Do all wines come from a distributor?

[Brian_Loring]

@Daniel Posner

Yes, unless, the winery is going to give the retailer the special FOB price that they give to wholesalers, which would seem unlikely to me.

Not exactly. The winery would charge the retailer the same price that a wholesaler (distributor) would. We have “add ons” to our direct shipment licenses in CT and WA that alloow us to sell directly to retailers/restaurants. If we get distribution in either of those states, we’ll stop direct sales to retailers and let the distributors do all the sales.

[John_Cabot]

@Michael Alberty

Here in Oregon I can buy directly from any Oregon winery that is willing to sell to me. Many choose to use a distributor for convenience. The smaller wineries tend to go direct. Even the wineries that use a distributor may keep a wine shop like mine as a “house account.” And in what has to be a surprising and stunning moment of lucidity on the part of the OLCC, by paying a small fee each year a restaurant or wine store in Oregon may buy directly from out of state wineries. I really like living in Oregon!

Wow, this is great. I used to self distribute wine in Or. before the law change, but I was always worried about OLCC catching wind. Amazing enough, most shops and restaurants weren’t too concerned. Maybe I’ll have to hit it up again.
Thanks for the info.

[John_Cabot]

@Michael Alberty

@Daniel Posner

@Michael Alberty

You are 0-2 in this thread.

Sadly, SWS arrived here through the backdoor via a Seattle company they purchased called Odom. So yes, SWS is now entrenched here. Oregon is currently cash on demand for deliveries and everybody theoretically pays the same price for everything. No discounts or free cases, unless it is an end of bin. The OLCC controls hard liquor sales through state stores. Something tells me, thanks to SWS, some or all of these conditions may not exist two years from now.

How do you pay the wineries COD?

By check.

This is the sweet thing about selling wine in Or. I would walk into a shop to deliver a couple of cases and get a check right then and there. No 30 days, having to send repeated invoices and pulling teeth just to get paid, like I have experienced here in Cali. I had one wine shop who owed me $900 for 18 months. The shop was in my home town, Pasadena, and the 75 yr. old man was as nice as they come, and hand sold quite a bit of our wine every year, so I just kept cutting him slack, but come on, a year and a half? [nea.gif]

I finally had to send in my muscle(Kimberly) to have a little talk with him, and she came home with a check. Nice job Creme-bru-le.

[Mark.Ricca]

It was only like ten years ago that Jersey went to 30 day terms and that the ABC here started to enforce it. A lot of the little guys couldn’t get by if they had to pay when the statement was due.

I think all retailers here must purchase from a licensed distributor. You can secure privately held goods, i.e. auction lots or private collections, but they have to pass through a licensee as a clearinghouse.