Wine Media Guild of New York

NEWS:

Just Opened: California Wine Merchants, a retail store founded by wine writer Jennifer Frank (a prospective WMG member) and sommelier Taylor Senatore. It brings the best of California wines to New York and to all California wine enthusiasts through their e-commerce website. The shop carries a carefully chosen selection of great values, limited production wines, famous names, and the latest cult producers. 15 Bridge St (between Whitehall and Broad Streets). Email: info@cawinemerchants.com  Website: www.cawinemerchants.com.

TASTINGS: (more…)

Remember the excellent Puglia tasting last month? Well, if you weren’t there, you can catch a write-up on a couple of member blogs:

Jeremy Parzen, who helped organize the tasting, has some notes on his blog, Do Bianchi.

And Robert Simonson talks about “Plenty of Puglia” on his blog, Off the Presses.

UPDATE: Charles Scicolone, the other organizer of the tasting, now has a lengthy post with his tasting notes and more over at i-Italy.com.

Next month’s lunch: Champagne tetes de cuvee with member Ed McCarthy as speaker.

MEMBER NOTES:

Five members of the guild braved the snow earlier this week and traveled to the Finger Lakes. A photo of the wine travelers is coming! We had a full 2 days of tastings, winery visits and lunches and dinners at wineries, with lots of close contact with wine makers and winery owners.

Tyler Colman’s new book, A Year of Wine: Perfect Pairings, Great Buys, and What to Sip for Each Season (his second book this year!), is due out any day now from Simon Spotlight Entertainment, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. It can be pre-ordered from Amazon.com for $16.

Jonathan Levine noticed the following tribute to Tom Maresca’s book on the trivia web site Sploofus.com. The following is from the author of a quiz on Matching Food and Wine:
“I am deeply indebted to Tom Maresca whose marvelous text ‘The Right Wine’ helped me to master this fascinating subject (after numerous readings). A good portion of his book covers the enigmatic problem one encounters in a restaurant when two (or four) people order quite different dishes and one must find a wine (or two) that will work with everything.”

NOVEMBER TASTINGS (more…)

MEMBER MEMOS

Paul (Dr. Z) Zimmerman has done a radio commercial for Dr. Pepper playing himself.  Now that’s type casting.

NEWS

The Oenovideo International Film Festival was held in September in Paris. It featured Documentary Films about Grapes and Wine.  The American documentary “Crush” took the prize for best short (20 minutes) film.

OCTOBER TASTINGS (more…)

If you have not sent in your membership dues ($50) to Cynthia Cheng or your required credentials to Pat Savoie, please do so before Sept. 15.

See the exciting new calendar for lunches!

SEPTEMBER TASTINGS (more…)

Wed July 9: 12 noon. Tyler Colman at the Beard House. Tyler talks about his new book:
Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink
Guests are welcome to bring a brown-bag lunch. Water coffee and chocolate are served. Suggested Donation: $20 for nonstudents. The Beard House, 167 W. 12th Street, NYC. Please RESERVE: 212.627.2308 or reserve online

Sat August 2: WMG Pool Party. (Rain date: Sun, August 3)

August 5-6: The Art of Balance: Cool Climate/Maritime Wines in a Global Context at SUNY Stony Brook (Organized by Louisa Thomas Hargrave, WMG member and director). Many notable local and international speakers; tastings of Long Island wines as well as wines from Friuli, Bordeaux, the Rheingau, the Finger Lakes, Rias Baixas, the Loire, and Coastal California. details and reservations

Tues August 12: 6:00-8:30pm THE GOLD STANDARD: Double Gold and Gold Medal Winning Wines
Location: Estonian House (243 East 34st bet 2nd/3rd). Sponsored by Tasters Guild International. The 2008 Competition involved over 1,820 entries from 17 countries and 31 states, but only a handful acheived a prestigious double gold medal. Most of the double gold medal winners and many of the gold medal winners will be offered at this stand-up, walk-around tasting. Over 65 wines are available for your tasting pleasure. $60 for everyone.
WMG members MUST RSVP to Ron Kapon if they wish to come as the Estonian is a private club. Ron@tastersguildny.com

Thurs August 14 6:30 - 8:30 pm. “Cool Italian Wines, Hot Summer Nights”- Italian wines taught by Charles Scicolone, who is now teaching at the Astor Center in Manhattan ( www.astorcenter.com ) $65. Registration

At the business meeting in June we voted on the nine themes for the year. While the Guild co-Chairs are working with the member sponsors to nail down all the dates, we at least have the three remaining for this year in place. Here they are:

October 1 - Chenin Blanc in all its Variety-Still, Sparkling and Sweet. Member Sponsor: Cynthia Sin-Yi Cheng

November 5 - Wines of Puglia. Member Sponsor: Charles Scicolone

December 3 - Champagne (theme not yet more specific). Member Sponsor & Speaker: Ed McCarthy

Put these on your calendar now–other fun themes to follow in the new year!

The inaugural induction ceremony for the Hall of Fame happened recently. Many members and guests attended the ceremony at I Trulli restaurant. Of this year’s inductees, Kevin Zraly and our own member, Ed McCarthy were present and made heartfelt remarks.

For accounts of the event check out member Robert Simonson’s blog as well as member Tyler Colman over at DrVino.com.

Jeremy Parzen, Ph.D., became the latest member of the Guild after a vote at the June business meeting. Welcome, Jeremy!

He blogs regularly at Do Bianchi., his blog devoted to Italy and Italian Wine and Food (and, occasionally, his band). His writing has also appeared in Wine & Spirits, Gastronomica, and The Art of Eating.

He’s also probably the only one to have translated a 15th Century cookbook (Maestro Martinoof Como’s The Art of Cooking) from the Italian.

Many WMG members attended the James Beard Foundation awards last night. But perhaps most exciting this year was the debut of Devour.tv, the brainchild of member John Gottfried, which had video coverage from the red carpet in conjunction with Bravo TV. Adding to the fun, two WMG members were in front of the camera doing the interviewing, David Rosengarten and Philippe Newlin. Check out some of the video here or on bravotv.com.

Member Tyler Colman was there doing “live blogging” of the drinks on the Foundation’s official blog.