I spent my day today at an amazing event.  Eric Trump (yes, The Donald’s son) has a wonderful charitable organization that throws an event at the Westchester, NY based Trump International Golf Course to raise money for St Jude’s Childrens Charity.  I was invited several weeks ago to sponsor a hole & pour wine at the event.

(pic to come)

I’m very proud to say that Hole # 10 was sponsored by the Wine Tasting Guy.  Not only that, but they set up a wine tasting table for me (and a fabulous industry collegue from “Bacchus - Wine Made Simple”) right on the 10th hole.  We poured some amazing wines from Israel and California and the guests LOVED THE WINES.  The golf tournament went well for the golfers and there was a reception that followed where we poured more wine.  It was a successful event and I was very excited to hear the positive feedback and be invited back next year.  Among the many highlights of the day was when Ivanka Trump came by, tried, and LOVED an Israeli Syrah we were pouring.  Sadly I missed her at the end of the event but I sent Eric with a bottle of the Syrah for her.

On a sadder note I am about to bring up a political issue.  I try very hard to stay away from said issues on this site for a multitude of reasons.  But this one is important enough for me to briefly mention.  This coming Monday Iran’s President Ahmadinejad is coming to the U.N. and there is a “Rally to Stop Iran.  The information can be found in the following flyer.  I will be there and hope that anyone within driving distance of NYC understands how serious this evil man is about his intentions to “wipe Israel from the map” and will put the effort in to attend the rally.

rally flier

Happy PEACEful rally golf tournament wine tasting!

WTG

WHAT A WEEK!  And it was only 4 days long.  Feels a bit more like an 8 day week.  Don’t get me wrong, I was busy running around selling wine and I had a blast.  Oh yeah, there was also a bit of NFL FOOTBALL thrown into the busy mix.

But for the most part The pre-Jewish holiday rush has officially begun and I have been selling fabulous Israeli wine all around the NY Metro area.   While for the most part it is referred to as “kosher” wine I am plugging the idea of Israeli wine.  The industry people hear it, respect it, and then let me know it is not viable…YET.  But it will happen…eventually.

Have a great wine tasting weekend everybody.  Hope you will be popping a special bottle!

WTG

It has been a few days since my last post.  And I found out on a fellow bloggers site that I missed “Blog Day”.  Sorry.  My excuse - I  was away for the long holiday weekend …AT SUMMER CAMP!  It was a singles weekend at a summer camp in North Eastern Pennsylvania.  I was initially hired to lead a wine tasting for the singles, but that fell through.  I was disappointed as I have very fond memories of my days in summer camp and was looking forward to an adult weekend away at camp.  Sure enough I ended up connecting with the camp owners who brought me up to camp for the weekend as a volunteer.  YIPPEEEEE!

I ended up having a BLAST!  Name a camp activity and I did it (or led it).  Basketball, swimming, tetherball (how’s that for a blast from the past?), kayaking, canoeing, rope climbing, camp fires, biking, fishing…I even played late night board games in the canteen.  WOOHOOO!

I know what you are thinking, “WTG, this is a wine blog, tell us about the wine”.  Well, thankfully my expectations for the wine they would be serving were low (it was donated), so I went ahead and brought my own wine.  I was not permitted to hold any formal wine tastings but I did make LOTS of friends as many of my fellow campers were not interested in the “semi sweet” red wine that was provided, (hey, I brought some nice DRY Israeli reds and I’m not above being used for my wine).

Of course there was no actual stemware and no “wine tasting” activity, but I was able to talk through (and taste through) some of the wines I had brought with me during the meals.  And as is often the case, while there were some people simply looking for a quick buzz, most were genuinely interested.    It was a great weekend  and I am one HAPPY (wine tasting) camper.

Happy summer camp wine tasting!

WTG

Living in NYC has its trade offs.  I live in a tiny place (and pay through the nose for it), the humidity is brutal, I miss nature…I can go on & on.  But don’t cry for me, it ain’t ALL BAD.  One of the perks of NYC are the wine/food conventions at the Jacob Javits Center.  And today I attended the 3rd day of the Fancy Foods Show at the Javits center.  On 3 (or 4) massive floors, over two thousand exhibitors came out for this 3 day convention.  And to be able to attend was truly a treat!

As a wine guy I know I should be more of a foodie.  And while I appreciate fine food, I am not an expert (although I do know what I like!).  That said rather than review the food, I want to write about some observations, and then a quick wine review of some wine I tried.

Observation #1 - Olive Oil is in.  There were A LOT of people showing off their olive oil.  There was olive oil from many countries, in MANY different shaped bottles, infused with lots of flavors.  If I could invest in olive oil, I would.

Observation #2 - Cheese is in.  Wow was there a lot of cheese there.  Soft cheese, hard cheese, stinky cheese, fake cheese (Dr. Seuss anyone?).  Name it, it was there.  And there is so much to learn about cheese.  Just all the names.  Quick tip I learned; apparently Europeans say that one should start the day with soft cheeses and eat progressively harder cheese as the day goes on.  Interesting, huh…

Observation # 3 - Chocolate is IN!!  (more…)