I’m trying to track down some a local source (near Indianapolis, Indiana, USA) of Riesling from Hofgut Falkenstein, and I’m hoping someone here can help.
I’ve called the usual suspects locally, and struck out. I’ve also looked on WineSearcher, but haven’t found anything.
Is there anyway to find a list of their U.S. importers somewhere? I figure if I can find their importers, then they might be able to help me find a local distributor.
(I did look at Falkenstein’s website, but their website seems to be redirected to @Lars_Carlberg ‘s website.)
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We have the following US importers: MFW Wine Co., Farm Wine Imports, Ideal Wine, Robert Houde Wines, Williams Corner Wine, Piedmont Wine Imports, PDX Wine, Kily Import, and Quorum.
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Wow. That worked out better than expected. Thanks!
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Unfortunately most of the '21s are likely already sold. The offers come out over the summer usually.
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Any idea how I get on one of these offer lists? Is this an offer from the vintner, importer, distributor, retailer…
(I really dislike the three tier system. But that’s a topic for a different post.)
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You would need to find a shop that offers the wines, such as in Chicago or NYC. We work with importer-distributors who don’t have as high as prices as a national importer who controls the market and sells the wines to different distributors. Otherwise, our wines would be even more expensive.
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Retailer / store. But the importers are generally pretty helpful in identifying a store. Find the one that’s closest to you and give them a shout to get a list.
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A couple of our importer-distributors also sell wine in more than one state.
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NY and California are always later. I have yet to get an offer in NYC.
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Thanks for posting Lars! Amazing wines.
I was curious, there is a lot of variability in the cuvées offered here. Do some importers choose not to carry certain bottlings, or are some so limited that you have to divide them up between different importers who request more than what you have? Are there some that never make it to the US through official channels?
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No idea about the specifics here, but from my experience importers/distributors visit the winery and taste the wines and determine which ones to buy based on what they think their retailers will buy. And then each store has a buyer that tastes the wines and determines which ones to carry for their customers. It’s no different than any other retail chain. Of course with these wines getting more and more popular, I’m sure there are allocation issues as well and you don’t always get everything you order.
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Thanks! It can be all those factors. The importers in smaller markets tend to select fewer wines and buy smaller quantities than those in larger markets—e.g., nearly two dozen different wines are imported by MFW Wine Co. Almost all of our importers would like to have more wine than we can offer them. There are several casks that are not imported to the States.
Quick update: Good Omens Wine Company, an importer in Phoenix, has selected wines from the new vintage. This gives us ten US importers.
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Lars, does each importer sell into different states, or do they overlap?
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Each importer sells to different states, and some importers sell to more than one state, but they shouldn’t overlap. There is, however, a shop in LA that has bought the wines on the gray market, because the back label should have Farm Wine Imports instead of Piedmont Wine Imports.
My pleasure. A potential client in Detroit also wants to import our wines. We’ll have to wait and see where it goes from here.
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Thanks Lars. Congratulations on all this US demand - clearly Falkenstein has connected with fine wine lovers here. And more distribution means more opportunities to find the wine.
In my quest to secure some particular crus (and 2021 Palm has still eluded me) over the last few years I’ve bought from retailers in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Oregon, and California. The US distribution ‘system’ is made for those of us who like the hunt.
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I also had trouble tracking down Palm. I think I ended with over a case of both Onkel Peter and Meyer Nepal and only 2 bottles of Palm.
If anyone is down for trading…
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Are the '21s pretty much sold out in the U.S.?
I managed to get around 2 cases of various crus (from multiple retailers), but would happily buy more if more are getting released (however, I’m assuming that I’m going to have to wait for '22 at this point)
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