Wine Merchants Trade Show: Italian Extravaganza

There are many benefits for the wine lover working in the wine field such as attending trade shows.  Today I  attended such a show put on by the distributor Wine Merchants at the Westin Minneapolis.  Distributors generally do trade shows quarterly as they want to showcase new products.  The theme of today's trade show was "Italian Extravaganza" and there were over 100 wines and spirits to taste.  Upon arrival you are given a list of all the products with pricing as well as a wine glass.  Then you make your way slowly through each of the 7 tables, starting with the white wines, moving to red wines, then the sparkling and dessert wines and finally ending up at the last table containing spirits.  There are about 15 different bottles on each table to choose from and you are allowed to taste as many or as few as you want.  In the middle of the room there is a table of finger foods to help you cleanse your palette and to help you make it through standing!

Italian wines have been a favorite of mine (particularly Chiantis) since I started drinking wine in Europe so I was excited to try a few I have only read about. And since I cannot taste anywhere near 100 wines I concentrated mostly on wines I had never had. Some that I tasted for the first time today were Dolcetto, Amarone, Soave, Vin  Santo, Montepulciano D'Abbruzzo, Franciacorta and Brunnelo.  I had very high expectations for the Brunello, thinking it would surely blow my mind.  I tried two different ones (one of which retails for around $105 a bottle!) and, don't get me wrong, they were good but the wine that took the cake for me was the Berlucchi 61 Brut Franciacorta.  This is a sparkling wine made in the traditional champagne style, using 85% Chardonnay and 15% Pinot Noir.  It retails for about $36 a bottle.  Now let me say there are sparkling wines and then there are sparkling wines made in the Champagne style- these are mind blowing.  The depth of flavor is fascinating!  I hope to get my hands on a bottle of this Berlucchi to enjoy at home and then I can tell you more about it.  Suffice it to say Franciacorta is Italy's premier sparkling wine and is definitely worth the small splurge.

The next trade show is right around the corner featuring the wines of Washington state. Until then...