Above: the architects of Italian unification (1861). To the far left, Count Camillo Cavour, Italy’s first prime minister, a winemaker (Piedmont). To the far right, Baron Betting Ricasoli, Italy’s second prime minister, a winemaker (Tuscany). In the center, unified Italy’s first king, Vittorio Emanuele II, a winemaker (Piedmont). Ricasoli’s estate Brolio and Vittorio Emanuele’s Fontanafredda still produce wine today.
One the top wine professionals in Texas chided me yesterday on the Twitter. “Many other iconic Brunell(i?) are available” in Texas, he wrote. There’s “no great market demand” for Biondi Santi here, he Tweeted.
He was commenting on my post yesterday for the Houston Press (Absurdity of Texas Wine Shipping Law Reaches New Heights) and the heated dialog that followed on the Twitter. There was so much discussion that my editor at the paper asked me to write another, follow-up post today, which I playfully called Me and the TABC.
He had asked me to offer a few examples of iconic Italian wines that are not available in Texas (and I had been bemoaning the fact that I have to resort to unauthorized channels to obtain certain wines that I just cannot live without).
I responded with Biondi Santi and Castell’in Villa (the latter was also the subject of the post at the paper).
He responded nonchalantly, as if to say, well, if there’s no demand for those wines here in Texas, what does it matter?
Well, folks I’m here to tell you that in fact, it does matter.
It’s one thing to assume that if a wine isn’t available in Texas, it must not be “important.” And it’s another thing to take into account the fact that Italians consider Biondi Santi to be the greatest producer of Brunello di Montalcino, an icon, a benchmark, a historic domaine that reshaped the appellation. The same holds for Castell’in Villa in Chianti Classico. Or Bartolo Mascarello and Giuseppe Mascarello in Barolo. Or Emidio Pepe and Valentini in Abruzzo. Or Venica and Ronchi di Cialla in Friuli. I could go on and on: none of those wines are available in Texas.
But what’s worse is the fact that I cannot legally obtain them from an out-of-state retailer while in Texas (even though they’re readily available in the U.S.).
Of course, I travel to Italy 3 to 4 times a year, New York City 2 a year, and Los Angeles once a month: I can find and taste these wines whenever I want.
But young wine professionals in our state do not have access to these historic, not to mention delicious, wines.
My Texan colleagues and fellow wine educators can continue to base their course curricula on the Wine Spectator Top 100 list and the wines that score high with its editors and create “market demand”: Casanova di Neri is available here in Texas as is La Spinetta.
But a generation of young wine professionals in Texas will grow up without knowing the wines that the Italians consider to be the greatest expressions of their land, their history, and their (viti)culture.
It’s time for me to get off of my soap box. Thanks for reading… and thanks for loving Italian wine as much as I do…
Here’s a link to a post I wrote a few years ago: Why Italians are offended by our ratings and rankings. You might be surprised by some of the wine professionals who weighed in in the comment section.
I’m just trying to keep Texas (and the world) safe for Italian wine…
Do Bianchi 
There is so much here I would love to say and yet I just don’t have it in me :-) I will leave it at this: when I was in retail in Texas and selling Italian wine like it was the key to the universe I could get any wine from any producer available in the USA. Every distributor has the ability to buy and bring wine to Texas and if a buyer wants it badly enough he/she just has to get squeaky. I bought and sold Biondi Santi BDM for years in Texas. I sold Venica wines as recently as 2007 at Max’s and TTR. It is up to the pros (the buyers and somms)to get the wines as the customers are their students and the suppliers are their silk road. In fact, my old buddy Steve Lawrence and Terra Verus Trading in Austin lists Venica as one of their wines..http://terraverus.com/venica.htm
I am pretty sure Steve would love to sell a few bottles :-)
It just kills me that anyone would think there is no interest in either Biondi-Santi or Castell’in Villa. That just can’t be true. Categorically. It’s more likely that there is is limited demand for those wines in Texas, BECAUSE the wines aren’t available there. Sad to think how many people won’t have the opportunity to taste these wines. In a true free-market there’s no way those brands wouldn’t be picked up and enjoyed by many.
I can’t believe that a “top wine professional” says that there is no market when unavailability constitutes the “no market”. I for one am eager to try wines that are different, I am not afraid of picking one I don’t like, after all how would I know.
I search the internet to find (often in vain) someone who will ship it to me and also contact my local wine shops, who, sad to say, do not always reply. This is very frustrating!!!! I thought we were a free market society.
I hope that Jeremy and Tom keep hammering on this issue and that the rest of us email our congressmen about this.
BTW, can’t wait for the post….. Baby P est arrive. ( I know it’s french, but I don’t know italian)
Anne
anne–ME. EITHER. :)
So very often when consulting on the Barbed Rose Wine List, I would be introduced to a fantastic small producer by a NY distributor, only to find the wines unavailable in Texas. So very limiting.
As the Las Vegas that Rajat Parr describes in his book, the current system gives a small number of distributors almost all the power. Yes there are creative ways around these things, but it really just complicates the situation.
As for demand, that can be a tough one. Education is the key, opportunities to taste also. Staff education is so very important. It does make me very sad to think of so many of the Italian wines I have come to love up here, will not make it on the Wine List for our forthcoming Il Manzo Rosso, because they are not available in Texas.
I can and will change this Texas will get these wines. There is the market for them, and we wil do the job.
Grappajoe
2B, great post. I am glad you are so passionate about Italian wines!
Jeremy appreciate your passion and thanks for describing me as a “top wine professional.” I did not say or imply that Biondi Santi is not “important” in the big picture. What I said was that we make our own path and you agreed with that statement. In my many years on the floor I was never, not even once, asked for Biondi Santi.
We do have access to these wines here in Texas, both Mascarellos are available in Texas as is Valentini but in extremely limited supply. Also, distributors will bring in what buyers are asking for but then we have to buy it and not leave it sitting on their floor. Distributors get burned repeatedly by this and is the reason many “Iconic” wines find their way to close-out lists. However if they wants a wine they can get it. Believe me.
On the note of you indicating not everyone has the ability to travel as I do I have never been to a single winegrowing region in Italy.
Anne- How sad for them that the retailers havent responded to you! You are obviously very into wine.
Roy- Happy to help you get any wine you are looking for.
Blissful, thanks for the support here. We could use more Italian wine buyers like you!
Italian Wine Geek, I can’t imagine a world without Biondi Santi and Castell’in Villa!
Anne, it literally breaks my heart to know that I can’t buy and share some of my favorite wines in Texas. Although, as Roy knows, most retail shippers will ship here despite the restrictions. Thanks for the kind wishes for Baby P!
Tracie P, I love you so much! :)
Roy, so how did you get those bottles of Carema anyway? ;)
Grappa Joe, SO GREAT TO SEE YOU HERE! You’ve done so much for Italian wine in our state… I love you for that!
Vinogirl, always great to see you here, not just for the insights and support, but most of all because I hope more and more people will discover your amazing, excellent blog. (btw, the Italian banker story was sadly hilarious… thanks for posting that!)
Drew, I really appreciate your professionalism and greatly value your collegiality. And btw, you are indeed one of the state’s top wine professionals… one of the top wine professionals in the U.S. Thanks for weighing in here in the spirit of wine professional solidarity.
I straddle both sides of the trade, as a wine buyer in California and wine educator, writer, and consumer here in Texas. Even though G. and B. Mascarello and Valentini are available in small quantities here, they are still virtually inaccessible to me as an individual consumer. Frankly, I can’t afford a case of Monprivato, but I would like to buy one bottle to taste with my students. And I can only dream about 2008 Langhe Nebbiolo by G. Mascarello for $35 Astor Wines in NYC! Sadly, here in Texas, in our home, we drink more wine that is either shipped to me by rogue retailers or that I ship to myself from my own cellar in California (I’m licensed and authorized wine shipper there and as such, can legally ship to myself as a private individual; but most folks can’t do that).
It’s great to see you here… thanks for your insights and your support! And mazel tov the new addition to your family!
Arriving a bit late to this party.
Wow, what a lively discussion.
Seems some are new to this scene. New, as in the last ten years.
I brought Castell’inVilla into Texas in 1982 and literally had to beg people to buy the wine. I do not relate to folks commiserating about how terrible it is some wines are not available. Everything has been available. Everything. I have the old price lists to prove it. Even the 1968 Sassicaia that I was selling for under $30 when I worked for one of those greedy distributors.
It’s nice to hear you young’uns, men and women, rally for your rights. Nice to see they have finally sent in reinforcements. But you’ll win more battles (and a modicum of respect) by getting into the trenches and grabbing a bayonet. We really don’t need any more armchair generals.
Get yourself some scars and blood stains from the front line and then let’s talk. And for all those who want to blame greedy distribs, I suggest take the long march in their shoes before you start getting all Mao Zedong on us.
It’s pretty easy to point the blame at the players for what they haven’t done. It’s another to take up the cause and be part of the solution. That’s the hard work. Painful but often rewarding. And, by the way, not always successful.
Sometimes there is a reason why wines are not available in Texas or anywhere. Why is it so many in the blogosphere like to blame the current system? The reality is, there are good people in every system, many who have tried, repeatedly, to bring these wines in. And many times these wines ended up on close out lists, or worse, in the dump. I know it sounds unreal, but it is an historical reality.
“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”
So glad y’all want these wines now. And by the way, there are many more of wines like those in the warehouses, that if they don’t sell and go the way of the close out list, most likely 5-10 years down the road, someone will complain that they aren’t available.
“If a wine fails to sell and goes to the closeout list, does it make a sound?”
I have no problem with distributors choosing not to bring in certain wines. It’s their risk and their capital. At the same time, if they decide not to, I’d like the right to buy the wines elsewhere. Puzelat, Vatan, Vissoux / Chermette (various crus), Robinot, Brun (various crus), Gonon, Bindernagel (Chais du Vieux Bourg), Ganevat, Breton, Tissot, Raffault, Giardino, Corias, Ar.Pe.Pe, and on, and on, are represented in my cellar. I’d love to buy locally (and I do buy plenty locally), but I’ll continue buying these wines elsewhere in the meantime.
(And, yes, I do press local retailers and distributors. And when it comes to certain wines I’m interested in, we’ve seen some improvement in the past couple of years, and the wines appear to be selling well enough. It’s great to see Occhipinti and Texier and CRB and some Brun stuff, etc.)
Dr. J, we need to catch up in ’12. And congrats to you and Tracie!
Great post DoBianchi,
I am excited that I will be coming to Austin to live in April after Vinitaly, here’s hoping that I will still be able to pursue my passion for wine in central Texas. I wonder how many Sicilian wines are available in Texas, It would be interesting to know where one can go and look up these stats. Looking forward to meeting you at a wine event or tasting. Ciao from Marsala Sicily Dea :)