The following article appeared in The Sunday Review, the magazine of The Independent on Sunday newspaper, on Sunday 30th July 2006. Reproduced here by kind permission of The Independent on Sunday.

My Round
Richard Ehrlich salutes the wine-world crazies

A friend writes: "Someone I know is trying to build up his small wine business. Can you give him any advice on how to go about contacting the press, sending out samples, etc?" Well, sure I can. But, first, I have to ask why my friend's friend would want to go into the wine business. The supermarkets dominate, the average spend on a bottle refuses to budge above £4, and a large chunk of supermarket customers buy whatever's on promotion, apparently without caring what's inside the bottle.

So, why would someone want to launch their tiny little raft as a sole trader in this shark- and supertanker-infested waters? Because they are, in the nicest possible way, crazy. Crazy about wine and eager to experience the truth of something wine journalist Jancis Robinson has written (and which I quote constantly): anyone lucky enough to make a living from wine should pinch himself once a day. That's not an exact quotation, but it conveys the idea. If you are crazy about wine, supporting yourself from it is like being an 8-year-old who gets paid to eat ice-cream cones.

The members of the Association of Small Direct Wine Merchants (ASDW) are all would-be 8-year-olds seeking remuneration for their ice-cream consumption. At the moment, this group has some 18 members, with specialities including France, Italy, Australia, Spain, Champagne and even wines for spicy food. All sell only by mail-order and through the internet. They forged an alliance last year, originally to lobby the government about some iniquitous effects of the 2003 Licensing Act. Now they are doing more together, including a first-ever tasting for the press a couple of months ago (with more to follow).

Around 6 weeks ago, I wrote in these pages about one ASDW member, The Big Red Wine Company. Its owner, James Bercovici, is one of the members who work at it full-time; others have to hold down a day job as well. John Dickinson, of French Regional Wines (www.french-regional-wines.co.uk), started his firm with an insurance payout from a car accident and still works as a logistics manager for an engineering company in Lancashire. Leon Stolarski, of Leon Stolarski Fine Wines, works for the Land Registry. He began in 2004, having spent time in the south of France with his young family. "With no business experience to call on", he "decided to have a go" at importing the wines he enjoyed so much in France.

Like so many ASDW members, Stolarski makes life hard for himself by specialising in a single area. Sure, southern France is big and diverse, but running a business in this way is like opening a bookshop that sells only biographies. Other ASDW members such as Nick Dobson Wines (Tel: 0118 977 1545, www.nickdobsonwines.co.uk) cast their nets wider, over several countries, but then make a rod for their backs by specialising in unusual items - Switzerland, Germany, and Austria feature prominently on the list. If you've never tried the Furmint 2004 from Weinbau Heidi Schrock (£12-95), you're missing a treat - and so is 99.9% of the world's wine drinking population.

Other members don't make things quite so tricky for themselves. Amordivino specialise in Italy and the Boutique Wine Company in Australia - hardly obscure choices. Nonetheless, like all the companies in ASDW, they are championing smallness and individuality. Some wines, on the Amordivino list especially, simply lie outside most people's vinous maps. The one above is an example [shows picture of Traminer Aromatico, Vivallis]. So is Circeo Bianco Dune 2003 (£9-49), from a quirky Lazio producer.

It ain't easy, even if it is fun some of the time. They have to be a little bit crazy to do it, and the world needs more craziness of that type. I salute them. And I urge you to do the same, using www.asdw.org.uk as your first port of call.

Three from ASDW:

Wayne Thomas Petit Verdot 2004, McLaren Vale (£19, Boutique Wine Company, 01604 638280, www.boutiquewinecompany.co.uk) Expensive, memorable: a grape variety that's usually blended but here shows powerful spicy fruit. An extraordinary wine.

Les Coteaux de Neffies Cuvee Baltazar 2003, Coteaux du Languedoc (£10-50, Leon Stolarski Fine Wines, 0115 952 9387, www.lsfinewines.co.uk) Intense, concentrated Syrah with a dash of Grenache; drink or keep.

Traminer Aromatico 2004, Vigna San Biagio (£10-25, Amordivino, 01784 441965, www.amordivino.co.uk) Strange, old-fashioned flavours lurk in here; flowery and spicy and utterly beguiling.

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