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The FREE Murcia wine tasting event

Friday, June 6th, 2008

What a difference a little marketing & the word FREE can do.

I attended the Murcia region of Spain’s wine education event at Astor Center 2 days ago, followed by an intimate lunch at 81, a restaurant on 81st St in Manhattan yesterday. The events were set up by the same gentleman who set up the tasting I attended for Rioja wines (also at the Astor Center) about a month ago. The Murcia event, like the Rioja event, was free of charge, but the Murcia event seemed to have been advertised to the general public as opposed to the Rioja event which was more of an industry only event. Well, the marketing & cost (FREE) led this event to be PACKED full of…well, lets say packed full of people who like free wine!

(more…)

Tags: eighty one restaurant, Murcia, oak influence
Posted in wine tasting | 4 Comments »

Cheers! And Shiraz’s peppery notes

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

Cheers to red wine & a longer life!!!

The NY Times had a few wine related articles today. The first, discussed a topic that has been written about frequently here, that of “resveratrol” – the wonder-drug contained in red wine. Previous reports had indicated that the amount of resveratrol in wine were nowhere near enough to be effective from simple wine consumption. But one of the sources in todays article notes “a mere four, five-ounce glasses of wine “starts getting close” to the amount of resveratrol they found effective”, as opposed to previous studies that determined that “to gain (sufficient) dosages people would have to drink more than 100 bottles of red wine a day”. An interesting read that can be found here.

The other article titled “What’s the Peppery Note in Those Shirazes?”, talked about Australian (where Shiraz originated) researchers who sought to find out why there are peppery notes in Australian Shiraz. (more…)

Tags: Australia, NY Times, Resveratrol, rotundone, Shiraz
Posted in wine health, Wine STUFF, wine tasting | 3 Comments »

Wine club BBQ

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008

In previous posts I’ve mentioned a wine club I have joined. I joined upon returning to NYC from Napa in search of other wine-curious individuals. In the year plus since the formation of our “club”, I have become close with some of the core participants. Five of them joined me on my small NYC porch yesterday for an intimate BBQ & wine Memorial Day get together.

Four of the six participants have some affiliation with the wine industry. Two work for a wine distributor, one works part time for a retailer and I have my many wine industry related activities. Everyone brought some wine, some food & great anticipation. (more…)

Tags: Memorial day wine tasting
Posted in wine tasting | 2 Comments »

Monterey Wine Country

Sunday, May 25th, 2008

About an hour to an hour and a half South of San Francisco lay beautiful Monterey County. Famous for its coastline, golf courses & amazing aquarium, Monterey County is also home to a budding wine country, with 40,000 acres of vines planted.

Last week I attended a press event put together by the Monterey County Vintners & Growers Association. (more…)

Tags: chardonnay, Monterey county, Pinot Noir
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NYC residents – YOU ARE INVITED!

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008

Hey NYC wine lovers. I met a great guy at the Rioja tasting I wrote about two weeks ago. He organizes wine events in NYC and has asked me to extend an invitation to YOU to an upcoming event. Here are the details. I expect to be there one of the days so if you plan on attending and would like to say hi drop me a note and we’ll try to coordinate a meet & greet. Hope you are able to attend…

Be sure to join us at Astor Center again on Tuesday and Wednesday June 3 & 4, 4pm – 8.30pm for more tastings in the Study, 70 wines from Murcia to sample in the Gallery and tapas. Invite your friends, put it on your blog if you would be so kind, we welcome all wine lovers to join us. Here’s the info –

Free Tapas Party and Wine Tastings from Murcia, Spain (more…)

Tags: Astor Center, Murcia, wine tasting
Posted in wine tasting | 1 Comment »

Toast of the Town – NYC

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

Wine Enthusiast magazine put on their “Toast of the Town” wine & food event yesterday in NYC at Lincoln Center. A very large event that took place on two levels & a large balcony & included some of NYC’s finest dining establishments. There was lots of good food, good wine & happy people.

But it wasn’t all perfect. (more…)

Tags: Lincoln Center, Toast of the Town, Wine Enthusiast, wine tasting
Posted in wine tasting | 3 Comments »

Riesling & Co. World Tour 2008

Friday, May 16th, 2008

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I went to the NYC Riesling tasting at the Tribecca rooftop. A beautiful venue right off Hudson Street near the entrance to the Holland Tunnel, the Tribecca Rooftop provides a great escape from the hectic nature of NYC. The tasting had 39 official tables, in addition to an Austrian table, a French table and my favorite, the “1990’s: a decade of German Riesling” table. (more…)

Tags: , Riesling, Tribecca rooftop
Posted in wine tasting | 2 Comments »

NYT Soave piece with great side message

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

I’m running late for a German Reisling tasting event down in Tribeca but I just read an article in the NY Times Dining Out Section, the Wines of the Times column by Eric Asimov titled “Soave Challenges its easy image“.

While the article has opened my mind to Soave whereas I previously have thought of Soave as Asimov puts it as a “crisp, cold, characterless quaffing wine”, that is not what struck me most about the piece. I was excited to have a close friend, Fred Plotkin involved in the tasting, and it was Fred’s lack of excitement as opposed to Asimov’s enthusiasm that hit home with me.

Says Asimov “These sorts of disagreements are an important reminder of how subjective the perception of wine can be”.

A small point made that carries SO MUCH WEIGHT. People need to feel more comfortable with the idea that it is OK to like a wine that somebody else dislikes. Even if that somebody esle is a so-called “expert”.

Happy INDIVIDUALISTIC wine tasting!!!

WTG

Tags: Dining & Wine, Eric Asimov, Fred Plotkin, Soave, Wines of the times
Posted in Wine STUFF, wine tasting | Comments Off on NYT Soave piece with great side message

Nederburg pours wine at Xai Xai wine bar

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

I attended a very informal wine tasting early yesterday evening at Xai Xai, the South African wine bar located in the Hell’s Kitchen district of NYC. I’ve been to Xai Xai before & believe that as far as wine bars go this place is doing many things RIGHT. I also like that this bar is exclusively a South African wine bar with South African wine, food, music & decor. I firmly believe that there are enough generic or Italian/French wine bars in the city. Having recently heard of an Eastern European bar I am certain that focusing on specific regions is the way for the new entry’s into the food/beverage business to go.

The event last night was intended to promote the release of one of the first (according to them) 2008’s to be released. Pretty amazing when you think that here in the Northern hemisphere the vines barely possess any semblance of fruit yet. But alas the Southern Hemisphere harvest is generally February/March time with white varietals destined for crisp wines harvested first. (more…)

Tags: Chenin Blanc, lyric wine, nederberg, Pinotage, South Africa, Wine bar, xai xai
Posted in Wine Bars, wine tasting | 1 Comment »

Wine Pleasures

Friday, May 9th, 2008

Eric Asimov of the NY Times wrote in his blog “The Pour” an article titled “Wine’s Pleasures: Are They All In Your Head?“, about “what motivates the wine shopper”. The article (or I suppose really blog post) is the second most emailed article on the NY Times website today as of 7PM and has so far amassed 231 comments (and counting I’m sure). (more…)

Tags: Eric Asimov, the pour, wine tasting
Posted in Wine STUFF, wine tasting | 2 Comments »