OK New Yorkers, listen up. Most of the time, America looks your way with envy. You’ve got the best restaurants, the best films, the best theater, the best art scene, it goes on and on. But one thing you ain’t got so much of is good public wine tasting events. Which is why there’s always a bit of jealousy in the voices of my friends in New York when we talk about the wine events that happen every month or so here in San Francisco.
So here’s your chance to fix that in a big way: The New York Wine Expo. It’s big, it’s commercial, and it’s busy, but it’s one of the few chances New Yorkers have to really try a lot of wines in one place.
Regular readers are quite used to my mantra about such tastings. They represent singularly valuable opportunities to educate your palate. Try 40 Merlots and decide whether you really do prefer Pinot. Decide what style of Chardonnay you care for. Try wine made from the Alicante Bouschet grape for the first time. And so on.
The attentive attendee can come away with a much improved palate, not to mention a list of wines to go out and buy that are pre-screened as delicious.
The New York Wine Expo will feature more than 150 different wineries pouring hundreds of different wines, alongside chefs and food purveyors of different kinds. There are also seminars you can sign up for if you want a little more formal education than what you can get by just tasting a lot, plus cooking demonstrations and more.
For information on the seminars and to sign up, visit the event web site.
2011 New York Wine Expo
Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York City
Friday, February 25, 2011 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Saturday, February 26, 2011 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM
655 West 34th Street, New York, NY 10001
Tickets are $80-90 can (and should) be purchased online in advance. They go up $10 after February 18th.
My usual tips for such public tastings apply: get a good night’s sleep; come with a full stomach; wear dark clothes and skip the perfume/cologne; drink lots of water as you go; and spit if you want to enjoy yourself and learn something — if you want to get drunk you can pay half as much at your local bar.
