After 12 months of tastings for the importers with the most noteworthy wines, Wine & Spirits Magazine has officially named VINTUS the Importer of the Year for the 6th time back-to-back.
“Michael Quinttus founded VINTUS in 2004 after years as a portfolio manager at Kobrand. Striking out on his own, he sought to build a small collection of family-owned estates from all over the world. The portfolio now includes legendary producers such as Bollinger in Champagne, Chanson and Lucien Le Moine in Burgundy and Rhône legend E. Guigal (a 14-time Top 100 Winery), as well as new names like Rotem and Mounir Saouma in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. In Piedmont, it’s Sandrone; in Bolgheri, Le Macchiole.”
To read more about the Importers of the Year and VINTUS, read the full story HERE.
WS-Importer-of-the-Year-2020Related Producers
Champagne Bollinger
Champagne, France
Bollinger is one of the rare Grande Marques that’s still family owned. Known for its rich, elegant and polished style of Champagne, their outstanding wines are the result of rigorous attention to detail and incredibly labor-intensive practices that few houses are willing to undertake. Underscoring its excellence, Bollinger has remained British secret agent James Bond's Champagne of choice since 1973.
Domaine Chanson
Burgundy, France
Chanson is a true mid-size Domaine. Unlike many of their competitors, their wines are produced using the grower model rather than the négociant model. They have extensive holdings of over 111 acres of exclusively Premier and Grand Cru vineyards in the heart of Burgundy. Chanson is obsessed with maintaining a consistent quality level across the entire range. The wines have a seductive and distinctive style due to the rigorous approach to viticulture and vinification.
Lucien Le Moine
Burgundy, France
In two decades of work, Lucien Le Moine has become one of the most talked about Burgundy producers, making some of the most sought after wines from the region. The approach is extreme – two people, together doing everything by hand, working with a dazzling array of Burgundy’s great terroirs.
Rotem and Mounir Saouma
Rhône Valley, France
Burgundy meets the Rhone. An utter respect for tradition, and in some ways a total break. We've watched as Mounir and Rotem Saouma, of Burgundy producer Lucien Le Moine, slowly developed their estate and wines in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, and the results today are too extraordinary and distinct to ignore.
E. Guigal
Rhône Valley, France
The more you learn about the Guigal family, the more astounding becomes their story. Their wines are the benchmarks for every Rhône appellation, and over the last thirty years they have become arguably the most lauded producer in the world. Year after year the Guigal family produces wines of exceptional quality that in all classes offer exceptional value.
Sandrone
Piedmont, Italy
The late Luciano Sandrone was an iconic figure in Barolo, with an extraordinary story of determination. In the bottle, Sandrone’s wines straddle the modern and traditional styles of the region: elegant, attractive and easy to appreciate right from their first years in bottle, but with no less power and structure over time than traditional Barolos.
Le Macchiole
Bolgheri, Italy
Le Macchiole can best be defined as the “Boutique Bolgheri.” The winery is known for its spectacular single-varietal wines, and their signature grape varieties are Syrah, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc and work is always conducted with the priority being "the expression of the land." The winery continues to evolve in both the vineyards and in the cellar to allow the soil characteristics from this estate property to be the defining identity in the wines.