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The Name on the Back of the Bottle:
Wine Importers You Can Rely On

By Sharon Kapnick

Over the past decade, we’ve learned that wine is thought to be good for us, but many of us aren’t sure which wines — especially imported wines — are good. I have a favorite way to narrow down the overwhelming choices: I just look for wines from specialist importers I’ve come to trust. Other sommeliers and wine writers use this technique too. In fact, some of the importers even rely on each other’s wines. And why not? They’ve made your job easy. They’ve done the swirling and the sniffing, the sipping and the spitting, the sleuthing and the schlepping. All you have to do is look for their name on the back of the label.

In addition to sharing a passion, these importers have much in common. Each year they travel around the world tracking down high-quality wines. They usually concentrate in one country, occasionally in two or three. They already offer a splendid selection of well-established wines, and they’re hot on the trail of exhilarating discoveries. Their wines are often artisanal, made by small operations, frequently families, who are devoted to their vineyards. Sometimes the winemakers use natural, organic or biodynamic (the farming approach that most respects the environment) growing practices. To make the best product, the importers collaborate closely with their growers; several even produce their own wines. Because the wines are loaded with terroir — simply put, a sense of place — they are distinctive, full of charm, personality and character.

These are the importers you can count on. Here are eleven of them.

Europe

Kermit Lynch Selections (www.kermitlynch.com): Kermit Lynch is a superstar among importers and a role model for those who followed in his path. His influence has been monumental. In 1972, he opened a wine shop near Berkeley, California. At the time there was a wine recession, and he was able to scoop up terrific bargains. “Low prices on great wines,” he wrote, “began to attract customers to my hole-in-the-wall shop.” Lynch became enamored of French wines and four years later began importing them. He filled his store — plum in the middle of California wine country — with Burgundies and little-known gems from little-known regions in France. He is a self-described “specialist in off-the-beaten-path wines.” Some of them went on to become esteemed wines in the U.S. (among them Bandol’s Domaine Tempier, Alsace’s Domaine Zind-Humbrecht and Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe). At a time when such practices were uncommon, Lynch insisted on nonfiltered wines and refrigerated containers for shipping. In the course of all this, he introduced new French grapes to California winemakers, who proceeded to plant them.

In addition to being a retailer and an importer, Lynch is an award-winning book author. He received the James Beard Foundation Wine Professional of the Year Award and was honored with the Médaille du Chevalier de l’Ordre de Mérite Agricole, presented by the French government. Lynch’s friend Alice Waters, who revolutionized American cuisine via her Berkeley restaurant Chez Panisse, touts him as “the revolutionary wine merchant who, almost single-handedly, has brought about a new understanding of wine as a unique expression of land, tradition and people.” Lynch’s name on a label is a very, very good thing.

Martine’s Wines (www.martineswines.com): Martine Saunier has been steeped in wine all her life. As a child, she spent summers at her aunt’s home and winery in Burgundy. In 1964 she moved to the US from Paris and worked for an importer/distributor in San Francisco before founding her own business in 1979 located now in Novato. She excels in a realm not peopled by women in part because of what influential wine critic Robert Parker has called her “brilliant palate” and her ability to find equally brilliant producers in Burgundy, her area of specialization. All her vignerons grow organically, with no chemical fertilizers, no filtration — which, she says, “strips a wine of its character” — and no overproduction. Wine writer Clive Coates said of her vintner Denis Mortet, “You feel he knows every vine personally.” Lalou Bize-Leroy of Domaine Leroy and Domaine d’Auvenay, estates Saunier represents, has been called the wine world’s most famous woman by the wine world’s most famous female critic, Jancis Robinson. Henri Jayer, a discovery of Saunier’s, is another legend, whose motto is “Quality before everything else.” Saunier agrees. “Everything has to be perfect,” she says.

Her portfolio is strong in Rhône wines too, and she lists wines from many other regions of France and from Portugal. Like Lynch, California winemakers have been influenced by her selections. They’ve learned about great Pinot Noir from her, because a study of her Burgundies is a study of what great Pinot Noir can be. And, like Lynch, she’s been honored by the French government, having been awarded the title of Officier du Mérite Agricole — twice.

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©Sharon Kapnick for SeniorWomenWeb
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