Wine Fairs

Only twenty years ago, there were but a handful of wine fairs. Back then, and thru much of the '00s, wine was tasted and disovered, and wholesale buying was done mainly via attending US distributor portfolio tastings. Yes, fairs like Le Dive Bouteille and VinItaly existed, but only a few wine buyers would go. Most went to the distributor portfolio tastings.

And then social media really started (in 2006 with Facebook, and later accelerated with Instagram), and these tools allowed wineries to market themselves, independent of their wine importers. These tools also facilitated tighter and more consistent relationships and communications between wineries and wine buyers. Add on an enormous growth in importers and wineries and the race was on to do more. There was no more tasting season- tastings were happening each month, all over the world. Then, in 2016, RAW arrived in Brooklyn. The RAW team does a great job. They've perfected the business of wine tastings and their execution is tight. And thus saw the rise of the business of wine tastings. Now, there are so many tastings everywhere. The cost in money and time alone makes attending them very tough to justify.

How do we feel about tastings? We don't attend wine tastings, as a matter of principle. Here's why.

I attended two tastings back in 2017 which deeply impacted how I feel about wine tastings and set my non-attendance policy in place. 

The first was a natural wine based fair that was an off-shoot of Le Dive Bouteille. Most of the producers there were French, although there were others. Most of the wines were 0-0s. At the time, we had one producer showing their wines. There were about a dozen un-picked up producers showing as well. After seeing our guy, which encompassed saying hello, tasting thru, and asking about the wines and prior vintage, I then decided, well, I'm here and this is a relatively small fair, so I should be professional and taste thru everything. 

As I tasted, the wineries poured and without being asked immediately pitched me on how low their sulfur numbers were, or how many days their wines saw skin contact. Some advertised low alcohols. Few of them talked about their families or their family's history. No one talked about their land and its terroir, the expositions and geology that made it special. No one talked about vine age. And no one talked about making wines in an authentic and traditional manner which honored any type of deep rich history. "C'est glou glou, eh?" "Oui", I answered. Then (as the social grape vine at these events is palpable at these events) it was delivered that all dozen or so open wineries had been picked up. Ha! Really!? There was no deep understanding of the wines by anyone. The producers just looked cool, or the wines looked cool, or the right schtick was said in the right way, and voila- 'for life' importer-winery relationships were born. These marriages were engaged in, and no one had visited anyone's vineyards or cellars that day. 

I noticed that. It didn't sit well with me. 

Then, later that year, I was at VinItaly. I had attended many of its offsite fairs. Cerea and others...The party ensued. Finally, the time came to go find Natalino of Fattoria San Lorenzo. San Lorenzo is arguably one of our most famous and most important producers. Natalino's work spans decades. His philosophy has been engrained in him from generations before who have done the hard work of building the holdings and cantina, and planting them to only ancient heirloom clones. Nata has become iconic in his region for creating a true regional partnership with local families who still want to work their small parcels of old vines, yet want someone who can respect their fruit and make great wine with it. He battles bureaucracy, and Mother Nature, and somehow, he continues to make great wines vintage after great vintage. Maybe some years a little less quantity, maybe some years a little more. In short, Natalino is a true 'indie' artist. His history, his work, the challenges he faces, and the craft and the art he makes are dynamic and incredibly complex.

"Chris!!" Nata smiled. He was surrounded by people, like a true rock star. We were physically separated by two to three guys, and there had to be at least fiftenn people surrounding his stand. I smiled back. He was pouring, as if at a college bar on Friday night, all while working to keep up multiple conversations. He was a rock star surrounded by his fans. I smiled back. The situation only allowed me to outstretch my arm and hang my glass extended out over two people. He poured a bianco- probably Le Oche. I think. "What vintage?" I asked. I remember him turning around the bottle and showing me the back label with the vintage on it. "Great vintage!" he remarked. Then he got swept up by his fans, by their love, by simply trying to keep up with the bartending. I was very happy for him. The life of a producer is solitary. It's a wonderful thing for them to get recognized, to feel the love adoration for their work. 

I tasted the Oche- I think it was Oche. I wrote down some basic notes. I starred it, but the star was meaningless. We were going to buy the wine. We always buy it. I wrote his words, "Great vintage!"

Later, I flew home and I felt incredibly shitty about my time spent in Italy. My notes in my little book were terrible. They were pointless. They had no real true primary information. There were no notes of personal understanding or insight. And as I reflected on the time, the party was fun, but I had come away with only one truly authentic experience in Verona: I had done two mornings of high intensity workouts around the coliseum in town, a la a gladiator. That was cool. That was unique, but that was it.

The trip was expensive. It was time consuming. Verona was beautiful. The wines were great. Drinks were had. A lot of drinks were had. It was great to see the producers and watch them receive praise. Maybe some notes offered ideas about up-coming releases. But that was it. There was no insight. No deep understanding. Essentially, it was a work vacation.

Then it dawned on me. The great importers- they don't go to fairs. You don't see them late night at Antica Bottega del Vino. Actually, you almost never see them anywhere, really. What the great importers do is they religiously see their wineries. Each year, at almost the same time, they make the same visit. Their appointments are almost always the same- the same tour, the same tasting cadence, the same questions. Often, the same meal. No, great importers don't go to wine fairs. Great importers go to their wineries to inspect them, to bond with them and learn about them, to understand them, great importers farm their wineries.

Indie is both an importer and a distributor. We have no suppliers. As such, we are the source of truth on our wines for the marketplace. And whether we taste with clients or the general consumers, it is expected that we have a familial like knowledge of the wineries we import and distribute. And to do that, to be that knowledgeable, that good, all my producer time must be spent at their cellars.

That's why you will never see us at wine fairs, but you will see us post socially about our cellar visits.