Archive for the 'events' Category

Reboule du Rhone


About five years ago, Dustin Wilson became the wine director at Eleven Madison Park and Thomas Pastuszak became the wine director at NoMad. At a similar point in their careers at restaurants in the same group, the two bonded over their many shared interests, one of which was a love of the wines of the Northern Rhone.

Last year, when they were visiting cellars in the region together, they hatched the idea to have a weekend celebration of Northern Rhone wines in New York City. Thus Reboule du Rhone was born with the first weekend of events slated for November 17-19. Pastuszak says that some of the dozen producers invited have never been to New York before. Part of their motivation was to give “the sommelier community a chance to get in front of these heralded producers,” he says.

“We get really excited to serve these wines and drink these wines. But the region is somewhat under the radar. So it is exciting to give them wider exposure,” Wilson says.

With other weekend fetes on the New York City calendar of Burgundy, Champagne, and others, there was an opening for a Northern Rhone event. “For us, we felt it was only a matter of time until somebody jumped on this. We’ve hit a point in our career where we are very well positioned and the timing was right for us to do it.

One further way to stand out is that fully 100% of the net proceeds will go to charity. The nonprofit they are working with is No Kid Hungry, an organization that works to improve childhood nutrition that has worked frequently with chefs and the restaurant community.

The flagship event is the Reboule, a $600/head BYOB dinner bacchanal with winemakers who will be bringing back-vintages from their cellars. Participating chefs include Daniel Humm of EMP and Abram Bissel of The Modern. But perhaps the best value is the walk-around afternoon tastings where the winemakers will be pouring their current releases.

The best wines from the Northern Rhone, syrah’s ancestral homeland, represent something of a Lorelei to me, with their alluring, savory call of black olives and herbs. The producers here a veritable murderer’s row of producers from the region. So it’s hard to imagine what the Reboule will do for an encore. But that’s a problem for next year.

Participating winemakers
Read more…

A couple of tasting events: NY & Sonoma

wheeling_forwardThis Saturday, 80 wines and a swirl of NYC’s leading sommeliers will be on hand at Le Du’s wines for a benefit tasting. The proceeds go to Wheeling Forward, Yannick Benjamin’s non-profit that, in his words, “aids those that are disabled to get back to everyday life.” Yannick was profiled in the WSJ a few weeks ago.

May 4, 1 – 4 PM, $50 in advance, $75 at the door

And on next Saturday (May 11): forget “the one percent” from last year’s election–there’s a tasting in Healdsburg focusing on “seven percent.” No, this isn’t an Occupy Healdsburg event. It’s actually a celebration of wines made from obscure grape varieties–the many that dwell in the shadow of the 93% of the top eight well-known ones.

Drink like a California hipster with wines from these wineries being poured: Arnot Roberts, Bedrock Wine Co., Broc Cellars, Dirty & Rowdy Family Winery, Forlorn Hope, Idlewild Wines, Jolie-Laide, Leo Steen , Massican, Matthiasson, RPM, Ryme Cellars, Stark Wine, The Scholium Project, Two Shepherds, Unti Vineyards and Wind Gap.

May 11, 3-7pm / $40 Read more…

Events worth drinking

rieslingfeier

Pinot noir and Riesling have more than just being (the greatest?) “noble” varieties: next month they each have worthwhile public tastings dedicated to them.

First up, in SF and LA next week, is In Pursuit of Balance. Organized by Raj Parr of RN74 and Jasmine Hirsch of Hirsche Vineyards, this annual tasting showcases some of the most cutting-edge Pinot Noir (and Chardonnay!) from California. There are a couple of seminars, but the main event provides the chance to sample wines from 28 wineries and have your picture taken with the hirsute hipsters from Santa Barbara, Sonoma, and Mendocino. $85; Feb 4 and 6.

Then, kick off President’s Day weekend in NYC with the first-ever Rieslingfeier, the brainchild of Steven Bitterolf of Crush Wine & Spirits (here’s a Q&A with Stephen from five years ago) . The events start on Saturday, Feb 16, with a free panel discussion of diversity in the Mosel and the Saar. Participants include Andreas Adam, Thomas Haag (Schloss Lieser), Florian Lauer, Dorothee Zilliken as well as David Schildknecht of the Wine Advocate. Then there’s the opportunity to crawl from uptown to downtown sampling Riesling and talking with producers at four wine shops (all free). The main event of the Fest is a BYO dinner at Rouge Tomate with some NYC’s top sommeliers, all the above producers plus Klaus Peter Keller and Katharina Prüm. It sounds fantastically fun and, while pricey at $275, I would definitely attend (but I will be out of town). Check out their website for full details.

Taste seven great holiday wines with Dr. Vino!

holiday_wineThe holiday wine tasting is back! Join me on 12/10 to taste through seven great wines for gifting and drinking!

I’ll be pouring seven great wines-–red, white and bubbly (including one tasty kosher wine!). We’ll talk party strategies, how to impress the boss with a gift wine, and good food pairings. NO prior wine education is necessary, just a willingness to try something new!

The session will be held at the White Wood House, a historic property on E. 29th St in New York City where the first floor is a space dedicated to wine education. Copies of my books will be available for purchase and I’d be happy to sign them–also good gifts!

So I hope to see you there on Thursday 12/10!
6:30 – 8:00 PM. Registration and details
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Tour and taste at Newport’s mansions!

newportmansions
The Preservation Society of Newport County holds its fourth annual Newport Mansions Wine & Food Festival September 25-27. The two-and-a-half day affair, presented by Food & Wine Magazine, includes a wine auction on Friday night and gala honoring Jacques Pepin, a wine tasting on both Saturday and Sunday featuring over 150 wines, chef cooking demos and more.

On Sunday, you can experience the olde tyme bling of the mansions, the fall colors and wines with me as I will be the featured wine speaker!

The organizers have are offering $10 off any ticket purchase by entering the code DRVINO, valid through 9/14. That means that a ticket to just the Sunday grand tasting is $65 or 43 cents if you taste each wine–less than the price of a stamp! Other packages are available too for the whole weekend. Be sure to say hi on 9/27 if you are there!

Newport Mansions Wine & Food Festival
September 25 – 27
The Breakers and Marble House
Newport, Rhode Island


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