific decision.
The sommeliers advise on wine, not on investments. They will not value your cellar, authenticate a bottle, or tell you what will appreciate.
Meet the sommeliersThe Cellar Letter, every month
Twelve issues a year, in the same order every month: Movement, Hold or Open, Allocations, and From the Cellars.
Read the current issueThe Room between sessions
Between meetings, the conversation continues in the Room: the weekly open thread on what members opened this week, your group's own space, and the member directory.
How the Room worksThe calendar
| Cadence | What happens |
|---|---|
| Weekly | The open thread: what you opened this week |
| Monthly | The Cellar Letter |
| Every two months | Your group session |
| Quarterly | The shared bottle evening |
| Twice a year | Your private sommelier sessions |
| Annually | Certification renewal, and the retreat |
Questions about the year
Is the program in person?
No. The program runs live, online. Sessions are not recorded, and what is said in your group stays in your group. The retreat, once a year, is the exception: in person and optional.
What if I miss a session?
The written recap reaches you, and the next session is on the calendar. Missed sessions are not refunded.
Does my group change during the year?
No. The same group stays together for the full first year. Groups are formed around practical fit: region, availability, and collecting interests.
Who runs the program?
Belmour. It forms the groups, sets the program and calendar, runs the Room and the events, manages certification, and supports members. The sommeliers bring the specialist knowledge.