Grapevine: Artisanal Importers Can Tantalize Our Discerning Palates
Having sought out new wines for several decades now, I’ve found that I prefer particular styles of wine and specific wine regions.
This has certainly helped steer me in the right direction when I’m perusing the numerous offerings at my local wine shops. Certainly, the new round of wine apps, a number of which I reviewed in a recent column, is very useful in ferreting out particular wines that align with my personal preferences. However, many of these apps tend to focus on one-off data for specific wines, which, in the aggregate, may not be necessarily aligned with my overall palate.
What I’ve deduced over the continuum of developing my instinctive behavior is that I tend to favor wines offered by select importers.
How does an individual importer influence my wine purchasing decision? This is today’s topic.
Over the past 20 years the universe of wine importing has broadened, from monolithic importers who controlled most of the wine purchased in the United States, to a sophisticated, focused group of smaller importers that supplement the offerings of the mainstream importers. Many of these “artisanal importers” have a passion for particular styles or regions and vigorously pursue wines that express their passions. Their focus is typically on the small producers, who don’t produce enough to garner the attention of the larger importers and distributors.
Thus, certain importers’ names have become synonymous with small producers who offer wines that would not otherwise be available in the marketplace.
If you like the new wines coming from the Bordeaux and Burgundy regions of France, there are artisanal importers who have spent hours in the cramped, damp and poorly lighted cellars of family-owned wineries. Many of them are fourth and fifth generation producers, who finally have the opportunity to offer their finely crafted wines across the Atlantic to a consumer in northern Westchester.
If you like Champagne, there are artisanal importers focused on small producers who offer alternatives to the highly marketed French mega producers, at prices that are highly competitive to the big Champagne houses.
If you like organic or biodynamic wines, there are artisanal importers who search high and low for small producers with simpatico philosophies, bringing these wines into the United States and creating a new awareness of natural wines to the American consumer.
Who are these artisanal importers? Their names are in plain sight. (You can usually find them by looking on the back label of your favorite wines.) Using this research tool as your guide, new vistas will open as you seek out wines to enjoy.
Several of these artisanal importers are right here in our backyard. Their offerings may or may not be aligned with your preferences, but in the interest of opening new vistas to you, I present them so you may experiment in finding palate-pleasing offerings.
Chappaqua is home to Serge Doré Selections, the eponymous house whose founder long ago traded constant toiling on hot, concrete pavements for traipsing through vineyard rows with sun-warmed soil underfoot. He traded meetings in sterile corporate board rooms for kitchen table meetings in the homes of French winemakers. Today, his offerings from nine French regions have become popular with Americans seeking wines with unique bouquets, aromas and flavors.
Based in Pleasantville, Vintus Wines is focused on small producers around the world who practice the art of the symbiotic relationship with nature. Michael Quinttus and his team state that their goal is “to assemble a diverse, international range of ‘wines of place’ produced by passionate personalities.”
In Mount Kisco, Polaner Distributors is a unique blend of distributor and importer. Although primarily a distributor, they encourage consumers to “open your mind and taste.” Their focus is to “comb the wine world to discover and launch tiny, up-and-coming producers.”
In upcoming columns I will focus on the philosophy and specific offerings from several artisanal importers.
Nick Antonaccio is a 35-year Pleasantville resident. For over 15 years he has conducted wine tastings and lectures. He also offers personalized wine tastings and wine travel services. Nick’s credo: continuous experimenting results in instinctive behavior. You can reach him at nantonaccio@theexaminernews.com or on Twitter @sharingwine.
