Why is it so damn difficult to find Leitz wines in New York, or really, anywhere in the US for that matter? I love their dry and fruity wines and I have money I want to give in exchange. I don’t have any sense of these wines being so highly sought after that these should be unobtainable.
Leitz used to be part of the Terry Theise portfolio, and was fairly readily available then. But a few years ago he decided to go independent, with his own importer (or maybe he’s part of that business himself, not sure). I haven’t seen his wines nearly as much since then.
Alan is correct. Leitz switched to a much smaller importer, Kevin Pike, who has at most maybe 1-4 people on the street selling his book here in NY, versus the massive team that Skurnik employs. There are so many people selling wine in NY, that it’s very hard to get in front of buyers, especially with wines that your average liquor store buyer considers an afterthought.
It’s not just Leitz. The range of German wines on shelves around here seems narrower than it was 10 years ago.
I don’t know if shipping to NYC is a problem but check out K&L online. They are my supplier for these great Rieslings.
For Leitz:
Schatzi Headquarters at Branchwater Farm
822 Salisbury Turnpike – Milan, New York – 12571
Email: info@schatziwines.com
Phone: 845-266-0376
.
Hipsters & Orange Wines notwithstanding, around here the AFWE market has completely collapsed.
A couple of years ago, I went looking for the basic Donnhoff Estate Riesling, to serve with Thanksgiving dinner, and found only one shop, about 25 miles away, which had any in stock [and they were down to just their last few bottles].
Our market is now dominated by “Fake Labels” [Hipsterized versions of Barefoot & Cupcake] and “Big Wines” [Parkerized on the Red side of things or Rombauerized on the White side of things].
Almost everything else has fallen by the wayside.
My impression is that the channel is now controlled by mercantilists who are pathologically obsessed with offloading risk - no one [from importers to distributors to retailers] seems to want to bring in any product which has not been pre-purchased [meaning that no tier in the system wants to place an order for a product unless it already has cash in hand from the tier below it].
I have even reached out directly to Johannes and to Kevin. Zero response. Worst importer ever.
Leitz appears to be in on the venture, in which case they’re both to blame. From the website:
I know. Johannes and Kevin are close friends.
They may be small, but on the other hand, vom Boden is not exactly a behemoth, and yet I’m able to reliably find their producers at major NY retailers and on wine-searcher, including Falkenstein, Weiser-Kunstler, Vollenweider, Lauer, to name a few. And I can reliably find most wines from their entire lineup. With Leitz, I might stumble onto Dragonstone QbA or a odd bottle or two, but it’s a sad day when it’s easier to find Leitz’s alcohol free wine than any of their single vineyard stuff.
I think I speak for many when I say that I just shed a tear.
Interesting discussion. I used to buy a lot of wine, both German and Austrian, from NYC (notably Pop’s futures offering). Haven’t done so in a few years, but in general NY has always had a much broader selection of wines than all of California.
Vom Boden enjoys a unique position in the NY market, because buyers looking to have a German selection that is remotely au courant can just about buy exclusively from Stephen’s book. Apart from Falkenstein (which isn’t with VBoden here in NY), you can choose from among those you list, as well from J.B. Becker, Enderle & Moll, Brand Bros., J. Haart. Plus, he has some solid domestic producers in the book, which gives buyers one more reason to work with the guy. As far as wine professionals go, his reputation is unimpeachable. To be fair, I buy from Stephen and consider him a friend.
Sadly, it’s now a problem.
In California, you get the producers that Rudi Wiest imports, which, unfortunately, are poorly distributed on the East Coast.
And Rudi’s portfolio is not at all what it used to be.
This store in DC has an excellent selection of German wines, but no Leitz. Germany. MacArthur Beverages
You can find Leitz across the country by using Wine Searcher. https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/leitz/1/usa
Some Leitz. Availability has cratered for the better wines post 2013.
We have some in Minneapolis but typically the cheaper ones like Dragonstone. Surdyk’s in Minneapolis used to carry them when they were with Terry. So Terry get these again so I can buy them!
True, but neither is Terry’s. Rudi’s portfolio still includes Fürst, Gunderloch, Joh Jos Prüm, Meyer-Näkel, Rebholz, Schäfer-Fröhlich, Schloss Lieser, Wirsching and Zilliken.
Prüm has so many importers they don’t count.