I was lucky enough to be once again invited to the Boston Wine Expo as an Ambassador. As a build up to the event, I did a few raffles for tickets on my blog, which is a really exciting and fun thing to do even though I wish I could have given everyone a free ticket. I did some super early tastings of wine and food, specifically the Maple Leaf Farm Duck, which I made a number of awesome recipes with and I got to be part of the buzz and excitement as we built up towards the event.
This year was even more special for us Bostonians as we have been buried in what feels like two whole months of snow. I was desperate; as I am sure others were, to get out of the house. Sadly, the Sunday’s tasting had to be cancelled due to Mother Nature once again beating us down with yet another blizzard. I do hope those ticket holders got the chance to go on Saturday as I did.
My friend, Kerry joined me again this year and we decided on making the full day on Saturday starting with the media hours at 11am. I love this time at Expos as it gives me the chance to really get to talk to the winemakers and distributors.
I said last year that it felt a little different, booths were more spread out and the whole thing felt more at ease than a crazy sales conference. This year, I felt it got even better and I can’t quite put my finger on why. Partly because I get to do the media hours, which is the best time for me for chatting, tweeting and taking photographs but it was more than that. It could have been that people are sick of talking about snow so talking about wine and food and really learning was front of mind for everyone. Whatever it was, I have to say this was one of the best Expos I have ever been to. And, I might add I didn’t even go the Vintners’ Lounge this year.
The Grand Tasting, which is housed in the Seaport World Trade Center offers wines from over 300 wineries, far too many to taste but lots I was excited about… Decoy, Rombauer (especially their Chardonnay), Gris Blanc, Louis M. Martini and Michael David Wines to name just a few of what was on offer. We spent a couple of hours walking around talking to many of the traders and distributors. I have a whole slew of fabulous new wines loaded into my awesome new Drync app. I will be talking about these guys a little more in future posts, but you should check them out.
The food tasting also seemed to have gone up a notch with some delightful tastings on offer. Harrow’s Chicken Pot Pie was once again featured, Daniele with their outstanding prosciutto as well as my new favorite, Maple Leaf Farms. I also did go a little crazy buying caramels from McCrea’s Candies – you must try their salted caramel! Great Boston Chef’s like Ming Tsao and Chris Coombs did spotlight demonstrations and seminars from Tasting like a Pro to listening to the wonderful Michael Silacci of Opus One and Wines of Uruguay ran throughout the day.
This year more clothing and jewelry booths were featured with Boden and Stella & Dot. I think I will be looking at Boden today to buy some beach clothes with my 15% discount. I need a vacation so badly right now!
All I can say is what an amazing Saturday we had. I can’t wait for next year!
