Home > Food and wine pairing, wine fun, wine information, WTSO > Wednesday’s Meritage – Critic on Criticism, #MWWC19 Reminder, Wine and Food Festivals Abound, Allegrini Wine Dinner and more

Wednesday’s Meritage – Critic on Criticism, #MWWC19 Reminder, Wine and Food Festivals Abound, Allegrini Wine Dinner and more

September 9, 2015 Leave a comment Go to comments

Meritage Time!

First, I want to bring to your attention an interesting article by none less than Jancis Robinson, who wrote a very interesting piece called “Jancis Robinson on wine experts versus amateurs“, recently published in Financial Times. In the article, she is talking about the challenges professional wine critics face in today’s world, where literally everyone have an opinion about wines, and not afraid to share it. Definitely worth a few minutes of your time.

Next up – a Monthly Wine Writing Challenge Number 19 (#MWWC19) reminder – there is less than a week left in the current challenge (last day is September 14th), and if I’m not mistaken, there were very few submissions so far. I understand that theme is challenging – “Choice” can mean all and nothing at the same time – but this is why it is a challenge, and this is why your participation is required! If this can be a source of inspiration, here is the link to my own mumbling on the subject – I’m sure you can do better. Write up, people!

Now, last weekend of September might be challenging for the food and wine lovers, as multiple events will be competing for your time and attention:

Greenwich Wine and Food Festival 2015, presented by Serendipity, will take place September 23-26 in Greenwich, Connecticut – lots of celebrities, Food Network Chefs, wine, food contests and more are in the program. Here is the link for detailed information, tickets and more.

The 10th annual Newport Mansions Wine & Food Festival will take place on September 25-27, 2015 at The Elms, Rosecliff & Marble House mansions in Newport, Rhode Island. Food& Wine Magazine will be hosting the festivities, and there is a very long list of celebrities and celebrity chefs who will be in attendance there – Martha Stewart, Jacques Pepin and many others will be present, so you can expect lots of delicious food, great wines and fun time. Here is the link for detailed information.

Georgian Food and Wine Festival should take place in New York City on September 25-27 at Chelsea Markets. At this point, this is all information I have – I can’t even give you a link – but just in case, if you are in New York city, see if a visit to Chelsea Markets will fit into your schedule – this will be a free event and I’m sure you will not regret making it.

Now, a bit more of a local event, but on Tuesday, September 15th, Vespa restaurant in Westport, Connecticut, will be hosting an Allegrini wine dinner, where 5 different wines from Allegrini & Poggio al Tesoro estates will be paired with the dishes specially created by the Chef David White. Allegrini is well known producer our of Veneto  in Italy (so yes, there will be Amarone on the list), and they also own Poggio al Tesoro vineyards in Tuscany. To get full information about the dinner and to reserve your spot, please visit Vespa Westport web site.

And the last one for today: WTSO, the best of the best in the world of the value wines, will conduct their famous “Anything Goes” Marathon on Monday, September 21st, starting at 9 AM US Eastern time. Wines will be offered in a rapid succession, new wines will be advertised only through the Twitter (no emails and no App notifications), no minimums to buy to get free shipping. But you better have all your information ready, as wines will be flying. If you are not already doing so, you might want to follow WTSO on Twitter. Happy hunting!

And this is all I have for you for today. The glass is empty, but the refill is on the way. Cheers!

 

  1. September 9, 2015 at 8:31 am

    Submitted my first post in the MWWC, not sure your mumblings are mumbled as mine!

    • talkavino
      September 9, 2015 at 9:09 am

      Great! I read your post – it is very good. I also tried to leave a comment ( a lengthy one, but was unable to – couldn’t click the “post comment” button…

      • September 9, 2015 at 9:31 am

        Hi, I have contacted the developer and hopefully they will provide a fix. Thanks for noticing this.

      • September 9, 2015 at 10:24 am

        Hi, the comments section is fixed (I hope)

        • talkavino
          September 9, 2015 at 10:26 am

          Indeed! 🙂

  2. September 9, 2015 at 9:35 am

    I read the Jancis Robinson article yesterday. Very interesting. I try not to be overly influenced by reviews, professional or amateur. But I’d be lying if I said I never took them into account. At the end of the day, a wine is only “good” if YOU like it (a point she makes rather more articulately than I just did).

    I’ve been giving a ton of $$$ to WTSO lately . . . I’m not sure I want to look at their deals on the 21st! ;o))

    Cheers, Anatoli!

    • talkavino
      September 9, 2015 at 9:40 am

      I’m with you on the Jancis piece and reviews – I also don’t care too much but take into account :). Luckily, I was able to avoid WTSO lately – I’m completely out of space to store any additional wine, therefore, practically not buying anything. But it is sooooo tempting more often than not….

    • September 9, 2015 at 12:14 pm

      The Jancis piece is certainly thought-provoking. The part that jumped out at me was how she tastes: focused, quiet, paying extreme attention to the wine, and tasting up to 100 wines a day. How on earth is this a benefit to the consumers that she claims to be serving? 99.9% of wine consumers DRINK the wine, they don’t TASTE it. So why provide such detailed TASTING notes? That same percentage of people drink wine not for analysis but for pleasure. Provide guidance, sure, but remember it is only a beverage….

      • talkavino
        September 10, 2015 at 7:54 am

        Well, definitely wine is only a beverage, but she is a professional, so she have to have her specific methods and produce results which people can relate to. This is absolutely not the common case – many times I was in the situation at the restaurants where I would ask to describe the wine to me, and the only answer I get is “ohh, this is very good wine, very popular at our restaurant” – that is somehow not what I expect…

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