Wine Media Guild of New York

Wed July 9: 12 noon. Tyler Colman at the Beard House. Tyler talks about his new book:
Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink
Guests are welcome to bring a brown-bag lunch. Water coffee and chocolate are served. Suggested Donation: $20 for nonstudents. The Beard House, 167 W. 12th Street, NYC. Please RESERVE: 212.627.2308 or reserve online

Sat August 2: WMG Pool Party. (Rain date: Sun, August 3)

August 5-6: The Art of Balance: Cool Climate/Maritime Wines in a Global Context at SUNY Stony Brook (Organized by Louisa Thomas Hargrave, WMG member and director). Many notable local and international speakers; tastings of Long Island wines as well as wines from Friuli, Bordeaux, the Rheingau, the Finger Lakes, Rias Baixas, the Loire, and Coastal California. details and reservations

Tues August 12: 6:00-8:30pm THE GOLD STANDARD: Double Gold and Gold Medal Winning Wines
Location: Estonian House (243 East 34st bet 2nd/3rd). Sponsored by Tasters Guild International. The 2008 Competition involved over 1,820 entries from 17 countries and 31 states, but only a handful acheived a prestigious double gold medal. Most of the double gold medal winners and many of the gold medal winners will be offered at this stand-up, walk-around tasting. Over 65 wines are available for your tasting pleasure. $60 for everyone.
WMG members MUST RSVP to Ron Kapon if they wish to come as the Estonian is a private club. Ron@tastersguildny.com

Thurs August 14 6:30 - 8:30 pm. “Cool Italian Wines, Hot Summer Nights”- Italian wines taught by Charles Scicolone, who is now teaching at the Astor Center in Manhattan ( www.astorcenter.com ) $65. Registration

At the business meeting in June we voted on the nine themes for the year. While the Guild co-Chairs are working with the member sponsors to nail down all the dates, we at least have the three remaining for this year in place. Here they are:

October 1 - Chenin Blanc in all its Variety-Still, Sparkling and Sweet. Member Sponsor: Cynthia Sin-Yi Cheng

November 5 - Wines of Puglia. Member Sponsor: Charles Scicolone

December 3 - Champagne (theme not yet more specific). Member Sponsor & Speaker: Ed McCarthy

Put these on your calendar now–other fun themes to follow in the new year!

The inaugural induction ceremony for the Hall of Fame happened recently. Many members and guests attended the ceremony at I Trulli restaurant. Of this year’s inductees, Kevin Zraly and our own member, Ed McCarthy were present and made heartfelt remarks.

For accounts of the event check out member Robert Simonson’s blog as well as member Tyler Colman over at DrVino.com.

Jeremy Parzen, Ph.D., became the latest member of the Guild after a vote at the June business meeting. Welcome, Jeremy!

He blogs regularly at Do Bianchi., his blog devoted to Italy and Italian Wine and Food (and, occasionally, his band). His writing has also appeared in Wine & Spirits, Gastronomica, and The Art of Eating.

He’s also probably the only one to have translated a 15th Century cookbook (Maestro Martinoof Como’s The Art of Cooking) from the Italian.

Many WMG members attended the James Beard Foundation awards last night. But perhaps most exciting this year was the debut of Devour.tv, the brainchild of member John Gottfried, which had video coverage from the red carpet in conjunction with Bravo TV. Adding to the fun, two WMG members were in front of the camera doing the interviewing, David Rosengarten and Philippe Newlin. Check out some of the video here or on bravotv.com.

Member Tyler Colman was there doing “live blogging” of the drinks on the Foundation’s official blog.

Our annual business meeting is June 23. Please let Geoff Kalish know if you plan to attend. And please do consider attending since we will set the calendar for the next year’s worth of lunches among other topics. And there will be sandwiches and wine!

John Foy alerted us of the following limitations on wine in packed luggage: United Airlines requires wine to be packed in Styrofoam, even if it’s in a checked bag. It doesn’t matter how well you have packed the wine (or any other bottled liquid); if it is not packed in Styrofoam United won’t accept it. This is stated on their website. Might be a good idea to check on other airlines’ policies for future travel.

There will be no Newsletters during the summer months of July and August. They will resume in September.

JUNE TRADE TASTINGS (more…)

By all accounts, our tasting of wines from all producers of Charbono was a success! Wines were from included On The Edge, Pacific Star, Heitz, Robert Foley, Joseph Laurence, Duxoup, August Briggs, Summers Estate, Turley, Tofanelli, Schrader, Fortino Vineyard and Boeger Vineayrds Here are some accounts from people there:

Member Paul Zimmerman, aka Dr. Z, puts a sports spin on the event. Former NFL Coach Dick Vermeil attended the lunch as the owner of OnTheEdge winery in Napa. Be sure to check out this write up of our lunch on SI.com.

Guest Jeremy Parzen calls Charbono “a rustic-tasting, tannic, but fruity and food-friendly grape” in his summary on his blog Do Bianchi.

Guest Gabe Sasso also has extensive notes over on his blog, Gabe’s View.

Prospective member Jennifer Frank also wrote up the event on her blog, Drink the Good Stuff.

Also, WMG member John Mariani wrote a piece for Bloomberg in part based on our April Petit Sirah tasting.

On May 7, the Wine Media Guild will break new ground with a unique tasting — Charbono. It is highly unlikely that you have ever had this wine in a comparative tasting. The wine is produced only in California by about fourteen wineries. There are fewer than 90 acres of the grape under cultivation. Many of the wines are not available beyond CA. The Slow Food movement recently voted Charbono varietal wine in to its “Ark of Taste,” renewing interest in this historic grape. I know most of the 14 current producers, and all 14 have already promised or sent their wines (including Turley). Some are sending older wines.

Our speaker is Paul Smith, the owner and winemaker at OnTheEdge winery in St. Helena. We also will be joined by Sally Ottoson, owner and winemaker at Pacific Star Winery in Fort Bragg and Gregg Smith, son of John Smith, owner and winemaker at Oakstone Winery in Fair Play, CA.

Charbono was at the height of its popularity in the 1960s, when Inglenook produced a lot of it and there was a Charbono Society in San Francisco that held annual black-tie dinners. Its flavor is unique, but one producer described it as having a “soft leathery acid-tannin profile like a Syrah and forward berry fruit like a Zinfandel. The intense nose is full of ripe, ‘purple’ fruit aromas, perfumed blueberry, black cherry and smoky vanilla. The palate is dry with balanced acidity, full body and plush ripe tannins. Overt flavors of black cherry, thyme, white pepper, blackberry and tar burst on the taste buds.” Or, as Randall Grahm once said: “Charbono reminds me of The Wild Child, a feral creature brought back to civilization. One is always aware that this grape is somehow quite different.” –Pat Savoie

And member Robert Simonson posted his thoughts from the Petite Sirah lunch in April on his blog, Off the Presses. FYI Robert also had a recent article on Kosher wines in Saveur.

APRIL TASTINGS

Wed 2: 11:30am-2:00pm. Wine Media Guild Petite Sirah Luncheon. A few places left. psavoie@nyc.rr.com (more…)

New member Robert Simonson is the first with a write-up of Wednesday’s lunch. Click through to his blog, “Off the Presses” to check out his thoughts on how New York State Riesling ages ten, twenty and even forty years. And see a picture of the giant striped bass we had!