The Wine and Cheese Place is proud to introduce United Estates

We are proud to introduce to Missouri -- 
United Estates -- an amazing portfolio of wines that have never been in the state before!
I will be posting the wines and emailing the wines out over the next few days.  We will be tasting the wines on Saturday at our stores.
***Click here to see some of their wines we have in stock***


As I have stated many times, the best products in our stores did not find us, we found them. Don't get me wrong, we are presented 100s of wines each week and we find some very good wines through this "normal" method.   This is the "easy" method and these are the same wines that are presented to every shop in St. Louis.  We are not satisfied with the "easy" method.  We go out and aggressively find wines that are not currently sold in Missouri.   Think about it, the best products don't have to be sold to you or pushed on to you, they are desired and sell themselves--you have to find them.

That brings to this small high quality wine importer -- 

UNITED ESTATES WINE IMPORTS Ltd. 

We found United Estates, they did not find us.  When I first talked to Patrick Allen (founder and owner of UE along with his wife) a few months ago, he said that he had not planned any expansion and had no plans to come to Missouri.   We asked him to send us some samples and samples he did send.    The quality of the wines was amazing.   Our whole staff tasted the wines and we were shocked by the quality.   We immediately had him start the registration process with Missouri because we had to have these wines in our stores.   While we waited these past months for the red tape, we tasted more wines from him and the high quality of the whole portfolio is off the charts.   We are very excited to finally introduce these wines to Missouri!     United Estates Wine Imports follows a long line of wines and wine importers that The Wine and Cheese Place "found" and introduced to St. Louis and the state of Missouri**.  

UNITED ESTATES WINE IMPORTS Ltd. is a company dedicated to importing handcrafted, high-quality wines, from artisan estates in France.

Before starting their business, the husband and wife team of Patrick and Connie Allen spent many years living in France and New York. During that time they worked for many major players in the wine business including Becky Wasserman, Neal Rosenthal, William Deutsch, and Michael Skurnik.
After crafting a business plan over many long walks through Central Park they “took the plunge” and in the spring of 2002 moved to France. Their goal was to establish an importing company dedicated to promoting French country wines from villages far off the beaten track.

In France they researched and tasted wines from hundreds of wineries, ultimately creating a unique portfolio of exceptional, handcrafted, artisan wines. Upon return to their home state of Ohio, they took the steps necessary to create the independent importing company that they had dreamed of during their walks in the park. In January of 2004, the first wines imported by United Estates landed in New York.

Though there are now a couple of exceptions to the rule, the South of France still remains the focus for United Estates Wine Imports. It is one of the few remaining “sleeping giants” in the wine world. In the past, the South of France was known for producing large volumes of low quality wine. Today, thanks to the efforts of many talented young winemakers, the region is producing world class wines. United Estates Wine Imports aims to represent producers who have a deep respect for their land, and who are fully dedicated to quality and authenticity.

A brief word about our logo…

The name, United Estates, embodies our philosophy that by working together with these progressive farmers, we can overcome the obstacles that make selling their wines outside of Europe very difficult.

Therefore, we chose the Fleur de Lys, a symbol of unity, as the center of our logo. The fleur de lys is also an old symbol of Provence. Frédéric Mistral once wrote: “the people of … Provence, generally yearned for the white flag with the fleur-de-lys. (That has changed since.) … it seems to me as an unconscious protest of the people against the increasingly excessive centralization … the fleur-de-lys of yore was for the Provençaux (who had always seen it on the coat of arms of Provence) the symbol of an age when governments had more respect for our customs, traditions, and freedoms.”
From: The Memoirs of Frédéric Mistral, Translated by George Wickes

Through the wines we import, you too can experience these beautiful vineyards, and in a tangible way, get to know these dedicated artisan winemakers.


**The Wine and Cheese Place was the first to introduce to St. Louis:  Jorge Ordonez Wines, Dan Kravitz Hand Picked Selections, Kysela Pere y Fils, North Berkeley, Talbott Chardonnays, Philip Togni, Domaine Pegau, La Sirena, Hartwell, and much more....we now add United Estates the list.  Can you also believe we were the first to bring in Yellow Tail wines years ago.  For the first year, we sold every bottle of Yellow Tail in St. Louis - then the wine exploded to one of the best selling wines and millions of cases.