The annual spring wine show at the Holiday Inn hosted by National Distributors was a great success. I attended this year's show with Lynne and Fred, so all of Foodstop's management was present. We had more fun than we probably should have, but it also yielded some great wine selections for the store.
By far, the best table to visit was Bruce Cole's table representing Dreyfus/Ashby importers. We sampled Chateau Campuget French bistro styled wines, Santa Digna's Carmenere, Cloudline from Oregon, Drouhin from Oregon and the best value/retail sale item: Enrique Foster Ique Malbec.
I will go into length about these wines as I try them at home, but clearly many of the Dreyfus/Ashby wines will make it to Foodstop's shelves.
Another big hit was the Eberle table. Eberle wines from Paso Robles California are powerful and intense wines...nothing delicate about them at all. We tried them last year and felt that we were not ready for such wines at a price point of 17- 20 dollars. Well, we are ready for them now, and we were excited to try them.
Concha y Toro's Mike Sullivan showed us some terrific Chilean values, including the Caselliero Privada which was devinely powerful and the Palo Alto Red which had a great finish and sold for ten bucks. There were other tables we visited, but I won't bore you with everyone here.
The Holiday Inn once again came through with a large spread of food: Cheeses, crackers, breads, Steamship Roast and Turkey carver, oh and a pasta steam tray with choice of sauce. Factor in the beautiful...people...and it was a feast for all of the senses.
Next week, Foodstop will make its choices for new additions to the wine room and National will probably win...again!