The Great Match - Wines from Spain

The members of Brand Action Team have been running around in every which direction the past few weeks - we apologize for our pause in blogging!

Last week, Jean and I attended the Wines from Spain Great Match Tasting held in NYC at the Metropolitan Center. The event kicked off with a seminar led by Steve Olson focusing on the variation of the Godello grape. Steve is a wonderful speaker and presenter, not to mention an incredibly intelligent man... I don't know one person who left that room without feeling a new appreciation for this grape one may not be so familiar with. Having had it before, I was most interested to see it's variation of style through the country; the influence of the terroir was higher than expected (but... isn't it always?)

From there, we filtered down into the grand tasting room. There was wine from every part of Spain - Rioja, Ribera, Rias Baxias... and several importers, producers, winemakers and the like in attendance.

Industry folk filtered in throughout the day, happy that the over sized room provided enough space to taste wine without bumping elbows with too many people. I took a particular liking to the sherry table - which explains why I lingered until the next seminar.

To be honest, I've had a lot of experience with Spanish wines, but not so much that I could say I was even a moderate expert. There are so many regions, grapes, styles and the like that beg discovery. Even seasoned wine tasters, familiar with Spanish wine, could find something new, different and/or interesting.

After the grand tasting, Steve Olson introduced us to Cesar Saldana - in short, a sherry master, who led us through a tasting from Fino to Pedro Ximenez. I'm partial to Amontillado, personally, but I've recently discovered cream sherry (a blend of Pedro Ximenez and Amontillado) which might be my new favorite.

Anyway, the Great Match was a great success - I can only imagine it's counterpart in Miami this past Wednesday went to the same way. The Great Match is held annually and open to consumers - definitely recommend marking you calendars for next year's extravaganza (LA, NYC or Miami.)