It Takes A Village: The $18 Miracle
Update: After many delays, miscommunications and hand-wringing, our latest batch of wines from France is arriving in our warehouse today… finally. It got me thinking…
The past few months have served up a steady stream of reminders of just how interconnected our global economy really is. Shipping disruptions, fuel shortages, tariffs, port strikes — the complexity of moving goods around the world is tangible and more than a little fragile.
Some days the barrage of news makes me wonder: is it worth it?
Getting a bottle of wine from some cellar in France to your table involves a remarkable number of people and a lot of faith. It starts with tending vines, worrying about the weather, harvesting by hand, and months of work in the cellar, then bottling and labeling. A transporter loads it onto a truck, and eventually it's loaded into a shipping container to cross an ocean. Customs brokers, longshoremen, teamsters. Finally we pack it and you come collect it. All that before you ever reach for a corkscrew.
It's quite a journey, made possible by many hands, all for a $18 bottle of wine. It still strikes me as something close to miraculous.
And Hell yes! it's worth it — because of the people at either end of that chain.
The small vignerons we work with aren't just making wine — they embody an ethic tied to a place, a long tradition, and a clear vision of what they want to share with the world. Take Lionel Gaussaume of Domaine Pré Baron. After a brief career in the corporate world, he returned home to the Touraine to do something a more personal with his time, and has spent the years since crafting the kind of honest, expressive wine that his corner of France is known for. He entertains intrepid importers like us because he wants to share his part of the world with people who appreciate it — you. That's the whole story, really.
This is the second vintage we've brought in from Lionel, and the 2024 is every bit as good as the wine many of you already know and love. We keep doing this — navigating the complexity, absorbing the friction, finding the Lionels of the world — because the alternative is a glass of something that came from nowhere in particular and tastes like it.
Pré Baron
Touraine Sauvignon Blanc 2024
Precisely what you want in a Loire Sauvignon Blanc — crisp and fruity, with a kaleidoscope of citrus, yellow fruits and a whisper of the tropics. Refreshing and easy to reach for, with good ripeness and length. The kind of uncomplicated, delicious bottle you'll want to have around for any occasion, and one that travels a long way to get to you.