Food & Wine Magazine, Best Importer, 2006 American Wine Awards

"WHY HE'S SO GREAT He champions small-producer wines that emphasize a sense of place rather than winemaking technique"
"Ever since Eric Solomon founded European Cellars in his New York city living room in 1989 with just two Châteauneuf-du-Pape producers, he has adhered to a single bedrock principle: place over process. Solomon says, "The excitement of wine for me is in taking the purity and warmth the ground has given it and making that articulate." In addition to those first two obscure (now famous) properties, Domaine de Marcoux and Domaine de la Janasse, Solomon is now working with over one hundred wineries in five countries. Solomon's biggest score, in the early 1990s, was Clos Erasmus, from Spain's then-unknown Priorat region. "I fell in love twice," Solomon likes to say—first with the wine, which he helped launch into the stratosphere, and then with the winemaker, Daphne Glorian (now Mrs. Eric Solomon). He continues to champion native grapes (Spain's new As Sortes white, made from Godello) and uncover superstars-in-the-making (South Africa's Columella). "My customers sometimes look at me like I'm from Mars when I bring them obscure bottles," he says cheerfully. But they know one thing: If Solomon found bottles on Mars, you would be able to taste the red soil in the wines."

Robert M. Parker Jr. Wine Personality of the Year 2002

" It's hard to believe Eric Solomon only started his import company in 1989, after having worked for the Heublein wine division. Solomon has a great talent for ferreting out spectacular wines from France and Spain. In France, his treasures tend to emerge from the Rhône Valley and Languedoc-Roussillon. In Spain, he is proving to be serious competition to the leading American importer of high quality Spanish wines, Jorge Ordonez's Fine Estates from Spain. Solomon's wife, Daphne Glorian, is the owner of Clos Erasmus, one of the superstars of Priorat. Solomon's wines are intense expressions of terroir, and are frequently bottled unfined and unfiltered. The quality of his selections is remarkable. Moreover, this is also a fine source of outstanding wine values."

James Beard Award 2009 Nominee, Outstanding Wine & Spirits Professional

Hospice du Rhone's Person of the Year 2008