A Tough Assignment

This past Sunday, I was privileged to attend the Sixth Annual Washington DC International Wine & Food Festival. Well, let me append that. I was privileged to have someone get me in on a dealer's badge, so I didn't have to pay and got to go in hours before the general public.

Not having been to anything like it before, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I mean, you hear 'over 1,700 wines from over 240 wineries from around the world.' But it is something of a sight to behold. Filling up the main hall of the Convention Center with row after row and table after table of fine wines and spirits, the physics of it are somewhat baffling.

As the designated driver*, I didn't try out quite as many wines as my companions. And really, I don't think it'd be possible to even try the majority of them without alcohol poisoning. However, there were still some finds of the 21 or so I sampled.

So, some highlights. The Australian vintner Meinklang always suggested something else first, but it was their ice wine** that was drawing a crowd. PJ Valkenburg had one of the best Rieslings I've had in a long time. On the red side of the fence, the Ventisquero Grey (from, uh, Chile?) was smooth and friendly. And the Terramater altum shiraz, that I could drink all night. I will be tracking down something by Weingut Josef Bauer later (and the wine was poured by Mr. Bauer himself!) Banrock also had a white shiraz and a sparkling shiraz, if you're not overly fancy and like getting creative. (continued)

pmmj, Guest Blogger

And I wrote down a bunch more, so if you have a personal favorite, drop itin comments, I'll see what else I might have scribbled down to remember.

And oh, the cheese. igourmet.com won the day here, with many tasty selections and easy internet ordering, for your cheesy needs. The Meinblang table also had a fine sheep cheese on their table which tempted me back for seconds.

Side note #1:
Everyone was happy. No, really. Usually at these things, there's a fair subset of disgruntled employees who are just manning booths because they have to, and see no need to be helpful *and* friendly. Not so here. It was like a big boozey love-in, everyone was friendly.

Side note #2:
One of the DJs from 100.3 was there... handing out cheese. Write your own joke there.

Side note #3:
Marc Silverstein from the Food Network's "The Best Of" provided color commentary for one of the cooking demonstrations, but allow me to note how unimpressive it was. I seriously thought it was some local news 'celebrity' who was hamming it up on stage.

Side note #4:
While I appreciate Giant wanted to advertise their Peapod delivery service there, having a guy dress up as a big pea pod might go over better in a different venue.

Side note #5: Wineries need better websites. Really.

* - Don't fret, I assure you I tried out no small number of wines.

** - I confess I'm a sucker for ice wine, but this really was that good.

pmmj, Guest Blogger