I admit I have mixed feelings about the Boston Wine Expo.
Wandering around an enormous room with so many wines to choose from can be overwhelming, and tables can be crowded. It can be awkward to find your way to a spit bucket, which I find necessary when I’m trying that many wines.
Under a time constraint due to the Patriots playoff game (and my house being filled with thirsty and hungry guests), I had to be quite focused.
I had 4 goals going into this event:
- Check out the wines from the Rhone Valley
- Taste more reds from the Finger Lakes
- Try some Argentine Malbec
- Find some affordable West Coast Wines
Rhone Valley
This 2010 Prieure de Montezargues Tavel was a winner! An absolutely lovely bottle for $22. 
Another wine I’ll be seeking out is the very food friendly, easy drinking 2010 La Petite Fontaine for $15. The 2009 Louis Bernard Gigondas for $30 was a bit tannic on tasting but would settle down if paired with food.
These wines are available in the Boston area at shops such as Blanchard’s, Marty’s, Federal Wine and Spirits, Kappy’s and others.
Finger Lakes
My two main stops in the Finger Lakes area were Ravines Wine Cellars and Dr Frank. Having mostly had Riesling from the Finger Lakes, I was excited to try the reds.
At Ravines, I tried the 2009 Cabernet Franc, which was thankfully absent of harsh bell pepper. This wine is a great daily red and earlier today I picked up a bottle at Winestone for $20. The 2008 Meritage is a mix of Cab Sauv/Cab Franc/Merlot and clocks in at a low 12.5% ABV. I find the wines from Ravines to be very food friendly.
Next up was Dr Frank’s. The first pour was a Chateau Frank Blanc de Blanc sparkler made in the methode champenoise. A favorite among everyone at the tasting table, this nicely balanced, medium bodied wine was a treat for $30. The dry Riesling was full of crisp acidity and pears. The Rkatsiteli comes from one of the oldest known vinifera grape varieties and was extremely aromatic.
If you’re heading to the Finger Lakes, I would make sure to put these two on your list.
Argentine Malbec
Malbec is quite popular with my friends, so I am always on the lookout for a good bottle. A the Expo, I found three great mid priced Malbecs that I would try again:
- 2009 Rio Seco Reserva Malbec, retailing for ~$12
- 2009 Gamela Reserva Malbec, retailing for ~$20
- 2009 Don Miguel Gascon Reserva Malbec, for about ~$25
I tried some wines from the La Pampa region of Argentina, which is a dry, flat region south of Mendoza on the way to Patagonia but didn’t find them to be quite there yet. I look forward to trying wines from this area as it gets more well established.
Affordable West Coast Wines
This was a bit tougher to wade through – I was looking for wines that I wasn’t familiar with that would be good for daily enjoyment.
The standouts for me were the 2009 Joseph Carr Cabernet from Napa, retailing for around $15 and the 2008 Cali’s Cuvee Pinot Noir from Left Coast Cellars in the Wlllamette Valley, for ~$20.
There were a lot of tables in the North America section so I am sure I missed out on some great wines as I was suffering from a bit of palate fatigue by the time I arrived there.
Overall impressions
It was an enjoyable day and I was disappointed to have to leave as quickly as I did. Great to run into many friends and see what they liked.
Thanks to the Finger Lakes Wine Country, a sponsor of the Boston Wine Expo, for inviting me to join in on the fun!
Did you go to the Boston Wine Expo? What were your favorites?
Find it hard to stay in shape and enjoy your favorite beverage?
In preparation for January 25th’s #winechat with Rex Pickett, here are some of the most memorable wine quotes from the movie Sideways:
On tasting wine …
Miles: Let me show you how this is done. First thing, hold the glass up and examine the wine against the light. You’re looking for color and clarity. Just, get a sense of it. OK? Uhh, thick? Thin? Watery? Syrupy? OK? Alright. Now, tip it. What you’re doing here is checking for color density as it thins out towards the rim. Uhh, that’s gonna tell you how old it is, among other things. It’s usually more important with reds. OK? Now, stick your nose in it. Don’t be shy, really get your nose in there. Mmm… a little citrus… maybe some strawberry… passion fruit … and, oh, there’s just like the faintest soupçon of like asparagus and just a flutter of a, like a, nutty Edam cheese…
Jack: Wow. Strawberries, yeah! Strawberries. Not the cheese…
On Tasting Bad Wine …
Miles: It tastes like the back of a fucking L.A. school bus. Now they probably didn’t de-stem, hoping for some semblance of concentration, crushed it up with leaves and mice, and then wound up with this rancid tar and turpentine bullshit. Fuckin’ Raid.
Jack: Tastes pretty good to me.
On Merlot …
Jack: If they want to drink Merlot, we’re drinking Merlot.
Miles: No, if anyone orders Merlot, I’m leaving. I am NOT drinking any fucking Merlot!
On Pinot Noir …
Miles: It’s a hard grape to grow, as you know. Right? It’s uh, it’s thin-skinned, temperamental, ripens early. It’s, you know, it’s not a survivor like Cabernet, which can just grow anywhere and uh, thrive even when it’s neglected. No, Pinot needs constant care and attention. You know? And in fact it can only grow in these really specific, little, tucked away corners of the world. And, and only the most patient and nurturing of growers can do it, really. Only somebody who really takes the time to understand Pinot’s potential can then coax it into its fullest expression. Then, I mean, oh its flavors, they’re just the most haunting and brilliant and thrilling and subtle and… ancient on the planet.
On Chardonnay …
Miles: I like all varietals. I just don’t generally like the way they manipulate chardonnay in California. Too much oak and secondary malolactic fermentation.
On getting into wine:
Maya: I originally got in to wine through my ex-husband.
Miles: Ah.
Maya: You know, he had this big, sort of show-off cellar, you know.
Miles: Right.
Maya: But then I discovered that I had a really sharp palate.
Miles: Uh-huh.
Maya: And the more I drank, the more I liked what it made me think about.
Miles: Like what?
Maya: Like what a fraud he was.
Maya: No, I- I like to think about the life of wine.
Miles: Yeah.
Maya: How it’s a living thing. I like to think about what was going on the year the grapes were growing; how the sun was shining; if it rained. I like to think about all the people who tended and picked the grapes. And if it’s an old wine, how many of them must be dead by now. I like how wine continues to evolve, like if I opened a bottle of wine today it would taste different than if I’d opened it on any other day, because a bottle of wine is actually alive. And it’s constantly evolving and gaining complexity. That is, until it peaks, like your ’61. And then it begins its steady, inevitable decline.
Miles: Hmm.
Maya: And it tastes so fucking good.
On saving wine for a special occasion …
Maya: You know, the day you open a ’61 Cheval Blanc … that’s the special occasion.
Have you read Vertical yet? Any thoughts?
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