There are many factors that go into deciding which treasures from our hunt will become wines offered to the VDLT Wine Community:
Special Wine Producers
The winemakers in the VDLT portfolio share important characteristics. They are dedicated, passionate, mostly smaller production and artisanal in their methods. They are intensely proud of what they produce and fiercely committed to the highest standards of quality. Perhaps most importantly, they are all nice people, with whom we love to work. We believe you can taste their niceness in the glass - and it tastes very good.
Terroir
The French term for the character imparted to grapes (and its resulting wine) by the natural environment in which they grow. This includes soil, topography and climate. We demand that VDLT wines convey this sense of place. We generally prefer wines made from indigenous grape varieties.
Taste
We were wine lovers and drinkers long before we were wine sellers. First and foremost, a wine must taste really good. Before we offer it to our community, we must want it in our own glass and cellar.
Distinction
We taste many terrific wines. The ones we choose must have something more to say that distinguishes them from all of the other excellent wines of its kind. It might come from an added dimension of complexity that allows you to taste the wine in a variety of ways on different parts of your palate. We often refer to these wines as having width as well as depth. Distinct wines have the ability to evoke feelings or experiences within us. They are metaphoric. Even the simpler ones can offer more than just base pleasure. A few will challenge your notions of wine or its role in your meal.
Sparkle
We have had the privilege of tasting an extraordinary amount of great and distinct wines. Over the years, very few have given us a taste impression evocative of the visual memory of the end of a beautiful day’s sunlight causing a sparkle at the surface of a pristine lake. The alignment of a perfect bottle, opened at just the right moment, from a gifted winemaker, with a gorgeous crop, from a special vineyard, from a great vintage, can sometimes produce a sensation on the palate of an extra dimension of vitality, energy, depth and width. It feels like “sparkle”. We will never cease in our pursuit of such experiences.
Value
VDLT is committed to economical sourcing. You must be convinced that the wine in your glass is worth more to you than you paid. We forego excellent wines because we are not able to offer them at a price that we think represents good value for them or relative to similar types of wines available in the marketplace.
Scarcity
Most VDLT wines are produced in limited quantities. Many are rarely or sparsely seen in the US - some never. This is why we put a premium on winemakers who can produce wines with all the above noted qualities in any vintage while allowing the characteristics of each vintage to speak. So if you run out of a wine you like, we may not have more of that vintage but we should be able to offer you the next.
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