With a lot of economic uncertainty in early 2023, the fine and luxury wine space has remained relatively robust. Charlie Fu, an LA-based lawyer, wine collector, Wine Berserkers moderator, and caviar purveyor, gives us his thoughts on the state of the wine-collecting market. From Dry January, how they find new wines, navigating price increases, and Berserker Day, Charlie provides a good overview of wine collecting from his group's point of view. Detailed Show Notes: Charlie's background - LA-based collector, lawyer, caviar purveyor, and @clayfu.wine on InstagramHe has a few thousand bottles of wine in his collectionWine collecting group~5-6 people meet for dinners in downtown LATotal group ~20-25 collectorsMostly early 30s-mid-40s, mostly maleFocused on Burgundy, Rhone, & ChampagneDry January has become more commonFinding new winesRecommendations from people in the industry, friends (including from IG), other collectorsSomeone they know personally and trustMore guarded response when it's retailers recommendingWine pricingSeeing secondary marketing pricing dip at the top endRetail release pricing keeps going upSecondary premium key to keeping collectors buying a "relatively good deal"He believes incremental price changes are less shocking than large shiftsPeople want to know why the price is escalating; communications are critical to significant price changesThere are thresholds when people stop buying - relative value, secondary pricing, and personal decisions on value"Everyone's always looking for alternatives to Burgundy" e.g., Willamette Valley Pinot and Chard are seen as "Burgundian"e.g., Walter Scott as a white Burgundy substituteWhere people buy wineRetailers w/ an existing relationship where they offer reasonable pricingBrokers & auctions for the secondary marketDomestic wineries mainly bought direct, "as long as it makes sense"Wine.com gets a reasonable allocation of high-end wine, but not flash sale or other sale sitesMailing list/allocation systemsPeople don't like forced purchase quarterly - e.g., the wine club modelThey prefer the optionality of offering systemsToo much choice in an offer gets challenging - w/ no US vineyard hierarchy (vs. Burgundy), it's hard to distinguish between the winesCollecting groups has not shown interest in wine investmentWine BerserkersSite upgrade in Aug 2022 took some time to get used toBerserker Day - 2023 was the biggest everNow two days, Preview day for "Grand Cru" subscribersTips for wineries: Be active before Berserkers Day (e.g., Goodfellow Winery from Willamette Valley was very active and did well on Berserker Day)150+ listings need to have a good offer and stand out with a good description and potentially catchy oneCollecting trendsNatural wines have had their phaseMore small production wineries, often connected to more famous ones, e.g., sons/daughters of prominent winemaking families Get access to library episodes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.