Emilio Santos’ career as a CPA specializing in alcohol and tobacco tax issues was the perfect prelude for his current profession: owner of Exceptional Wines, an importer of fine European wines. Placing a bottle of Chateau Mouton Rothschild on his desk, Santos explained that alcohol –wines and liquors- have long been the object of substantial ‘sin’ taxes. State and federal governments love to impose taxes on adult beverages, because they are considered a luxury and therefore fair game.
“Fortunately for me I have years of experience dealing with the rules and regulations of alcohol sales,” said Santos, who also taught tax law at the university level. His competition typically must hire tax attorneys to get them through the maze of red tape that surrounds every bottle of wine. Complexity extends from the alcohol content and the container size to the picture and wording on the label. Because of Santos’ close study of alcohol laws and the permitting procedures, for several years, his company was the US distributor authorized to import certain notable wines.
Twenty years ago Santos began working part-time as a wine broker, building on his personal interest in fine wines. In 2002, he decided to formally develop Exceptional Wines LLC as a wine importer and distributor. He chose to handle only high quality wines from small vineyards in Spain, France, Italy and Chile. The company established bonded, temperature-controlled wine warehouses, got into the interstate carrier business to transport the wines in refrigerated trucks and won security clearance to transport wines internationally—into Mexico. Only two other much larger companies in Texas are also importers, distributors and international carriers.
Santos’ daughter Susana, a UTPA International Business graduate, soon joined the business. While he primarily selects and buys the wines and she manages the international side of the operations, each knows the spectrum of responsibilities and multi-tasks. Father and daughter travel to Europe annually and meet the small winery owners who comprise their suppliers. “We deal directly with the producers. We get better prices and can select natural wines made without preservatives or filtration,” Santos said. “These are growers willing to sacrifice volume for quality. Wine is an art, not an industry. Quality and quantity don’t go together.” This fall the Santoses travel to a Miami meeting that many small European growers attend to present their wines.
Read more of this story by Eileen Mattei in the October print edition of Valley Business Report, out now.