I’m curious if anyone knows if a place or service like this exists?
I find myself in a frustrating situation of loving Oregon wines and producers, wanting to continue buying them, but being almost as far away from the place as you can be in the continental US. Having half a dozen (more?) individual shipments coming from producers that are all within half an hour drive of each other seems like a waste of shipping dollars, carbon emission, and logistical annoyance.
is there a group or company in Oregon that will consolidate these individual orders into one bigger shipment to save cost and headache?
if not does anyone in Oregon want an investor in a company that will do this? lol
I swear this question was asked before and there was no good answer given. But to your point, there would also be some headache, annoyance, and cost involved in gather wines from 6+ producers. I suggest that you buy in full case quantities from each producer as that seems to be the most efficient shipping quantity (short of a pallet).
I wish that was always possible! We dont drink fast enough or have the budget for 72 wines JUST from Oregon each year though… thats more than our house consumes in a year, and doesnt even take into account multiple release dates for some producers! I try when I can to at least consolidate within a producer to ship a case at a time, though.
I’d check out Sec Wines, Vinopolis, Oregon Wines on Broadway. Retailers selling a broad range of OR pinots and other wines, that can ship just about anywhere. May not have the pricing or all club wines, but it might be a way to consolidate.
Well, from his cellar, yes. Then there are the 72 they consume from ours. Ha.
ChrisJames we have done that a few times, but I do not go in on all orders he does and he does not in on all of mine. We have a few others in town we try to do this with, but it is limited.
I agree it would be difficult to try to pick up orders from a bunch of different wineries, but it does seem that there is a better way than having six wineries ship a few bottles at a time or hold until you have a six or 12 pack. I have tried to reduce wineries I buy from for this reason, but with limited success. More often I order once a year or two rather than every release.
I loved it when storyteller was open. Michael had a great selection.
Avalon has a build a case option. They’ll hold whatever you prder until you hit a 12 bottle case. They also have good relationships with just about everyone.That’s probably as close as anyone comes to consolidating wines from separate producers.
A challenge you’ll probably run into is the specific licensing requirements for your state. If each winery has to track how much wine was sold and shipped to you (and your state), the standard mechanisms for tracking that are by individual shipments. You might reach out to the Newberg Mail Room, as I know of a lot of wineries that ship through there for at least some of their shipping, so I’d be curious if they might be able to do the consolidation for you.
FYI, Vinopolis stopped shipping to many states a couple of years ago. They used to ship to Missouri, but won’t any more; even though most of the retailers mentioned in this thread still do.
This. How would wineries fairly share the burden. Also, if we’re sending some other winery’s wine with ours to a state we are legal to ship into but they’re not we get in trouble. Shit happens. Also, for instance, the State of Tennessee’s DTC fees went from around $200 to $1,000/year. We’re eating it because we have enough sales there to justify it but what would we charge some other winery that wants to send a handful of bottles a few times a year? I get that this suck for some consumers but the realities of the situation, at a winery level, make this nearly impossible to pull off.
I think its pretty close to accurate. my wife and I typically drink a glass a night so we finish a bottle every 3 days. there is also typically a day or two per week we dont drink, so about 1.5 bottles per week? we are also waiting on a renovation to start and currently have a less than ideal situation to host dinners, so we dont have events where we go through several bottles at a time very often. I need this project to be done so I can move from adding to the cellar to working through it again!
I guess I was more picturing it being a separate company that would collect the wines and arrange shipping, like Cote d’Or imports does in Burgundy. ill admit I have no idea what the legal implications of that would be or how that company would work it. but assuming this magical company existed, it would remove the headache from both the consumer and the winery as they would handle the pickup, consolidating, and shipping.
Im picturing I would call them, tell them that this spring I purchased a case of wine spread between (in my case) Patricia Green, Kelley Fox, Goodfellow, and Big Table Farm, they would go pick up my bottles (assuming along with any other customers they are also shipping for), put it in a single shipper, and send it all at once as opposed to sending 4 shipments. again, no idea how much of a mess that would be from a legal standpoint, though. assuming a massive headache of one.
but it would be an awesome company even if it just existed on Berserkerday and then disappeared for 364 days a year otherwise lol
I bet that would be a pretty expensive service too. While I get that you like to buy producer direct, I think your best best is to buy from Avalon or Vinopolis. Both of them have a wide selection of OR wines and will let you build a case over time - over six to twelve months. I have been doing this for many years (in addition to buying direct).
thats good to know about Avalon! I would note: I wouldn’t have a problem at all if our house’s consumption justified larger volume purchases OR if we had worthwhile distribution here in SC. we tend to get the tail end of the pick, if a winery is ever distributed here at all. not likely the first choice for distribution for most smaller wineries. which I dont blame them for.
Surely there is a storage company in Portland that would accept your wines. Store what you don’t want immediately and then ship the rest. I have used a group in Seattle to do just this for Washington based wines.
Matt, you are more than welcome to add to my orders at any time, but I usually round up to a case. I’m not sure of your location in SC (Greenville?), but Charlotte wouldn’t be too far for you.
As others have noted, I don’t think that it’s a viable business opportunity for a number of reasons. As mentioned, Avalon and a few other Portland area retailers can provide this service to you. Just let them know what you want. If you don’t see it on their (Avalon, Valley Wine Merchants, Vinopolis, etc.) website, they might be able to source a specific bottle for you if it’s available from the winery. The preferred retailers are very well connected to the wineries.
