Wine Media Guild of New York

We Wine Media Guild members are counting down the days until the unprecedented Pichon-Pichon showdown later this month! Excitement is palpable! And in June…the Hall of Fame awards dinner at Del Posto!

But until those reports are filed, you’ll have to content yourselves with these roundups of last week’s tasting of Austrian Riesling. Jodi Stern of Austrian wine importer Vin Divino, and Aldo Sohm, the Austian-born, sommelier to the stars from Le Bernadin, were the speakers!

Robert Simonson, “Lip-Smaragd-ing Good!”
Charles Scicolone, “On Austrian Riesling”
Brian Freeman, “Spectacular Austrian Riesling: Part 2″

TASTINGS

Mon March 30: Noon-4:00pm. Fine Wine Importers Alliance. DelPosto (85 10th Ave @ 16th St) RSVP: 917-691-9267 or patriciarichter@hotmail.com

Wed 1: 11:30am-2:pm.Wine Media Guild Lunch. Austrian Rieslings. Felidia (more…)

Brian Freeman has a brief overview (literally, with video) of our March tasting of Portuguese wines on his site, Uncork life!

And here’s another take from Marisa D’Vari (republished here).

And don’t forget our next lunch: Austrian Rieslings!

Surf on over to i-italy.org to see member Charles Sciccolone’s account of our excellent Amarone lunch.

MEMBERS MEMOS

Pat Savoie has just been appointed Associate Editor of Celebrity Chef Tour magazine, a twice yearly publication of the James Beard House that supports the JBH Celebrity Chef Tour. The Tour goes to 16 cities in the US, where a dinner is held in the Spring and Fall. One of ten top chefs who have won Beard Awards cooks at each of the dinners.

TASTINGS (more…)

Robert Simonson is the first attendee with a roundup of last week’s Cabernet Franc tasting! Head over to his blog, Off the Presses, and check it out!

Member Marisa D’Vari also posts about the lunch at awinestory.com

And guest Terence Hughes also posts about Paul Grieco and cab franc over at mondosapore.com.

The wine life of Peter Max Sichel of New York had always seemed to me quite interesting enough to warrant an article on these pages, but that was before we sat down to the dinner over which I was to interview him. He visibly licked his lips as he began, “We must start in 1960 when I had just left the CIA. I left because the CIA did things I didn’t like, such as send people into the Ukraine to work in fabricated resistance groups. They were potentially being sent to their deaths. I made a huge fuss.” This is rather more exciting than most wine trade resumés. Continue reading at FT.com

Welcome to 2009. Hope the holidays brought you joy and happiness and that 2009 will be filled with wine and stories.

JANUARY EVENTS

Wed 7th: 11:30am-2:00pm.  WMG Luncheon. Felidia “Cabernet Franc.” Two seats available. (more…)

NEWS:

Just Opened: California Wine Merchants, a retail store founded by wine writer Jennifer Frank (a prospective WMG member) and sommelier Taylor Senatore. It brings the best of California wines to New York and to all California wine enthusiasts through their e-commerce website. The shop carries a carefully chosen selection of great values, limited production wines, famous names, and the latest cult producers. 15 Bridge St (between Whitehall and Broad Streets). Email: info@cawinemerchants.com  Website: www.cawinemerchants.com.

TASTINGS: (more…)

Remember the excellent Puglia tasting last month? Well, if you weren’t there, you can catch a write-up on a couple of member blogs:

Jeremy Parzen, who helped organize the tasting, has some notes on his blog, Do Bianchi.

And Robert Simonson talks about “Plenty of Puglia” on his blog, Off the Presses.

UPDATE: Charles Scicolone, the other organizer of the tasting, now has a lengthy post with his tasting notes and more over at i-Italy.com.

Next month’s lunch: Champagne tetes de cuvee with member Ed McCarthy as speaker.