The Beauty & The Text

“You maverick…”

It was a warm August evening in London and one of my consultants had just joined me at the table of a wine club, noticing I just ordered a gin & tonic. It was a time when a wine list would have been still daunting to me.

And that was the reason I was there.

Despite being everything but a wine expert, I thought about working on projects involving wine for years. I was, and I am now even more, fascinated not only by the taste of wine itself, but more importantly by the storytelling around it. And as a firm believer that even a visit to the dry cleaning down the road can be turned into a story, you can imagine what I thought about an industry that offers you the chance of talking about the characteristics of different climates and soils, the history of a region, or the techniques choose by producers, just to mention a few.

Five months down the line, working on this project gave me one thing I never had before: the curiosity and the pleasure of browsing a wine list. For the first time I was actively choosing a wine for a reason. It might not have been the best of the reasons, but it was mine and I felt somehow empowered. Yes, I do get carried away with enthusiasm quite easily…

But that’s what I would like The Beauty & The Taste project to achieve: a place dedicated to fine wines, approachable for newbies but also respectful of and enjoyable by industry experts, featuring a limited yet comprehensive selection of bottles and producers representative of the most significant regions in the world.

And – more importantly – a place giving our customers a reason for making a choice, whatever that is. The stories we want to tell are not the only ones out there: they’re simply what we like the most, told combining the view, curiosity and personal taste of our wine experts along with the eCommerce team.

My wish is for you to enjoy the journey at least as much as we did.

Cheers,
Claudio