Thursday, March 1 2012
Commence la Festival!
Here? On the round globey-thingy?The one question I get asked more than any other is, 'How can I learn more about wine?'. The answer, of course, is by drinking it. Lots and lots of it.
That's often easier said than (safely) done. You can only taste so many different wines by yourself until your house fills up with opened bottles, each missing only an ounce or two. Even if you invite friends over to play, 'Guess That Wine', there's an upper limit to your space, resources or liver capacity, even if you spit each taste. I try to drink a new bottle of wine every night, but even that gets more difficult--I'm too old to finish a bottle a night, my wife rarely has more than a single taste on a school night, and there's only so much vingegar, wine jelly and sauce reductions one can do with leftovers.
Fortunately, there's an answer: get together with five thousand of your closest chums and attend a wine festival. Big festivals will have hundreds of vineyards and wineries represented, and (most importantly) hundreds of different styles of wine--along with hundreds of exactly the same kind of wine! This is crucial because it not only lets you taste wines you may not encounter in your regular travels (ever had Palo Cortado living in BC? Not unless you were at last year's festival) but also to compare the styles of a specific varietal or type from many different regions, countries and producers--nothing like trying two or three dozen Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand, and then comparing your notes to another couple of dozen from France, Chile, the USA, Australia and so on.
Sorry, the reality is, it's wayyyy more crowded than this. But in a chummy kind of way.It's unparalleled as an educational opportunity, which is why I attend three days of the festival tasting every year. For folks who marvel at (or are suspicious of) how I always seem to have an answer or an opinion about wine styles, regions or producers, this explains things--I've just done the research. I'm lucky enough to qualify as a trade member for two days in the week (from 2:30 to 5:00 pm, and no, unless you work in the industry you can't go) where I very studiously bring a camera, notebook and my best tasting discipline, looking for trends, changes in consumer behaviour and exciting ideas (to steal). I keep doing this, although it's a burden.
Okay, quiet down your guffaws. It really, truly is work: I spit everything, make notes, and have to fight through crowds of buyers and schmoozers who are asking the kind of questions I want to ask. And every year it comes at a very busy time at Winexpert (year-end. planning, employee reviews, etc). But it's something I wouldn't miss for the world: there simply is no other way to educate your palate as quickly (and as cheaply!) than a good wine festival.
I'm into my third decade of attending the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival, and it just gets better, every single year. This year's theme is Chile, and I'm eager to see what's up and coming, as the country has moved way up from being a bulk supplier to a value-priced producer, to standing on it's own as a fine wine producer with enormous ongoing potential.
If you'd like to play along at home, get your Tweet on to @WinexpertTim, hashtagging at #VIPWF, or hook up to my face on Facebook (Tim Vandergrift) and I'll be shooting out updates from the festival floor, and pointing the way towards things I enjoy--or not, as the case may be. I'm expecting a jolly interesting afternoon, and some very educational tasting.
Oh, I did mention that I attended three days: the third is on Saturday night, when I take my wife, the Lady Dawn (yes, for reals) out in a stretch limo in her ballgown and we make a soiree of it. After all, there comes a time when a man wants to stop spitting, and what better time than when he has a pretty girl on his arm?
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