Perhaps only in wine and spirits distribution can someone who has “about 100 accounts” be considered a “little guy.” But that’s what Domace Vino, a Shoreview-based wholesaler, most decidedly is.

Being small also affords company president Aleksander Pantic the opportunity to focus on, as he puts it, “bringing in wines that I want to drink.”

That includes one of the most spectacular wines I’ve tasted this summer, a red from Pantic’s favorite winery, Malvira, the Roero Trinita Riserva. It’s just what a great nebbiolo should be: rich and lush, rustic and long; last I checked, the Bacchus store still had this $50 steal on its shelves. Actually, Pantic says it best: “All [Malvira] wines have a character, have a soul.”

Malvira is located in the Langhe area of Piedmont, the region Pantic and then-co-owner Robert Alexander dealt with exclusively when they started Domace Vino earlier this decade. Alexander has moved on — actually, he has moved to Italy — and Pantic soon realized that he “couldn’t just focus on three wineries” and needed to add wines from other parts of the world (check out his portfolio here).

Among them are Opolo, a newer outfit in Paso Robles that’s co-owned by Minnesota native Rick Quinn; Shea Wine Cellars, where the operators of one of Oregon’s most storied vineyards have decided to start bottling some of those delectable grapes on their own; and Core Wine Company, which is making small-lot Rhone varietals and blends in the Santa Barbara area.

Many of Domace Vino’s offerings are at the spendy end, which has, he admits, been “challenging” in this economy. But having a small sales staff enables him to home in on retailers and restaurateurs “who understand what I’m selling. You do that and you pour for them and convince them to run specials on your wine” to get it introduced to consumers in an uber-cluttered marketplace.  

I recently wrote about how blessed we are to have a plethora of local distributors. Operations such as Pantic’s are a big reason why. 

That works both ways. In my view, the outlets selling Domace Vino wines are working esepcially hard to find great juice from every possible source. In this wholesaler’s case, those locales include Bacchus, France44, McDonald’s (no, not MickeyD’s, but an up-and-coming store in south Minneapolis), Byerly’s, South Lyndale, Top Ten, Lakeville’s munis, Vescio’s Lucia’s, Chiang Mai Thai, the Melting Pot, Ursula’s Wine Bar, 128 Cafe and the Northeast Social Club.

We’re lucky to have them, too.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 19th, 2009 at 8:00 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.