Community Highlights: Meet Dale & Stephen Ott of Nossa Imports

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dale & Stephen Ott.

Dale & Stephen, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
We are a husband-and-wife team with over 30 years of experience in the wine and spirits industries between us. Dale is a Certified Sommelier and former brand manager for a national American Single Malt Whiskey distillery, and Stephen is a Certified Sommelier, Certified Wine and Spirits Educator, and a former distiller. Running our own business together was always the end goal, and focusing on the wine aspect of the industry was an obvious choice as our passion lies in the drink’s encapsulation of agriculture, history, culture, and a language to which we both have intricate ties. We also have deep roots in Phoenix and the Southwest, heavily defined by our historical connections with Iberian and Latin culture. We are also fluent in the Portuguese and Spanish languages, all of which inspired us for our particular focus on our import company. Lastly, both of us are 5th generation Arizonans, with Stephen’s father’s side of the family hailing from Mexico, and Dale’s father’s side having been connected to the land as Arizona farmers since the mid-1800s.

Regarding our new project, we wanted to create something that could capture and convey a level of global connectivity and demonstrate our bond with the Earth. Nossa translates to “ours” in Portuguese. Wine belongs to everyone: it is community-oriented, unrestrictive, and inclusive. It is grown and made in every corner of the world, and when you experience a bottle of wine, it should be transportive and bring everyone together. With Nossa’s portfolio in particular, we have fostered close relationships with our growers and producers so that we are well-equipped to tell their stories to bring these experiences closer to those drinking their wine. Our portfolio of wines is unique because our focus is on wine regions easily marginalized in the global market. These wines give our consumers a sense of sitting at a communal table with friends in the vineyards of Portugal or Mexico, slowing down, sipping casually, all while listening to the stories of the producers and the Earth they tend. To Nossa, this is a true luxury. We have the honor of being the conduit between producer and drinker by asking, is this wine enjoyable? Is it made with integrity? Is there a direct vein from the producer and grower to the wine in the bottle? When we taste this outside of where it’s made, will it take us back there? Can we chase the producer’s mission to the bottle on the table? Nossa chases the mission: from origin to vineyard, grape to bottle.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Hahahaha.

In one sentence: “This has not been easy!”

We decided to launch this company in late 2019, and filed our Articles of Organization with the state of Arizona in January 2020 (you may be ahead of us here as to why we laugh). Because it is necessary for us to have visited each producer we represent and to touch every part of the process to ensure the integrity of the wine, we finally launched last year in June, around a year and a half later than planned. As it turns out, our first container from Portugal was put to sea in one of the most complicated times for the global supply chain since World War Two. We lovingly say that our wines were aged at sea for a whopping 7 months and cost us nearly $40,000 to get here, versus the pre-Covid price of around $7,000 for similar container shipments. We have been over the moon to see that side of the business begin to regulate itself.

Additionally, because alcohol is a controlled substance in the United States, we are operating in a highly regulated field, both on the state and federal levels. The amount of red tape that we have to navigate just to get a bottle of wine onto someone’s dinner table is comparable to that of hard drugs in the pharmaceutical industry.

All of that being said, we are very grateful that we found the company when we did. We say that we were forged in flame, and were able to create our business on a pivot, rather than having to completely restructure as many of our peers did. It was a blessing in disguise.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Nossa Imports?
How to find our wines!

Because we are an importer and legally cannot have a brick-and-mortar in the state of Arizona, we work very closely with our distributor and our local shop, bar, and restaurant owners, hosting events and education all over the state. Following us on Instagram and asking for us in your local stores and bars will keep you up to date on our offerings and upcoming happenings.

Additionally, we’d like to share a bit about why we represent the wines from these two countries in particular?

We are very passionate about the sense of connection that wine provides to those who enjoy it, as, again, it is grown and made in every country on Earth. Wine is transportive, and is something that brings us all together and makes us all the same. In addition, because one usually only hears about the same five or six countries globally regarding wine production, it is so important to us to be representing the countries of Portugal and Mexico, as the histories of each place fill in so much of the global story not only regarding wine but also regarding humanity.

Mexico is the New World’s oldest wine-growing region with nearly 500 years of history, yet an underrepresented category in the US market. Mexico’s wine story and our personal ties to the region are why Mexican wines are prominent in Nossa’s portfolio. Here is the story of how New World winemaking began, its journey through the years, to now, where the industry and its innovation and adaptation flourish. The first vitus vinifera (far and away the most common grape species used for winemaking) was planted in what is now the US in what is now the state of California by a group of Dominican missionaries who, some years beforehand, planted the first grapes in the Valle de Santo Tomás in northern Baja in the 1790s. The same is true of the Jesuit missionaries in Mexico that then moved north and first planted vitus vinifera in what is now the state of Arizona. Our American wine industry as we know it now started in Mexico, and that interconnectedness is not something to be ignored.

Portugal, on the other hand, has one of the longest wine-making histories in Europe, beginning their production in the coastal regions 4,000 years ago. This predates France’s wine-producing history by nearly a millennia and a half, and Spain’s by nearly a millennia. In addition, the Douro Valley in Northern Portugal was the world’s first governmentally-designated wine appellation, founded in 1756 by the Marquis de Pombal to protect the production of port wine from adulteration and nasty additives. Portugal is home to a whopping 250 native grape varietals that are used to make wine, more per capita than any other country on Earth. It is an absolute universe in a country that is a quarter of the state of California and has influenced the wine world for many, many centuries, albeit a bit behind the curtain.

With our expertise and ability to obtain the stories of our producers and their forefathers in their first languages, it is our honor to educate and provide the experience of allowing the American consumer to step out of their comfort zone with wines of exceptional international quality from these two countries while demystifying the category of wine in general to anyone who is interested in enjoying wine. It can be intimidating to walk into as someone who does not have a wine background, but it doesn’t have to be. For us, the most important question is: do you like it?

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
About 99% of importing wine is not sexy at all haha! It is mostly navigating red tape and ponderous amounts of paperwork, as well as many phone calls in one’s first, second, and third languages, wondering why something was not delivered, or who has dropped which ball in a vast international game of telephone (and sometimes…it’s you!).

While our Instagram looks deceptively lovely, it is very much not the glamorous lifestyle that it would appear. That being said, that is very much on purpose. Our goal is to do all of the hard work so our consumers are able to walk on trips and vacations to both places with both a lightness of heart and a depth of understanding, all the while living the beauty that we showcase on our public channels.

We are only the representatives of these places, and both countries are larger than life. We do the tough work so our US consumers can have the beautiful experiences that they desire, both at home and abroad.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nossaimports.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/nossaimports?igshid=ZjE2NGZiNDQ=

Image Credits
Winona Grey