DiBacco Imports: Boutique Wines – A Family Affair

By Wendy Lechner, Photography By Savannah Dean

A fateful journey to Italy in 2010 has developed into a business that supplies outstanding wines to Northwest Florida.

Tom DiBacco grew up with his grandfather’s stories of the beauty of the Italian hill country and what it was like growing up in the small town of Pratola Peligna. With 7,000 residents, the town is situated in the Abruzzo region east of Rome, an area known for its vineyards and rolling pastoral land, fortresses, castles, and magnificent parks. In 2010, Tom and his family decided to travel to the small town to see it for themselves and meet their extensive Italian family.

The DiBaccos in Italy have made wine for generations, mostly for their own consumption. In 2005, Liberato DiBacco, one of Tom’s cousins, gave up his regular job to focus on wine as a business. He produces and sells wines, grape musts, and jams throughout Italy. Assisted by his wife, father, and sometimes other family members, the DiBacco wines include Trebbiano, Pecorino, and Montepulciano, the last which is Tom’s favorite.

“I’ve always been a wine enthusiast. It was fun to bring DiBacco wines to the U.S. for the novelty of sharing them with family and friends,” Tom says. He had no intentions of going into the wine business but soon the demand grew and Tom had to face the same legal requirements that commercial importers have to abide by, including the need to find warehousing, getting bonded, and obtaining licenses. It became quite an investment in time and money. But rather than seeing these as obstacles, he learned the nuts and bolts of the import and distribution business. “All of that took a year before even getting the wine here. It started as a lifestyle business, but then it grew.”

Tom began importing his favorite Barolo, Brunello, and Primitivo wines from other Italian wineries to expand his list. Soon, other wines from around the world followed. “And that,” Tom says, “is really the DiBacco’s niche in the market, the ability to introduce little known wines and varietals to our area and beyond.”

DiBacco Importing carries 116 different wines in its portfolio, 40 are Italian. Others come from California, Argentina, Spain, and France. Tom stresses, “Like craft beer operations, the demand for unusual high-quality wines is growing. I like to find very rare wines. Sometimes they’re from grapes no one has heard of.” Some of these include Primitivo and Petit Verdot. The DiBaccos seek out wineries that make only between 150 to 5,000 cases of a particular vintage or style of wine.

Tom looks for boutique wines with a personal touch where the winemakers take great care to reach certain flavor profiles that make them stand out as special. For example, DiBacco Importing carried a great tasting 2012 Boheme Pinot Noir of which only 254 cases were produced. But don’t hope to buy a bottle, it sold out faster than you can say “wine tasting.”

Wine production and distribution is a billion-dollar business and, next to California, Floridians consume the most wine in all 50 states according to data provided by the California Association of Winegrape Growers.

There is a personal element to wine distribution and Tom dedicates much time to sourcing small batch producers. The biggest influences on wine comes from the land (terroir) and the winemaker, he notes. “A good winemaker can almost make you taste the vineyard. Making a fine wine is like raising a child. You get out of it what you put into it. There are small humble wineries where the owner is involved in picking his own grapes and has been in the business for 75 years.” Bringing these wines to his home town of Panama City Beach makes him proud. Tom often goes to wine country in California, staying for days at a time, getting to know the vineyards, the vintners, and the wines he sells.

All this considered, Tom and his son, Quinn, frequently survey our local restaurants and beverage stores to find out what’s in demand. Tom notes, “Tastes are different in Panama City Beach, Panama City, Destin, and 30A. We find out what our customers want and then we go out and find a winery to fill that demand.” He says he personally knows almost all the owners of the wines they represent.

Tom DiBacco and wife, Kim Styles DiBacco, originally came to our area in 1989 from Naples, Florida and owned several radio stations in Bay County. The pull of fine wine changed Tom’s career plans. Today, a new generation is getting involved. Quinn joined the family business and is in charge of sales and distribution. Which wines are preferred by a family that has wine in their genes?  We learn that they are partial to big, flavorful reds with a touch of oak.

“One of the best aspects of the wine distributing business is what we refer to as R&D. That means popping open a new wine and determining whether it’s one we want to carry,” says Quinn DiBacco. Research and Development happens on a weekly basis and includes the whole family. Once they’ve found just the right wine from the right winery, they stock it for their customers.

The lines of wines the DiBaccos supply come in all price ranges. “While the typical wine we supply is in the $25-50 range, we also carry award winning wines such as Riverain that runs about $250 per bottle,” Tom says.

With a long list of customers who appreciate good wine, DiBacco Imports has become a go-to wine importer. Area restaurants such as Firefly, g. Foley’s, Dolce, Capt. Anderson’s and Boar’s Head as well as specialty stores such as Carousel Supermarket, The Wine Dog, and other retailers, carry DiBacco wines. Try these wines at the restaurants that are supplied or the weekly wine tastings on Fridays at Beach Liquors. To find what’s happening with DiBacco Importing, check their social media pages.