Global supply chain issues paring down the wine

Much like seemingly everything else in the world, the global shipping slowdown is having a significant impact on the wine industry. You may have noticed this in your local shop already, with some of your favorite items being replaced with “out of stock” signs on the shelves.

Why is this happening? The reasons are myriad, but the largest is the same the world over: It’s simply taking longer for goods to move across the planet.

There are, however, a few reasons that the wine industry is feeling a particular crunch. During the pandemic, many wineries shifted their focus direct to consumer sales, offering smaller amounts of product to the distributors that, in turn, sell their wines to restaurants and shops across the country. Also, as restaurants bounce back, they’re beginning to refill their wine cellars (many restaurants sold off their cellar inventories to make money early in the pandemic), causing even more competition than usual for the smaller quantities of wine on the market.

Many warehouses and trucking companies that ship wine cross-country in the U.S. and abroad are also still working at reduced capacity due to labor shortages.

And, of course, there’s only so much wine made each year. Many wineries worldwide operated their 2020 and 2021 harvests with skeleton crews, forcing them to bottle fewer bottles than in a normal vintage.

All of these factors have combined to create a perfect wine-shortage storm.

“Everything’s changed,” said John Martin, sales and portfolio manager of Little Rock-based alcohol distributor Arkansas Wine and Spirits. “What used to take me 10 days to get from the West Coast now takes four weeks, and that’s just domestic stuff. [ Shipping] coming from France right now — where it used to be three to six weeks — is now taking anywhere from two to four months.”

For Martin and other liquor distributors, the busy holiday season will only deepen a logistics nightmare. He’s been telling his customers — wine shops and restaurants across Arkansas — that he’s doing everything he can to get them the products they need, but empty shelves will be a common sight for the rest of the year.

What can you do to be prepared? My best advice is to buy wine when you see it.

If you have a particular wine that’s a part of your holiday traditions or an everyday drink that you never want to run short on, stock up now.

The same goes for Champagne — don’t wait for December when there’s slim pickins on the shelf. I bought a six-pack of Champagne this week simply because I don’t know what will be available in two months. (My having the self-control not to drink those six bottles before then is an entirely different issue.)

Also, if you see that your go-to bottle is gone, use this as an opportunity to find a new favorite. Tell a staff person your favorite wine (and especially what you liked about it so much) and listen to their advice when they recommend something new. They’ll be your best resource in finding something new.