Today we’d like to introduce you to Gordon Little.
Hi Gordon, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
We started Little Peacock Imports — the name’s a mashup of our two surnames — back in late 2011. The idea came out of a road trip across America, actually. We kept noticing how thin the selection of quality Australian wine was wherever we went. I’d grown up in Australia myself but had since moved to the US, and at the time I wasn’t even working in wine. We just had a hunch there was a gap in the market for small-production Aussie wines that nobody was bringing over.
So we flew to Australia and started touring wineries, based on some places I liked when growing up. Whenever we found something we liked, we’d ask if they were exporting to the US — almost always the answer was no — and then we’d pitch ourselves as the ones to change that. It was all just gut feel and guesswork in the early days (some of it still is today haha).
Our very first shipment was 226 cases across nine wines from five different wineries. That was the whole shebang. Twelve years later, we’re moving tens of thousands of cases a year (and now not just from Australia), and we still haven’t looked back.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Smooth-ish? Challenges are always there they just change shape rather than disappearing. Early on, the Australian dollar was brutal. It was trading above the US dollar when we started, after historically sitting closer to $0.65. We had to eat the margins and bet that it would eventually normalize. It did, eventually, but there were a lot of years where that bet didn’t feel like a sure thing. And since we got a handle on that, then tariffs throw uncertainty into the mix and raise pricing again.
There was some supply chain fallout from Covid too. Freight costs roughly tripled, and shipments that used to be predictable suddenly had lead times nobody could plan around.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We have a curated portfolio of imported wines for curious people. There’s so much wine out there (too much?) that it sometimes everything gets all jumbled together. And too often importers and distributors carry wines just to say they have something in that category.
We have a niche in our original Australian portfolio and we’ve been helping American retailers, restaurants, and bars sell more Australian wine by giving them bottles they’re genuinely excited to put on a list. And now we’ve expanded that to New Zealand and Italy too. Same philosophy, not having wines for the sake of having them, but a curated selection that our customers can be excited to sell.
What were you like growing up?
I play the piano (classical and jazz) and music has always been a huge part of my life. For a while I toyed with actually studying it at university, but I went with business instead. And food – I LOVE cooking and eating. And wine is such a big part of that that it all came together naturally I guess. Food, wine and music are, to me, necessary for an enjoyable life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.little-peacock.com
- Instagram: @littlepeacockimports
