(Wines&Vines) - Forget Tupperware and Mary Kay cosmetics; Boisset Family Estates has been quietly testing home parties for selling wine since May 2012.

The umbrella company for Jean-Charles Boisset’s California wine companies already has grown from eight to a few hundred “ambassadors” arranging parties and telling attendees about Boisset wines made in California.

Ambassador framework

The Boisset Wine Living at Home program is being run by Melissa Lynch, who started Wine Shop at Home after creating 1-800WineShop.com in 1998.

Leaders at Boisset like the idea of selling wine and building visibility for the company’s brands. It’s well known that personal recommendation has a powerful impact on buying wine. It’s not a new idea in wine sales but is unusual for a major U.S. wine producer.

At present, 80% of the Boisset ambassadors are in California, but others are found in the 28 states the wine company can ship to legally, including Texas.

The program includes primarily domestic Boisset brands because of shipping issues, Lynch notes, and includes eight Boisset brands such as Raymond Vineyards, Buena Vista, DeLoach, Lockwood, Lyeth and JCB by Jean-Charles Boisset.