The good people at Chase Sapphire once again extended a VIP invite to a wonderful event. This time around, it was the 2010 Philadelphia Wine Festival at The Marriott Downtown. We got dressed up for the fan-cay wine sipping crowd and made our way to the halls of Bacchus. We happily made the rounds with Taylor and her man Matt from Mac and Cheese Review and Baker E herself and her friend (and co-owner of A Full Plate Cafe) Liz.
What does one need to sip wine? A glass. There was no shortage of them in the giant hall. While there were rinsing stations at each winery, I guess one might misplace a glass or three after a few (okay, 15) samples of wine and champagne.
As fancypants VIPs, we got to go behind the velvet ropes and help ourselves to some extra goodies. All one needed (other than an event sponsor hookup) was a Chase Sapphire card to buy a ticket — that's what got you into the VIP section. They had these awesome plates with a cutout for a wine glass. Genius. Ah the life of a VIP.
Each of us got a spiral bound book, a solid half-inch thick. Each page featured a different winery highlighting the selections they brought to the festival, and extra room for tasting notes. Well done. But an easier way to take notes was via these 3"x4" cards at each tasting station. It listed the winery, the wines featured and PLCB numbers. Unfortunately, there were some wines there which are not available in PLCB stores. Picky checked off each wine we had and jotted down some quick notes. All in all, we hit up 8 wineries trying out 13 different bottles (along with some bubbly cocktails in VIP!).
The wineries were divided into regions — Italy, Germany, Spain, France, CA, US non-CA — but it seemed busiest in Italy. So busy that we didn't bother trying to muscle our way into more than one booth. But Picky chose wisely and went for the San Guido Sassicaia 2006 which was a VIP-only selection. It was a nice and peppery wine. Even though it was the last wine we tasted, it still stuck out, and that's saying a lot. It sells for $160 a bottle in PLCB stores, but it's not in stock right now.
While there were some stations of food around the hall (Garces Trading Company, Capital Grille…) we saw Walnut Hill College's pasty station and settled in. Little cakes, tarts and macaroons filled the table.
A shot of four of the five flavors of macarons. The raspberry was the best one.
We spoke at length with one vendor there, Gerry Catanzano, the Northeast Division Manager for Parducci, America's first carbon neutral winery. Parducci offers a 2006 Sustainable Red and a 2008 Sustainable White ,which are both available in PLCB stores for $10. These organic wines have a lot going for them in the area of sustainability. Check out the info on their Green section. The bottles have recycled paper labels with soy and water-based inks. They reclaim the water they use in their cellars. They have solar panels used for 15% of the facility's power needs, wind power purchased through the grid, bio-diesel vehicles on the premises and they purchase offsets to mitigate shipping pollution. From the website:
Parducci is locally owned and operated in California's Mendocino County. We are committed to sustainable wine growing practices that yield top quality grapes and wines while protecting the environment and supporting our communities and local farmers. Locally owned and operated Grapes from family farms Sustainable farming practices 100% green power Earth-friendly packaging 1st US carbon neutral winery
All that environmental stuff is great, but really, how does it taste? Gerry brought out a copy of The Wine Trials, which listed 150 top wines under $15 based on blind taste tests. The 2005 Sustainable Red finished #2 in New World reds. The 2007 Sustainable White was #1 in New World whites. Not bad, eh? Messy started with the whites while Picky tried the reds. We really liked all the offerings. The sustainables were nice, the 2005 True Grit Petite Sirah had some oomph to it and the 2006 Deep Red (Merlot) was Messy's favorite and of course, it's not available in PLCB stores. (On a related note, check out this article about the apparent stigma associated with organic wines.)
An interesting part of the festival was the PLCB store right in the middle of it all. You could take your cards with PLCB codes on it and buy what you liked right then and there. Easy moneymaker for sure.
Our merry group kept our eyes on the clock for the 7:00 Möet & Chandon Nectar Imperial tasting back in VIP. It's actually our favorite bubbly. It's sweeter and juicy instead of the extra brut that many like. The twist was that they were served on ice with a lime, a champagne cocktail of sorts.
Along with the champagne were chocolates from Antoine Amrani Chocolates based out of King of Prussia.
There were about a dozen different flavors of bit sized chocolates available. Here's a list of some of their signature flavors. Amrani offers tours and tastings at their facility — we think we're gonna have to take a trek up there soonish to see everything behind the scenes.
After a couple of hours, Picky had to get going for a photo gig down in South Philly so we had to say goodbye to all the wine and our velvet rope area. We didn't leave empty handed though. Our awesome gift bag — which was a 6-bottle wine tote — was filled with goodies. A rotary foil cutter, Built neoprene wine caddy, a wine stopper and the newest Philly Mag.
