Photo: Monsieur & Mrs. Wine Imports - Facebook
Monsieur & Mrs. Wine Imports
Amanda Morden and Daniel Toth
There’s a buzz in the wine world about “New World” wines—vino produced outside the traditional winegrowing areas of Europe. Although Portugal has been producing wine for thousands of years, younger winemakers are propelling this small, seaside-facing country toward the top of the New World pack.
These unique Portuguese wines inspired the husband-and-wife team of Amanda Morden and Daniel Toth to form Monsieur & Mrs. Wine Imports in April 2020. Morden is from Milwaukee and had always enjoyed wine. Toth, who is from Luxembourg, has been drinking wine since he was 14 years old. “He comes from a difference perspective where wine was part of his culture,” says Morden. “It’s something that I loved and wanted to learn more about.”
Toth brought over really cool, unique wines from Europe upon returning from trips, Morden says, and together they would enjoy the wine. They eventually felt it was important to bring those wines to the market in Wisconsin for people to enjoy. Toth had a friend who was an export manager for a small wine company, which gave the couple access to the wine.
Since they happened to form Monsieur & Mrs. Wine Imports just as the pandemic shutdowns hit, they started with a retail focus, offering wines that would be ideal to drink at home.
Operating a small, two-person wine import business allows them to be selective and build relationships with family vineyards that take pride in crafting this traditional agricultural product. Because of the liquor laws, many of which Morden says still hail from post-Prohibition and are therefore tedious and vary state-by-state, they can be a distributor in their home territory only.
“Once we have the wine, we hop into the car and go all over the state of Wisconsin and talk directly to wine bars to tell them about our wines and sell our products,” she explains. “We can’t do that in any other state. We can distribute in Wisconsin, but if we wanted to get into another market, we’d have to find a proper distributor to oversee our products in that state.”
Portugal a Serious Contender in the Wine World
Morden and Toth started with sourcing from a small winery in the Vinho Verde wine region of Portugal. “Their wines are fabulous and are a good value,” Morden enthuses. “Because Portugal is not a huge county, everybody kind of knows everybody in the industry.”
Prior to formation of the European Union, Portugal was kind of invisible in the wine world, Morden notes, and people didn’t consider it a serious contender. One of Morden’s favorites is the single varietal cabernet sauvignon, Quinto Elemento, made by Quinta do Arrobe winery in central Portugal’s Tejo region.
“Cabernet sauvignon is a very odd grape to grow in Portugal,” affirms Morden. “That grape being done there comes off very delicate and unoaked. It’s very different from the cabernets that we are used to.”
Tereza is made with Loureiro grapes grown in Vinho Verde, made by Solar das Bouças winery. It’s fruity with soft, floral notes and pairs well with seafood and cheese. Morden says she and Toth commissioned a local oil painter based in the Riverwest neighborhood to do some of their labels, including the colorful, rustic label that graces bottles of Tereza.
“Portugal by itself getting noticed as a serious wine country, and the U.S. market is more open to smaller, non-prominent regions in other wine countries,” she says. “Milwaukee and parts of metro Wisconsin are really interested and receptive to wine and trying unique varietals. It’s really cool to see that this Midwest area, between two coasts, is on the ball with wine.”
For more information and where to find wines imported by Monsieur & Mrs., visit monsieur-mrs.com.
