Category:Regional wine

DLW 2011: Missouri — Virtual tastings and the future of wine

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

DLWMO Logo The scene was surreal. There were 21 Missouri wineries in the hotel ballroom, 100 or so people tasting wine, and a large screen at the far side of the room. The screen, changing constantly, was displaying real-time comments made not only by everyone who was in the room tasting the wine, but by people throughout the world commenting on the comments that were being made about the wine. And there were pictures.

Or, as Eric V. Orange, the founder and CEO of LocalWineEvents.com said to me, as we watched what was going on in middle-aged disbelief: "Wow. I never imagined it would be like this."

Twitter tastings, like the one we did for the 2011 DrinkLocalWine.com conference in St. Louis on Saturday, are nothing new. They've been hip and au courant for a couple of years, and not just because of the technology. Virtual tastings allow wineries, wine regions and other groups that don't have big budgets to do tastings that offer big results. The reach is impressive: Those 100 people in a hotel ballroom can turn their tweets about Missouri wine into millions of impressions on Twitter, which can get picked up through other social media like Facebook and even end up in Google search results.

What's new, and what was so impressive this time, is that so many people who weren't there wanted to know about the wines that were being tasted. And that's something that will continue to push the wine world in a completely different direction — one that continues to squeeze wine criticism. More, after the jump:

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DLW 2011: Missouri gets started

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

A couple of quick notes before today's fun begins. I'll have more on the conference next week:

? We do a media dinner every year on the day before the conference begins, and each dinner has been terrific. Last night's at St. Louis' Annie Gunn's restaurant was no exception. This is how local food should be paired with local wine.

? Speaking of which, the Adam Puchta vidal blanc was a revelation. Not just only $13, but clean, well-made, some apple fruit and acid to balance the fruit.

? Also stunning — the $9 chambourcin from Augusta. It's a little Rhone-like, but with New World-style fruit. And anyone who thinks that a hybrid like chambourcin can only be green and vegetal, think again.

Time’s regional wine story, one more irritating time

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Time magazine's notorious regional wine article has reared its patronizing head again, and just in time for DrinkLocalWine.com's third annual conference this weekend, DLW 2011: Missouri. The Balloon Juice blog, which seems to mix wine and politics, posted a brief item about a regional wine dinner and then linked to the Time story.

Arghhhhh.

More, after the jump.

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Wine of the week: Gruet Rose NV

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

The Wine Curmudgeon missed this last fall, which was quite a faux pas given how much I care about regional wine. New Mexico's Gruet Winery was named the best U.S. wine producer in 2010 in the quite prestigious International Wine and Spirits Competition. Pretty impressive for a regional winery, no?

So what better way to mark the third annual DrinkLocalWine.com conference this weekend in St. Louis than with one of my all-time favorites, Gruet's rose sparkling wine? How a family of expatriate French can make such terrific bubbly in New Mexico, using pinot noir and chardonnay that they grow, is beyond me. I'm just glad they're able to do it.

The rose ($14, purchased) has a firm acidic backbone, as quality sparkling wine should, and is balanced by softer berry fruit (strawberry?). Meanwhile, there is just enough caramel, another sign of well-made bubbly, to show that the Gruets know what they are doing. Drink this chilled on its own or with any kind of spring dinner, salad or picnic. And if you have any cold fried chicken around, it would do quite nicely.

Live, on St. Louis radio, it’s the Wine Curmudgeon

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Just a touch more shameless self promotion, and then I promise not to to do any more for months: I'm going to be on the legendary voice of the Midwest and home of the St. Louis Cardinals, KMOX radio, at 10 or so central time this morning.

I'll be on the Charlie Brennan show to talk about the third annual DrinkLocalWine.com conference this weekend in St. Louis. The Twitter hash tag, for those of you following at home, is #DLWMO. Click on the Brennan link to listen via the Internet. Or, you can do it the old-fashioned way by turning to 1120 AM in the St. Louis area.

DLW 2011: Missouri is this weekend

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

Years ago, when the Wine Curmudgeon was in the newspaper business, I didn't even know there was such a thing as event planning. These days, I get to do it.

That's because DrinkLocalWine.com will hold its third annual conference this weekend in St. Louis, focusing on Missouri wine. Which has given me the opportunity, for the third year in a row, to add event planner to my already long and bizarre resume. (What, I haven't told you about bagging groceries or working at Burger King?)

And a great event has been planned. My thanks to DLW's Katy Jane Bothum and January Wiese, who did so much heavy lifting, and to Danene Beedle of the Missouri Wine and Grape Board, the conference's primary sponsor. What makes it great? We have our legendary Twitter Taste-off — expanded by an hour and you get to keep the Riedel glass that you use. We have winery tours. We have wine seminars. We have the soon to be legendary Missouri Blind Tasting Challenge, in which we dare any wine snob in the audience to tell Missouri wine from California wine. So far, none of them have accepted the challenge, which isn't surprising. And there might even be a surprise or two, given my new-found reputation.

So if you're in the St. Louis area this weekend, stop by. A few tickets are still available, and they're cheap, cheap, cheap — just $35 for the Twitter Taste-off, which includes wine from two dozen Missouri wineries, a buffet reception with the winemakers and media attending the conference, and the Riedel glass. You can buy tickets on the DLW web site.

The New York Times, local wine and local food

by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On

The New York Times travel section ran a decent enough article on Pittsburgh's best local food restaurants on Sunday, highlighting a quartet that emphasizes "what's fresh and what's local."

Did any of this take into account whether any of the restaurants served Pennsylvania wine? Of course not. I'm trying to contact Kathryn Matthews, who wrote the article, to ask her why she didn't include Pennsylvania wine in an article about Pennsylvania food, and if I can reach her, I'll update this post.

But this lack of respect for local wine is not surprising. Those of us who care about local wine, despite the successes we've had over the past several years, still run into too much of this closed-minded approach to what's local. Critics, chefs and restaurateurs bend over backwards to praise and to find locally-raised tomatoes and pigs, but wine? Too many of them can't be bothered. More, after the jump:

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