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20 Best Places to Sell Wine Offline and Online

Do you run a wine store and need tips on how and where to sell your wine and liquor fast? If YES, here are 20 best places to sell wine online and offline.

People love to drink wine, especially fine wine. Since the late ‘90s, wine sales in the U.S. have steadily increased. One research conducted by the Wine Institute, has it that the U.S. has been the highest consumer of wine in the world since 2014.

With wines still being very much accepted for people, its sale has gone ahead to be more profitable than ever. This is regardless of whether you are selling the wine at a restaurant, in a liquor store, or from your own collection. To be a success in the business of wine selling, you must know that each type of wine takes a slightly different selling approach, so you need to read up on the type of selling you want to do.

The correct mode of selling your wine is going to depend on a few things. Most importantly, the type of wine you have collected, the amount of wine you have for sale, the provenance of your wine, the value of your wine cellar and how quickly you need to sell.

If you run a winery or you a wine collector who has decided to start selling your wines, we are going to show you some of the best places you can sell your wine both offline and online.

Where to Sell Your Wine Online

If you do not want to go through the stress of getting a brick and mortar location, selling your wine online is your best bet. You can either set up your own platform to market your wines, or you can partner with already established platforms online. There are really good ones that can enabke you make your listing so people can see your wine. These platforms can include;

  • JJ Buckley Fine Wines

While there are numerous online platforms for selling wine, one of the most convenient option is JJ Buckley Fine Wines. Their team of wine experts will guide you along each step of the selling process, from explaining what they require for your wine inventory to providing a competitive initial offer and even durable shipping materials.

While carrying out the business, they carefully inspect each item once it reaches their facility, finalizing the offer and sending payment within 10 business days.

Not only are JJ Buckley Fine Wines highly skilled wine experts, but you can sell to them whether you want to transfer one bottle or a whole collection of fine wines. And with no minimum required, your fine wine won’t need to be bundled before you can contact their team.

  • Naked Wines

Naked Wines is an online wine retailer founded by Rowan Gormley which launched in the uk on 1 December 2008. The Naked model works as on social network principles, encouraging customers to review their wines and interact with other customers online; reviewers give the wines Likert-scale style scores out of five, a Yes/No to whether they would buy the wine again and a textual description.

When prospective buyers look at a wine’s page they will see the percentage of those who have said they would buy again a list of people’s reviews.

Naked Wines’ customers are called Angels while ‘Archangels’ are a smaller group of customers that Naked Wines have invited to assume the role on the basis that they engage actively on the site to help other customers and review all their wines.

  • Vivino

Vivino is an online wine marketplace and wine app where you can sell your wine. Vivino’s unique wine shopping experience uses community data to suggest personalized wine recommendations, making wine discovery and purchase fun, accessible, and effortless for wine drinkers of every level.

The Vivino app is available for download on Android and Apple devices. Vivino was founded in 2010 by Heini Zachariassen and Theis Søndergaard. As of 2019, Vivino had a wine database containing more than 10 million different wines, and had 35 million users.

Where to Sell Your Wine Offline

Just like you can sell your wine online, there are also great brick and mortar locations where you can sell your wines without stress. These may include;

  • Auction houses

Auction houses are a good place where wine collectors can pawn off even their best wines. Many wine collectors sell their wines to auction houses like Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Zachys, Bonhams, Heritage, or Acker, Merrell & Condit. Each auction house has specific requirements and some may only accept large collections valued at a certain price point.

Auction houses often have offline and online auctions, and they serve a wide variety of interested buyers. If you sell your wine to an auction house, you should expect them to make deductions for insurance, taxes and a seller’s fee.

  • Restaurants

Restaurants are another good place to sell your wines. If you prefer to keep your collection closer to home, you could sell to local or regional high-end restaurants. More and more restaurants are becoming interested in acquiring aged, ready-to-drink wines for their customers.

However, liquor laws can put restrictions on sales, such as only allowing sales to licensed restaurants and requiring additional labels denoting collection origin. You’ll need to check your local laws to ensure you’re in compliance.

  • Young’s Market Co

One of the established names where you can comfortably sell your wines offline is at Young’s Market. Based on the west coast, Young’s Market Co. caters to 663 wineries in 11 western states. With revenue of $3 billion and a staff of 3,000 employees, the company is family-owned.

Headquartered in Orange County, Calif, Young’s Market Co. has acquired six other companies since 2010 including regional leader Columbia. Starting off as a retail market business in 1888, Young’s debilitated in Dr. Pepper bottling before settling for alcoholic beverages.

  • Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, California

Another popular place to sell your wine offline in the united states is at Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits. Founded in 1969, Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits of California is America’s largest Spirits and Wine Distributors.

With revenue of $16.5 billion in 2016 and the subsequent sales of 150 million cases of wine, the company is leading the market. The company is a merger of Southern and Glazer’s which are owned by the Chaplins and the Glazer’s respectively.

  • Republic National Distributing Co. (RNDC)

Republic National Distributing Co. is the second largest alcoholic beverage distributor in the United States. With revenue of $6.5 billion in 2016, Republic National Distributing Co. has a network of 7581 wineries.

The wineries primarily distribute throughout the East, South, and Midwest. Republic National Distributing Co. is a conglomerate of the Block Distributing Co. and National Distributing Co. along with many others. RNDC is ranked to be the 49th largest private company in the United States with 42 offices across the country.

  • Breakthru Beverage Group

Breakthru Beverage Group is the third largest distributor in the U.S. and distributes premium and luxury wine, spirits and beer. Selling to 691 wineries in 15 states, Breakthru Beverage Group is an amalgam of Charmer Sunbelt and Wirtz distribution.

The revenue of the company was estimated at $5.4 billion by Forbes in 2016. Breakthru Beverage Group is headquartered in New York City and Illinois and owns 37 offices around the country. Breakthru Beverage Group is a relatively new company but has gathered 15 other companies since its inception.

  • Johnson Brothers Liquor Co.

Johnson Brothers Liquor Co. serves wine, spirits, beer, water, and some non-alcoholic beverages. Catering to 22 states in the upper Midwest and the Southwest, Johnson Brothers Liquor Co. also provides additional services.

The services include sales consulting services like shelf configuration, wine list consulting, staff training, tasting events and offering product mix. In addition to this, the company also offers printing services for wine and drink lists, menus and point-of-sale materials. This makes it a comprehensive liquor distributor and a pioneer of the industry.

  • Organize In-Person Auctions

In-person auctions usually appeal most to blue chip investors looking for the most popular, valuable bottles in the world. A trustworthy auction house already has a large audience of these types of collectors, making it easy for you to find a buyer. The downside is that auction sales fees can be steep. If you have sought-after vintages from top producers, and you’re willing to pay a higher fee, In-person auctions might be the right choice for you.

  • Supermarkets

Supermarkets are another workable place you can sell your wines. This is because supermarkets get a lot of foot traffic and people can easily see your wines stacked there. Again, they already have all the necessary licenses so you do not have to worry about that.

  • Wine shops

Of course there are shops that stock wines exclusively. These present another location where you can sell off your wines. To start, you have to target the wines shops that stock the kind of wines you want to sell, and you also need to check out their reputation so it does not give your brand a bad name.

  • DIY sales

It is indeed possible for you to sell your wines by yourself. But you should know that selling your wine by yourself is much more difficult and risky; selling wine on your own, without a license, is illegal in the U.S. Even if you have a legal selling license, you won’t necessarily have a built-in audience of buyers.

Additionally, collectors buying valuable wines that are worth thousands of dollars will be wary of purchasing them from an unknown seller. Use this sales option only if you already have a specific buyer who has shown interest in your wine, and if you take every legal precaution first. You could face a fine or jail time if you sell wine illegally online.