A few weeks ago, I received an email from a wine importer I’d never heard of, Bent Frenchman Selections.
This Jackson-based importer, led by Ryan McReynolds, is focused solely on natural wines. In addition to connecting area shops and restaurants to these selections, he’s also bringing wines direct to the consumer with a wine club. If you’re curious what this movement is all about, today is your chance to find out. McReynolds will be leading a tasting from 4-6:30 p.m. at Liquor Down South.
Basically, these wines are free of pesticides, herbicides and synthetic fertilizer. McReynolds describes the Bent Frenchman Portfolio as focused on selling wines produced by people who believe in the vineyard as a self-sustaining entity. These winemakers belive that intervention with inorganic product and technique is unnecessary when attentive to a trade developed over thousands of years of human history, and the specific variables present in each unique site.
Since the late 90’s, McReynolds’ business partner, Bill Fitch, has been involved with the community of producers focused on classic winemaking with minimal intervention technique. Fitch keeps residence in New York, Paris and Barcelona, and is in constant dialogue traditional wine producers there. McReynolds works with like-minded members of this community from California and Oregon. (Their buzz term is ‘The New California.’ )
“ I feel, as many do, that the real trend in wine from a macro perspective has been commercial farming, mass (and hyper-specific, think cult cabernet) corporate branding, media on a quest to empirically determine the ‘world’s best wines’,” he said.
The wines he focuses on are the counterpoint to this trend. So if you want to find out more, head to Liquor Down South.
