Checking back in on this - hoping to get at least a handful of producers suggested, publicly or privately, that I can then reach out to. Start small, most likely, build as we did with ‘regular’ BerserkerDay
Hopefully @Gautier_Roussille is still willing to join up, and we can bring back @nicholasharbour who has participated from Burgundy in past BerserkerDays - this would make it much easier for him 
So, please, send suggestions on who I should contact, here or via PM
Dr Ulrich Stein?
You could try Drei Dona in Predappio, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, as they seemed set up well for direct sales, and are something of a gem in the region.
Himself! The website is https://stein-weine.de
This is great, all, happy to take more! I have 9 already from public and private suggestions. I think 15-20 would be ideal if we could get it!
@macleancd, might you know any interested producers from your experience in Italy?
Germany
Two other mosel wineries with setup in place DTC that I had recommended here and been very happy with, both in terms of the wine quality and people are:
Italy - Great wines and good people that has a wider range of wines produced at very high quality yet not with rock star prices:
Slovenia - great balanced wines and good folks that deserves more recognition:
As Luca said, having a depiction of how the current US BD work to try and figure out how an European one could work would be helpful. I have no idea.
From that, I’d have a better understanding of which estate might be interested into participating.
Todd, it is a noble plan and I wish you all kinds of success. Yet …
European trade is vey efficient and ordering from the EU abroad is no problem at all. There are minor differences between the VAT rates in different countries, and shipping can be pricey (Greece!), but if you know what you want, and who carries it, you will have it delivered hassle and tariffs free within a week.
The only way I can see it work is by finding smaller, flying under the radar producers, who are willing to participate (knowing that they won’t move many cases at first), and who will find takers here. Unless lurkers step in in numbers, I doubt if there is enough interest here to make it worthwhile for them…
To identify those winemakers will take some local scouting. It would be the easiest, also from the communication perspective, to start with the expats, such as Haisma, Grappin, Eyre, who don’t have distributors in certain geographies (and still have wine to sell).
Myself, I might be interested in exploring locations I don’t know well, such as Portugal and Greece.
I think that’s the problem from my perspective too.
It’s only really attractive if deeply discounted basically.
I think European Berserkers (who post a lot) are very savvy buyers.
I believe discounting is common in US wine market, but it would be problematic here.
@J_Patrick_Lynch and @ToddFrench, yes, I have worked with a number of good QPR producers in Italy who might be interested. Off the top of my head, Giuseppe Cortese, Scarzello, Contucci, and Ca’ La Bionda have dedicated business admin personnel who could do the legwork. I’m happy to reach out to them and more to help. Just send me a draft of the pitch and I’ll translate (when needed) and forward.
Can you explain why? Thanks.
Its a number of things but I’d say that, as it’s not already in the culture, producer might be afraid to be unfair to their usual retailing clients.
Correct me if I’m wring but because of the three-tier system in the US, the difference between the final retail price and the wholesale price out of the estate is much larger in the US than it is in Europe, leaving more margins for discount in the US.
Substantial discounting is 95% of what makes BD go. Without that, then I don’t see that there is an event.
People talk about community and supporting wineries and all that, and I’m not saying there isn’t something to that, but significant discounting is the reason people are there buying in large amounts that day.
It feels to me like there should be plenty of good European wineries which would be willing to offer some aggressive deals of their choosing to move inventory and find new customers. If there aren’t, or we can’t identify them, then . . .
There are lots of producers that sell at very reasonable costs directly from the winery. Most likely there is very limited room for discounts.
Furthermore, there are several limitations, for example some producers might be prohibited to sell wine to customers living in countries in which they have an importer, at least at lower prices at which their importers sell.
So there might be some small package discounts, but for the most part I doubt it’s possible to see similar kinds of discounts you see in the US BerserkerDay - many wines are already very reasonably priced here in Europe.
Please do, and I’d like to reach out to all at once, assuming they can auto-translate with any variety of computer tools we have available now
With the recent potential issue of inability or reluctance to discount, that will definitely affect the success of this event, however, what it does do is put all these sellers in one place for one event, and there is most definitely a feverish draw to having an all-in-one-place event, though perhaps that’s strictly an American market phenomenon.
Truly the wines do appear to be more reasonably priced in Europe, so I know there is likely less of a margin to play with, but if there is, it’s worth the effort. Perhaps, with this in mind, a larger number of producers could be reached, assuming only half or so would be willing to participate?
this is my goal as well, as for most of the US BerserkerDay that is indeed the case - many, in fact, survive for the most part on BerserkerDay! While they sell throughout the year, these are actual quotes I’ve received from BerserkerDay sellers:
“I would have stopped making wine 7-8 years ago if not for WB.”
"I owe everything to this forum. Absolutely everything. I would not be in business without it.”
“… some even said the BD event saved their business. For me, it was no different. I almost gave up on my business last year, but the unwavering support from my clients and Berserkers pushed me to keep going.”
I definitely hope European BD would become a thing, and while I hope for sizeable discounts, I’m not expecting to see them.
I’ll be still happy to buy stuff from EBD if that becomes a means to acquire stuff at competitive prices and reasonable delivery costs. If a wine sold through EBD costs just a little bit less or even the same amount than if I were to buy it from a large online retailer with the lowest retail market price, I’d be more willing to buy directly from the producer, knowing all the money goes to them directly.
Given all the constraints, the mission is to find those mythical living under the rock producers making great wines, without international distribution commitments (equivalent with lack of international presence), who will make hearts of the EU WBs beat faster. I have no doubt they exist but I would look for them in places such as Slovenia, Portugal, Croatia…