Where Have All the Bottles Gone, Not Long Ago

[s*d*r]

In the US, it seems most casual wine shops and all grocery stores and the likes of Costco carry only the latest vintage. Doesn’t matter if red, white or sparkling; California, France, Italy, Spain, Chile or anywhere else. Sometimes you might catch a stray bottle one year older but not often. Many of the new releases start to appear in September.

By perusing the shelves starting about now I can tell that not all of the previous vintage has always been sold. But if I wait another month it will likely be gone. Most of the wines I see are large production and modest. Naturally the highly rated ones are snapped up quickly and may never even reach the shelves.

Now I know of course that wineries all over the world need to push out their latest crop each year. And they can’t wait until every drop of the previous vintage has been purchased.

So where do all those “old” wines go?

Because of the ignominious three tier wine distribution system we have I assume the bottles are on consignment from the Distributor and unsold bottles are sent back to them. But then what? I doubt they go back up the chain to the Importer or winery but maybe some of them do. For sure they are not shipped back to their home country if other than the US. For the Distributor they are dead inventory and must be sold somehow.

The usual answer is that the Distributor then re-allocates them to other merchants at a discount, maybe secondary wine shops or restaurants, cruise ships and hotels. Perhaps they pay cash and take on the risk. I don’t know if that is accurate. They don’t go to auctions. I can’t even fathom what happens in State-controlled wine/liquor states such as Pennsylvania or in Canada.

Educate me, oh seers of BWE.

[JCNorthway]

I can't give a comprehensive answer, but can share my own personal experience. I frequented a small sole proprietor wine shop in Chicago for maybe 15 years before moving. The owner was very knowledgeable (was "the wine guy" at the old Sam's in Chicago (after his father was "the wine guy"). He used to bring in wines from past vintages that distributors would sell to him at discounts, which he would pass on to his customers. I remember buying a couple of mixed cases of 1999 Laurent Burgundies in late 2004 or early 2005 that were priced around 35-50% below the original retail price. He used to get in other past vintage wines at discounts, but those are the bottles that I specifically remember.

[stefan]

At one time big Houston distributors would off large discounts on older vintages. One would even consider offers from merchants that were well below the offered price. I used to go over lists of these wines and tell my merchant what to offer. I got some super, super deals that way. All of sudden, that stopped. I do not know what those distributors do now.

[JimHow]

There is everyone else, and then there is New Hampshire.

[Jay Winton]

Schneiders in DC regularly sends me lists of older vintages from all over. One of these bottles will be making an appearance at the Saturday dinner.

[AKR]

I've observed some of those recent vintage (2-5 year off the run in bond parlance) wines showing up en masse at merchants which don't sell on the internet (i.e. their prices would not show up in WineSearcher). I think if they do sell on the internet, they cannot advertise prices lower than 'official'' ones. So what I have seen a lot in the last year especially is something showing up discounted at one of these physical retailers, and just about simultaneously it will show up at internet merchants, likely all from the same supply.

At physical 'unlit, ie.no public prices' merchants the item goes for X, at K&L it will go for 2X but usually a price that is a fair enough value, and at wine.com it will go for 3X. I've seen this happening so much, that I think the biz model of WDC is basically (for a good slice of their portfolio) closeouts at premium prices to customers who don't realize it. At least they have refrained from the private label game.

The flash deal sites (LBW, WTSO etc.) can absorb excess supply as/if/when a seller truly is willing to recognize the loss. That only seems to happen when the biz cycle has turned. It seems other times its just strange proprietary labels that are proffered at 'discounts' to imaginary prices - a $19 Cotes de Castillon claimed as discount to a $45 MSRP.

One issue with the physical retailers who blow this out - they don't have the staff (or the clients) to understand when they have been cheated. Example: a local chain here is blowing out some Gavi (Italian white that oxidises quickly) and some stores got assigned the 2012 vintage, when others were sent the 2019. The different vintages can even be mixed on a shelf, so a careless consumer who might have checked the year on the first bottle they grabbed, could have gotten screwed later.

Overall, the last few years, and especially in 2021, have seen tighter supply and less compelling deals to me.

[dstgolf]

Stu,

The LCBO pricing in Ontario,Canada is bizarre. Prices are higher to say the least as the government run monopoly have projected profit targets to return cash back to the government coffers. They are the largest single purchaser of wine and spirits in the world and because of this still wield power even though many purveyors hate them! They don't pay the seller a dime until the last bottle has been sold from the system and hence along the way the seller will often discount their wines if they start needing the cash flow. This reduction is off the base cost provided by the seller and the markup by the LCBO stays at a fixed price so the seller loses on both counts by not getting paid until late in the game and often forced to discount to move stock from the shelves in order to get paid!!

[DavidG]

I’m reminded of The Great BWE MacArthur 2002 Bordeaux Caper.

No doubt distributors unload these "leftover" wines at a discount when their warehouses are full and they have to make room for the next vintage.

In France there’s the Foire aux Vins - a yearly supermarket blowout to clear the decks in the fall.

[Winona Chief]

Great memories of that MacArthur 2002 Bordeaux blowout. Pretty sure that was from a dump by a distributor.

Also taken advantage of a bunch of similar deals at Schneider’s - tonight enjoying a 2007 von Hovel Oberemmeler Hutte Riesling Spatlese that they had for a ridiculously low price (like $12) a few years ago. Very nice wine.

Chris Bublitz

[JimHow]

Oh I remember the famous 2002 caper VERY clearly, WC, you were the proximate cause of a ravenous rush for perhaps the greatest deals we have ever seen on BWE (Calon Segur, Pichon Baron, Leo Barton, etc., etc., for like $29/ea). All because I heard the guy (Phil Bernstein?) say to you: "We got some 2002s on sale back here...."
This was AFTER a like three hour Black Salt dinner, the only reason why went back into the store was because Nicola and I wanted to buy some half bottles of that German wine that Rob had brought to lunch.
We were told that they had been holding these wines for a DC area restaurant that had gone out of business.
Incredible. The right place at the right time. It was insanity-plus.

[s*d*r]

The local wine shop impresario explained a few things for me. These may only apply in the state of Florida.

1) Grocery stores, wine shops, TW* all purchase their wines from the distributor, payment due within 10 days of invoice 2) No one can buy wine on consignment 3) It is illegal to send unsold wine back to the distributor 4) Therefore he cannot purchase any wine from these sources. Obviously if there is a chain of stores, wines can be shifted from one branch to another 5) Some California wineries will accept returned bottles

The mystery continues.

*TW is a direct importer of some of their stock.