Hello. I'm Italian, I live in New York City, and recently several of my Italian friends asked me to help them to sell their wine here. My experience with wine is only about drinking it! What's the best way for me to sell my friend's wine here? What kind of license do I need? Who should I sell the wine to? How should I organize this business in a way that I can remain a middle man, helping them to grow their business? Thanks, Federico
Answer From Expert Roger Bohmrich MW
Yours is not an unusual situation. I understand your impulse to seize the opportunity to sell your friends' wine, but to do so means conforming to prevailing laws. This is a regulated industry with many requirements and prohibitions. No one can import, wholesale or retail wine without specific licenses and permits. Your best option, as you seem to be saying, could well be to act as an agent or broker for the wineries. That would avoid the licensing hurdles (except perhaps for a basic individual permit), and you could present the products to New York importer-wholesalers. They would handle everything else and in turn solicit retail stores and restaurants. Before you take this step, however, you need to find out how this business actually works, and research competitive products and pricing well before making a sales call on a potential importer. I am guessing these are small, family-owned wineries. Have you confirmed that the wines offer suitable quality and packaging for the U.S. market? Do they already have recognition in Italy from leading publications such as Gambero Rosso? Will they support you by shipping samples to prospective importers, which would be mandatory? These and other questions will need to be addressed. Good luck with your project.
