Although Garagiste is based in Seattle, Jon has trouble answering the question “where do you live?” With his incessant travel schedule, he jokingly  refers to himself as a citizen of the world. He started Garagiste on a shoestring in 1999 with a lifelong dream and a simple concept:  to bring the winemaker and consumer closer together by taking advantage of a new technology--email--and merging it with the ethos of a co-op. Jon was a pioneer in wine marketing via email and his concept has been copied by hundreds of wine retailers since.  “We had a handful of customers and a whole sea of ideas.”  Born of the need to demystify the importance of the wine retailer and to stress the borderless approach of free thought and ideas, Garagiste has thrived for nearly a decade by talking “with” our customers and not “to” them.  A self-described cooperative about more than just wine, Garagiste has developed into a literary montage of philosophy, culture, travel, history, and the world as seen through Jon's eyes.

MORE ABOUT JON RIMMERMAN AND GARAGISTE

Jon Rimmerman is often credited with sparking the “email offer” revolution in fine wine sales. Loosely based in Seattle, Garagiste is a small, independently operated purveyor of wine (and occasionally food), wisdom and esoteric tidbits of travel and culture.  There is no storefront to speak of --- Garagiste is like Daily Candy for the wine set with email as the only vehicle for sales.  Jon is passionate about small growers and producers around the world with an artisanal and often organic approach to farming. Most of Jon’s discoveries are largely unknown outside their local areas and not yet available in the US. Jon searches out the best wine and underground foodstuffs in the world and makes them available to thousands of subscribers via one or more daily email offers. Garagiste is one of the largest wine retailers on the West Coast and is the only US Retailer to be a Wine Enthusiast National Wine Retailer of the Year finalist for three years running, yet it

•    has no storefront in the traditional sense;
•    stocks no inventory;
•    has never spent a penny on advertising;
•    does not sell via its website.

Garagiste was the only retailer with a long-running dedicated thread on Robert Parker’s website, erobertparker.com.  Between October 2006 and January 2009, the thread, entitled “Garagiste Blog, aka the Great Enabler,” consisted of over 2,400 posts and had been viewed more than 123,000 times. The site’s administrator stated, “people seem compelled to write up every wine they buy from this store.” Despite the fact that Garagiste is not a "store" and the thread was completely customer-generated, he closed the thread on January 9, 2009 for fear that it was becoming “commercialized.” For the time being, the thread is still viewable here: http://tinyurl.com/greatenabler.

IN PRAISE OF GARAGISTE

“Jon – without question you are the best wine writer (other than Hugh Johnson and maybe Jancis) in the business.  Never mind the fact you are merchant – that’s secondary to me.  After close to 30 years of devouring all that has been published in English (on both sides of the pond) about wine, I just want you to know there are readers who relate to your perspective hook, line, and sinker...I’m one of them.”
Rod
Collector and Garagiste client, October 2008

“Rimmerman's huge enthusiasm for wine -- plus his gift for describing its qualities and the culture, geology and geography of the places it's produced -- propel the business, enticing even nonwine drinkers.”
Dan Richman
Seattle Post Intelligencer July 2008

“Combining the strengths of importer, journalist and retailer, Rimmerman orchestrates its quirky offerings with a confidence that suggests he sees the future of wine-selling differently, perhaps more clearly, than just about anyone else.”
Paul Gregutt
Seattle Times, March 2008

“…you get an incredible amount of backstory that you would otherwise never get except from the most dedicated and passionate wine shops. Jon's stories were interesting enough to get me to start a Google map pinpointing the sources/vineyards/domains of the wines I bought from him.”
Paul
Poster to Good Wines Under $20, February 2008

“Your wine descriptions, and the tone and the voice of your service is so consistent and so informative that you can't help but be intrigued by the wines.”
Terry
Garagiste client, July 2008

“Quirky but highly knowledgeable wine expert Jon Rimmerman… scours the world for high quality small production wines…I have yet to order and drink anything other than a very good bottle of wine from Garagiste offered at a reasonable price. I have also learned a lot about wine and find his emails to be blessedly free of the usual drivel that is written by and for oenophiles.”
Christopher Kimball
Wickedlocal.com, December 2007

“a mythical figure in the wine world”
Alice Feiring
Veritas in Vino, January 2008