There’s a new player among wine clubs – the New York Times – which suggests how much wine has become a mainstream libation.

In this new venture, there’s still separation between church and state. The New York Times Wine Club will be operated independent of the Time’s critics or other members of the news department. This includes the Press Democrat, which is owned by the New York Times.

In short, the Times has created a partnership with Global Wine Company, which will  operate the wine club because of its access to boutique wineries around the world. According to a Times’ statement, the club will offer two packages deals – one for everyday wines and another for special occasion wines. Tucked inside the shipments will be customized tasting notes, along with related wine and travel content from the Times’ archives.

Global Wine Company said its wine tasting team includes more than 10 wine experts – each with 10 to 30 years experience in the wine industry – who travel the world and sample thousands of wines each year to make their picks. The company also said wine will be selected from producing regions in more than 20 countries and many of the wines offered by the club come from wineries with limited or no presence in the United States.

The Times has jumped into an ever-growing pool of wine clubs sponsored by publications which include the Wall Street Journal, the San Francicso Chronicle, the Financial Times and the Times of London.

What does all this mean? We’re close to reaching the tipping point in perception – if nothing more – that it won’t take much to close the gap in making the American wine consumer the every day wine consumer, and publications want to tap into the profitable All-American palate.