the perils of sharing allocations

As all of the mailers drop, I’m thinking about how I can keep my place on several lists and not go broke. For many years I have shared my allocations with friends who are
local to the Dayton area. That has allowed me to move up on many lists (SQN, Cayuse, Saxum, Alban). Now most of my friends are bailing on me - cutting back on their buying. If I can’t find anyone to share with, I will eventually have to take less than my full allocation and we know where that usually goes.

I have shared a few bottles with people on the WA board back in the day, but not lately. I see people willing to share allocations in several threads here, but if there is no one
local, the prospect of shipping wine is pretty scary. If someone shares my SQN or the like, I could easily be shipping >$1000 of wine. I guess it’s illegal to sell it, even at cost,
and certainly illegal to ship. I’ve done it many times and not been burned, but if something did go wrong it could be a total loss.

Maybe my concerns are overblown, or maybe there is a better to way to share. I’d be interested in other people’s experience.

perhaps a dumb question, but why not just buy the quantity you want from those wineries?

I have done a bit of list sharing with friends here in California. But like you the risks/costs/hassles of shipping make me nervous.

Instead, I’ve been thinking about (and cutting back on) my list purchases. I don’t like the feeling of being held hostage to a list. On every one I’ve bought from, dialing back purchases hasn’t limited my buying in subsequent years. But I’m not on SQN. I also might feel differently if I was just buying several cases a year in total and wanted to continue that.

You probably will not like this response, but I was where you are not long ago and on way too many mailing list. I spent decades building up my cellar and a lot of mailing list played a big part in this effort as well as got me hooked on my love of all things wine. However, I finally realized I was becoming a slave to my list and it simply was no longer something I needed to do to continue my love of wine. I buy from a handful of mailing list now and even skip an offering here and there. I mainly purchase from 3 importers who easily scratch my itch for anything I might have a hankering for. I am in a much better place as a result. Who wants to worry about wine?

I buy what I want. If my allocation goes down, there is always another good wine to buy. In fact it helps me to reach out and try new things.

Can retailers in Ohio sell wines that they didn’t procure via a wholesaler? The state minimum pricing and odd laws there make me wonder. But if they can, then I would maybe that’s an option to share allocations without the concerns you note.

I know that I have bought a few things in When in Dayton that make me wonder exactly how the laws work or maybe how vendors work around them.

I’ve slowly been ratcheting back my reliance on mailing lists and boy is it a relief! My suggestion is to just buy what you want and if your allocation is cut, so be it. I’ve found that except for a few lists, I end up with cases of wine that doesn’t excite me just to get the ones that do. When you do the math, secondary market is sometimes actually cheaper to get what you want.

gee, you might have to step aside and let someone who wants the wine buy it.

Yes, like many here I have cut back on some lists recently. I used to get 60 plus bottles of Cayuse a year. Now I have scaled back a lot - not because I dont like their wines, but I was realizing that my cellar was getting close to 1/3 Cayuse. I love lots of other types of wines – French, Italian, German, South African. So now I spread my budget around a bit more – plus I have lots of Cayuse aging for future drinking, and still buy some of my favorites from them each year, Like you I have shared locally – that is easier than dealing with the risk of shipping. My sense is there is strong hesitation to scale back, but as many attest here, if you do, things work out pretty well!

[winner.gif]

Have I mentioned I love threads like this? People whingeing about First World Problems on the interwebs really makes my day!

If I can’t find anyone to share with, I will eventually have to take less than my full allocation and we know where that usually goes.

You could post something in CC offering to share locally. Or organize an event with people in nearby states. You’re like two to four hours away from Indianapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, etc. Why not expand your sharing search to a few of those places and meet somewhere between for dinner, wine, and exchanging?

Also, why do you need to take a full allocation? So you cut down. No big deal. There’s a lot of wine in the world. Some of us manage to get by without ever having been on a single list. Ever.

Of the lists you mention, Alban is the only one who is a hostage mailer. You don’t really need to be on Alban to buy their wines at around release (unless one gets a big 100, but post Parker that’s even questionable). The other lists will let you buy what you want without punishment.

I do share allocations with local friends and they share with me. The obvious benefit is to make bottlings available from producers with long waiting lists. A secondary benefit and an important one when living in Alaska is the economy of full case shipments.

You have to try harder to be the new black hat. It has to come from an even deeper, darker, better spelling, more cynical, immature part of your being that can’t wait to offend another human and your Id laughs with joy when you finally have laid a pile of excrement upon an unsuspecting fellow board member. I mean more than you already have.

Now give it another go.

Hi Mark,

I live in Mason, about 30 minutes south of Dayton and would be interested in sharing. PM if you like.

Would “Stop crying you little b*t@h!” have been suitable? I have no intentions of volunteering for black hat duty, but if drafted I’ll give it a go.

SQN and Cayuse are both available on the shelf locally so I think the list pressure varies depending on where you live.

I bought a guy’s allocation of a wine for years. He sent me the offer, I picked it out and paid for it and shipped it to my wine locker. His kids were in school and he didn’t want to spend the money but wanted to keep his place in line, keep his allocation. We did this with the stipulation that when he wanted to buy the wine the deal was off. Worked out for both of us and I think we were both happy for the arrangement. No big deal.

You’re getting there. Practice. Fuck with people’s minds. Only then will you reach the zen of being a dick.