Blue Sky Tasting at the Wine Warehouse Trade Show

by Frank Mangio
Every year I anticipate the blowout show in San Diego produced by Wine Warehouse, an international wine beer and spirits powerhouse distributor that draws hundreds of brands together for an annual product showing. Heck, they even represent sodas, ciders and teas!

 Hundreds of wine glasses greeted visitors to the annual Wine Warehouse Trade Show,
this year at the Hyatt Regency, downtown San Diego.

 Many of the owners of West Coast wineries attend this show, allowing access to tell their stories and pour their wines.  This is the main reason I go.  My readers get some valuableinformation from many of the owners.  Mark Donati was there from Donati Family Vineyards in Paso Robles.  Also from Paso, Gary Eberle of Eberle Winery, one of the first to make wine in this prime wine country.  Dan Lee from Morgan in Monterey , who you have learned about in my column, was there with his Morgan Winery; and all the way from Tenuta di Castellaro in Italy , Giovanni Pasquero traded comments on his Tuscan wines. Other names to know included:  Far Niente Estates, Heitz Cellars and Flora Springs in Napa Valley , Fess Parker Winery from Santa Barbara , L’Ecole from Washington , Peachy Canyon from Paso Robles and Pedroncelli and Trentadue of Sonoma. All were pouring their current releases, some premiered new brands and vintages.

You may wonder, at these mammoth wine tastings, how to stay sober and maintain a fresh palate. Many would say that taste and spit is the way to go, but for me, I have never spit out wine.  The swallow is an important part of the 5 part harmony of tasting wine.

I make sure I sip no more than 2 ounces of the wine in question, and stop frequently to aerate with water, and soothe the palate with appetizers, especially cheese, crackers and vegetables, when available.  I taste from no more than 12 wineries, what with visiting, exchanging contacts and sipping from the new releases.

I want each winery to be an experience and a familiarization with their creations.

Wine Warehouse was founded in Southern California in 1973 by Bob and Jim Myerson who wanted to share their enthusiasm for premium quality wines with the many wine shops, restaurants and bars, known as the trade. Today, it is one of the largest distributors of  alcoholic beverages in the United States . Wine Warehouse now offers wines from dozens of countries.  It now represents more than 10,000 wines, beers, spirits, non-alcohol beverages and glassware to license holders in California .  Go to winewarehouse.com for more information and links to all of their clients.