Article Written By: Life Is Grape In The City
Part II of my behind the scenes look at the New York Wine Expo
When I first arrived at the New York Wine Expo at the Javits Center, I took copious amounts of notes…. but after the 7th or 8th glass, I was over it. Read on for the details of my around the world wine tour…from memory:
Greece- This was the first stop of the night because my father loves Greek food. The first wine was the 2006 Parparousis, which was, in my opinion, ok… but not amazing. The rest of the wines were completely underwhelming, dry, and almost bitter. Additionally, the host had limited information and couldn’t really answer many of my questions.
Spain- Ahhhh Tempranillo, a favorite of mine. My father tried the 100% Tempranillo: 2008 Dehesa de Luna Tempranillo, and I tried the blend: 2008 Dehesa de Luna and we both agreed the blend was better. The wines aren’t sold yet in the US but when they are, they will retail for about $20 a bottle.
Brazil- When I think of wine, Brazil is never often what enters my mind. When it comes to wine, Rubens Pasquale of Spirits do Brasil taught us to consider Brazil. He even convinced us to try the Brut selections along with our reds. The regular brut was much better than the rose. I pictured myself adding some peach puree to it on a warm summer afternoon. YUM!
France- I had to drag my father to the French section of the expo since he claims to dislike French wines. The pretty French lady behind the table and I convinced him he would enjoy wine from the Rhone Valley. We started with her recommendation of the 2009 Gigondas, La Compagnie Rhodanienne, which is a blend of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre. Dad loved it. It was bold, fruity & smokey…definitely my favorite wine of the night. This wine retails for about $30 a bottle.
California- We stopped by the Naked Grape table, mostly because the name was interesting and I thought it was organic, except that it’s not. The woman behind the table wasn’t too sure what the Naked Grape was either, and upon questioning, she rambled something about it being sustainable. The wine was disgusting, so I don’t care that you bike to work to make it.
Italy- Nothing special here, although it was interesting to learn that the winemaker is still so old-school that they still use cement instead of barrels.
Portugal- This was an awesome section; really great knowledgeable hosts and the Dao Sul wine was incredibly tasty, bold, smokey and full of flavor. The best part is that it retails for about $12 and is sold at the Vintage Grape on the UES, you better believe I will be stopping by soon to try it again.
Hudson Valley- Shawangunk Wine Trail had great people behind the table, the wines were tasty but nothing really stood out (though…it could have been the 30 wines I tried before!) I didn’t focus too much on this section, as this is considered local for me and I am lucky to be able to visit any time.
South Africa- I tried the 2008 Diemerfontein Pinotage, which was ok but a bit too dry at that time of the night. It was funny, however, to watch the girls swoon over the guy from Wellington that was serving us.
The last stop of the night was back at the Cote de Rhone table, we couldn’t get enough of the Gigondas-just amazing! If there is one wine to try out, this is it!
Article Written By: Life Is Grape In The City