Wine & Beverage Trade Show

Thursday, May 24, 2007

I managed to get a pass to Wine Warehouse's trade show. For this I took off work early. The show started at 3:00 and went to 7:30. There were approximately 700 wines available for tasting along with beers and spirits. Saw several people I knew there. If you attend enough tasting's through out the year the distributors start knowing you by your first name. That always leads to something being offered from under the table.

I did get to meet Richard Sanford for the first time. Nice, unassuming man. He had his line of "Alma Rosa" wines along with a barrell sample of the new 2006 La Encantada Pinot Noir. This is going to be an excellent wine. Found out that he will be moving back into the original tasting room July 1, 2007. Patero Group has had the lease for the past couple of years and it has now run out. Naturally, Richard Sanford is not going to renew the lease. He can no longer use the name "Sanford" on his wines. Thus we have "Alma Rosa" (after his wife I was told) I have tasted the new "Sanford" wines and they do not hold a candle to "Alma Rosa" wines. Patero Group will be riding on the reputation of Richard Sanford for awhile until people start realizing that Richard Sanford and Bruno are not making the wines anymore.

I also got to meet Steve Clifton (half of Clifton-Brewer). He was pouring his own label today, "Palmina". http://www.palminawines.com/. These are wines are all Italian varietals. He does have a couple of whites that I intend on purchasing because they are made with obscure grapes . (I'm on the hunt for the "Century Club" certificate). I plan on stopping into his tasting room on June 23, when I will in Lompoc for the Clos Pepe dinner.

It was impossible to try all the wines. A few that I really liked was the 2005 Ken Brown Cargassacchi Pinot Noir, 2004 Niner Estates Bootjack Ranch, Paso Robles, Fog Catcher (meritage), 2005 Di Bruno Badge Pinot Noir, 2003 Di Bruno Stolpman Vineyard Sangiovese, 2005 Dutton-Goldfield, Dutton Ranch, Russian River Chardonnay, 2004 Dutton-Goldfield Cherry Ridge, Russian River Syrah, 2004 Dutton-Goldfeild Russian River Zinfandel, 2002 Heitz Martha's Vineyard Cabernet, 2001 Heitz Trailside Cabernet, Quady Deviation Apertitif (sherry like), 2005 Kenneth Volk Santa Maria Pinot Noir. Peachy Canyon also had a 2005 Zinfandel that is a blend of several of their vineyards and is made strictly for the restaurant trade. It was lean but very food friendly.

I did add a new opener to my collection, "Heitz". They had about 10 their were giving away and I managed to score one for myself.

Somehow I missed the Sea Smoke table. I never saw it but it was listed in the booklet when I really read it through later. I would have liked to taste the wines I just bought.

I only tasted a few of the spirits (I did have to drive home) But there was a gin put out by Philadelphia Distilling named "Bluecoat American Dry Gin". I thought this gin was great. It had a very distinct botanical taste to it. I will have to try and find this for my next "Mary's Martini Madness". The next table had "Mojito" mix. I tasted it plain and then I added a little of the gin to it and I thought it was a great combination. When I left the guys at both of those tables were mixing my new drink.

The only aspect of this tasting that I had a problem with was the fact they had all this great food but no plates. You had to put your food on napkins. For the cheese and dry types of food that was ok, but when you had sauces, marinades etc., it became a problem. I was told by the wait staff that plates were not ordered because whomever did the ordering of food did not want to have paper plates left all over the tasting tables. So what happened ? They had paper napkins left all over. The wait staff at the Hilton did a very good job of keeping everything bused up. Paper plates would not have been a problem. In fact they did have some at the dessert table, so I snagged a few to use for the meats. The quailty of the food was good. The lamb chops and the beef tenderloin was perfect.

All in all it was a very good afternoon. And the price was right.