A Report From Wine Explorer Diego Samper
Paris, France
If you want hype, follow Instagram. If you want wine worth drinking, continue reading.
We never set out to be in the wine business.
Like many things in life, it happened by accident. A friend asked me to consult on his vineyard. Frost had wiped out half the crop. What little remained couldn’t even cover the wages of the people working the land.
That was our introduction. Not a château with manicured lawns or a glossy magazine spread. Just small producers, fighting to keep something meaningful alive.
And we thought: there has to be a way to make this sustainable. To bring production back to places that might otherwise be abandoned. Not for fashion. Not for a trend. But because the land deserved it, and the people who worked it deserved it too.
That’s how Tacana began. Not as a master plan. Just a way to keep vines alive. Proof that even out of desperation, style can emerge.
That’s the spirit behind this club. We didn’t build it on hype. We built it on people who put in the work, year after year, even when no one was watching.
Because pedigree matters. Agustín’s Sunal wines earned 95 points from James Suckling this year. Raúl’s Valle Arriba came in at number 22 in the Top 100 list. Those weren’t accidents. They were the result of sweat, patience, and integrity. Agustín chasing centenary vines that have outlived generations. Raúl carrying nearly two decades of production in his family’s DNA. That isn’t fashion. That isn’t a trend. That’s style.
Of course, the wine industry needs to pay its bills too. There’s always pressure to move volume, to catch the next wave. McDonald’s is the best burger in the world if you’re counting sales. But if you’re counting quality, you’d never confuse it with a steakhouse. Wine is the same. Some bottles are built for mass appeal. Others are built to endure.
We look for the latter. Wines made responsibly. From people who care for their land, knowing if you mistreat it one year, it won’t give you much the next. Real style requires that kind of responsibility.
But responsibility doesn’t photograph well. Everyone is selling an image now. Perfect bottles, perfect smiles, perfect stories. I’ve seen behind the curtain. Once, on a job with an athlete, I learned those Red Bull cans in the photos weren’t filled with Red Bull at all. They were filled with water. The picture mattered more than the truth.
Wine shouldn’t be like that.
That’s why we’re not gatekeepers. We’re guides. Honest enough to say, “This one is worth your time. That one, not so much.” Honest enough to wait when it’s too hot to ship. Better to hold back than send you cooked wine. Real wine isn’t pristine. It’s fragile, unpredictable, sometimes divided. Like life.
And yet, style cuts through.
Which brings me to this fall. In late October, after more than three years of chasing, convincing, and planning, we’ll be shipping a Spanish collection. Six wineries. Six stories. Some of them took me years to land. None came easy. All of them are worth it. Because that’s what style demands — time, patience, persistence.
If you’ve been with us, you know what to expect. If your membership has been on hold, this is your signal to return. Because projects like Tacana — born from a vineyard that couldn’t even pay its workers — only survive when people care enough to support them.
And if you’re not ready to come back, you can still help. Forward this note to a friend. Tell them about the club. Show them that real wine exists — not fashion, not trend, but style.
Trends fade. Fashions pass. Style stays.
Diego Samper
Wine Explorer
P.S. Spain is coming in October. Six wineries. Three years in the making. If you’re not a part of the Partnership, send us an email here and we’ll get you set up for October.
