Ok so I take it that nobody knows how or who to contact?
This very much falls into the “if you have to ask, you’ll never know” category.
The amount of DRC produced is dwarfed by the demand for it across the world. It has been tightly allocated for decades and demand has gone through the roof to the point that the immediate release price, if you can snag a bottle from a well-connected retailer, is easily twice the price for which they got it. To think that you can just “get on the list” by calling the right people is somewhere between ignorant, arrogant/entitled and absurd. I don’t think you’re arrogant, or ignorant or absurd, BTW, but you should probably realize that this request is Quixotic to the extreme. Wilson Daniels ain’t offering you La Tache at below-retail-market prices, no matter who you call.
At least this saves you from going to prison for mail fraud and use-tax/sales-tax evasion.
If we told you we would have to kill you.
The list is managed by Wilson Daniels, and I’m 99% sure you have to be referred by someone to get on the list. You can’t just say “hey, I want on the list”. I know a guy who waited 9 years to get on the list, and he’s been getting it for a while. He signed up for the waiting list BEFORE Burgundy became hot. (IIRC, he signed on to the list in the year 2002 or 2003). I think at this point, they’ve quit taking names, or only add via referral of a friend already on the list.
And rinses the DRC-dirtied sink with Screaming Eagle.
Thank you.
If one is rich enough to buy DRC, one could fly one’s jet to Dijon and take one’s chauffered limo to the winery…no??
But how would you know that is the case, without first asking?
It’s still interesting to hear the feedback on a topic like this, even though it ultimately doesn’t go anywhere.
Sorry, had a corked bottle of DRC and had to get some stuff off my chest… 
Got offered 2015 drc this year. First time ever. I’ve finally made it! Time to gargle!!
Some years back, I met Edmond Asseily over lunch in Appenzell. An unassuming gentleman and we shared a ‘99 La Tâche and Richebourg off the list over lunch. He didn’t loose a word about his connections to DRC. It was a memorable lunch as both bottles showed fantastically. There’s an account of him and DRC here
My wine guy at Kroger, Ricky Daniels, hooked me up with a few cases. But I had to meet his cousin Bobby behind the store after hours and hand carry it out of his trunk which was kind of a pain. But ultimately worth it.
Wait . . . the Koch brothers, in Wichita, are coastal elites?
So here’s a nice tidbit - according to Forbes, David Koch is the wealthiest person in New York City. Bailed out the NY Ballet and the clowns at City Opera asked him for money and invited him to watch a dress rehearsal of a new opera they were doing, something satirical based on Patricia Kluge, who of course was a friend. They didn’t get that check because he walked out.
Probably went home and cracked a DRC.
Which, BTW, is a way to get to drink the stuff if you can’t get on a list -just look up Davey and see if he wants to hang out.
No more Koch politics talk
I always assumed that DRC allocated by raising prices.
I am on the list… have been for more than 25 years . Back then , nobody wanted DRC , it was considered too expensive . The Belgian importer back then gave up because it didn’t sell , a friend wine merchant of mine picked up the right to import . The first year , I think it was 1996 , he sold 2 cases … ( he had close to 150 ) . One was to me . He told me his parents wanted to kick him out of the family wine business …
Things changed around in 2001 or so , definitely after 1999 because I remember he had a hard time selling those too . Today , he sells his huge DRC allocation in 1 day , making tons of money . Prices between 1996 and now have increased more than 10 times or more .
So I assume you need to keep insisting to get on the list because people no doubt will drop of because of the yearly price increases . On the other hand , you can buy and sell yourself and make a big profit almost overnight . The importer has all kinds of rules imposed by DRC ( you cannot sell outside your country at auction… ) , he may even loose his license if the domaine finds out that Belgian bottles are being sold in Singapore . So he is forced to write down every number of every bottle he sells and see if he finds them in an auction .
Interesting Herwig.
The LCBO here in Ontario receives a few cases from the local distributor’s allocation (being a monopoly and the handler of all imported alcohol, the LCBO insists) and offers those few bottles to the public (the distributor sells the majority to its own list, which is obviously very difficult to get on) via annual lottery. I’ve never received more than 1 bottle of something, and usually get shut-out.
The LCBO being a gov’t run agency have very strict privacy rules/laws, so unlike the local distributor they do not trace bottle #'s to the individual recipient, DESPITE what I understand were very determined instructions to do so by DRC. To placate DRC, I understand the LCBO has committed to never accepting any DRC in any of the provincial auctions (which they oversee as the controlling agency) in perpetuity. Private sales are not legal.
So unlike your situation, I believe the only way someone in Ontario could sell any DRC if received from the LCBO (not the importer) would be via a foreign auction.
Those DRC folks are crafty. They make some nice wines too.
The 99 was in high demand but the 05 was the first vintage where the secondary market prices went through the roof, e.g. La Tache $2500-$3000. It really has gone mad within the last year or two.
Interesting; thanks for the context Herwig
I don’t know what was going on in the Belgian market, but I don’t believe Wilson Daniels had any problem selling DRC in the US in the 1990s.