Frederick Wildman & Sons – Frederick Wildman & Sons French Portfolio Tasting

Please join us for our French Portfolio Tasting on Thursday, March 26th, 2026, from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Discover the breadth and character of our French wine selection, showcasing a range of regions, styles, and over 60 producers.

Please use this link below to register:
https://forms.office.com/r/czPP63vziL

Château d’Agassac
Comte Armand
Attitude by Pascal Jolivet
Stephane Aviron
Château Barbeyrolles
Domaine Patrick Baudouin
Domaine François Baur
Château Bourbon la Chapelle
Domaine Jean-Luc Burguet
Cap Royal
Château Carbonnieux
Château Castera
Domaine Sylvain Cathiard
Chai de la Dive
Château la Chapelle aux Moines
Chartreuse
Domaine Bruno Clair
Champagne Collet
Domaine Jean Féry
Château Fuissé
Domaine Gallois
Dominique Gruhier
Domaine Guiberteau
Domaine Antonin Guyon
Château Haut Plaisance
Château Haut-Vigneau
Famille Hugel
Domaine Humbert
Jade Absinthe
Domaine Claudie Jobard
Pascal Jolivet
Château La Tour de l’Èvêque
Domaine Labruyère
Domaine Lafarge-Vial
Domaine Michel Lafarge
Domaine Nicole Lamarche
Olivier Leflaive Frères
Champagne Valentin Leflaive
Lignier-Michelot
Lucid Absinthe
Château Lynch-Bages
Château de la Maltroye
Domaine Méo-Camuzet
Laurent Miquel
Château Mont-Redon
Domaine Christian Moreau Père et Fils
Jacques-Frédéric Mugnier
Famille Ogereau
Domaine Oratoire St. Martin
Château Ormes de Pez
Domaine Parent
Château Pibran
Château Pichon Baron
Château au Pont de Guitres
Champagne Pol Roger
Domaine Jacques Prieur
Rosé d’Azur
Domaine Armand Rousseau
Château Saint-Sulpice
Brandy Sainte Louise
Domaine Sérol
Jean-Baptiste Souillard
Château Suduiraut
Isabelle Suire
Sweet Gwendoline
Château du Taillan
Veuve Ambal
Famille Vincent

When Wildman founded his import company in 1934 he was already one of America’s rare authorities of fine French and European wines and spirits, experience that was directly attributable to his WW I service in France. For a Danbury, Connecticut-born member of one of the city’s most prominent families, Wildman’s service in France during WW I would prove to be crucial to his transformation into a great wine and spirits connoisseur, a far-sighted importer beginning with Repeal and, ultimately, a highly respected wine and spirits industry leader in both America and Europe.

A decorated veteran in critical World War I battles at Château-Thierry and Meuse-Argonne—where he attained the rank of first lieutenant in the Second Division of the U.S. Army—Wildman soon developed a thirst to learn as much as he could about fine French wines and spirits. His grandson, Tarik Wildman, remembered that the Colonel told him that as he was so close on the front lines to Reims (and its surrounding Champagne vineyards) in June 1918 during the Château-Thierry battle, Wildman learned to appreciate France’s wines and Champagnes. So much so, as he recounted to his grandson, General Pershing—head of American Expeditionary Forces—on learning of Wildman’s connoisseurial skills, tasked the then First Lieutenant to organize elaborate menus and accompanying wines for Pershing’s post-war officer’s mess following Armistice Day on November 11, 1918. On Pershing’s orders, Wildman stayed on in France and then Germany for a period of six months, scouting out fine wines to serve to Pershing’s top brass before his discharge in 1919.

Wildman returned home and entered the family insurance and banking business in the 1920s. But sensing the end Prohibition and an opportunity to turn his avocation into a business, in 1933 Wildman bought the century-old Bellows and Co., a wine importer and fine-food purveyor. That same year Wildman traveled to Europe’s finest vineyards to pursue suppliers and to grow his importing business. Within a short time, Wildman signed on some of France’s leading wine producers, many still in Frederick Wildman’s portfolio today.

With Wildman in charge, his import company grew and prospered. Wildman himself wrote the newsletters and wine notes, always reflecting his personal commitment to the highest quality products for his discriminating clientele. The Colonel, as he was called, continued to travel to Europe to develop contacts and establish partnerships. When National Distillers, which had acquired Wildman’s company after WW II, decided to leave the premium wine business in 1952, the Colonel was able to create his own company, Frederick Wildman and Sons, Ltd. From the start, Champagne Pol Roger, Domaine Armand Rousseau, Christian Moreau, Olivier Leflaive, and Château Fuissé were mainstays of the portfolio then and remained when Colonel Wildman retired in 1971, and his company became a subsidiary of Hiram Walker. In the next two decades Frederick Wildman and Sons continued to grow.

1989 was a boom year for the company. Frederick Wildman and Sons added the very popular and influential wines of Italian producer, Gruppo Italiano Vini (GIV), to its range including Melini, Santi, and Folonari. In 1990, this was followed by the arrival of Hugel et Fils from Alsace and Chartreuse, a famed botanical elixir, into Wildman’s portfolio. These Italian additions added large volume of popular wines and propelled Wildman into the ranks of one of the leading importers in the United States. At that time, Richard Cacciato had just become president of the company and he began to restructure the company to allow the new growth.

In 1993, Cacciato, along with an investment group headed by GIV (Gruppo Italiano Vini) and including five of the company’s French suppliers—Champagne Pol Roger, Famille Hugel, Domaine Olivier Leflaive, Jean-Jacques Vincent/Château Fuissé and Domaine Pascal Jolivet—purchased Wildman from Hiram Walker. This was a strong vote of confidence on the part of the suppliers in Frederick Wildman’s stability and promise for the years to come