Find Me Here

The day to day demands of running my wine company have left me with little time for blogging as of late.
You can find out what I am up to here: Twitter, Facebook, and my wine company website, Amy Atwood Selections.

Interview with Becky Wasserman, Wine Exporter

Becky Wasserman is a well-known, highly respected wine exporter, who started her company while living in France in 1979. I have enjoyed many of the wines she represents over the years and was interested to find out more about the woman behind the wines. You can visit her company website, Le Serbet (aka Selection Becky Wasserman), here.



What is your first memory involving wine?
Reading about wine. Kahlil Gibran and ' a loaf of
bread, a jug of wine, and thou'. (Fifteen years old...).

Why did you move to Burgundy in 1968 and what was your life like then?
I was the wife of an artist
(Wasserman) who wanted to be far away from New York (the action was
all there in '68). A friend found us a house to rent in Burgundy - we
arrived during the 'evenements', two small sons, my mother. I was not
invited to tastings but cooked and washed wineglasses.

What was it like to start your own wine company in 1979? How did you do it?
It was frightening but necessary, a first step to
independence. I borrowed the necessary twenty thousand francs, found
a supportive banker, and entered into a 'Perils of Pauline' existence.

Which aspect of running your company was/is most challenging?
The most challenging aspect was - for many years - survival.
Mediocrity is a better earner than quality, by the way. Nowadays, it
is how to keep a balance and not give in to any faddishness.

How do you choose the wines you represent?
We have worked with many of our domaines for thirty years. Now we are
often contacted by small domaines from all over France who have heard
about Le Serbet.The decision to represent a domaine is consenual and
we prefer to taste samples first, then visit the domaine under
consideration. We are six at Le Serbet, all women except for Russell
Hone. Peter Wasserman is our USA consultant.

Does it matter to you if a winemaker is farming organically and/or using native yeasts?
For many years we have praised organic viticulture, indigenous yeasts,
old vines, and low yields. However, today's green mantra smacks of a
certain moral superiority that reminds me of the days when a noted
critic rode on a non-filtration horse and all who filtered were bad
people. We do not yet know what long term effects copper will have on
the soil. It is not wise to be too dogmatic. The danger does not lie
in non-indigenous yeasts but the possible use of genetically modified
yeasts that could potentially kill all individuality.....Our domaines
range from sustainable to biodynamic farming. (I went to a Rudolf
Steiner school). We have just turned down an eminently natural
domaine because the wines were cloudy, thin, eager to be liked, but
truly not nice.

Please share a recent memorable food and wine pairing.
A lapin à la moutarde with a bottle of
Sylvain Pataille's Fleur de Pinot.

What makes you happy?
Back to the loaf of bread and jug of wine. Truly, one of
the rare moments when all goes well with our children, the work, and
the weather. The absence of angst. The quiet of the vineyards just
before harvest. Thinking that we can write all we want but vineyards
don't lie. Getting a new shipment of books from Amazon.

Portrait of the Natural Wine Seller as a Young Woman

The below post was my contribution to Cory Cartwright's 32 Days of Natural Wine series.

When I was out selling wine last week and I was waiting on a wine buyer, a young woman behind the bar asked me how I got into the wine business.
I said, "Well, it all started with lots of house music and late nights".

1995
Melbourne, Australia
I had escaped the NY winter blues to visit friends in Oz. Money was running low after a few months of being a beach bum and I somehow scammed myself a bartending job at one of the hottest nightclubs in the city. My first night they threw me behind the bar, we had over a thousand thirsty clubbers. I did not understand a word they said between the pounding house music and their thick Aussie accents. We closed the bar down at 8 am. I had a blast. But I also knew I could make something more interesting than a rum and coke.
Over time I became a beverage manager for a hospitality group that owned a restaurant, a bar bistro and a huge nightclub. I began incorporating elixirs like Aperol and Averna, I started muddling fresh fruit, herbs and ginger into my cocktails. I called myself a mixologist because bartender did not seem to cover it anymore. Although I was not entirely certain what that term meant or where it came from. This was 1997.

At the same time, I started working on the wine lists for the restaurant and bistro. I was what the big wine distributors gleefully refer to as fresh meat. I did not even realize that I was supposed to spit or take notes during a tasting.
So I started tasting (and spitting) as many wines as possible, visiting wineries and reading every wine book I could get my hands on. And I fell in love, head over heels. Wine was about travel, history, romance and food. Sign me up.



2002
Texas
I was tired of working nights and knew that I wanted to focus on wine exclusively, rather than continue on the path of restaurant or beverage management. So with a quick continent jump and a huge drop in pay, I became a wine distributor sales rep. A sure path towards cultivating compassion for others if there ever was one.
I was back in North America and knew close to nothing about North American wines, having spent the previous seven years tasting and learning about primarily Aussie and European wines. I missed the crisp semillons, verdelhos and rieslings I had grown to love in Oz.
I went to work for a small distributor that primarily sold imports (Charles Neal Selections) and a few domestics like Edmunds St John. The owner was a man of passion and was a mentor for me in many ways. He picked wines by his palate, and not always his business sense.
When that company folded due to lack of capital, I went to work in the fine wine division of one of the big distributors. I learned how the big boys work and it was an invaluable experience but corporate life is not for me.
Then I spent a few years as a national accounts manager for a couple of importers. Traveling the country, a new city almost every week. I remember sitting on a rental car shuttle and the guy next to me asked where I was headed, I had to pause for several seconds before I could remember where I was going to next. It was time for a change.





2009
California
Okay, so by now I knew a thing or two about selling wine. But over the past few years my personal wine palate had changed. I could no longer stomach the big, oaky wines that so many new world producers were making. I read Alice Feiring's 'The Battle For Wine and Love', which has been an eye-opener for many wine lovers seeking more authentic wines. I started seeking out these wines that had been less chemically manipulated, both for the flavors and aromas but also because of a philosophical synergy.
At the same time, I was shopping at farmers markets in Los Angeles. I went out of my way to buy only organic fruit and vegetables.
I found that my passion for both drinking and selling wine was re-awakened.
So it made sense to take the plunge and sell only the wines I loved. I sunk my tiny little nest egg into purchasing wines from importers like Savio Soares as well as domestic producers like La Clarine Farm and Donkey & Goat, and representing them in the California market. Virtually all of the wines I sell are 'hand-sell' wines from small producers, and yes many of them farm organically and use very minimal intervention in the cellar. I literally put my money where my mouth is.
Scary? Hell yes. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Discovering Russian Food & Wine

I am traveling in Moscow this week. A dream from my melancholic youth.
Due to my own curiosity and the outlandish prices of imported wine, I have been seeking out 'local' wines from Crimea,etc (unfortunately, Georgian wines are hard to locate in Moscow due to political hostilities).




This was a delicious bottle of 2009 kokur from Crimea. Wonderful salinity and some quince or pear flavors, not a trace of oak. Really good. Wish I could find more. Perfect pairing with freshly pickled herring and dill potatoes. Yum.


After a leisurely lunch of Uzbek lamb pilaf, we ordered the local cloudberry tea and pickled walnuts in anise syrup for dessert. The tea is made from steeped fresh clouberries and tasted somewhat like warm orange juice, weird but good.