Wine Society, The, seminal British member-owned wine club-cum-wine merchant. The International Exhibition Co-operative Wine Society (IECWS), generally known as The Wine Society, was founded in 1874 by an architect, an eye surgeon, and a prominent Customs and Excise official following a food and wine exhibition in London’s Albert Hall that year. The objects and rules included a membership holding of one share only, no dividends to be paid on these until extinction on the member’s death, and the introduction of unfamiliar wines as well as those in general use—all to be bought ‘for ready money only’ at the lowest possible price. The Society remained small for many years, and attained its 5,000th member only in 1922, but grew substantially between the two World Wars. The number of shares exceeded 390,000 by 2014.
