Ship's in. Wine waits.

This is the most agonizing part of the process.

It began at least 6 months ago -- more like a year ago.  Sometimes longer.

You contact a producer, you arrange to go to the vineyards, the winery.  You taste.  You decide to stay and talk. You break bread. You drink the wine at the meal. You begin to discuss pricing.

You get samples sent to the States. You retaste. You discuss, you haggle, you sign agreements.  You make an order, arrange shipment (another tale fraught with anxiety: 

why aren't they ready for pickup?).

Ah, the wine is on the water.  Ah, the wine is in port.  Ah, the wine has cleared customs. Ah, the wine is in the warehouse.  Ah -- stop right there. 

Talk the wine up but don't take it out. Don't pour it for another 3-4 weeks. Maybe longer, depending on the wine. 

Let me see, you began arranging for shipment about 3 months ago. Maybe longer, depending on the other producers' readiness. Let's say that was May. Here it is late August. You can take the new vino out in mid-late September.

That great American bard, Tom Petty, sure had this one right: The waiting is the hardest part.