Vin Expo--New York City

[Rosie]

Anyone going?

[ngatti]

Tuesday AM. I forget the seminar I signed up for. It's on the newletter.

Maybe see ya there.

Nick

[MartyL]

I've got a pass and will try to duck in at some point when I can escape the office for a few hours. I'd really like to catch the 2000 vintage tasting being presented by the Union des Grand Crus de Bordeaux.

[jparrott]

I'll be there the whole time, pretty much...

Jake

[Robert Nesta Marley]

for some reason i'm not looking forward to it too much....it's seeming like a bit of an advertising extravaganza.

[LaNiña]

for some reason i'm not looking forward to it too much....it's seeming like a bit of an advertising extravaganza.

Well I"m planning to be there Wednesday and Thursday...hopefully there will be something worthwhile...

[MartyL]

I spent an hour or so at Vinexpo on Tuesday. Aisles and aisles of mass-produced industrial supermarket wine, heavy on Chilean Merlot and Spanish quaffers. I found very little to be of interest. Frankly, the whole event was a depressing reminder of how much of the wine biz is devoted to selling vast quantities of soulless beverages.

Unfortunately I was too busy at work yesterday to make it back for the 2000 Bordeaux tasting, which I think would have been worthwhile.

If anyone attended, I'd be curious to hear what shone and what didn't. Others tell me that Gruard Larose and Lynch Bages were standouts and that Pichon Lalande was a big disappointment.

[Robert Nesta Marley]

what a disappointment. at least the alsatian tasting was worth my $7 cab fare back to gramercy park on wednesday. we tasted 14 or 15 wines, 12 of which were grand crus, including 2 vendage tardives and 2 SGNs. a few of them sucked, but overall a cool guided tasting with a couple of '90s and semi-compelling information about some of the producers. BUT NO ZIND-HUMBRECHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i also went to the seminar on portugal's dry wine. i really want to buy more wine from there to support their work with indigenous grape varietals. plus, i think toruga nacional is super when it's not overextracted & blended with toooo much cabernet.

as soon i saw so many people at the KJ & alize booths, i knew what i was in for. but i tasted through guigal anyway & then skipped the booths for the most part. guigal was, as usual, uninspiring. i can't believe la doriane (condrieu) fetches the $$$$ it does. all the whites were very, very thin.

sommelier solutions--did anyone here go to this? what did you think? that MS from atelier is something else, i'll tell you. very bobby flay-esque, i kept thinking to myself. and an interesting discussion on wine bars developed during the open forum. clearly no one knows what do do or think about their appeal, and then morrell concluded his remarks on the subject with a comment about the key to their future lying in the internet. huh?

i was suprised to see soooo many people from the other coast there, though.

[Jason Perlow]

If you're in the industry, I highly recommend attending Willie Gluckstern's tasting (Wines for Food Imports) at the Park Central Hotel on Tuesday the 29th from 11am-5pm. He was at VinExpo this week. He's gonna have a lot of cool wines at this special tasting. Very unusual stuff. They are all new wines from France, Germany, Austria, Italy and Uraguay he is bringing into the US. David Rosengarten recently wrote them up in his newsletter and he was really impressed by a few of these.

(Rosengarten Review) http://www.wineavenger.com/Press/press.htm

(New 2003 Import List)http://www.wineavenger.com/import.htm

If youre a buyer, press, wine freak, etc Call Willie at

Tel: 212 769-1300 Fax: 212 501-0717

Email: wines4food@aol.com

Tell em I sent ya..

[Rosie]

We got to Vin Expo on Thursday around 2 PM. The place was not crowded. How was it the other days? I don't need to go again next year if it is at Javits. We went straight to the Australian wines as we are going to Australia. Had some interesting wines but nothing I would run out and buy. Also tried some ice wines from Canada. By 3:30 we had enough (we swallow rather than spit) and walked from Javits up to 92nd and Amsterdam and had an early dinner at Gennaro.

[ngatti]

Went on Tuesday. Walked the floor a coupla three times. Sampled all the NY State wines. realized that the show wasn't for the likes of me. Ditched the Robert Parker seminar I'd signed up for and opted for lunch at Esca. Very nice and nice of them to take me as a single walk-in. the place was smokin' due to Vinexpo. Great bartender, grew up over the B&H, so we had plenty to talk about. Met his wife (end of service, she came to meet him) who happened to be the Fromagier at Picholine, so *we* had plenty to talk about. Actually the conversation ran more towards the difficulties that we run into trying to raise and hold families together while working in this crazy business. Walked the Deuce for a while and met a fellow eGulleteer, whom I turned my badge over to, as I wasn't attending the show on Wedsnday and Thursday.

Not bad for a day off. Kind of day that keeps ya goin'.

Cheers

Nick

[jparrott]

I've finished typing my tasting notes from VinExpo. I can post them here (they're very long) or link to my posting them on another site. Anyone have a preference?

Jake

[Jason Perlow]

post.