World class brand management of fine wines and spirits connecting distinctive producers with great distributors. Their mission is to provide independent distributors nationwide a portfolio of sustainably produced, high quality, distinctive yet value-driven, artisan wines and spirits while providing superior marketing and sales support.

Their team of creative, market-driven personnel draws upon decades of experience in wholesale wine and spirit sales, restaurant and marketing experience, making Columbus Wine and Spirits the organization of choice for high quality/high-value producers that don’t have the staffing or resources to interface in multiple markets across the US. With an understanding that comes with years of experience, Columbus Wine and Spirits provides the kind of support that distributors can depend upon to help their sales excel. Their evolving portfolio of distinctive producers spans the globe from Spain and France to California and Washington with a focus on bringing outstanding value and quality to the market. They keep a keen eye towards developing new markets for their producers and finding new gems to bring to their distributors.

 Their Domaine-based, cask-strength Bas-Armagnacs display both quality and personality.  Their wines come from properties that reflect the soil and familial nature of the producers, whether in Napa Valley or Ribera del Duero. You can rest assured that their producers represent the top tier of quality in each region that they represent. In the end, it’s about their connecting the distinctive producers they represent and the great distributors that bring them to market!

Columbus Wine and Spirits Team

Larry Reiter - Founder & Business Development Larry brings decades of industry experience in positions such as VP of Sales at Domaine Select Wine Estates, and 15 years with the Eber Brothers organization including the last five years as General Managers at Paramount Brands Off Premise Division in the NY Metro market. 

 

Cassandra Esoff - Marketing & Compliance Assistant Cassandra joins their team with a passion for defining food and wine pairings. She has years of restaurant experience, experimenting and elaborating on the pairing of food and wine and has completed the WSET Level II exam. Cassandra brings energy and enthusiasm to their team. A supporter of Long Island Cares, Cassandra is concerned with feeding those in need in her community. Cassandra is a budding author in her spare time.

Robyn Silvestri - Marketing Manager Their Marketing/Web Specialist, Robyn Silvestri, brings 20+ years of experience in marketing and sales. With an advanced certificate in Wine & Spirits from the International Wine Center in New York, website development background, and multiple language skills, she supports their marketing and sales efforts in the field and interfaces with producers around the world.  A devoted wife and mother, Robyn also volunteer as the President of the Babylon K-6 PTA.

 John Dorsey - Compliance and Logistics With over two decades of experience in regulatory compliance and a long history in many other areas of the business, John is their resident compliance expert. He began his career in the industry as a warehousing/on-premise liaison for Premier/Gallo Wine and worked his way to become Star Industries’ Compliance/Marketing Manager. A result-oriented professional with an entrepreneurial mindset, John went on to establish a compliance services company with affordable rates for small businesses in the wine and spirits market, Compliance Made Easy, Inc.

Columbus Wine and Spirits Portfolio

Rued Winery

In 1876, Henry Rued left his home in Switzerland and travelled to Northern California where he would take up employment planting grapes for the Beringer Brothers in Napa Valley. Though a new country for Henry, it was not a new line of work. The Rueds were a grape growing family in Switzerland. And it wasn’t too long before Henry Rued planted his own grapes. In 1882 he put down his family’s roots, as well as grapevines, in Sonoma County. Six generations and more than 125 years later, the Rued family continues to farmland throughout Sonoma County, cultivating wine grapes at their Home Estate in Dry Creek Valley as well as farming substantial tracks of land in Russian River Valley and Alexander Valley. And of course, they now produce handcrafted, small batch wines under their own label—they are the wines that define a family whose roots extend deep into Sonoma County history.

Sarah's Vineyard

Located in Gilroy, California, the philosophy and dream of Sarah’s Vineyard bring together the world of fine wine, fine food, and fine arts. Founded in 1978 in a hidden corner of the southwestern Santa Clara Valley, Sarah’s Vineyard produces handmade wines using traditional techniques. The Santa Cruz Mountain foothills near a windy mountain pass afford Sarah's Vineyard a coastal microclimate of foggy mornings, sunny afternoons tempered by strong ocean breezes and chilly nights that are ideal conditions for premium Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Rhone varietals. Sarah's Vineyard harvests various blocks in each vineyard based upon careful monitoring of grape sugar and acidity with a focus on the pH of the grapes. To ensure the highest quality of fruit at the crush pad, all harvesting is done by hand from 6 am till noon. Gentle destemming and sorting provides an output of perfect whole berries. Whole berry fermentation, with no crushing of berries or pumping of must, contributes to the high quality of their wines. Free run juice is aged separately from lightly pressed (1.6 bar) wine prior to blending and bottling. They use only French oak 228-litre barrels which are topped twice monthly in their humidity-controlled barrel room. Bottling is done on premises using their own small fully automated bottling line, which includes nitrogen sparging and vacuum corking to limit oxygen pickup. Typically their wines receive six months to one year of bottle ageing before release.

Domalne De Papolle

Historically important, the Domaine de Papolle can trace their roots back to the 17th century as the centre of the community and as a producer of fine distilled spirits.  Today this unassuming estate takes its place amongst the top tier producers of Armagnac in the Bas-Armagnac region. Typically no more than eight 400Liter barrels are produced each year.  A quantity is somewhat less than commercial producers loose to evaporation in the barrel each year.  Age designated production is bottled at cask strength to maintain the character of the base spirit and allow the rich character of the Armagnac show through. Tasting through the range of Armagnacs produced is an ethereal experience that allows one to see the evolution of the spirit from fruit driven to one whose floral components that emerge after a few years in wood, only in later stages to be eclipsed by the spice of the wood in harmony with the alcohol, the fruity and floral notes. The cellar current holds vintage selections from 1990 dating back to 1973 bottled to order on special request. The 1977 and 1990 are currently being inventoried in the USA at their exclusive importer Columbus Wine and Spirits.