Vine Street Imports

For more than two decades, Vine Street Imports has collaborated with trailblazing winemakers from around the world to amplify their stories and bring their wines to our customers. They’ve built a reputation of trust and reliability based on their extensive knowledge and close relationships with creative vintners. Wine is their passion, but it’s not where their story begins.

Like many of their industry friends, Vine Street has its roots in their dad’s wine collection. But for them, it was not a straight path from basement cellar tasting to wine importing. Over the years, Ronnie Sanders, inspired by his father, began to hone his impressive wine palate while Lori Sanders grew a career in finance after earning a degree in economics from The University of Pennsylvania.

When their father Hal died suddenly at age 60, they were thrown into managing the family textile company. The timing was unfortunate: they were young, and the future of the domestic textile industry was bleak. Now they are grateful for this trial by fire and the lessons learned. But by the late 1990s, they were done with the world of textiles and found a promising new opportunity.

Ronnie’s gifted palate, along with the wine knowledge he learned from his dad, helped him see the vast potential in importing Australian wines to the U.S. He established Vine Street Imports in Philadelphia in 1999, and soon after Lori joined with her wildly different skill sets to embark on this new journey. Ronnie scours the world for the best under-the-radar wines to market, while Lori leverages her financial acumen to oversee finances and operations. Loyalty and authenticity in their relationships with customers, winemakers, and their team is at the heart of the company, and Ronnie and Lori personally vouch for every wine they sell.