About Us

In the spring of 2005, I was studying to become a Sommelier at the University of Memphis. My constant and vested interest in wine, coupled with my studies though the International Sommelier Guild persuaded me to make wine my life’s work. Following the advice of a trusted friend in the wine industry, I decided to start a new distributorship and name it Lee Edwards Distributing.

It took some time to develop a plan and a vision for my business. As an avid reader of all things wine, it became increasingly apparent that Arkansas was barely making a blip on the worldwide map of wine. With the rapidly growing popularity of the wine industry, my mission became clear: to bring Arkansas up to speed with the booming business of grapes and its corresponding diversity and quality. A grape has the potential to express itself with great intensity in a glass of wine. I similarly see this potential for wine to express itself more profoundly in Arkansas’ restaurants and retail shops.

As a distributor, I am especially interested in representing less mainstream, smaller U.S wineries. My criteria for choosing wines involve a more organic approach to harvesting grapes. I support vineyards that handpick grapes (as opposed to machine harvesting) and vineyards that practice “green” methodologies. I search for highly selective wineries that put the best possible product in the bottle, not produce the most possible bottles per acre. The wineries I represent are held to the highest standards, just as they have high expectations of my distributorship. I will only bring in wines that I firmly stand behind.

As meticulous as I strive to be in searching out domestic wineries, I am even more discerning when choosing partners to import with. I exclusively elect importers who honor the delicate complexity of a grape by employing careful importing methods. Too often in the past, for example, wine has left Spain, France or Italy in non-refrigerated containers. During trans-oceanic travel, wine can become cooked and in too many cases, the American public has been sold damaged wine at full price. I seek importers who use refrigerated containers to transport their product into the United States. I will only bring a product into the country in the same condition as it left its place of origin. This makes for the best possible product I can purchase.

My commitment to the overall quality of the wine I represent is equally as high as my partners, whether they import the wine or produce it themselves. 50% of my warehouse is maintained at sub-60 degrees. The remainder of the warehouse is double insulated and cooled as well. And even in the most sweltering conditions of an Arkansas summer, wines will never overheat under my supervision. My commitment to preserving the quality of wine also applies to road travel. I have added extra cooling to my transportation vehicle to ensure that the wine is delivered from my warehouse to the restaurant or store at an appropriate temperature.

I hope you enjoy the wines that Lee Edwards Distributing has brought to the state of Arkansas. Please sign up for our newsletter, which, from time to time, will update the availability of new wines and exciting wine-related events in the area.

~Lee Edwards