Philly Wine Fest 2008 Wrap-Up

Say what you want about Pennsylvania’s antiquated liquor laws; the PLCB throws one hell of a party.

The PLCB and Philadelphia Magazine teamed up again to host the Seventh Annual Philadelphia Wine Festival on May 10. By successfully addressing a few key issues that have dogged past festivals, the PLCB delivered an event this year that will be hard to beat.

In the past, tight quarters and narrow aisles turned even the most polite, well-dressed group of sophisticates into a selfish, inconsiderate, elbow-throwing mob. But this year the PLCB finally chose a space large enough to accommodate Philadelphia’s dedicated mass of wine lovers—the expansive Ballroom at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Sure, at times it felt like you were backstage at The Price is Right with the gaggle of lanky models in little black dresses attempting to cat-walk inconspicuously around the SUVs and Jaeger-le Coultre display cases in the center of the Ballroom. And yes, this spectacle would be easy to mock. But, presumably, lining up these sponsors made it possible for the PLCB to secure this venue, which is a decision that clearly paid off.

Also, at prior festivals the food always seemed to be an issue—there just never seemed to be enough to go around. This year, however, there was an endless supply of pastas. They were not the most refined dishes, with the exception of Penne Restaurant’s wonderful Mushroom Cavatelli with Goat Cheese. But they were just what you needed to soak up the high-octane Cabs you were [ahem] “tasting” for the past two hours.

Then, of course, there were the wines. This year there seemed to be a larger selection of higher-end, artisinal wines—the type of wine you expect at a wine festival.

However, having this level of depth at the festival was—you’ll pardon the expression—a bit of a cork-tease. Although all of the wines at the festival technically are available through the PLCB, many of the stand-out bottles are difficult to obtain. Some of them are available at the local PLCB specialty stores only in very limited quantities (see e.g., the Tuderi, below), while others can be purchased only through the PLCB’s Special Liquor Order (or “SLO”) process, which is pricey because it requires consumers to buy at least six bottles at a time.

Moreover, in stark contrast to the festival’s bounty, the PLCB specialty stores, in case you haven’t noticed, clearly are stocking less wine these days. Rumor has it that the wine inventory has been cut by 40%. And although the Chairman’s Selection program is not dead, as I predicted it has become a thin shadow of what it once was.

After the jump, I’ll talk about my three favorite wines at the festival. And tomorrow I’ll share my secret on how to work the PLCB system to get your hands on these and other hard to find wines.


Best Wine: Remoissenet Bienvenues Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru 2005 (PLCB No. 21214, $239.99).

Most of the folks attending the festival knew there were certain wines you had to hit, like the First Growth Bordeaux. But judging by the amount of eavesdropping my friends and I witnessed as we talked about this Grand Cru white Burgundy, not everyone, it seemed, had it on their radar.

This Batard was over the top. Subtle aromas of wildflower blossoms. Minerals, fresh citrus and stone fruits, all of which were delicate and focused. Underneath, this princess cradled a deep, layered core of secrets she was only willing to whisper to you, slowly, one at a time. Seductively complex. You could spend the rest of your life courting this wine and not a minute of your patient adoration would be wasted.

There are 12 bottles of this wine at the 12th and Chestnut store. But at $240 a bottle, I'm still waiting for my financial aid application to be approved.


Most Exciting Wine: Tenute Dettori Tuderi 2003 (PLCB No. 23590, $45.99).

Alessandro Dettori is one of the most provocative wine makers in Italy today. The reason: he kicks it old school. Aside from temperature control after bottling, Dettori uses virtually no wine making technology. His wines are natural and unmanipulated—no filtration, no clarification and no stabilization. Maceration and fermentation for most of his wines, including the Tuderi, all take place in small cement tanks. Plus, his grapes are hand-picked and the wines are hand-bottled. For Dettori, it’s clearly a labor of love. A defiant respect for tradition. And it’s as close as you can get to true Old World Italian wine making without a time machine. The result is a true wine geek’s wine.


The Tuderi is a brilliant example of this philosophy. The wine is made with 100% Cannonau (Italy’s name for Grenache). Because there’s no filtration, the pour looks as bright and as dense as a glass of V8. The sight may be a bit jarring to some, but the palate convinces you never to doubt the genius that is Alessandro Dettori: Bitter cherry, wild herbs, leather and spices tempered with refreshing, vibrant acidity. History and tradition never tasted so good.

The only problem with the wine is its availability. There are only 15 bottles in Philadelphia County, 9 of which are in Center City. The fact that that the distributor’s rep had almost as many bottles at the festival that the PLCB has for sale in the entire county is deeply disappointing.


The Grape You Should Get To Know: Antonelli’s Sagrantino di Montefalco 2003 (PLCB No. 24668, $31.99) and its Sagrantino di Montefalco Passito 2004 (PLCB No. 10057, $36.99).

Sagrantino is one of the greatest grapes you’ve probably never heard of. The reason: it’s rare. Indigenous to Umbria, there are only about 250 acres of Sagrantino vines in existence and only about a dozen producers that work with it. And it’s unlike any other Italian wine. Dense, big red brambly fruits, rich savory aromas, exotic spices and pronounced but well-integrated tannins make this wine fun to drink young.


Sagrantino’s often made passito style—drying the grapes after they’re picked to concentrate the flavors—for a lovely and unique dessert wine. It’s exciting that these two wines are available through the PLCB. Unfortunately, there are only 4 bottles of the Sagrantino di Montefalco in Philadelphia County (Germantown) and none of the passito.

Tomorrow, I’ll share my secret on how to work the PLCB system to get your hands on these and other hard to find wines.

For more pics of the festival, check out my Philly Wine Fest 2008 set on Flickr.

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The 2007 Philadelphia Wine Festival Wrap-Up

Belated congratulations to the PLCB and Philadelphia Magazine for successfully hosting the 2007 Philadelphia Wine Festival. This year’s festival had around 40 fewer vendors and was a little more expensive than last year. However, the festival’s central location at the Mariott Hotel in Center City, the food provided by DiBruno’s (including the quince paste covered cheese and the bruschetta with freshly-cut prosciutto) and the never-ending courtesy cups of spring water provided by Panna were all improvements that helped to make this year’s festival better than the last.

Here are some of the notable wines at the festival, with a few thoughts and surprises along the way.

The First Growth Bordeaux

This year there were three Bordeaux at the festival, all of which were First Growths: Chateau Haut Brion 2001, Chateau Margaux 2001 and Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2003. First Growths are considered to be among the best wines in the world. If you’re a wine enthusiast, it’s important to taste First Growths because they are the wines that Cabernet Sauvignon producers all around the world look to as their benchmark. Though young, these three wines drank like heaven and were not to be missed.



--Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2003 (PLCB No. 20296, $312.39): Aggressive, enamel-stripping tannins, but powerful, rich blackberry and cherry flavors lie underneath waiting to emerge; too young to be approachable now, but a treat to preview nonetheless.

--Chateau Margaux 2001 (PLCB No. 19342, $169.29): Flowery nose; softer and inviting; complex and nuanced structure of cassis, plum and dark berries systematically unfolding through a long finish.

--Chateau Haut Brion 2001 (PLCB No. 20098, $170.19): Grand and opulent; signature dark berries, cherries and spice; calculated and balanced structure with an endless finish.



The First Growths, though, highlight an important issue about the festival’s pricing structure. Like past years, this year’s festival employed a two-tiered pricing system: the VIP Tasting, which cost $225 and began at 6:00 p.m.; and the Grand Tasting, which cost $125 and began at 7:30 p.m. In addition to getting an hour and a half head start, the VIPs also got to experience special Showcase wines at most of the tables, including all of the First Growth Bordeaux. The Grand Tasters, however, did not.

The two-tiered system is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it opens the event up to more people than festivals with one-tiered pricing systems such as this year’s Wine Spectator’s festival, which charged a flat $200 for everyone. On the other hand, one of the main reasons to go a wine festival (if not the main reason) is to taste the cream of the crop, wines you normally wouldn’t buy. That means the First Growths. To be fair, there were plenty of exciting wines at Philly’s festival for the Grand Tasters to enjoy. But it’s unfortunate that these three important wines were not poured for the Grand Tasters.

The Italian Wines

Italian wine lovers flocked to the Gaja table, which featured two wines: the Gaja Barbaresco 2001; and a Super Tuscan, the Ca’ Marcanda Magari 2004. The full-bodied Barbaresco had wonderfully soft tannins with notes of lilacs, strawberry and blackberry, while the Super Tuscan presented rich black currants, spice and a silky, round finish.



Directly adjacent to the Gaja table was Pio Cesare, which featured a Barolo D.O.C.G. 2001 (PLCB No. 4958, $49.99); and a Barbaresco D.O.C.G. 2000 (PLCB No. 23912, price not available), among others. The Barolo, while still a little closed off, was rich, silky and lingered for minutes. The Barbaresco had smooth tannins and revealed dried plum, earth and spice.

The Pennsylvania Wines

The Philly Wine Festival is always a great opportunity to check in with two local wineries, Blue Mountain and Chaddsford. Each winery produces a Meritage (sounds like heritage), an American version of a Bordeaux, both of which I’ve always found to be somewhat challenging. However, Blue Mountain and Chaddsford presented wines at this year’s festival that were exciting and surprising.



The wine Blue Mountain presented that piqued my interest was its 2005 Merlot. What’s exciting about this wine is that it is varietally correct. Don’t dismiss all Merlot because of one line of dialogue in Sideways, folks. If Merlot is not overly corrupted by the winemaker, it can taste and smell similar to Cabernet Sauvignon, which includes having Cab’s signature fingerprint of green peppers on the nose and palate. And Blue Mountain’s 2005 Merlot has that classic green pepper aroma and taste. It’s refreshing to see that Blue Mountain has the courage and skill to allow Merlot to be itself. Blue Mountain’s 2005 Merlot has not yet been formally released, but if you’re interested, you may still be able to snare a bottle of it at the Blue Mountain store in Reading Terminal Market. It has an $18 dollar price point.

The two Chaddsford wines that were the most interesting were the 2004 Due Rossi and the 2005 Pinot Noir. The Due Rossi is a 50/50 blend of Sangiovese and Barbera. This wine showed surprising structure and complexity with layers of wet earth, red berries, tobacco and coffee. The Due Rossi’s price point is in the $25 range. Chaddsford takes a subdued Old World approach in crafting its 2005 Pinot Noir. The nose did not have the intense fragrance of unswept barn and dried rose petals that is characteristic of Old World style Pinot Noirs, but the wine did have a welcomingly delicate and subtle palate.

The California Wines

PLCB Chairman Patrick J. Stapleton III may not have been a wine enthusiast prior to becoming Chairman earlier this year, but he apparently knows his stuff now. Shortly after arriving at the festival, Chairman Stapleton made his way to the Silver Oak table, where he enjoyed the Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2002 (PLCB No. 011663, $99.99).



The nose on this wine was intense and evoked a very specific smell I experienced every August in my youth when my family and I would go camping in Bedford County—dense bramble and meadow after an early evening rain. But the palate—while full of the Silver Oak's familiar rich oak and dense, dark fruit—lacked some of the nuances of the 2001.



It’s hard to find a California Cab as plush and as fat as a Cakebread. Its 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon (PLCB No. 11705, $55.99) is no exception. A blend of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc, this soft and chewy wine was bursting with rich dark fruit, spice and caramely oak. It’s not the shyest of pours, to be sure, but that’s part of the fun.

There was another enjoyable Cab at the festival that had an impressive flavor profile for its price point. But because I have other plans for this wine, I’ll save the discussion for another day, closer to the end of the month.

Again, cheers to the PLCB and Philadelphia Magazine for hosting a successful event. For more pics, go to the 2007 Philly Wine Festival set on my Flickr page.

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Philadelphia Wine Festival 2006 Wrap-Up

Congratulations and thanks to the PLCB and Philadelphia Magazine for successfully organizing this event. The place was packed. It was challenging at times to make your way down the aisles and to the tasting tables. Even though I arrived early, some of the more popular wineries were already starting to run out of wine. Given the ground I was hoping to cover, I didn't have time for detailed note taking. So, for what it’s worth, here are a few quick, skeletal thoughts on the wines at the festival that made my Greatest Hits List:

• Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2001 ($99.99). I had been looking forward to enjoying Silver Oak ever since I learned it was participating, and their wine delivered in a big way. Ponderous. The nose included light notes of cloves and oak. Rich caramel on the palate. Long finish.

• Chateau Palmer 2003 (Margaux) ($147.99). Palmer is a Third Growth Bordeaux. For this reason alone it should have been on everybody’s dance card. Spicy nose. Medium body. Dark fruit. Firm tannins, but well balanced and smooth.

• Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Fay Cabernet Sauvignon 2002 ($74.99). Lavender and violets on the nose. Dark berries on the palate. The warm tannins are the centerpiece of this wine—soft, silky and seductive.

• Cakebread Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 ($53.99). This was a popular table, as I suspected it would be. Even though I managed to elbow my way to Cakebread’s table by 6:40, I watched them pour the last of the Cab right after I had my sample. Dark berry and chocolate flavors. Peppery accents.

• Heitz Cabernet Sauvignon Martha’s Vineyard 2001 ($134.99). According to the program, this wine was reserved for the VIPs, so I feel fortunate to have sampled this gem. I was impressed that Kathleen Heitz Myers, the President of Heitz Wine Cellars, actually was onsite pouring the wine. Very floral nose with notes of cloves. Dark fruit and spice. Balanced tannins.

• Joseph Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 ($50.29). Plum and dark berry. Finish is long and complex with a savory / umami taste.

• Best Wine: Unquestionably, the Champagne Krug Grande Cuvee NV ($152.99). Stunning. Fresh, crisp and dry. Bold notes of roasted nuts with light buttery accents. Very complex and elegant. Worth the price of admission even if this would have been the only wine in the room.

Other Highlights:

• PA Wines. The two Pennsylvania wines I sampled were impressive and surprisingly drinkable. I tried Chaddsford’s Merican 2001 ($29.09) and Blue Mountain’s Blue Heron Meritage 2003 ($22.49), both of which are American versions of Bordeaux. Head-to-head, Chaddsford edges-out the Blue Mountain on taste. But the price points for these wines are bafflingly high, especially since there are numerous true Bordeaux wines available that are cheaper and more refined.

• Coolest Wine Name: Oculus. Part of the compelling “Wines of Canada” table. I know, oculus is Latin for eye and it’s the name of the opening in the dome of the Pantheon. But, come on, it’s got a heavy metal ring to it. Probably not the most polished wine in the room (a bit jammy, actually), but you felt like a bad ass drinking a wine named Oculus.

• The Food. The cheese and fruit disappeared quickly and the lines for the hot hors d’oeuvres were too long. Toward the end of the evening, though, I wandered to the side patio where the line at the Canadian foie gras table was curiously short. I soon found out why. This pate was intense, overwhelming and unnaturally gamey, which would have been fine had the experience stopped there. It didn’t. The aftertaste, literally, was nauseating. And it only got worse and more intense the longer you went without rinsing your mouth. It may be a while before I can partake of anything Canadian. Except, of course, the Oculus.

Final Thoughts:

• Next year, spend the extra coin for the early VIP Tasting. You’ll have more time to enjoy the more popular wines before they run out. Plus, you’ll be treated to special selections, like this year’s infamous Joseph Phelps Insignia 2002, that are not available to the regular attendees.

• If you plan to buy anything at the on-site PLCB store next year, do it early. Apparently, there were a lot of impulse buyers at the festival. The Silver Oak, for example, sold out quickly.

• Normally, it would cost $715.23 to experience the seven wines on my Greatest Hits List. I experienced all of them, plus many others, for only $95. Not too shabby.

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Philadelphia Wine Festival 2006

The 5th Annual Philadelphia Wine Festival will be held on May 2, 2006 at The Cruise Terminal at Pier 1. VIP Tasting ($200) starts at 5:00 p.m. The Grand Tasting, i.e., general admission ($95), takes place from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

The list of participants is long and impressive; over 100 wineries are scheduled to attend, including notables such as Joseph Phelps, Silver Oak and Chateau Palmer.

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board will operate an on-site store specifically featuring wines sampled at the event. A silent auction will benefit the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

For more information and to purchase tickets, click below:

Philadelphia Wine Festival 2006
The Cruise Terminal at Pier 1
(at The Navy Yard)
5100 South Broad Street
Philadelphia, PA 19002

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