I know absolutely nothing about wine business, so my post might look silly or naive.
As I said in a different topic we just came back from Andalusia where we visited few wineries. I was impressed by the quality of wines we were tasting especially considering the cost. One small winery we liked in particular produces six different wines. I don’t like such comparison but their Petit Verdot is outstanding for 26 Euro drinks like $60-$80 wine.
In any case, the winery owner, very pleasant and honest woman, said they mostly sell wines to the local restaurants and visitors and they are looking for distributor in the US. I promised her to ask around. I am sure there are plenty of people on this forum that are in wine business. So here I am posting this.
Cheers.
I guess they would be selling cheaper in bulk. Also, I have seen quite few wines in the US are sold for less in stores than at the wineries in Europe. One of examples the wine that I love for its QPR:
Château Tour Saint Christophe Grand Crue is sold here at $30 whereas at the winery I visited last year it was 30 Euro.
I have no idea how it is possible.
Petit Verdot + Andalusia= highly unlikely to ever find it’s way to the US.
Trying to be funny here, but I had a conversation with a good friend over the weekend who is an importer, and he represents a sensational producer in the Northern Rhone that has a long history through it’s previous (and very famous importer). When he says “Hey, I have XXXXXXXXXXX now, would you want to sell it in your market?”. It’s one of the best producers, and only in 1 market did the distributor reply with YES! and didn’t ask for pricing before replying. All of the others he’s spoken to said something like “well, where was it placed before? What were the depletions? What kind of sample budget are you giving me?”
This is a producer with a 30+ year legacy of importation and stellar representation in the market, and wholesalers weren’t jumping on it. Oh, and the wines are now cheaper since my buddy doesn’t have the huge mark up the previous importer had.
I don’t mean to come off harsh here but some cold water in the face now may save a lot more pain and $$$ later on.
Many people unfamiliar with the business often go on holiday or whatnot and ‘discover’ good wines that aren’t imported and wonder why, especially when the producer says they are actively seeking distribution in the US. Many of these wines are perfectly fine to drink but there are various reasons why they wouldn’t be a good candidate for US distribution.
Let’s just say this particular wine could retail in the US at $30. Even $30 gets to be a pretty tough price point for most wines without some sort of brand recognition and even more so when they are made from grapes the average person doesn’t know well. Most people willing to spend $30 or more are going to choose something other than Petit Verdot. The wine may be worth it but there are just too many (better) alternatives. People that have no idea what Petit Verdot is are unlikely to try it. $30 is a lot for people that are not serious about wine.
It’s really hard to build a brand from scratch. I represented many producers for the first time in the US that would go on to become somewhat cult-y but it often took several years to achieve this. The wines didn’t change, trends did.
Let’s remember that Polaner, a very strong distributor, had to close out their first (and maybe second?) vintage of Lopez de Heredia because the trend at that time was for very ripe, very oaky Spanish wines.
just for the sake of the back and forth that’s rare, they likely bulk out excess to the states and maintain price for their local market. There are some brands that have such a large export market that they can maintain price parity within reason across markets, but most of the time there’s a sizable discount when purchasing it where it’s produced (Quintarelli Amarone was 54% cheaper buying it at the winery)
Lots of good and great wine around the world that won’t get imported. Nice to find these gems and bring home as much of them as possible when visiting/
Agreed. I always bring as many as I can fit into my luggage. I was hoping to order more from here but was not expecting shipping cost to be 240 Euro per case.
I visited a winery called Valenciso in Rioja 9 years ago and they had their Rioja for 16 euro a bottle. I didn’t buy any because we visited Muga and LRA on the same trip. The owner pulled an aged Riserva for us during the tasting that was so wonderful and I regret not buying because they are hard to find in the US.
Tons of wineries making very good wine at reasonable costs but so difficult to get that price unless you are there.
The Sorting Table brings in Valencisco. I can’t speak to how much they bring in or how hard they push it, but they certainly aren’t a small, niche importer
It’s harder to work from the destination end and finding someone that will go there to bring the wine over. The winery should find someone in Andalusia that they trust that is already importing into the USA, see if they are looking for new producers and can piggyback on their containers. Chances are that importer has knowledge of and a market for Andalusian wines, and consolidating shipments will cut down on costs on that end.
