d.c. wine expo

[babka]

I'm curious--has anybody gone to this in the past? can you learn much if you're a neophyte?

[hillvalley]

Were you reading my mind? I was wondering the same thing!

[Joe H]

You will learn how many aspirin it will take to ease a serious hangover along with about 15,000 others-EACH day. It's by far the biggest deal of the year within 200 miles of here.

[babka]

you're inspiring some seriously mixed feelings here, joe h....

[Mark Sommelier]

It is great if you want to taste wine from all the corporate giants of the wine industry. Gallo, Mondavi, Brown-Forman, Diageo, Southcorp. All wineries who market hundreds of millions of bottles a year. I had lunch with a humble Barolo producer today. He was incredulous that a winery could produce 200 million bottles and claim they have "quality". Know what you are walking in to.

[hillvalley]

That's what I figured. I would rather take the $60 and get one bottle.

Or go have a lobster burger somewhere

Edited because I cant spellll

Edited February 25, 2004 by hillvalley (log)

[Mark Sommelier]

That's what I figured. I would rather take the $60 and get one bottle.

Or go have a lobster burger somewhere

Edited because I cant spellll

The best wine event in Washington is coming up in March. The California Barrel Tasting is the big deal event of the year for California wine. It is a charity tasting that is produced every year by Addy Bassin's Macarthar Beverages. Call them for details. All the top-end CalCab producers are there, and there's a good buffet spread. At the Watergate this year, I think.

[babka]

thanks Mark!

ditto that alternative use of funds, hillvalley....

[Joe H]

Mark, there's a different perspective on this from, say, MacArthur. To me the value of the D. C. Wine Expo, other than public drunkeness and learning that it is no longer necessary to apologie for spitting out wine in public, is that I'll leave with a half dozen wines in the $10 to $20 range that I can buy. Many of these, if not most, I might not have tasted otherwise. Sicilian, South African, Chilean (carmeniere) and Australian come to mind. I don't expect to taste Dal Forno but my hope is to find another Shotfire Ridge, Morambro Creek, Marquis Phillips or Forefathers (just using Australian as an example). Plus it's a really enjoyable affair overall despite its cattle pen like ambience.

There are some wineries selling huge volumes of wine that still, dollar for dollar, have a decent product: Chateau St. Michelle merlot, Chateau Souverain 2000 Cab (about $12 a bottle at Total), Sebastiani 2000 Cab (under $10 with discounts at Total), Allegrini Palazzo Della Torre (about $14 with discounts at Total), Franciscan 2000 Cab ($14 at Total) and so forth. I sort of view these as foundational wines in a cellar, if you will. They suppliment a whole host of wines that I'll find, hear about, look interesting, etc. But any of these mass produced wines with two or three years of bottle age improve somewhat. '97 Allegrini Palazzao is really delicious right now as is '99 Souverain Merlot. They don't take the place of the small producers-of course not-but they fill a need. (On reflection while I haven't considered it, I suspect that many smaller producers may be threatened by large conglomerates, whether leveraging them for price, competition for shelf space and so forth. As I type this I am seeing another perspective that I really hadn't considered-so many smaller, special producers may be squeezed out from an ever shrinking market.)

Wasn't there something like 18,000 cases of Parker 100 points/WS 100 pts 2000 Lafite @$450 + per bottle?

Having said all this there is a romance in wines such as the above mentioned Dal Forno that is truly special. My wife and I met him and tasted four of his wines from the barrel (2000 and 2001 Valpolicella and Amarone). This was a highlight of a lifetime of pursuing food and wine. Spending several hours with him and his family and spending 30 minutes fighting the busses at Mandovi are two entirely different experiences. One a treasured and special memory (and a taste that I still have in the back of my mouth!) and the other simply a "fun" time. But I do believe there is a place for both of them.

Having said all this he inscribed a bottle of his '97 Amarone for my retirement. It is his wine that I will open on that day.

[tjaehnigen]

MAr, I agree with your comments on the DC Wine Expo -- it's generally a waste of time. Mostly there for people to socialize and get loaded.

I used to be all about QPR, now I am all about Q.

[Mark Sommelier]

Joe H, do you know that Chateau St. Michelle is still owned by U.S.Tobacco? I drink Burgundy. Only small producers. Call me a snob.

[Joe H]

U. S. Tobacco, huh? Having quit smoking 15 years ago and as a belligerant non smoker (I hate myself for having smoked so long) this Really is an excellent reason not to drink St. Michelle.

Would you be interested in trading some "small production burgundy" for some, say, Leonetti?

[DonRocks]

I drink Burgundy. Only small producers. Call me a snob.

I didn't realize Captain Morgan made Burgundy now!

[John W.]

I drink Burgundy. Only small producers. Call me a snob.

I didn't realize Captain Morgan made Burgundy now!

Doesn't Diet Coke own Burgundy?

[kendrabail]

I totally agree with all of you.

Spend your $60 on a bottle of your fav stuff.

However, if you DO go:

1. DO NOT go on Sat. Drunks flutter about with abandon. I actually saw a group of guys doing wine shots once. Sunday is a little better (relatively speaking). I noticed there were more industry people there on Sunday since they have an open house for professionals earlier that morning.

2. DO NOT THINK THERE WILL BE FOOD because their won't (probably why most of the place is tanked). There are some cheese tastings here and there, but the wait (about 20 minutes last time I went) for a cube of Gouda made me feel like an turn of the century street kid, "May I please have some more, sir?"

There's ALOT of wine, but most of it is what you can find in the grocery store. The Chateau n' du pape (sp.) table is ok if you can get to it (again lines, lines and more lines).

Culinary demonstrations are worth checking out if for nothing more than a social experiment on what happens to mob-like crowd when you get them totally tanked and deprive them of food. The coup de grace is when they line up 30 plates of shrimp and grits for a line of 200 people. THAT is worth 60 bucks.

One woman got so angry at the lady in front of her for taking two plates instead of one, she threw a chicken leg at her head. Priceless, and well worth the price of admission.

My Webpage

[morela]

I have been complimentary a couple of times because I have pour* friends, but I just remember being hot and bored, and the place started to reek after a while.

I'm not saying for sure that there wasn't anything good, I'm saying that my attention span is short and that monkeys belong at the zoo.

It just sucks carrying around your coat and that glass and feeling like mutton.

It's supposed to be like 60 degrees and sunny on Sunday, so maybe that's the day to skip a convention.

Am I too negative?

[morela]

2. DO NOT THINK THERE WILL BE FOOD because their won't (probably why most of the place is tanked). There are some cheese tastings here and there, but the wait (about 20 minutes last time I went) for a cube of Gouda made me feel like an turn of the century street kid, "May I please have some more, sir?"

I agree with much of what you say, kendra...

and as for food, it's beg for more cheese or sit for two hours and watch a scripted FOOD NETWORK demo and only get a morsel. The tickets are too expensive to have civilian drunks wandering around on empty stomachs. I would never buy the tickets myself. This year I declined to accept them (lied and said I was busy).

[Steve Klc]

"Am I too negative?"

No. Feeling like mutton just about describes it. I gave one of those culinary demonstrations at this event a few years ago--before the Post, Fine Living magazine and Food TV signed on as sponsors--and it seemed well-meaning but amateur hour the year I attended. And this was run by the same people who supposedly had done an amazing job with the Boston version of this show. My audience was very appreciative--but nothing else about the event held much interest for me and I've never been back. I think I side with Mark and everyone else in agreeing there are better ways and better events to spend your discretionary wine money on.