Purchasing Old World Wines

I realize many people on these boards ( including myself ) purchase a lot of American wines thru mail lists and allocations directly from the wineries. I was wondering where do you purchase your Old World wines from? Brick and mortar stores or are there also lists and allocations for these ?

I buy mostly online from local retailers:

Burgundy and Champagne — Envoyer Fine Wines
Bordeaux — Wine Exchange

The are plenty of others, but in SoCal, these are my go-to places because I avoid shipping costs.

Avoid Acker Merrall Condit.

Some hard-to-get French wines (and a very few Italian and German) are offered pre-arrival through retailers here, and that may be the only way to get your hands on them. That’s the closest thing to getting on a list. But the retailers are in charge of that, not the producer.

Basically a couple of local wine shops and wine searcher if I know exactly what I want.

‘Old World’ is a wide range, but if you have specific regions you like, there are retailers who cover various areas in good depth.

If you are able to get wine shipped to you, and are willing to pay for that, your selection of retailers and regions gets much wider.

What area are you in and what is your focus? That will help the kommentariat provide information.

Thanx for the response.

I think a few very high rollers have some kind of insider allocation deal (probably still with some intermediary rather than the winery itself) to get their DRCs and so forth, and occasionally people buy at the cellar door while visiting or maybe order directly from a producer, but I think 99+% of Old World wine just gets bought at retail or auction.

Old World wineries don’t seem to have wine clubs, mailing lists and spring+fall email offerings to customers. I don’t think most New World wineries outside the US do, either (e.g. Chile, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand), but I’m less sure of that.

I don’t know what the reason is for the difference.

It’s very difficult for producers to ship to the US. First, it has to be combined with other wine in a container and shipped with temperature control. Then, at the US port of entry, it has to go through a customs broker, and that can be costly for small quantities as the brokers aren’t really set up for it.

Once wine has cleared the feds, then you have to contend with state rules, which usually means the three-tier system, where the wine has to pass through through the hands of (1) an importer, (2) a distributor and (3) a retailer. (Count your blessings, Chris, that you are in California, where this doesn’t apply.)

Since each state’s law is different, it would be a nightmare for a small producer to try to fulfill orders to Americans.

There are companies over there that will handle the shipping and customs issues, and will even bundle orders from different wineries. But they are specialists. It can make sense for high-end wines where an extra, say, $25-50 a bottle in shipping and handling may be worth it. But, again, from the standpoint of Old World producers, it’s best to leave the hassle to the customer or an importer.

Thank you

You suck
I would be in trouble if I could just stop by EFW and pick stuff up. The shipping costs and logistics of delivery save me. We have nothing, no one local that rivals any of the legit national retailers I buy from. Hate it, but good for my wallet.