This weekend I attended the first annual New York Wine Expo. Similar events have take place in Boston and Washington DC for a number of years. The New York City version was held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. Friday and Saturday was open to the public for $85 and $95 respectively. The event also took place on Sunday for those involved in the Wine trade in one form or another.
With clearly numbered aisles and good organization it was easy to navigate around the venue and find particular wineries that were listed in program. The wines of a couple hundred producers were represented. Many wine producing regions were featured but Argentina had a particularly large representation. It was easy to see that there is quite a bit of diversity and quality coming out of this South American country, often at a great price. Being a New York event, local wines were also prominently showcased. In addition to those examples wines from Africa, Portugal, Chile among others were also featured along with the countries people traditionally think of when wine comes to mind.
Of particular note were some dessert wines from Cyprus that seemed to find the intersection between Sherry, Port and Madeira. I sampled four different releases and they were each remarkably delicious and distinct in character. A Pinot Noir from Fulcrum Wines of California also stood out. However these are just a few examples. There were a tremendous number of interesting wines to try throughout the weekend.
In addition to wine a few booths were dedicated to exhibiting food products such as cheese, organic snacks and churros. One strange thing for an event of this size was that bottled water was being sold. Most events of this magnitude seem to have a bottled water sponsor who doles out tons of the stuff for free to attendees. That said, regular ice water was available for free throughout the venue.
All things considered this was a very good event for Wine Lovers. The Javitz center has plenty of room and it was well organized and well run. If you missed it, look out for the 2nd annual New York Wine expo in early 2009.
This Week: Three Releases from Australian Producer Smidge Wines.
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