I wanted to highlight a couple of interesting wine events in the city that are coming up in the next few weeks.
Lions...Tigers...and Wines, Oh My!: Tomorrow! This is a shameful admission, but despite having lived in Chicago for almost 4 years now, I've never been to the Lincoln Park Zoo. If I wasn't predisposed tomorrow night I would absolutely be taking a train ride into the city. This one just strikes me as fun. Apparently 15 New Zealand Winegrowers (I don't know if that means vineyard owners, winemakers, or winery reps) will be pouring at the zoo tomorrow. Certainly brings new meaning to having a little barnyard in your Pinot Noir. Details here: http://www.lpzoo.org/events/wine.html
Windy City Wine Festival: on September 7th-8th Binny's is hosting the Windy City Wine Festival. This takes place at Grant Park. The event seems like a well organized deal, though I've never been. It looks like there is a large contingent of vendors that attend. No doubt if you are in the city that weekend this would be a good one to check out. I don't really get the pricing structure though. $25 for 6 tastes. Those better be big tastes. I don't really think this event is for the serious drinker. Vendors seem to be the bigger "value" brands, and I doubt anyone is pouring Silver Oak or Mouton-Rothschild at this one. Even with the likely lack of heavy hitters, its hard to pass on wine beneath the Chicago skyline on a late summer afternoon in Grant Park. Details Here: http://www.windycitywinefestival.com/
Showing posts with label binny's. Show all posts
Showing posts with label binny's. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Preparing For A Tasting
I mentioned in my first post that I would be presenting notes from the Midwest Wine Expo next week. I thought as a preview to that I would discuss what I'm expecting, and how I'm preparing for a tasting that includes 700 wines.
First of all I think it is important to note that I haven't been to this tasting before, so I don't really know what to expect from this particular event. Normally I approach a large tasting as an opportunity to taste and evaluate wines that I can't afford to buy. My goal at a tasting is to educate my palate. I have a pretty good idea of what I like in the $10-$15 range, so I don't plan to spend much time tasting those wines. Unfortunately my wallet does not afford me much experience with the $50+ wines, so that's where I'll be concentrating most of my efforts.
The first thing I'm looking for at this particular tasting is the seminars. There are 2 seminars in particular, the one on French wines and the one on Napa Valley sub-appelations, that interest me. The French wine seminar is going to be given by a master of wine, so I expect it to be an interesting exploration of the country with some great wines to sample. The Napa seminar is a focus on sub appellations, and as a rule the more specific the appelation, the more the wine will cost. I think the Napa seminar should be a great opportunity to try some reserve wines from some of the more famous Napa producers that routinely sell for $125 a bottle.
Next comes the dilemma of figuring out what to do with the rest of my time. The seminars should eat up 1 1/2 - 2 hrs, so that leaves another 3 hours for tasting wines. 3 hours of wine tasting seems like plenty of time to get through the over 700 wines being poured. 180 minutes for 700 wines is about 4 wines a minute. Hmm, maybe I need to scale that back a bit. My experience has shown me that I can taste a wine about every 4-5 minutes, so I should plan to taste about 30 - 40 wines throughout the day. I looked through the list Binny's has published on their website and picked out the producers that interest me. I'll have to whittle this list down to about 25 producers. I figure each producer will be pouring more than one wine, so I should expect that I might want to try more than one at a table. Also I want to leave some time (and sobriety) for any wines that peak my interest in the heat of the moment.
Now is a good time to mention the sobriety aspect of a wine tasting. I'm all about responsible drinking, especially when the drinking requires driving to and from the venue. So remember that at a tasting like this, it is perfectly acceptable, and pretty much mandatory at 40+ wines, to spit. 40 1 oz samples would be the equivalent of 1.5 bottles of wine. That doesn't even include the samples I'm going to get at the seminars. If I were to swallow all the wine I tasted throughout the day, I would end up consuming over 2 bottles of wine, and would be WAY over the legal limit when I drove home in the afternoon. It just isn't worth it. Besides, this way I can get home and relax with a bottle of my favorite wine from the day.
Now that I have a plan, and have resolved to spit, all that is left to do is head out the door. I'm counting the days until Binny's Midwest Wine Expo. Hopefully I'll see you there.
First of all I think it is important to note that I haven't been to this tasting before, so I don't really know what to expect from this particular event. Normally I approach a large tasting as an opportunity to taste and evaluate wines that I can't afford to buy. My goal at a tasting is to educate my palate. I have a pretty good idea of what I like in the $10-$15 range, so I don't plan to spend much time tasting those wines. Unfortunately my wallet does not afford me much experience with the $50+ wines, so that's where I'll be concentrating most of my efforts.
The first thing I'm looking for at this particular tasting is the seminars. There are 2 seminars in particular, the one on French wines and the one on Napa Valley sub-appelations, that interest me. The French wine seminar is going to be given by a master of wine, so I expect it to be an interesting exploration of the country with some great wines to sample. The Napa seminar is a focus on sub appellations, and as a rule the more specific the appelation, the more the wine will cost. I think the Napa seminar should be a great opportunity to try some reserve wines from some of the more famous Napa producers that routinely sell for $125 a bottle.
Next comes the dilemma of figuring out what to do with the rest of my time. The seminars should eat up 1 1/2 - 2 hrs, so that leaves another 3 hours for tasting wines. 3 hours of wine tasting seems like plenty of time to get through the over 700 wines being poured. 180 minutes for 700 wines is about 4 wines a minute. Hmm, maybe I need to scale that back a bit. My experience has shown me that I can taste a wine about every 4-5 minutes, so I should plan to taste about 30 - 40 wines throughout the day. I looked through the list Binny's has published on their website and picked out the producers that interest me. I'll have to whittle this list down to about 25 producers. I figure each producer will be pouring more than one wine, so I should expect that I might want to try more than one at a table. Also I want to leave some time (and sobriety) for any wines that peak my interest in the heat of the moment.
Now is a good time to mention the sobriety aspect of a wine tasting. I'm all about responsible drinking, especially when the drinking requires driving to and from the venue. So remember that at a tasting like this, it is perfectly acceptable, and pretty much mandatory at 40+ wines, to spit. 40 1 oz samples would be the equivalent of 1.5 bottles of wine. That doesn't even include the samples I'm going to get at the seminars. If I were to swallow all the wine I tasted throughout the day, I would end up consuming over 2 bottles of wine, and would be WAY over the legal limit when I drove home in the afternoon. It just isn't worth it. Besides, this way I can get home and relax with a bottle of my favorite wine from the day.
Now that I have a plan, and have resolved to spit, all that is left to do is head out the door. I'm counting the days until Binny's Midwest Wine Expo. Hopefully I'll see you there.
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