Working with family-owned businesses is a laudable goal. It is something I personally try and do not only in business, but in my everyday shopping too. Whether it is an independent butcher shop like Moccia's, a shoe store, or a restaurant, I feel better about supporting family run operations. Not only do I get to meet the people who are truly passionate about their craft, I get better quality than mass production can offer.

So when I read about a wine importer that "is a family-owned business working almost exclusively with family-owned wineries," I definitely wanted to check out their wines. Much to my dismay, I discovered that it is not WYSIWYG! This importer does indeed represent some great wineries, but yellowtail? Sure the Australian wine giant is family-owned, but if that is your only standard, then maybe you should book your next vacation to a family run paradise.

Okay, so maybe I am exaggerating a little, but I'll leave you with Paul's (of Champion Wine fame) thoughts on the matter..."Wine is just like any other cultural product. It’s an agricultural product, crafted by human beings. Like food or art or music, wine can say something about where it came from, how it was made, who made it. There is a wine mainstream, there is a wine underground. A product like Yellowtail is even more insidious than Starbucks or the GAP, because folks don’t understand the difference between the factories that pump out millions of gallons of wine, versus a small independent producer, growing their own grapes and making their own wine."