University Hospital’s Seidman Cancer Center and is held every other year in Cleveland, Ohio. The first event was in 1987.

Five Star brings together principals of renowned wineries and restaurants from around the world. Vintage Wine Distributor has been the primary wine source of this event since the beginning. Today, the event is large, complicated and  successful. We consistently raise in excess of two million dollars. This year Vintage Wine was the exclusive source of wines for this world-class event.

The 2019 Five Star Sensation occurred on Saturday, June 14. Vintners and chefs arrived earlier in the week for a variety of work and entertainment. Friday night was a gala dinner for the major donors held on the concourse of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Saturday event was attended by just shy of 2,000 people. Sunday, Vintage Wine hosted a trade show drawing approximately 200 trade customers.

Why do we do it?

            We see this as THE major Wine & Food event in Ohio.

            We see this as a major fund-raising event for one of the premier hospitals in the country, if not the world.

            We see this as our part in building the path towards diminishing the destructive devastation caused by cancer.

We see this as an opportunity to augment the wine culture in Northeast Ohio…

                        …which speaks to our Corporate Culture.

                        We are a Company of Distinction,

                                    Selling Wines of Significance,

                                                To and From People who Care.

To those who came to Ohio to help us, we say THANK YOU!

Wineries included:

Aquitaine                                Jean-Sebastien Calvet

Arano / CUNE                         Gloria Zapatero

Bonny Doon                            Randall Grahm

Burgess Cellars                        Steve Burgess

Cantele                                    Paolo Cantele

Damilano                                Tommy Cuni

Debonne Vineyards                 Joel Sandry

Diamond Wine Imports           

Domaine Solitude                   Louis Kressmann

Dunn Vineyards                         

Grgich Hills                            Sean Barrett

Il Molino di Grace                   Daniel Grace

Meyer Family                          Tony Poer

Morgan Winery                        Jim McAllister

Neirano Winery                         

Nomine-Renard Champagne     Jim Cosma

Owen Roe                                  David O’Rielly

Dow’s Port/Leacock’s Madeira                          

Saget La Perriere                        Geraldine Kenny

Shannon Ridge                            Clay Shannon

Shiverick Imports                        David Shiverick

Silver Oak / Twomey                   Lauren Cipriani

Valdo Prosecco                            Matteo Bolla

Willamette Valley Vineyards        Joe Ibrahim

Restaurants included:

Flour & Barley               Las Vegas, NV

Brothers & Sisters        Washington, DC

Barrington                      Aurora, OH

Mama Chang                 Washington, DC

Q by Peter Chang         Washington, DC

Poke to the Max           Honolulu, HI

Michael’s Genuine       Cleveland & Miami

Quartino                         Chicago, IL

Restaurant Iris               Memphis, TN

Cibreo                              Cleveland, OH

Harlan Social                  Stamford, CT

Mighty Quinn’s             New York City

Sausal                               El Segundo, CA
Fluff Bake Bar                Houston. TX

Albi                                   Washington, DC

Lindey’s Lakehouse     Cleveland, OH

Fiona                                    Los Angeles, CA

Greenhouse Tavern        Cleveland, OH

Lola                                       Cleveland, OH

The Belfry                           Kansas City, MO

The Tuck Room                 Los Angeles, CA

Perry’s                                 Houston, TX

Turkey and the Wolf       New Orleans, LA

Fire                                       Cleveland, OH

Vetri                                     Philadelphia, PA

Fahrenheit                         Cleveland, OH

Flour                                     Cleveland, OH

Le Coucou                          New York City

Spruce                                 San Francisco, CA

Gotham Bar & Grill          New York City

Cleveland Browns            Cleveland, OH

Sweet Sugar, Sultry Spice         Chicago, IL

Michelle Geer presents Jon, from The Littlest Heroes, with the check from Vintage Employees.

Every December the employees of Vintage Wine choose a local organization to donate to during the holidays. We choose different ways to fund raise every year, so that everyone can participate in a collective donation. Some of the organizations we have donated to in the past include; Hospice of the Western Reserve, Fieldstone Farms, Providence House Cleveland and Shop with a Cop.

This year we chose The Littlest Heroes based here in Solon.

The Littlest Heroes non-profit organization has been around since 2001 and has helped more than 4,000 families in Northeast Ohio. Their mission is “to impact the lives of children living with cancer and their families by addressing the economic, emotional and social concerns that accompany childhood cancer through education, assistance and community organization”. They do this by providing financial support in the form of gas and grocery gift cards, rent/mortgage and utility payments, or even medical expenses that insurance will not cover.  All types of families, regardless of income level or zip code, are assisted through The Littlest Heroes program.

Through the Littlest Heroes, we were able to adopt a family who has a child with cancer and we were able to raise a total of $1,460.

Jon with The Littlest Heroes came by our office on Monday to collect our donation. He was amazed at how much we were able to collect in such a short period of time. They will be presenting the donation to the family on behalf of Vintage Wine employees and will send updates once they receive the funds.

For more information about The Littlest Heroes program visit: thelittlestheroes.org

Vintage has been in business since the fall of 1972. Vintage has received this award nor has any company our size (or smaller), nor any company of our makeup, being predominantly a wine house.

It is an honor to receive this recognition.

Here is what our president Casey Forbes, had to say to the assembled beer and wine distributors in acceptance of the award.

“Thank you for this award. It is a tribute to the people of Vintage Wine Distributor past and present.       

46 years ago, my father, along with my sister, started Vintage Wine Distributor in an underground warehouse below a retail shopping center at Shaker Square. One of the first things he did was join the WBWAO. He believed that Trade Associations are a very important commitment. He was absolutely right.

Our association is a model for the rest of the country. The structure of our industry in Ohio is the envy of every other state. Sure – we don’t have the gigantic volumes that some states have – but our market is orderly and promotes competition, choice and convenience.

There are about 44 distributors of wine in Ohio, collectively, we service about 24,000 on and off premise permit holders and we each have about 4 zillion products to sell. That is a lot of wine!

Yes, we compete ferociously with one another, but we compete Face to Face.

Thank you for this honor. Thank you to Dick Lumpe, Dave Raber, Tim Bechtold, Sue Remy, and to all the members of the Association for making this a great industry within this great state.”

Thanks to our peers for recognizing our hard work! 

For more information about the Wholesale Beer and Wine Association of Ohio (WBWAO), please visit: www.wbwao.org 

       Vintage Wine represented Vineyard Brands from 1988 until 2003. Chris Marshall and Shyvawn Licorice called on us and spent a lot of time in Ohio. The major brands that we sold from them were:

          La Vieille Ferme

          Perrin Family: Beaucastel, Coudelet, Perrin Reserve

          Santa Rita from Chile

          Marques de Caceras from Spain

          Warre’s Ports – 2 containers per year

          Many really great Burgundy producers

          Villa Maria from New Zealand

          Marquis de Chasse in wood boxes from Bordeaux

          Miles Madeira

          Weinbach from Alsace 

      They also had some real challenging brands, including Bulletin Place, Willow Creek, Adelaida, Chantovent, Richemont from Moldova, Hickory Ridge by Hugh Ryman,  and – at the time – Tablas Creek.

At one time Vineyard Brands also represented Champagne Louis Roederer, Pine Ridge, St. Clement, and Wild Horse.

       In 2003, we traded Vineyard Brands, Merryvale, Pine Ridge, and Archery Summit to Glazer’s and received Kunde, Seghesio, St. Supery, Negociants (Yalumba), Bernardus, Pasternak, Kenwood, Swanson, Forestville, and Grand Cru.

       Although Tablas Creek has become an industry leader, in the early years, it was one of the most difficult brands for us to sell. The wines are from Paso Robles, at that time unknown, and made from Rhone varietals – not well known compared to other California wines at the time. The story behind Tablas Creek was (and is) wonderful – but no one wanted to hear it. Additionally the wines, in my opinion, did not taste good. The Haas family had invested a lot into this project with the Perrin family and it immediately became their highest priority – clearly above all other brands. We did our best, the wines were not very good and our customers did not share the Haas’s enthusiasm, desire or financial risk.

           Robert had perseverance. Today, the wines are wonderful, have impacted the industry and Vineyard Brands continues onward. Robert Haas was a true pioneer in our industry.