For red wine the process takes three years. Most of us are not household names whose books or wine will sell themselves. In an ideal world, your precious book catches the attention of booksellers who make it their business to recommend it to their customers. There is always a measure of chance in this, and many, many worthy texts languish unnoticed amongst a sea of other neglected volumes. Goliath's corporate element is increasingly more conductive to evaluating books on their meretricious profitability than their literary merit.
Small winemakers face similar obstacles.
Even those who can afford the sales force to get into the market will usually be turned away by most retail stores and restaurants, who would rather depend on large distributors and who look for name recognition to bring quick sales. Another problem is that smaller wineries can't make enough wine to guarantee that they won't run out in six months. Even when a small winery does sign on with a major distributor, as Gristina Vineyards, a winery on Long Island's North Fork, discovered, that is no guarantee of substantial sales. John Perry, Gristina's general manager, was initially pleased when their wines caught the attention of a respected New York based distributor. The peculiarities of varying state laws and the complex three-tier distribution system frustrates consumers and wine producers.