The Wine Savant: A Guide to the New Wine Culture by Michael Steinberger Page B
Authors: Michael Steinberger
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huge loss of business over the past fifteen years, and their competitive position would probably be helped by allowing lower-priced wines to be sold by grape names.
But even though imported wines can be intimidating, there is actually an easy, almost fail-safe way to find good ones: flip the bottle around and see who imported it. Importers have played a central, even defining role in the emergence and growth of American wine culture. Combining impeccable taste with evangelical zeal, people such as Kermit Lynch, Robert Chadderdon, Robert Haas, and Terry Theise have not only introduced Americans to many of the greatest wines that Europe has to offer; they have also helped cultivate several generations of palates. But the wine world has broadened dramatically in the decades since these importers started out; entire regionsâentire countriesâthat produced mostly rotgut twenty years ago are now making respectable wines. Amid this global quality revolution, a number of newer importers are continuing the work started by Lynch, Chadderdon, and their generation and are scouring the Languedoc, Galicia, Sicily, Mendoza, and McLaren Vale for tomorrowâs star winemakers.
Here is a list of importers whose wines can be counted on to deliver pleasure:
AUSTRALIA
Epicurean Wines
Old Bridge Cellars
The Australian Premium Wine Collection
AUSTRIA
Winemonger
Monika Caha Selections
FRANCE
Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant
Alain Junguenet/Wines of France
Becky Wasserman Selections
Robert Kacher Selections
Dan Kravitz/Hand Picked Selections
Jenny & François Selections
Jon-David Headrick Selections
Roy Cloud/Vintage â59 Imports
Martineâs Wines
FRANCE/GERMANY/AUSTRIA
Savio Soares Selections
FRANCE/ITALY
Rosenthal Wine Merchant
FRANCE/ITALY/SPAIN/GERMANY
Louis/Dressner Selections
GERMANY
Rudi Wiest Selections
GERMANY/AUSTRIA/CHAMPAGNE
Terry Theise Estate Selections
ITALY
Marc de Grazia Selections
Leonardo LoCascio/Winebow
Neil Empson Selections
Vias Imports
Domaine Select Wine Estates
SPAIN
José Pastor Selections
De Maison Selections
Gerry Dawes Selectionsâthe Spanish Artisan Wine Group
Jorge Ordóñez
Olé Imports
Grapes of Spain
SPAIN/FRANCE
Eric Solomon/European Cellars
EVERYWHERE
Michael Skurnik Wines
Polaner Selections
Vineyard Brands
Kysela Père et Fils
Weygandt-Metzler
C OLLECTING W INE
People collect wines for two reasons: so they can drink them at a later date and so they can sell them for a profit at a later date. Wine investing can take different forms. Collectors will sometimes buy two cases of a wine, intending to sell one of them for a tidy profit so they can drink the other one effectively for free. But some people buy wine purely for investment purposes; in fact, some wine investment funds are now available to âhigh net worthâ individuals, as they are known. (Wine is whatâs referred to by financial wizards as an âalternative asset class.â Nothing like Wall Street jargon to drain the romance out of something.) These funds invest in blue-chip winesâmostly top-growth Bordeauxâand pay out investors in cash; the wines are never actually consumed. It is no surprise that people have started wine investment funds: over the past thirty years, wines such as the 1982 Château Pétrus have delivered amazing returns. However, those huge returns are probably a thing of the past, and wine speculation, if not exactly immoral, is certainly antithetical to what wine is all about.
If people wish to buy Pétrus purely for investment purposes, thatâs certainly their prerogativeâand I have the right to belittle the practice. Sure, wine is a business. But it is also a beverage, meant to be drunk. Hemingway once said that wine is âthe most civilized thing in the world,â and he was right. To reduce wine to a mere commodity, to see it as no different from pork bellies or gold bars, strikes me as completely counter to
But even though imported wines can be intimidating, there is actually an easy, almost fail-safe way to find good ones: flip the bottle around and see who imported it. Importers have played a central, even defining role in the emergence and growth of American wine culture. Combining impeccable taste with evangelical zeal, people such as Kermit Lynch, Robert Chadderdon, Robert Haas, and Terry Theise have not only introduced Americans to many of the greatest wines that Europe has to offer; they have also helped cultivate several generations of palates. But the wine world has broadened dramatically in the decades since these importers started out; entire regionsâentire countriesâthat produced mostly rotgut twenty years ago are now making respectable wines. Amid this global quality revolution, a number of newer importers are continuing the work started by Lynch, Chadderdon, and their generation and are scouring the Languedoc, Galicia, Sicily, Mendoza, and McLaren Vale for tomorrowâs star winemakers.
Here is a list of importers whose wines can be counted on to deliver pleasure:
AUSTRALIA
Epicurean Wines
Old Bridge Cellars
The Australian Premium Wine Collection
AUSTRIA
Winemonger
Monika Caha Selections
FRANCE
Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant
Alain Junguenet/Wines of France
Becky Wasserman Selections
Robert Kacher Selections
Dan Kravitz/Hand Picked Selections
Jenny & François Selections
Jon-David Headrick Selections
Roy Cloud/Vintage â59 Imports
Martineâs Wines
FRANCE/GERMANY/AUSTRIA
Savio Soares Selections
FRANCE/ITALY
Rosenthal Wine Merchant
FRANCE/ITALY/SPAIN/GERMANY
Louis/Dressner Selections
GERMANY
Rudi Wiest Selections
GERMANY/AUSTRIA/CHAMPAGNE
Terry Theise Estate Selections
ITALY
Marc de Grazia Selections
Leonardo LoCascio/Winebow
Neil Empson Selections
Vias Imports
Domaine Select Wine Estates
SPAIN
José Pastor Selections
De Maison Selections
Gerry Dawes Selectionsâthe Spanish Artisan Wine Group
Jorge Ordóñez
Olé Imports
Grapes of Spain
SPAIN/FRANCE
Eric Solomon/European Cellars
EVERYWHERE
Michael Skurnik Wines
Polaner Selections
Vineyard Brands
Kysela Père et Fils
Weygandt-Metzler
C OLLECTING W INE
People collect wines for two reasons: so they can drink them at a later date and so they can sell them for a profit at a later date. Wine investing can take different forms. Collectors will sometimes buy two cases of a wine, intending to sell one of them for a tidy profit so they can drink the other one effectively for free. But some people buy wine purely for investment purposes; in fact, some wine investment funds are now available to âhigh net worthâ individuals, as they are known. (Wine is whatâs referred to by financial wizards as an âalternative asset class.â Nothing like Wall Street jargon to drain the romance out of something.) These funds invest in blue-chip winesâmostly top-growth Bordeauxâand pay out investors in cash; the wines are never actually consumed. It is no surprise that people have started wine investment funds: over the past thirty years, wines such as the 1982 Château Pétrus have delivered amazing returns. However, those huge returns are probably a thing of the past, and wine speculation, if not exactly immoral, is certainly antithetical to what wine is all about.
If people wish to buy Pétrus purely for investment purposes, thatâs certainly their prerogativeâand I have the right to belittle the practice. Sure, wine is a business. But it is also a beverage, meant to be drunk. Hemingway once said that wine is âthe most civilized thing in the world,â and he was right. To reduce wine to a mere commodity, to see it as no different from pork bellies or gold bars, strikes me as completely counter to
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