Page 3 of The Name on the Back of the Bottle: Wine Importers You Can Rely On
Jorge Ordoñez’s Fine Estates from Spain (www.jorgeordonez.com): Jorge Ordoñez brings great Spanish wines and inexpensive Spanish wines of great value to the US from his Dedham, MA firm. Wine figured in his life from early childhood, since his father supplied restaurants with food and wine in Spain’s Costa del Sol resort area. As an adult, Ordoñez managed the company for several years. In 1987, he moved to Boston, his wife’s hometown, where importing Spanish wines seemed an obvious thing to do.
Ordoñez is very hands on. He guides his producers in all stages of winemaking, suggesting blends, emphasizing quality control and solving problems. He knows which grapes will thrive in each region and ensures that the appropriate grapes are planted in the correct spot. Ordoñez champions lesser-known varietals like Albariño, Garnacha and Monastrell, and has persuaded vignerons to keep their old vines (they produce the best wine) of native Spanish grapes instead of replacing them with popular nonindigenous grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.
Spain is the country that has the most acres under vine, as well as perhaps the most potential to produce more first-class wines. I expect Ordoñez will be right there, ready to discover them and help create them, as he has been for almost two decades.
Terry Theise Estate Selections (www.skurnikwines.com, Syosset, NY): Terry Theise has brought superb wines from an underappreciated country and a virtually unknown country to the attention of US. consumers. Not so very long ago, when Americans thought of German wine, they thought of Blue Nun and Liebfraumilch. That changed when Theise came along. Robert Parker wrote in 1991 that “in less than 4 years, Terry Theise has done more for the image of high-quality German wines than anyone in the previous eight decades.... By beating the back roads of less renowned viticultural regions, Theise has put together a portfolio of ... individualistic wines of astonishing quality.... The result is a bevy of phenomenal wines and extraordinary wine bargains.”
In 1994, Theise added Austrian wines — which most wine lovers knew nothing about — to his line. Think Austrian wine, and you must think Grüner Veltliner, the food-friendly white that accounts for 36% of Austrian production. Theise recommends Grüner Veltliners with “all the foods that are supposedly wine killers,” including “every manner of obstreperous veggie.” Austria is reputed for its sweet dessert wines, and Theise offers them too.
His next venture uncharacteristically took him in 1997 to perhaps the best-known wine region in the world. Theise was intrigued by a new trend in Champagne: Small growers were bottling their own wines rather than selling their grapes to the big houses. Instead of Champagne that tasted the same each year — a style the large houses strive to achieve — these grower Champagnes aim to be unique every year. “ Champagne, like any other wine,” Theise says, “is fascinating to the extent it’s distinctive.” These grower Champagnes bubble up with individuality. They’re brimming with the terroir that the large Champagne houses blend away.
Theise’s portfolio is overwhelmingly white. “I love red wines,” he says, “but I have mined a seam of whites from a narrow latitudinal band of northern Europe” — for which many white wine lovers are very grateful.
Australia and New Zealand
The Australian Premium Wine Collection (www.tapwc.com.au): John Larchet was CEO of the Melbourne office of a large multinational communications company when he made the “bold and brave” move of turning his passion into his profession. Because he felt Australia was being boxed into the value sector, he wanted to showcase Australia’s world-class wines. So in 1995 he founded The Australian Premium Wine Collection, which does just that. Buy a Collection wine, and you will have a wine that reflects Larchet’s palate: “I like wines,” he says, “that are intensely flavored, wonderfully expressive, with dimensions of complexity and, above all else, wines that have what I believe is the Holy Grail of winemaking: inherent balance.” That means they have no excess anything — no excess oak, no excess acid, etc. “They have no arms and legs sticking out,” he adds. “These wines are things of absolute beauty because they all have inherent harmony.” His portfolio comprises distinctive expressions of varietals Australia is already known for — Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache among them — and varietals he believes Australia does magical things with but is not yet recognized for, including Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Bordeaux-style blends, Malbec and Mourvèdre.
Via Pacifica Imports (www.viapacifica.com): Just 20 years ago, New Zealand wines were virtually unknown in the U.S. It wasn’t until the mid-’90s that they started to get much attention. Thanks to their food friendliness, fresh, fruity flavors, and also to importers like Howard Kalman, they’ve become much sought after here. In 1999, Kalman, who was a professor and ran a consulting business in former lives, decided to combine his love for wine and for New Zealand from Sebastopol, CA. He represents eight relatively small, family-owned, boutique wineries. New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc has become a benchmark style for this varietal, and its Pinot Noirs have more recently received much acclaim. Via Pacifica imports some fine examples of these wines and some Bordeaux blends that merit trying.
South Africa
Cape Classics Exports (www.capeclassics.com): Since 1992, when he founded the US import company Cape Classics, André Shearer has been instrumental in educating Americans about South African wines. First he had to convince us that it was politically correct to buy them, then he had to convince us that they were good. Molly Choi, Cape Classic’s senior vice president, says, “We educate about a country, a culture and a people. We consider ourselves ambassadors for South Africa.” Cape Classics, based in New York City, educates winemakers too. Its own Indaba brand offers scholarships to formerly disenfranchised youth to study viticulture, oenology or the wine industry.
And what, have we learned, are South Africa’s varietals to look for? Chenin Blanc (also called Steen) is the country’s most widely planted grape; Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay are also good. South Africa’s Shirazes (aka Syrahs) have received positive reviews, as have its Cabernet Sauvignons and Bordeaux blends. For something different, you might try Pinotage, South Africa’s indigenous varietal (a cross of Pinot Noir and Cinsault), but be aware that it’s an acquired taste.
Other Importers to Rely On
Dreyfus, Ashby (France)
The Grateful Palate (Australia)
Hand Picked Selections (France)
Louis/Dressner Selections (France)
Negociants USA (Australia)
Neil Empson Selections (Italy)
P. J. Valckenberg (Germany)
The Rare Wine Company (Spain)
Robert Kacher Selections (France)
Rosenthal Wine Merchant (France)
Rudi Wiest Selections/Cellars International (Germany)
Vias Imports (Italy)
Vin Divino (Austria, Italy)
Vine Connections (Argentina)
Weygandt-Metzler Importing (France)
New York City award-winning author and certified sommelier Sharon Kapnick has written about food and wine for many magazines, including Time, Portfolio, Food & Wine and Hemispheres, and many newspapers, thanks to the New York Times Syndicate. She contributed to several entries in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America.
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