The grandson of a leading American fine wine merchant and importer has died in his sleep after attending a vintage car rally in Italy.
Tarik Wildman, grandson of Frederik Wildman, who founded New York-based fine wine and Champagne merchant Wildman & Sons, has died of unknown causes after attending a car rally in Italy. He was found in his villa in Marbella, Spain, on Sunday 8 June, just hours after returning from the race.
"The world here will never see the like and will never be the same again. RIP Tarik Wildman, a legend and a titan," said a statement from The Classic and Sports Car Club of Andalucia, of which Tarik was a member.
"He had just returned from organising and running his Team Schh rally in Italy which he had done in his beautiful Lancia Flamina, a car he loved," the statement continues. "His passion for life in general and motoring in particular was something that others could only envy."
Wildman was 65 years old.
Wine heritage
Along with his motoring prowess, Tarik Wildman had deep ties to wine, having been born into an importing dynasty in the United States. Wildman & Sons has been shipping bottles from France to the US for decades, and has consistently stocked European producers including Champagne Pol Roger, Domaine Armand Rousseau, Domaine Christian Moreau Pere et Fils, Domaine Leflaive and Chateau Fuisse.
The fine wine merchant has had a rollercoaster ride since its genesis in the 1930s.
Colonel Frederick S. Wildman Senior first discovered a passion for wine when he was stationed in France as an American soldier during WWI. News soon spread of his interest in wine, leading to General Pershing, Head of American Expeditionary Services at the time, tasking Wildman with creating wine pairings for his officers' dinners. When Wildman returned to the US after the end of the war, and Prohibition concluded in 1933, he bought Bellows & Co, a wine importer and fine food purveyor, which he later sold to National Distilleries. Off the back of this sale, Wildman founded Wildman & Sons Limited in 1952.
Wildman Senior retired in 1971, after which time Wildman & Sons became a subsidiary of Canadian whisky mogul Hiram Walker for around 20 years. Under this new ownership, the company struck up important partnerships with the likes of Italian wine giant
Gruppo Italiano Vini (GIV), which helped propel the company to new heights. It also formed a gamechanging importer partnership with French liqueur Chartreuse, a favourite with mixologists due to its bitter taste.
Buy-out
But the story doesn't end there.
In 1993 Richard Cacciato, then-president and CEO of Wildman & Sons, decided to buy the company back from Hiram Walker with the help of an investment group headed up by six of the firm's longstanding French wine suppliers, including Champagne Pol Roger and Olivier Leflieve.
When Cacciato retired from Wildman & Sons in 2014 he said: "I joined a company struggling to find its place in the evolving wine and spirits industry. A company rich with history and heritage, representing some of the most respected and renowned families in the fine wine business, that somehow had lost its way. With the unwavering support of the historical suppliers and new additions, we began the building process."
Wildman & Sons, now a multi-million-dollar business, has more than 60 brands in its portfolio including producers from Piedmont, Tuscany, Sicily, Emilia-Romagna, Puglia and Abruzzo in Italy, and Ribera del Duero, Rioja, Rias Baixas, Toro and Castillo la Mancha in Spain.
Big on Burgundy
Burgundy is especially well represented on the company's books by producers such as domaines Anne Parent, Antonin Guyon, Armand Rousseau, Comte Armand, Bruno Clair, Cellier des Dames, Dominique Gruhiers, Famille Vincent, Gallois and also Burguet. Offering bottles from Bordeaux are Chateau Saint-Sulpice, Castlenau de Suduiraut and Compagnie Medocaine. The disparity between the two French regions in Wildman & Son's cellar reflects broader US consumer preference, with US drinkers interested in Burgundy, Bordeaux and California in that order, according to David Parker, president of the National Association of Wine Retailers in the US and CEO of Benchmark Wine Group. Read our big interview with him
here.
Fine wines from Stellenbosch, Barossa Valley, and Mendoza also feature along with a host of domestic US producers from the likes of Oregon and Napa. On the Champagne side, Pol Roger is still a key partner, alongside Champagne Collet and Champagne Valentine Lafleive.
It is unknown how involved Tarik Wildman was in the family wine business. According to his Linked In profile, he was until the time of his death the managing director for financial planning firm PJ Investments, as well as the Principal for Wildman & Co Ltd. The current CEO of Wildman & Sons Ltd is Roberta Corrà, who is also the managing director of Gruppo Italiano Vini.
Last year, Wildman & Sons pushed the sustainability agenda by shipping 30 pallets via pioneering wind-powered initiative Trans-Oceanic Wind Transport (TOWT). "This included shipments from Chartreuse, JJ Vincent, Hugel, Jolivet, Pol Roger, and Leflaive (Valentin)," said Corrà. "Looking ahead, we plan to expand our efforts for transport in 2025. While the cost remains a challenge, we believe investing in sustainable shipping solutions is a crucial step toward a more responsible future for wine distribution."
