Great article on www.slate.com about buying wine based on the importer. The concept is simple: find an importer whose palate matches yours (and has a great reputation), and when you are buying wine, buy based on the importer rather than the “type” of wine. Some importers only buy biodynamic wines, some only “natural” wines, etc. Kermit Lynch for example, revolutionized wine importing in the 1970’s and 1980’s by shipping European wines in refrigerated containers, maintaining the “freshness” of the wine (you can taste the difference, I swear).
Mike Steinberger recommends the following importers on this handy chart:
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi, Eva and Bernie!
I know that this comment doesn’t deal directly with this blog entry, but I didnt know where to post it. I suppose it’s OK to put it here, as anyone reading this post is surely also interested in this information.
On Friday (May 15th, 2009) the following report appeared in our local newspaper (Badische Neueste Nachrichten) in Karlsruhe, Germany. I’m not sure, but quite possibly this information has not been very widely reported in the USA. So here it is:
Title: Heavy Hail Destroys Wine Harvest near Bordeaux
There has been a strong storm with damaging hail in the last day or so that has damaged large areas within the Bordeaux wine growing areas in the southern part of France. 50-80% of the wine crop has been destroyed in the Medoc area. There was more than 30% damage in Saint-Emilion, and up to 100% damage in the Entre-Deux-Mers area. “It is as if the vines had been bombarded with stones,” said Jean-Francois Lespinasse, a winegrower from the Chateau Bichon-Cassignols (quoted from the French website http://www.20minutes.fr). His 12 hectares (approx. 30 acres) in Graves were also damaged.
“Rather than the usual 4500 liters per hectare, I expect the harvest to be maximally 3-5 liters per hectare,” said Lespinasse. That will also have repercussions for the following years. In 2006 and 2007 the winegrowers complained because of frost damages.
>>Kermit Lynch for example, revolutionized wine importing in the 1970's and 1980's by shipping European wines in refrigerated containers, maintaining the "freshness" of the wine (you can taste the difference, I swear).>>
That's fine for getting the wine into the country, but once it gets here it's often poorly transported. Trucks that deliver wine are usually not properly controlled for temperature. Even a few hours in a hot truck can destroy a wine. Often, local and statewide distributors are not as careful in the transport of wine, as they should be – especially in the outposts (Ohio!). Several years ago I discussed this problem with Kermit Lynch. As he said, once the wine is out of his control…it's out of his control……..Bernard2