The Washington, D.C., region is a very fun and active market for wine
consumers, especially for those of us interested in imported wines.
There is a vibrant cadre of wine importers serving this market, enough
to keep wine lovers turning bottles to look at the back label to see who
is importing which wines.
The dean of these importers is Bobby Kacher, the ever loquacious
face, palate and voice behind Robert Kacher Selections. I profile Bobby
in my wine column this week in The Washington Post.
Bobby represents about 75 producers, and about 70 of these are
French. (He has two producers in Argentina, one in Portugal, and one in
South Africa, that I know of.) All are family owned and operated, they
emphasize organic viticulture (at least, no pesticides and herbicides),
temperature-controlled fermentation to keep the wines fresh, no
filtration, etc – many of these seem commonplace now, but Kacher helped
promote these practices when he started importing wines in the 1980s.
As you’ll see in the sidebar
on wine recommendations, I learned a lot about French wine by
purchasing Bobby’s imports back in the late 1980s. There are many more
importers in the DC area that I follow now, and I seem to be learning
about more every year as the market thrives and expands. And I’ve
followed Bobby less reliably as I’ve explored other importers’
portfolios. But each time I taste some of his wines, I’m reminded of my
wine-loving roots.
And whatever you do, don’t miss out on that Saumur …
Dave McIntyre's WineLine 