Finding 100 leads for your winery might seem easy but finding 100 relevant, active and contactable importers is much harder.

A useful prospect list should not simply contain company names. Each importer should have a realistic fit with your wines, your price positioning, your production capacity and your target market—and ideally include the right decision-maker to contact.

Here is a practical way to build that list.

1. Define your ideal importer first

Before searching for companies, define exactly what type of partner you need.

Start with your own offer:

• Wine type, grape varieties and origin
• Ex-cellar price and expected market positioning
• Annual production and available export volume
• Certifications such as organic or biodynamic
• Target channels: restaurants, specialist retail, supermarkets, e-commerce, etc.
• Preferred markets
• Minimum order quantities
• Private-label capability, if relevant

Then translate this into an importer profile.

For example: A medium-sized specialist importer working with independent European wineries, supplying restaurants and premium retailers, with experience selling organic wines between €15 and €30 retail.

This is much more useful than simply searching for “wine importers in Germany.”

2. Focus on a few priority markets

Avoid spreading your first 100 prospects across too many countries.

A more manageable approach is to concentrate on two to four markets where you see the strongest opportunity.

For example:

• 40 importers in your primary market
• 30 in your second market
• 20 in your third market
• 10 in an exploratory market

Choose markets based on factors such as demand for your wine category, price compatibility, distribution channels, competition, logistics and the number of suitable buyers available.

3. Start with more than 100 companies

Do not simply collect the first 100 importers you find.

Start with a broader longlist—perhaps 200 to 300 companies—and qualify them down.

This gives you room to remove businesses that are:

• Inactive
• Not actually importing wine
• Focused on unsuitable channels
• Too large or too small for your winery
• Working at the wrong price level
• Already heavily represented in your category
• Missing usable contact information

Your target should be 100 qualified opportunities, not 100 rows in a spreadsheet.

4. Evaluate the portfolio fit

This is one of the most important steps.

Look at the importer’s website, producer portfolio, online store and recent activity.

Check:

• Which countries and regions they already represent
• Whether they work with wineries similar to yours
• Their price positioning
• Whether they focus on organic, natural, premium or mainstream wines
• Their main customer channels
• Whether there is an obvious gap your winery could fill

A good prospect should have a clear reason to consider your wines.

For each company, write one sentence explaining that reason.

For example: Strong portfolio of organic European wineries, but currently no producer from our appellation.

Or: Focused on independent restaurants and premium retail, with several wines in our target price segment.

If you cannot explain why the importer might be interested, it is probably not a priority prospect.

5. Check whether the company is commercially suitable

A relevant portfolio does not automatically mean a good commercial fit.

Consider:

• Company size
• Geographic coverage
• Customer types
• Likely order volumes
• Price positioning
• Distribution capability
• Supplier origins
• Private-label activity
• Whether they work with small or emerging wineries

The biggest importer is not always the best importer.

A smaller specialist company may be a much stronger partner for a boutique winery than a large national distributor expecting very high volumes and significant marketing investment.

6. Look for signs of current activity

A company website alone does not prove that the importer is actively buying.

Look for recent signals such as:

• New winery announcements
• Recent tastings or events
• Updated portfolios
• Trade-fair participation
• Active social-media profiles
• Recent shipment activity
• Current employee information

Trade data can be particularly useful here. It can help identify companies that are actively importing, their supplier origins and how frequently they receive shipments.

A recent shipment does not mean the buyer is looking for a new winery, but it is a stronger signal than an outdated directory listing.

7. Find the right decision-maker

This is where many prospect lists become significantly less useful.

A list of 100 companies with 100 generic info@ addresses is not the same as a list of 100 qualified buyers.

Depending on the company, the relevant person may be:

• Owner or Managing Director
• Wine Buyer
• Purchasing Manager
• Import Manager
• Portfolio Manager
• Category Manager
• Commercial Director

For each prospect, ideally record:

• Contact name
• Job title
• Direct email
• Phone number, where available
• LinkedIn profile

This can save the sales team a significant amount of time compared with searching manually for the correct employee at every company.

8. Score and prioritize the final list

Not all 100 prospects should receive the same level of attention.

Use a simple scoring system.

For example:

Then divide the companies into:

Tier A — highest priority: Strong fit, active company and relevant buyer identified.

Tier B — good potential: Suitable company, but one or two points still need verification.

Tier C — reserve: Possible prospect, but weaker fit or incomplete information.

Your first outreach should focus on Tier A companies.

What your final list should contain

At minimum, include:

• Company name
• Country
• Website
• Company type
• Portfolio focus
• Main sales channels
• Relevant wines or brands
• Contact person
• Job title
• Direct email
• Qualification score
• Priority
• Reason for contacting the company
• Last verification date

The reason for contact is particularly important because it can later be used to personalize the opening of your email.

Where AI can help

AI can make the process faster, but it works best as a research assistant rather than as the sole source of buyer data.

It can help you:

• Define your ideal importer
• Analyze portfolio fit
• Summarize company websites
• Identify possible portfolio gaps
• Draft personalized emails
• Prepare follow-ups

But if you ask AI for 100 importer names, you may still need to verify each company individually and search manually for the right employee and email address.

This is where a structured wine-importer database becomes more efficient.

How BestWineImporters helps

BestWineImporters allows wineries to start with a structured database of wine importers and distributors rather than an empty spreadsheet.

Instead of manually searching company by company, exporters can use filters such as:

• Country
• Company type
• Product
• Wine origin
• Company size
• Contact availability

They can then review company details, decision-maker contacts and trade information to build a much larger and more focused outreach list in considerably less time.

The ideal workflow is simple:

Use AI to help decide who you should target. Use BestWineImporters to find and contact those buyers at scale.

Do not contact all 100 at once

Once your list is ready, divide the outreach into smaller waves.

For example:

• First 20–25 companies
• Review responses and objections
• Improve your message
• Contact the next group
• Continue refining the campaign

This helps you learn which positioning, products and arguments generate the strongest response before using the entire list.

Final checklist

Before calling the list finished, ask:

• Are all companies active?
• Do they genuinely import or distribute wine?
• Does their portfolio fit our winery?
• Are their price and volume expectations realistic for us?
• Do we know why we are contacting each company?
• Have we identified the right decision-maker?
• Do we have a direct email whenever possible?
• Have we prioritized the strongest prospects?

If the answer is yes, you have something much more valuable than a database export.

You have a qualified sales list.

The key takeaway

The goal is not to find 100 wine importers. It is to identify 100 companies where there is a realistic commercial reason for a conversation—and to give your sales team the information needed to start that conversation efficiently.

A strong process looks like this:

Define the winery → choose the markets → identify the right importer profile → build a broad list → qualify it → find the buyers → prioritize the best 100 → start outreach.

That is how a company list becomes an export sales tool.