Sine Qua Non delivery to Europe

After being nine years on the Sine Qua Non waiting list, I finally got an offer and I am now on the allocation list . However, Sine Qua Non does not deliver to Sweden where I live. I am not sure, but it seems as if they don’t deliver directly to consumer in any country in Europe. So now I am bit lost regarding how to get hold of the wines.

Does anyone know of a viable option to send wine from US to Europe (preferably Sweden, but Spain would also work). Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hi Joel,

When the Chimere offer comes out they don’t ship to my state, so you have to use a third party shipper. You could email the winery and ask them, they could recommend a shipper. I have used Buffalo Shipping Post in Napa for the Chimere. I do not know if they ship internationally. I filled out the form online with payment, so it was relatively easy.
You will pay shipping/CA taxes from SQN to Buffalo Shipping and then whatever charge to your location.

You can’t privately import to Sweden, unfortunately. You can however do so from EU, so best is to have it shipped to a friend somewhere in the EU which don’t have such onerous laws and then you can have it sent to you in Sweden from there.

Only way to ship directly to Sweden otherwise is to ask a licensed importer to take it in for you as a one-off. Expect them to add their cut to it to do that, if they even want to deal with it.

Third option is to ask someone in the US to bring them with them when they travel. Might be the easiest solution if it’s just a few bottles.

Adam +1. Best (and safest) way probably to go to one of your importers of US wines to Sweden, befriend the importer, have great lunches together, drink some nice bottles and then ask the importer if it would have space in one of the shipping containers for some of your SQN mailing list wines. Without that it will be complicated (and it will get more expensive to the extent of having no benefits to be on the list).

There’s a importer/distributor that posts on WB periodically that is based (I believe) in Sweden (or Norway). His name escapes me, and posted a lot on eBob as well. I think most of his postings here have been on the upper-end Napa Cab threads. I took a quick look, but couldn’t find him .
If someone else knows who I am referring to, PM his name to the OP. Maybe he can help you, but it may cost you a bottle or two of the SQN

+1, seemed like a great wine dude, forgot his name as well

I have the exact same problem, being also based in Sweden, and have bought off the list for 2-3 years. There was a solution, that is currently shipping the wines to Sweden. But he discontinued the service unfortunately.

The option I’m currently considering (or we as I share my allocation) is to find offsite storage, preferably in NYC or another place that’s feasible to visit.

I’ve previously talked with Gunnar from Divine, who imports SQN to Sweden, about him taking wines back. But he didn’t want to do it then. That was a few years ago tho, and for Lillian wines, so might be worth a shot to check again. I ended up being helped by a friend who had another import firm, but that was a one off.


If you’re interested in co-storing, or if you have any other ideas, feel free to PM me!

Jörgen Lindström Carlvik?

As I recall, in Sweden there’s a government monopoly on wine retailing, so I’m not sure how or if importers fit into that picture.

Yes, everything has to be channeled through their system. So importers can sell directly to restaurants, but not to end consumers. To sell directly to end consumers the importer has to funnel it through Systembolaget and they’ll add their 17.5% cut.

Joel, take your allocation, flip half of it and it will pay for your airfares and accommodation. Fly to the States, collect and take the rest home in your luggage.

That’s him! Thanks!