Weekly Saturday Tasting

Vineyard Brands Imports

Saturday, December 2nd
1:00 - 3:00

With our first tasting of December, we are going to look to one of our favorite importers - Vineyard Brands. In learning about wine, and getting a sense of which wines are to your tastes, there are guides you can fall back upon, whether a favorite winery, grape, or region. What many fail to look at though is who the importer is, and we have learned over time that there are certain importers which we can always trust for bringing excellent quality wines to our market. For us, Vineyard Brands is one of our most trusted, and that can be seen by the breadth of their selections which we offer. They are always a cornerstone of our Burgundy selections, but they also bring us some of our favorite wines from Italy, South Africa, Argentina and more. They have options we can rely on at all price ranges, and in a vast variety of styles, with the common denominator of high quality regardless of where the wine is from.

Vineyard Brands was founded in 1973 by Robert Haas. Bob began his career in 1950 working as the import buyer for M. Lehmann, his family’s wine shop in New York City which would later become Sherry Lehmann. In 1973, Bob moved to Vermont and founded Vineyard Brands with 2 employees. The company’s office was located in a remodeled barn on the Haas family farm in Chester, Vermont until 1997 when the company moved its headquarters to Birmingham, Alabama. During the 1980s and 1990s Bob worked on creating an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), and as of the late 90's that ESOP has complete ownership of the business. This has led to a family atmosphere with Vineyard Brands, which is equally represented in their choice to represent family-owned wineries. They have a wealth of experience representing both small producers and large volume brands, and they represent over 80 wineries from the major wine-growing regions throughout the world. Their portfolio includes some of the best wines available from Argentina, Chile, Spain, Portugal, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Austria, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, and France, including over 25 growers of estate-bottled wines in Bordeaux, Burgundy, Chablis, the Rhône, the Loire Valley, Alsace and Southern France.

As Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate wrote:
"In a world increasingly dominated by vast sums of capital and multinational firms, it is difficult for a small wine importer to survive unless that company has considerable expertise and an unwavering commitment to quality rather than quantity ... 'Imported by Vineyard Brands' is as close to a guarantee of quality as the
consumer can expect."

Our local rep Dominic DeCastro with Oxford Street Merchants, who represent many of Vineyard Brands wines in North Carolina, will join us to walk us through five of our current favorites from Vineyard Brands, and we hope that you can join us.
 
August Kesseler 'R' Riesling
Rheingau, Germany, 2022
 
François Carillon Bourgogne Côte d'Or Chardonnay
Côte d'Or, Burgundy, France, 2021
 
Essay Syrah Blend
Syrah, Cinsault, Granche, Mourvédre
Coastal Region, South Africa, 2020
 
Thibault Liger Belair Bourgogne 'Les Deux Terres'
Burgundy, France, 2020
 
Coudoulet de Beaucastel
Cotes-du-Rhone, France, 2021