Inside IWM

The Inside Story from Italian Wine Merchants

New Crossroads

Where wine and music meet

The main stage at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival.

For me, enjoying great music and quality wine is as good as it gets, so to continue my journey to find the best tunes—and wines—I trekked to Chicago in June for Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Guitar Festival. The festival, started by Eric Clapton in 2007 to help fund his Crossroads rehab facility in Antiqua, is a chance for some of the greatest guitarist to get to together, collaborate and jam out on stage. This year, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Jeff Beck, John Mayer, Sheryl Crow, Steve Winwood, Vince Gill and ZZ Top were part of the lineup.

I was there ostensibly, because I wanted to meet my longtime client and friend, Robert Carone, owner of Upstaging, a lighting, transport stage company. Carone, along with Fender’s Paul Jernigan, put together this year’s festival and invited me out. He’s been a client for the past four or five years and knows what Italian wine he likes. Give him your Soldera and your Conternos, and he’s a happy man. He often says, “Perry, just pick out what I should have,” and I do just that. From the top Super-Tuscans to the finest Barolos, Carone wants the best. He purchases wine for his cellar and also to give to his clients, often gifting promoters and management (Eric Clapton’s crew included) with some of IWM’s finest bottles. At this year’s Crossroads fest, IWM wines were not part of the main bar—the festival’s guitar sponsor, Fender, took over all the food and bar posts—but we still managed to enjoy some great Italian wines together before the show.

Son James (l) with Upstaging's Robert Carone.

Chicago was a blast. I saw an old friend, listened to some great live music and had a chance to spend some quality time with my son James who came along for the ride, though mostly to check out the guitars. A budding guitarist, James marveled at the vintage Fenders on display at the festival. He even got to meet the legend himself, Eric Clapton, as well as Steve Jordan, Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes and others. The real highlight was when James got to play a Billy Gibbons model Fender and jam with Los Lobos backstage. Watching him, I wish I played guitar too.

James with guitarist Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos.

Those vintage Fenders really left an impression on me. The long rows of them, gleaming and gently curving, each with its own personality and history, was a beautiful sight, and it, perhaps strangely, made me think of wine. People who really appreciate music, really get into it and understand it also seem to know the joy that comes from a classic guitar. It’s the same with wine. Those who really understand wine and have held a special bottle in their hands know its potential. What Crossroads reiterated to me was that some of the best guitars—and wines—will always grow in beauty and value over time.

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Swirl, Sip, Love

The never-ending journey of wine discovery

Writer Elizabeth Gilbert needed a break. In the middle of a divorce, she wanted to find new direction in her life and decided to travel the world. Trekking through Italy she ate, journeying to India she prayed, and jaunting to Indonesia she found love—not a bad plan if you have enough in savings (or a hefty enough advance on a book deal) to take off. The end result is Gilbert’s bestselling book, “Eat, Pray, Love,” and now movie starring Julia Roberts. I love to travel. I plan to eat, drink and fall in love with some new Bordeaux next month while visiting the southwest of France. And yet, while it’s fun to get new stamps on your passport, sometimes all you need to eat, pray and love—or experience new wine—is an open mind. There’s something to discover everywhere. I’m continuously discovering some new wine—new varieties, new regions. Wine from unexpected locales has become commonplace. Wine from the Pacific Northwest, and wine from Argentina were once considered weird and untrustworthy, but no longer. So how about wine from Uruguay? Less known than wine from Chile, Uruguay is actually the fourth largest wine producer in South America, though not much Uruguayan wine is imported to the States. Part of the fun of trying an unknown region’s wine is exploring a terroir from the comfort of your dining chair. It may be good, bad, terrible, or outstanding, but it’s always an adventure.

Working at IWM helps me discover the terroir of Italian wine. I’ve sampled a multitude of wines in only a short few months, and my taste for Italy has been quickly piqued. I’m constantly amazed by the incredible wine selections IWM has accumulated—it’s the most comprehensive group that I’ve ever seen under one cellar. There’s Soldera, Giacosa and smaller producers like Hilberg, San Giustiniani—the list goes on and on. I’m realizing that Italy has so much to discover. It’s going to take some time, but it’ll be fun tasting each region. I want to visit. I will visit.

Travel is therapeutic. It’s good to break away from it all and recharge. Wine and travel together are even better. You can eat, pray and love anywhere you want, and if those activities require you to travel across the world, all the better. But whether I’m home in New York or I’m journeying through several time zones, there’s always something to discover, and I’m far from done searching.

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Wine, Music and Catfish in Nashville

How the three worlds collided

Stonebridge Farm, Franklin, Tenn.

Back in June, I had a chance to return to one of my favorite cities: Nashville. I’d first visited in 2002, and I’d been itching to get back down there for some time. Nashville is about the music—country, blues, rock—but for this particular trip, it was also about wine.

I was meeting a dear friend, and longtime collector, Mike Ennis. Over the years, we’ve shared wines, meals, laughs, music. Mike loves music, but he loves wine even more. Wine is something he’s continuously discovering, and I can’t blame him. I think two of my loves in life will always be great wine and great music.

When in Nashville, I think there are things that you absolutely need to do. See good music and have dinner with great food, friends and wine. I was lucky to have both in spades. Mike, along with his wife Carol, invited me, my wife Sue, and our sons James and Ben along with several other guests to their home on beautiful Stonebridge Farm in Franklin, Tenn., just south of Nashville.

The 20-pound catfish.

To make this trip really special, I brought a collection of wines for Mike to try, including a Case Basse di Soldera Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 2002 and Pegasos 2005, Bruno Giacosa’s  Barolo Croera di La Morra 2004, Tenuta dell’Ornellaia Le Serre Nuove 2007, Bodega Chacra Pinot Noir Rio Negro Treinta y Dos 2006 and a La Spinetta Barbaresco Gallina 2005. Mike also pulled several wines from his collection, including a Grattamacco and Gaja Contessa from 1998 and a Jacques Selosse among others, and together we had one hell of a dinner.

When it comes to wine, Mike likes everything; he’s one of those guys who can drink anything. Have French Champagne? He loves it! I even brought a fresh Roger Coulon Brut Rosé NV into the mix of mostly Italian vino. When we first met, he already knew the big players in Italian wine—Gaja, the Conternos. Through our conversations and tastings over the years, he now trusts me to pass along what he wants, or may like, and I deliver.

Mike, wife Carol and the evening's wines.

I couldn’t help but soak in those moments as Mike went on and on about how great Italian Wine Merchants was over dinner, or how we managed to get wine right. Believe me, this was not filling any ego—it was really something to hear people say IWM knows how to pick really great wines and knows how to bring this understanding and great wines to their clients. The people have spoken. Well, some of them, and they like us! They really like us!

The need for dinner with friends completely satiated, I next got my music fix next when I stopped over to visit friend John McBride, husband of country singer

Martina McBride, a big wine collector and owner of the Blackbird Studio, one of the premier recording spots in the country. We first met John and Martina when they stopped into IWM. We then hosted them at Ornellaia (one of their favorite producers along with Quintarelli) in Italy last year. John also has a huge guitar collection, and he let my 16-year-old son James, a budding guitarist, lay down a few tracks in the legendary studio.

I thought I was done. I had enjoyed my two favorite things in one of my favorite places. But Mike had something in store for me: fishing—catfishing to be exact. I could have been in a dark, bluesy bar or lounge, soaking in the tunes, but instead I was on shore, in the heat and fishing. It’s funny, because I told Mike that fishing was new to me, and he was telling me how Italian wine was a new experience to him way back when. I guess we’ve helped turn one another on to some new things. I thought to myself that this relationship is what can happen when clients become friends. It’s not forced. It just happens. We talk at least once or twice a month about—what else—wine.

Mike and James rocking out.

It’s important for me to keep these relationships strong. When a person loves wine and trusts me to deliver, it’s priceless. It’s those friendships that have led to some of the best referrals and even more friendships over the years. That’s what the IWM experience is all about. I look forward to sending Mike some new wines to experience soon, as I will do for anyone else that comes my way. In return, maybe they’ll turn me on to some new things as well. Music? Wine? Dinner with good friends? Catfishing? Isn’t that what life is about?

By the way, I caught a 20-pounder [catfish]—or was it 10?

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