08/25/06
(Friday) - Hot Picks National Event Tour Launches in Seattle
Wine & Spirits Magazine recently launched their Hot Picks national event tour in Seattle, WA on August 23rd at the Palace Ballroom downtown. Hot Picks, a series of wine tasting events focused around “50 great wines selling for under $25”, is scheduled to visit seven cities over the next two years including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. This inaugural event in Seattle was geared toward younger wine drinkers, providing them the opportunity to taste fifty of “the world’s most interesting and affordable wines” hand-selected by Wine & Spirits’ critics.
Amongst the wines tasted were a handful of Washington selections including Chateau Ste. Michelle’s 2004 Eroica Riesling, L’Ecole’s 2004 Columbia Valley Semillon, Duck Pond’s (actually based out of Oregon but produces a majority of their wines from Washington grapes) 2003 Syrah, and Lost River’s 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon. I guess four out of fifty isn’t that bad given that the list included wines from all over the world including Potugal, Greece, Spain, Germany, France, New Zealand, etc. However, based on the wines that I tasted there were definitely plenty more Washington wines that could have easily made the list. While some were pleasant drinking wines for the price there weren’t too many standouts that I could recommend buying. Out of the Washington wines represented I was most impressed with the 2003 Columbia Valley Cabernet Sauvignon from Lost River Winery, which tasted very good along side the rest of the world.
The event was relatively well done with a nice varietal assortment of wines and local foods from some of Seattle’s top restaurants, including Café Campagne, Monsoon and Union. However, given that this event was supposedly geared toward the younger wine market Hot Picks was no different than most other wine tasting events in the area, which don’t make that same claim. Sure, at $25 and under the wines had the potential to be good bargains, but should inexpensive automatically be attributed with young wine drinkers? Generally speaking this wine tasting was no different than most of the others, with people mulling around and tasting wine just for the sake of tasting wine. Pour, sip, spit/swallow…pour, sip, spit/swallow. Younger wine drinkers need to be more engaged. Let’s open things up and really get people involved by offering something different! Just because a wine is priced well doesn’t automatically mean that the younger market will be interested. They need something a little more substantial…like a good “Wine Experience!” -MP
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