Three years ago, my husband and I were fortunate to travel to Italy to visit seven vineyards. Two of the winemakers we visited were recently in Seattle, and it was a pleasure to reacquaint ourselves with them.

The story of how these wines have reached the United States and especially the Seattle area is now legendary. When Josh Hanson sold his computer marketing company, he and his wife, Tia, traveled to Italy to celebrate and decompress. Their epiphany occurred as they ate dinner with an Italian friend. As the Hansons drank exceptional wine after outstanding wine, Josh Hanson exclaimed: “Why can’t we get these wonderful wines in the United States?” The reply: “They cannot be exported because they are such small vineyards.”

Hence, the Italian wine distributorship called Small Vineyards was born. I first met Hanson when he had only a few wineries and was just starting in Washington state and Colorado, where his national sales manager lives. Now, Small Vineyards has 40 micro-estates from Trentino to Sicily and is distributed in 32 states. He initially operated out of his West Seattle home. Now he has an office overlooking Alki Beach, a national sales manager in Denver and two regional managers: one for the West Coast and another for the East Coast.

I was pleased to see Alessandro Bocci of Perazzeta Winery and Antonio Sanguineti of Sanguineti Winery again. When we were in Italy, we stayed at Pugliarese, Sanguineti’s agriturisimo. Many vineyards and olive farms have such lodgings, available by the week, which most often include a kitchen. Sometimes, they are working farms and renters are encouraged to join in the family’s chores and meals.

Sanguineti was our host and drove us from winery to winery. “It is not a business; it is a passion,” Sanguineti would say many times without realizing it. He is on a personal mission. In the early 1980s, the Italian wine scene was at its worst. Poor practices were rife and the aim was quantity, not quality. The wine industry was fraught with intentional mislabeling and corruption, including downright carelessness. Sanguineti’s self-assigned goal is to find the best wines from small producers at the best prices to send to America to upgrade the perception of Italian wines.

On the second day of our five-day trip, we visited Perazzeta. We visited Alessandro Bocci’s vineyards and barrel-tasted in the cellar. “Rita” is the name of his first wine. His wife and mother are both named Rita. “I had no choice but to name it Rita,” he laughingly proclaimed. He now has one named Sara after his daughter.

A few days ago, I met with the two winemakers at the Pink Door Italian restaurant in Pike Place Market. I was honored to taste the first bottle of Chianti from Sanguineti opened in the United States. This delicious, well-made Chianti is true to its region with overtones of black cherry and fruit. It will be available for purchase in the spring. It is 75 percent sangiovese, 10 percent canaiolo, 10 percent ciliegio and 5 percent colorino (the last three grapes are common blending grapes from the Chianti region).

Sanguineti and Bocci came to Seattle on a whirlwind tour. Sanguineti is in the United States often. He is the facilitator for Small Vineyards in Italy, often earmarking specific wineries, introducing Hanson to the winemaker/owner, and then acting as an interpreter. Bocci, on the other hand, had never been to the United States before. He had some Small Vineyards events scheduled in Colorado and Arizona. However, he and his family were vacationing and visiting San Francisco and New York, among other destinations. I was trying to envision our country through his eyes. Imagine: San Francisco and New York in the same trip!

Because Hanson has the freedom to pick and choose from many small producers, every wine I have tasted from Small Vineyards has been well-made and, frankly, delicious.

Ironically, because of the VAT (value added tax) among members of the European Economic Community, it costs less to export an Italian wine to the United States than it does to France.

Because these are truly small vineyards, not all of the wines are available in every state where Small Vineyards has distribution. There simply is not enough production to supply all 32 states. However, since Seattle is home to Small Vineyards, we Washingtonians can get every wine that is imported. Small Vineyards remains true to its original mission of working only with small, family-owned estates. Josh Hanson and his crew remain as selective as they did when they first began.

Dee Hitch can be reached at rockypointlane@aol.com.