how it
started
At Swig we believe that great wine is all about drinkability
Swig is a Spirits & Wine Import Group based in The Bahamas, with distribution and retail throughout the Caribbean. Our wine rockstars, all passionate producers, make delicious booze that compels you to drink in gulps instead of sips. As the buyer, I look for profound wines to both challenge your senses and keep up with your thirst, and I hope you’ll find our wines so good you’ll forget how great the bottle is and just enjoy.
we are swig
Swig, short for ‘spirits & wine importing group’, is a word meant to inspire emotion.
A bottle of wine should bring joy and make you smile, it should make you think, but mostly it should taste so damn delicious that you cannot get enough. I look for grapes whose flavor profiles are built on mouthwatering acidity, juicy fruit and crackling energy, with bottles that offer immediate satisfaction yet serious contemplation. In my world, the perfect bottle of wine is located on the corner of thinkability & drinkability. With the producers in our book, that is one very busy corner.
While in college, my restaurant career began with the intention of making enough money to fill my belly with beer.
Instead, I ended up finding my passion and have been in love with wine and the service world ever since. I’ve spent almost 15 years living the dream in the Caribbean, creating wine programs and running restaurants. My goal has always been to share my passion for great wine by introducing people to bottles I love to drink and that they may not have access to. My first direct import was in 2010, and I started with Louis/Dressner, the guys who were preaching natural wine way before it was cool. It was challenging pouring ‘Mosse’ and ‘Occhipinti ‘to people who only spoke the language of ‘Santa Margherita’ and ‘Caymus’, but slowly the tides began to turn.
how it’s going
We started Swig the summer of 2020. Yep. Lockdowns. Supply chain mayhem (still).
Capsule and bottle shortages. Mother Nature wreaking havoc around the world, creating difficult vintages. Yet, every day, as I stand in my temperature-controlled warehouse while surrounded by boxes of wine I am so proud to represent, I am grateful to be able to be a part of putting these wines on someone’s table or wine list. All the challenges fade away when I know these wines are reaching their final destination, your glass.
Everything is a wine list to me, and a great wine list is never complete. There is always someone growing & fermenting something ridiculous that must be found and added. The natural start for our book was Becky Wasserman & Co. because great Burgundy was lacking in the Caribbean. We feel blessed that being trusted to represent their iconic producers set the foundation for what Swig was to become.
We’ve since added a number of equally brilliant importers who have similar focus:
- Jose Pastor (Spain/South America/Mexico)
- Schatzi (Germany/Austria)
- Louis/Dressner (again)
- Oliver McCrum (Italy)
- Paris Wine Company (France)
- Louis Roederer (Champagne/Provence)
- …as well as many direct winery imports.
Our intent is to create a thoughtful, concise but comprehensive list that focuses on the great farmers/winemakers of both the Old World and New World. Every wine must have a reason to be in the book, setting itself apart from the others whether by varietal, vintage, region and/or philosophy. We want our book to read like a good story, with a beginning, middle and end.
shop around…
As you click through our website, there is no need to weed through plonk to find the good stuff.
I won’t buy wine that I wouldn’t love to drink myself. I’m very passionate about what I do and refuse to sell wine from those who do not feel the same. Since great wine is finite, most of the wines are small production and will come and go quickly. So, when you find a bottle you love, jump on it while it’s in stock. And if it’s already gone, I guarantee that I am always reading, tasting and traveling in search of the next great wines and cannot wait to share them with you.
