International Fine Wines

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About Us

International Fine Wines
[Formerly Fine Wines Of Europe]

Shipping the best European Wines since the late 70's

A mere twenty five years, that's how long International Fine Wines (formerly fine Wines of Europe) has been offering the best of European and Australian wines to our wine buyers. Not a bad stint really and while many things have changed, the fundamental things stay the same. Perhaps the key thing to note is that, today, there is more quality wine than ever before coming out of Europe. Of-course, today's global village brings with it global demand and so it is harder and harder to get decent allocations of the best wines. Everyone wants the stuff! All we can do is keep fighting for our share.

Wine importing is a curious business. It's really a hobby that has gotten out of control; a passion from which we have foolishly decided to try to make a living; probably because we found we were spending most of our time on wine anyway! You need quite a few qualities to make it work: first and foremost you need a supportive family who will put up with your many overseas trips, countless evenings spent wine 'tasting' and your outrageous wine expenditure. You need an arrogant confidence in your palate; how else could you make judgments on the quality and commercial appeal of a wine still in cask, served to you in a small glass, in a freezing cold cellar, on the other side of the world? You need good contacts, as you're competing with a seemingly infinite band of wine merchants the world over, all fighting for a highly finite amount of top quality wine. And today, quality producers, even the new ones, want to know who they are inviting into their cellars. You also need a lot of patience and determination; how many times should you have to explain that the whites of Guy Bossard are not simply run of the mill "Muscadet"? Or that fame and quality definitely do not go hand in hand in Champagne? But above all you need to be in love. In love with the fruit of the vine and the myriad of wine styles it produces - specific to the vineyard, region, year and winemaker that came together to produce them. In love with the thrill of new discoveries. In love with the feedback from customers who have just enjoyed one of your wines at their dinner table. In love with selling pleasure in a bottle, as that is what we do. It's pretty addictive stuff really and at IFW, we are nothing if not in love.

In term of buying wine, our philosophy is simple. When searching for wines to offer we ask ourselves these questions: Would I want to drink this wine? Would I be happy to have this in my cellar? Would I be happy to pay the price being offered? If the answer is a resounding "Yes!" then we buy the wine and offer it to our customers. It may not sound too sophisticated, but it is an approach that has served us well for over 25 years. And the warmest of thanks to all those who have joined us for a part, or for all of that journey. Cheers, The team at IFW