Taste of the Nation Boston Thursday, April 14th 2011

Coming Thursday April 14th, 2011 to Boston is Taste of the Nation - an expo style event where you can taste food from local restaurants along with wine from around the world. Beer, cocktails and entertainment too.

I attended last year on a press pass and enjoyed the quality and breadth of the offerings. Interesting wines, creative dishes, and festive yet manageable crowds. There was something for everyone and proceeds go to a good cause.

A sampling out the participating restaurants:

  • Craigie on Main
  • Hamersley's Bistro
  • KO Prime
  • L'Espalier
  • The Oak Room
  • Redbones
  • Jasper White's Summer Shack
From their press release:

Boston?s Culinary Icons Come Together for the City?s Largest Hunger Fundraiser
Share Our Strength?s Taste of the Nation Boston Hosts 23rd Annual Fundraiser on April 14th

Boston, MA ? Inspired by a passion to fight childhood hunger, Boston?s hottest chefs, restaurants and mixologists will gather for Share Our Strength?s Taste of the Nation® benefit, the city?s premier culinary event. Taste of the Nation Boston, which will be held on April 14, 2011 at the Hynes Convention Center, will raise the critical funds needed to support Share Our Strength?s efforts to end childhood hunger in Boston and across the nation by 2015.

Since 1988, Taste of the Nation has raised more than $73 million for organizations in the United States, Canada and abroad, including more than $1.4 million in Boston alone. Area charities that will benefit from this year?s event include The Greater Boston Food Bank; Food for Free Committee; Cooking Matters, formerly known as Operation Frontline ? Massachusetts; and Project Bread/The Walk for Hunger.

WHAT: Share Our Strength?s 23rd annual Taste of the Nation Boston

WHEN: Thursday April 14, 2011 from 6:30 p.m. ? 9:00 p.m. EST; VIP reception beginning at 5:30 p.m. EST

WHERE: Hynes Convention Center, 900 Boylston Street Boston, MA

WHO: More than 65 of the city?s finest chefs and restaurants will participate in the gastronomic event. Along with Andy Husbands of Tremont 647 and the last season of Hells Kitchen, and Jody Adams of Rialto, participating restaurants will include Gargoyles on the Square, Hamersley?s Bistro, L?Espalier, Sel de la Terre, Summer Shack and Oceanaire. Attendees will also be able to sample over 100 different varietals of wine and sample a variety of cocktails prepared by some of Boston?s premiere mixologists.

DETAILS: Tickets for Taste of the Nation Boston are $90 in advance / $100 at door for General Admission tickets are $150 in advance / $160 at the door for VIP and can be purchased by calling 1-877-26-TASTE or visiting www.strength.org/boston  or www.TasteOfTheNation.org.
For more information about Taste call 202-478-6516. To purchase tickets or to get involved, visit TasteOfTheNation.org.


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WellesleyWinePress/~3/3MV4wokW65U/taste-of-nation-boston-thursday-april.html

Larissa Meek Laura Harring Laura Prepon Lauren Bush

Nominations are Now Open for the 5th Annual Wine Blog Awards

A little over a year ago, Tom Wark (PR whiz, wine shipping advocate, blogger at Fermentation and founder of the Wine Blog Awards), and I had an email exchange in which I noted that there seemed to be a, “Been there, done that” sense in the online wine writing scene.  My contention was that the genre hadn’t advanced enough and was, “Running to stand still,” to borrow a phrase.

Tom didn’t respond to my thoughts specifically, a pocket veto of sorts.  Flash forward 15 months and not only was my observation off base, it was off the map.  Tom was right.

Today, online wine writing offers an incredible panoply of voices, niches, and quality, ever-growing and impossible to keep up with.  Whatever your wine fetish, you’re going to find a community within a community and quality writing that will educate and entertain with personality and verve.

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To wit, already populated by great diversity, the 5th Annual Wine Blog Awards are currently accepting nominations until May 31st.  Ceded by Tom for the greater good and now organized by the same group of people who organize the Wine Bloggers Conference, the principal complaint against the Wine Blog Awards has been that they are insider-ish and don’t represent the diversity of writers and voices who are toiling at a high-level in pursuit of the good grape.  I have a hunch that won’t be the case this year; the entire contest could be marked by nominated finalists and winners who haven’t previously been acknowledged by these awards.

To nominate your favorite online wine read, please hit the links below.

Best Overall Wine Blog

Best New Wine Blog

Best Writing on a Wine Blog

Best Winery Blog

Best Single Subject Wine Blog

Best Wine Blog Graphics, Photography, and Presentation

Source: http://goodgrape.com/index.php/site/nominations_are_now_open_for_the_5th_annual_wine_blog_awards/

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Access Granted

Last week’s Access Zone activities at the 2011 London International Wine Fair (LIWF) were not only great fun and a way to spread the word about social media in wine, but they seemed to strike a chord with the wine trade present. Gabriella, Ryan and I were very pleased with the buzz around the fair [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheWineConversation/~3/P8wvaTitzOg/

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Robert Mondavi Day

Today marks what would have been Robert Mondavi’s 98th birthday, a day before Father’s Day, which is symbolic in its own right not only for the paternal leadership Mondavi provided to the wine industry, but also the lessons he imparted upon his children, the heirs to his legacy, faithfully carried on.

On a recent visit to Indianapolis, at an Italian restaurant that belies its location, tucked between a Junior Achievement and a Wal-Mart in a part of town in need of gentrification, I had lunch with Bob’s son Tim and his sister and partner in Continuum Estate, Marcia Mondavi Borger.

We would dine that day in early April at Capri Ristorante—the progeny of an Indianapolis institution, Amalfi, both opened by Arturo Dirosa who strives to bring the ‘Old Country’ to Indianapolis.  Amalfi was Robert Mondavi’s favorite Indianapolis restaurant.  He was simpatico with Arturo’s authentic Italian way.

It’s perhaps appropriate that even when they’re not trying, the younger Mondavi’s honor legacy and relationships.

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I expected to join a large group of people, maybe a dozen I figured, some distributor hanger-on’ers, a retailer or two and a couple of writerly types.  Color me surprised (and a little bit nervous) when I found out I was their only guest.

I’m not much of a star-gazer.  Michael Jordan, Frank Sinatra, Lou Holtz and, well, the Mondavi’s are the only people, aside from my own parents, that I put on a pedestal worthy of exemplary admiration. 

As Tim held court with Marcia acting as the conversational re-direct when Tim strayed too far afield, as he’s wont to do, we had a delightful lunch that typified why Robert Mondavi, and by extension his family, are my wine touchstone.

Utterly free of any pretense, affable, focused on wine that exhibits where it’s grown, reaching for the pinnacle in quality, a part of the table, family-focused, and exhibiting a sensibility that is concerned with helping your neighbor and doing the right thing, there’s a lot to like about the Mondavi tradition as its carried on by Tim, Marcia and their brother, Michael, a fact that I’ll explore in greater depth in a future column.

While carrying on the family legacy is important, as they’re all involved in new projects, never far from thought though, I imagine, is the sheer impact that their father had on the industry they inherited.  By donating over 40 boxes of the elder Mondavi’s papers to UC Davis this week, in a small way, they ensure that Robert Mondavi’s thoughts and ideas, as captured in his ephemera, is accessible in the widest manner possible for the wine industry’s future.  I’ve appended a couple of examples below – some personal notes on business and a speech to the Wine Institute circa 1981.

To Robert Mondavi, let us raise a glass of wine in honor of him on this day, what is quickly becoming a national wine holiday.

Salute!

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Source: http://goodgrape.com/index.php/site/robert_mondavi_day/

Leelee Sobieski Leighton Meester Leila Arcieri Lena Headey

Driftwood Estate Winery 2010 Chardonnay

Tired of the same old Chardonnay? Not liking the oaky taste? Too much buttery and vanilla sugary taste? Well I think I have found the cure.  Well its my cure so far.  We visited Driftwood Estate Winery a few weeks ago on our mini Texas Hill Country Vacation. We tried two whites. The 2010 Viognier [...]

Source: http://thegrapesaroundtexas.com/2011/06/27/driftwood-estate-winery-2010-chardonnay/

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How To Pronounce Willamette

One of the dangers of being a wine podcaster is you have to say wine terms and regions out loud. It’s hard enough to keep everything spelled correctly and often over the years I’ve made some embarrassing mistakes on the podcast. But the one that is probably most distressing for me was my butchering of [...]

How To Pronounce Willamette originally appeared on Winecast. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Winecast/~3/_0EmuKW5OiA/

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