Louis/Dressner Selections

Louis/Dressner Selections is a wine importing company founded in the early 1990’s by Joe Dressner and his wife Denyse Louis.  The “M” was added when Kevin McKenna joined forces with them a few years later, thus completing the LDM triumvirate.

LDM, as they are known, were never interested in scores, never interested in wines with “gobs of fruit,” and never interested in highly paid wine consultants.  They are interested in low-impact, organic farming methods, and they are interested in elegant wines, especially those from the Loire Valley and Beaujolais; they were exploring these wines at a time when few others were.  Their focus has always been on the vignerons, on the people who make the wines. Joe and Denyse were visionaries, and like most visionaries, they suffered through some lean times, until the times eventually caught up with them.

Many of the producers in their portfolio are legends now: Domaine de la Pépière, Baudry, Pinon, Puzelat, Jean-Paul Brun, Desvignes, Descombes, Clos Rougeard, Clos Roche Blanche, Occhipinti, Foradori… and on and on. 

Joe died in 2011 shortly after we began to work together.  The company remains in the able hands of Denyse and Kevin, and with the addition of Joe and Denyse’s son Jules as a partner, the future appears very bright indeed.  Joe was a good friend and I miss him every day.  Luckily for me he left behind a solid company and a beautiful family– which includes his extended family of vignerons– with whom we have formed life-long, valued friendships.   Thank you, Joe.

-David Bowler, January 2016

 

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Producers