Importers and Producers

Importer Spotlight: Indie Wineries

In just a few short years, Indie Wineries has more than made a name for itself—it’s become practically synonymous with the sort of artisanally produced, ethically and environmentally conscientious wines that are shaping the market today. Plus, the Indie team has been with us since the very beginning—indeed, since before either company had even become a reality—and we take immense pride in our relationship. It all began in 2009, when Artisan’s Founder Scott Braunschweig and Indie’s Summer Wolff began a friendship that would ultimately result in the formal creation of both companies a year later. Summer, an American ex-pat originally from the Finger Lakes, now calls Piedmont home, where she lives with her husband, Indie’s winemaker Fabrizio Iuli, and their family. Between her vision and his unparalleled winemaking, Indie has grown significantly in the years since Summer and Scott first created their individual companies, and Indie now boasts one of the best teams in the business, including Christian Troy, a Partner in Indie and a deeply knowledgeable wine professional whose expertise extends well beyond the New York sales team and US portfolio he manages. The entire Indie crew, in fact, is cut from the same cloth: Passionate, deeply committed ambassadors for wine producers who share their same philosophy and love of the grape. Which is only one of the countless reasons why Artisan’s Cellar takes such pride in our work with Indie. Indie’s philosophy is fairly straightforward, but back when Summer started off, it was a revolutionary concept: As their website puts it, “Indie exists to support and tell the story of the small family producer,” the sort that has been so instrumental to the history and evolution of so many of the great wine regions of the world. They “believe in an organic lifestyle and the producers that represent farm organically—most certified organic and biodynamic. More importantly,” the web site goes on, “they are honest artisans making transparent wines that speak of their place, their history, and themselves.” With Indie’s producers, those are not just words—each and every one of the wines they work with embodies, in some key way, the little patch of the planet that they come from. Whether it’s a pet’nat from France or a volcanic-soil beauty from Sicily, Indie’s producers are as rooted to their land as the vines they work with. And the juice in the glass is never anything less than extraordinary. No wonder Indie has grown as much as it has: Honesty and vision should be rewarded in exactly the way that Indie’s been—with a passionate, loyal coterie of fans, and an expanding portfolio of producers as exciting as any in the world. http://www.indiewineries.com