No! You May Not Buy Our Wine...Wait Your Damned Turn

In defense of scarcity in wine and the allocation system that supports it

NO! You may not buy our wine. Wait your damn turn!”

Some wine writers have dedicated themselves to the wine world for so long and have been founts of real insight that when they write something I disagree with I strongly question my basis for that disagreement. Mike DeSimone and Jeff Jenssen, the duo writing the wine column for the Robb Report, fit this bill. So, when this writing team took to task wineries (we are looking at you, Napa!) that engage in selling (or not selling, as the case may be) wine behind an exclusive allocation wall, I immediately questioned my disagreement with their contention that allocation selling and waiting lists are a bad idea.

Mike and Jeff didn’t mince words in their latest Robb Report article: “Wineries Make It Way Too Hard to Buy a Bottle of Wine—It Needs to Stop,” read the headline.

They sum up their case against allocation selling and waiting lists this way:

“There are a lot of seemingly under-the-radar producers who maintain an air of secrecy about their pricing and sales, as well as requiring a signup or membership to purchase bottles. We’ve seen it with brands that are fresh out of the gate, and while all the elements add up to there being potentially high demand, we think that maybe, just maybe, they would actually sell more wine if there were just a price and a “click here to buy” button rather than a complicated process and a wait list….It seems that maintaining a veil of secrecy and a barrier to entry is a risky proposition. Just sell them the bottle already!”

My argument is this: A business is making a good decision when it rewards its best and most loyal customers and clients. A reward for loyalty is exactly what a winery is engaged in when it gives access to its most coveted and smallest production wines to those who have been the most consistent purchasers. The 80/20 rule is not a cliche. It’s about as close to rock-solid reality as you can get in the high-end wine business. Rewarding regular purchasers with first dibs on the most coveted wines incentivizes them to keep supporting you.

Is this frustrating for those who can’t get their hands on the wines they read about, heard about from their friends, and perhaps tasted at this or that occasion or event? Of course, it is. But this isn’t the bad thing that Mike and Jeff suggest and here’s why.