This year marks the 25th anniversary of New Jersey-based Vine Street Imports, an impressive feat for a relatively small wine importer focused on off-the-beaten-track regions from Australia, South Africa, England, and beyond. And the company has managed to weather some difficult periods—the global financial crisis and the pandemic, for starters—without veering from its core philosophy.
“One thing I can say about the foundation of Vine Street is that the focus now and then really isn’t all that different,” says Aaron Meeker, Vine Street’s national sales manager. “[The philosophy] was dealing with winemakers that are good people you want to hang out with, have a meal with, kind of that ‘no asshole’ policy.”
Like many wine businesses, Vine Street started, evolved, and thrived thanks to the strength of its personal relationships. From Meeker’s friendship with Vine Street cofounder Ronnie Sanders to serendipitous meetings with winemakers-turned-business-partners, a personal touch has continuously contributed to Vine Street’s success.
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Vine Street’s early days offer two such examples. In the late ’90s, Sanders was traveling in Asia through his previous work in textiles when he attended a wine dinner and met a man named Michael Twelftree—the founder of Australia’s Two Hands Wines. Sanders soon became their first U.S. importer, creating a path for Vine Street Imports. After spending nearly a decade building an all-Australian portfolio, the book’s next big move came in 2008 when Sanders was dining in Italy with one of his Aussie producers. Bonding over news of the beloved Didier Dagueneau’s death, Sanders formed a fast friendship with Le Ragnaie’s Riccardo Campinoti, which led to the eventual joint creation of Poggio Anima.
Nearly every major addition to the Vine Street portfolio began with similar chance encounters or personal introductions, allowing the book to naturally evolve to include producers making wines that they felt passionately about selling in the U.S. Even if a winemaker’s region was of little interest in the U.S. market, the Vine Street team’s personal belief in the wines served as a powerful sales tool.
This way of working is how Meeker himself joined the company, having connected with Sanders years before, and as the national sales manager, Meeker has embraced this philosophy to further grow the portfolio. In 2016, Meeker became instrumental in launching the English sparkling wine category in the U.S., albeit unintentionally. After a light-bulb moment tasting a 2008 Bolney Blanc de Blancs—”It was like sparkling Dauvissat”—Meeker got an email from Hugh Johnson’s son, Red Johnson, about his new company called British Bottle Company, which represented several English sparkling wine producers.
“In typical Vine Street/Ronnie/Meeker fashion—we don’t really do anything half-ass—[we thought] let’s really do it,” says Meeker. “Let’s get four producers at once.” The idea was to tell England’s terroir story, which required multiple producers to demonstrate those differences. “We shipped the very first full container of English wine in the history of the world.”
“That same year, I got an email from Mick Craven [the co-owner of Craven Wines in Stellenbosch],” continues Meeker. “We had zero interest in [South Africa], like negative interest, and when Mick sends this email through a couple mutual connections … I was like, ‘We don’t import African wine. Have a nice day.’ Thankfully, he didn’t take no for an answer. We finally got to [tasting their wines] and it was like this ah-ha moment.”
Through introductions from the Cravens, Vine Street went on to build a serious portfolio of South African wine, and after working in the country for eight years, it’s become the biggest piece of their business. “There’s always been one common thread in building our book, which is ‘I want to raise the floor, not the ceiling,’” says Meeker. “We don’t have anything in our [South African] book that is below $15 and that was entirely intentional. At the same time, we don’t have anything in our book that’s really above $45.”
Many of the wines in Vine Street’s portfolio are not obvious hits in the U.S. market, but with the right team behind them, the significance of these off-the-beaten-track wines becomes clear. “I think that’s what Vine Street does best: storytelling, definitely not risk averse, sometimes taking unnecessary risks with categories or producers that don’t necessarily make sense, but ultimately … we’re wine lovers,” says Meeker.
Now, 25 years on, many of those risks have proven successful. SevenFifty Daily caught up with Meeker to learn about some of the wines that most contributed to that success. (Listed are suggested retail prices for each wine.)
Bindi Dixon Pinot Noir 2023, Macedon Ranges, Australia; $85
Bindi’s 170-hectare farm is nestled in the Macedon Ranges, just 30 miles northwest of Melbourne. The family-run property is planted to Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, eucalypts, and indigenous grasslands. “What I love about Bindi is that it’s a place,” says Meeker. “It’s not a winery. It’s not a vineyard. It’s like a true monopole in my opinion. It’s this holistic working farm where everything just makes sense. And I don’t think I’ve ever met a more thoughtful winemaker … the way [Michael Dillon] expresses his personality and the soul of the place in each bottle to me is why Bindi is the ultimate Grand Cru.”
Digby Brut NV, Sussex, England; $65
Sir Kenelm Digby, the winery’s namesake, was a 17th-century virtuoso—and the inventor of the modern wine bottle. Today, Digby is known as England’s first négociant. “In many ways, [Digby] went against everything that I wanted to do with English wine, which was always single-site, very terroir-expressive wines,” says Meeker. “But I love the brand. Digby is … a brand [with] very serious labels, very thoughtful packaging. I think the wines have just gotten better and better and better. I love [CEO and head blender Trevor Clough] as a human. Pre-pandemic, it was probably the most successful English wine in the United States in terms of volume.”
Poggio Anima ‘Belial’ Sangiovese 2022, Tuscany, Italy; $15
A joint venture between Vine Street Imports and Riccardo Campinoti of Le Ragnaie , Poggio Anima developed from a very simple model: source high-quality grapes from existing grower relationships and produce a real wine with a sense of place. “This is one of the most important wines in my life,” says Meeker. “[It was] that first Italian wine from Vine Street that I ever bought on the distribution side, and now we’re selling thousands of cases of it. I think the wine itself is of tremendous value. I think it’s the ultimate Tuesday night pizza wine.”
Craven Pinot Gris 2023, Stellenbosch, South Africa; $27
Australian native Mick Craven met his wife, South African-born Jeanine Craven, when they were both working harvest in California. A mutual desire to create expressive, singular wines, brought them back to Stellenbosch, where Jeanine’s family was based. “In terms of volume, this might be our most successful wine in that $25 to $30 retail range,” says Meeker. “Had you asked me 10 years ago if we’re gonna sell 500 cases of South African wine, I would have laughed at you. If you told me we’d sell 500 cases of skin-contact Pinot Gris at $27 a bottle—I would never take that bet. It’s one of those wines that’s incredibly singular, and … I think the wine is an exceptional value.”
Thorne & Daughters ‘Rocking Horse’ White Blend 2022, Western Cape, South Africa; $25
Mick Craven introduced the Vine Street team to John Seccombe, the winemaker for Thorne & Daughters, which is located in South Africa’s Western Cape. “He might be one of the best white winemakers on the planet,” says Meeker. “The Rocking Horse White Blend is just everything I love about white wine. It’s textural. It’s got loads of tension. I’ve never had white wine, certainly at that price point, that delivers the way it does. I would happily put that wine blind up against plenty of Burgundy, and plenty of Rhône wines, that are three, four, five, even 10 times the price.”
Auntsfield Estate Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2023, Marlborough, New Zealand; $20
Ben Cowley was the first winemaker from New Zealand that Meeker ever met, and his wines were particularly memorable. For Meeker, the problem with New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is that it is often made “in the most industrial manner possible,” he says. “[With] Auntsfield, it’s the exact opposite of that. It’s single-vineyard, single-block wines. It’s predominantly inoculated, but it’s with a strain that they created from their own vineyard. They make a very, very soulful Sauvignon Blanc. And at $20 retail, it’s a pretty amazing wine.”
Dispatch
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Caitlin A. Miller is a New York-based wine writer and the current associate editor for SevenFifty Daily. Her work has appeared in Food & Wine, Vinous, and Christie’s International Real Estate Magazine. She holds the WSET Diploma in Wines and was the recipient of the 2020 Vinous Young Wine Writer Fellowship.
