Working in wine has taken me from restaurants and cellars to vineyards, harvests and countless tables across Europe and Asia. Along the way, I realised that what I enjoy most is not simply finding a great wine. It is understanding why it is interesting and sharing that discovery with someone else.
That is what I want VARIETAL to be.
I believe a wine merchant should start by listening. What do you like to drink? What are you curious about? What works for your restaurant, your cellar or the people around your table? Rather than building a catalogue and then trying to find customers for it, I want the people I work with to help shape what VARIETAL becomes.
But listening is only half of it. My role is also to bring something new to the conversation. That might be a producer you haven’t encountered before, an unfamiliar grape variety, a different expression of a place you thought you knew, an older vintage, or a technique in the vineyard or cellar that changes the way you understand what’s in your glass.
I want the selection to grow naturally, shaped both by the producers I believe in and by the people I work with. Alongside the domaines I represent directly, I will continue to search for older vintages, rare bottles and specific wines in response to what my clients are looking for and curious to discover.
Ultimately, I want VARIETAL to sit between the grower and the person opening the bottle: creating relationships, sharing knowledge and keeping curiosity at the centre.
The best conversations often start around a bottle.
Jeanne Kiock