Flee New York, the crowds and the Pope. Why not go to Newport, RI for the Newport Wine and Food Festival?

The Pope is in Manhattan.

If you are like hundreds of thousands of Metro- New Yorkers that flee the city to avoid the massive crowds, why not flee to Newport Rhode Island?

The reason why is obvious:
The 10^th Annual Newport Mansions Wine and Food Festival will be in full swing. What that means is that if you are a foodie or an obvious wine lover, this festival is must for you.  So, hop on the train and flee the city.

If you arrive at the Festival on Friday, this is what you have in store for you:

12:30-1:30pm    Champagne Tattinger Master Class led by Bernard Sun, wines paired by Chef MacCartney  ($40)

2:30-3:30pm      A Tale of Two Vineyards: Tignanello and Townsend taught by Niccolo Maltinti of Marchesi Antinori   ($40)

4:30-5:30pm      The Craft of Winemaking with Bouchaine Vineyards hosted by Gregory Gauthier    ($40)

7-10-pm               Wine & Rosecliff     Held in the setting of The Great Gatsby and True Lies, this seaside mansion will host a musical evening with fine wines, breathtaking views and gourmet food     ($250)

Saturday
12-4pm               Grand Tasting at the Marble House          Cooking demos, hundreds of wines, two dozen restaurants, celebrity chefs and a silent auction ($185)

7pm                     Collectable Win Dinner at The Elms       ($450)

9pm-12am           Newport After Dark       at Newport’s 41 North…sample specialty cocktails, wine and light fare    ($50)

Sunday

11am                   A Conversation with Martha Stewart & Jacques Pepin….admission includes a ticket to the Grand Tasting    ($235)

12-4pm               Grand Tasting…..($160)

Don’t forget I warned you about the Pope. It is up to you to decide whether the Newport Wine and Food Festival is the solution?

More information can be found at: www.newportmansions.org

'A Second Helping of Life' and #winelover against cancer supports Breast and Ovarian Cancer by Philip S. Kampe and Maria Reveley

Note: (As you know, Luiz Alberto and wife, Nanci Bergamo, of The Wine Hub, recently  started #winelover against cancer. A few days ago, I had the opportunity to attend an event run by cancer survivors, aptly named, 'A Second Helping of Life'. It was a fundraiser, as is the t-shirt that supports #winelover against cancer.)

My wife runs a ‘prayer circle’ for those friends or friends of friends who need encouragement during their long journey with cancer and other illness. Many of her acquaintances have survived breast or ovarian cancer.

Others haven’t.

There is an organization, SHARE, that raises awareness for women affected by breast and ovarian cancer. To survive financially, SHARE sponsors a benefit each year, titled, ‘A Second Helping of Life’. The benefit includes participating and celebrity chefs, an auction led by Nicholas D. Lowry of Swann Auction Galleries (NYC) and awards to Honorees, Marcia Godosky, Dr. Aye Moe Thu Ma and Karen Orczyk.

This years ‘benefit’ took place in Manhattan on Monday, September 21^st at Pier 60 /Chelsea Piers. The money raised from the event helps SHARE to meet their goals. The culinary end of the benefit features prominent chefs who are women.

April Bloomfield of The Spotted Pig and The Breslin fame acts as the event’s executive Chef.

Participating chefs from local restaurants volunteer and include, a list of ‘Whose Who’ of the culinary world.

The chefs include:

Amanda Cohen: Dirt Candy
Robecca Isbell: Betony
Sue Torres: Espoleta & Sagrada BK
Lynn Bound: 54 Below
Angie Mar: The Beatrice Inn
Jessica Weiss: Maialino
Sawako Okochi: Shalom Japan
Lauren Resler: Empellon Cocina
Colleen Grapes: Oceana
Amanda Cook: Cookshop

Sarabeth Levine: Sarabeth’s
Christine Lau: Bar Chuko Izakaya
Patti Jacobson: Delaware and Hudson
Roxanne Spruance: Kingsley
Zahra Tangorra: Brucie
Deborah Racicot: Narcissa
Allison Robicelli: Robicelli’s
Barbara Sibley: La Palapa
Janine Booth: Root & Bone
Alex Raij: Txikito, El Quinto Pino & La Vara

Leah Cohen: Pig and Khao
Sara Jenkins: Porsena, Porchetta

Lauren DeSteno, Marea

Add 28 Celebrity Sous Chefs to the list above and you have a roomful of high caliber cooks.

Pat Battle, co-anchor of Weekend Today and a cancer survivor was the emcee for the event. Her upbeat style and positive attitude helped make the event a success.

SHARE is a 39 year old ‘survivor’ led organization that provides support, information and resources to women affected by breast or ovarian cancer. Its ‘Mission’ is to help women and their families address the emotional and practical issues that arise from a cancer diagnosis and to provide the support these women need to feel less isolated, better informed and more empowered as health care consumers. Each year, more than 32,000 people are touched by the SHARE program.

The funds raised by ‘A Second Helping of Life’, from the event enables SHARE to provide free support services and educational programs to thousands of women and families.

In its 12^th year, nearly four million dollars has been raised at the event.

Last year, over 300,000 people were diagnosed with breast cancer and over 20,000 women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
These diseases affect everyone.

To learn more about SHARE, visit www.sharecancersupport.org

World Tourism Day (September 27th) focuses on Free Worldwide Wine Tours & Tastings

Sunday is "World Tourism Day". It is a perfect day to visit wineries all over the world. Each winery will welcome guests, take them on an extensive tour of the property and let the visitors sample their wines. The cost? Nothing, thanks to World Tourism Day.

There are twenty (20) wineries worldwide who are celebrating World Tourism Day. Some are in our backyard, California and others are across the globe.

This is the most recent list of participants. E-mail your friends overseas with this news, as this free day happens just once a year in most cases.

California: Dry Creek Family Vineyards in Sonoma. Sample six wines from the six participating vineyards in the cooperative tasting room. Other vineyards participating are: Philip Staley, Mietz Cellars, Forth Vineyards, Dasche Vineyards, Collier Falls Vineyards and Lago do Merlo Winery.

Spain: Clos Figueras in Priorat.

France:Mas du Soleilla in Languedoc and Champagne Beerzaens in Champagne.

Italy: La Raia in Piedmont: Cascina Cucco in Piedmont: Isolabella Della Croce in Piedmont: Fratelli Vogadori in Veneto: Poggio al Casone in Tuscany, Casa Sola in Tuscany and Barone Ricasoli in Tuscany.

Croatia: Bolfan near Zagreb.

England: Bet you didn't think they produced wine? Visit Bolney Wne Estate in Sussex and find out.

Uruguay: Posada Campotinto in Carmelo.

Chile: Kingston Family Vineyards in Casablanca.

Argentina: Famillia Zuccardi in Mendoza

Portugal: Croft Port in the Douro Valley

This is the first year that vineyards are opening their door on World Tourism Day. With a little success, the numbers will grow in 2016.

Philip S. Kampe
philip.kampe@thewinehub.com

Nineteen (19) Pass the Masters of Wine Exam by Philip S. Kampe

Our leader at The Wine Hub, Luiz Alberto, is a candidate for the Master of Wine program. It is a long journey, often taking up to 5 years to achieve the goal. The failure rate, by most indications is above 90%.

Today, September 8th, results were announced for all of those who were involved in the program. The list of Accredited Master of Wines Certificates that were issued today for candidates from around the world.

The 19 new MW's include 11 women and 8 men, who hail from 10 countries.

They are:
Mollie Battenhouse. USA
Tania Vikuna  Finland
Marcus Ansems.  Canada
Richard Hemming. UK
Yiannis Karakasis.  Greece
Konstantin Baum  Germany
Yang Tan  Singapore
Rebecca Gibb   New Zealand
Romana Echenspergen. Germany
Sarah Knowles  UK
Lynne Cole   Ireland
Eugene Miynczyk   Canada
Dawn Davies   UK
Wendy Cameron   Australia
Kenichi Ohashi   Japan
Emma Symington. UK
Janek Schumann   Germany
Victoria Burt   UK

The Wine Hub wishes the new inductees Congratulatoions on your achievement.

Philip S. Kampe
philip.kampe@thewinehub.com

Tejo, home of Amazing, Affordable Portuguese Wines by Philip S. Kampe

     

Tejo is Portugal's second largest wine producing region and dates back to the 13th century. Tejo is in the middle of Portugal and is the heart of its wine-making country.

Tejo is the only land-locked region in Portugal,but, due to the Tejo river the region is one of the most fertile in Portugal. Historically,  large producers dominated, but recently, modernization and state of the art wine-making facilities have transformed the region to world-class standards. Vines have been replanted and experimentation  of new grape varieties exists.

Tejo is named after the' Rio Tejo', the river that divides the region between the north and south. The Tejo river flows into the Atlantic ocean after it passes near to and through the Teo towns of Santarem, Almeirim and Chamusca.

Tejo, with its temperate southern Mediterranean climate has 50,000 acres of vineyards, 2800 hours of sunlight a year, less than 30 inches of rainfall a year and temperatures than average 60°F.

Tejo has six major wine producing subregions: Tomar, Santarem,  Chamusca, Cartaxo, Almeirin and Coruche.

Tejo is divided into three distinct zones:
1) Brirro: north of he Tejo River, hilly, limestone, schist and clay.
2) Charneca: south of the Tejo River, infertile, sandy soils, warm and dry.
3)  Leziria: runs along the Tejo River, alluvial, fertile soils.

The vines have been bush trained and can be up to 100 years old. Over 20 million bottles are produced a year. Vinification takes place in either stainless steel or oak barrels. Reserva wines can be classified DOC, while Gawrrafeira wines have distinctive vintage characteristics and are classified as DOC or VR. To achieve such a rating, white (42% of production) and rose (6%) wines must age a minimum of six months in the bottle. Red wines (52%) must age a minimum of twelve months in the cask and twelve months in the bottle.
The wines from Tejo stand out in both quality and price. Wines from Portugal have recently made a big splash into the U.S. market. In fact, Portugal has over 250 grape varieties at last count. The diverse soils and multitude of micro-climates produce award winning wines that consistently exceed expectations of winemakers, consumers and critics alike.

The wines of Tejo have exceeded my expecations and are worth sampling. Producers that are worth sampling are: Quinta da Alorna: Casa Cadaval; Casul Branco; Fiuza and Bright and Quinta da Lagoalva de Cima.

If quality and price are what you base your wine purchases on, then the Wines from Tejo should be your next discovery. Most bottles retail for under $20.

Many of the wines are made with indigenous grapes. The favorite grapes of winemakers in Tejo include: Alicante Branco, Arinto, Castelao, Fernao Pires, Trincadeira, Verdelho, Alvarinho, Touriga Nacional and Aragones.

For more information on the Wines from Tejo, contact: tejo@dgi-NYC.com

Philip S. Kampe

philip.kampe@thewinehub.com

'Did you say cheese' at the Tanglewood Wine & Food Classic 2015 by Philip S. Kampe

Well, Tanglwood did it again.

Music has been Tanglewoods mantra for years, but, once a year, the staff under the guidance.of Debbi Otto, prepared themselves for a deluge of food and wine lovers.

Music, of course, ties into the weekend interest, but, from noon to three in the afternoon, the Hawthorne Tent at Tanglewood is at full capacity with a thousand joyous visitors who partake in the remarkable wine and food festival.

This year was no exception.

Attendees lines up more than half an hour in advance to secure tastes from the numerous vendors who wait for the consumers to sample their wares. This year was no different.

With a green wrist band in place and noon as the starting point, both the vendors and consumers knew that the next three hours would change their lives, even though just temporarily.

The Hawthorne Tent was like a circus tent...acts in every ring. Food vendors, wine vendors and the stages that were home to the demonstration chefs.

One of my backgrounds is cheese. I was a cheese writer for Trrance Brennan, owner of Artisanal Cheese and Picholine restaurant in Manhattan. Max McCalman, the 'Top Cheese Educator in America' was one of the stars of the day under the Hawthorne Tent. He was cutting cheese for the consumers, while educating them about the assets of each cheese they sampled.

Max was backed up. The line grew in numbers, mainly due to his fame. People recognized Max. Mr. McCalman asked for my help, which I gladly consented to. I grabbed a cheese knife, a pair of latex gloves and began my task. It was like deja vu ,once again. As I was giving samples, I explaind the historically background of the cheese, what it pairs with and where it came from. After nearly five hundred slices of cheese, I was released from my honorary position.

It was time to survey the rest of the tent, but, I was already far gone in 'cheese heaven'.

                                     

Philip S. Kampe
philip.kampe@thewinehub.com

Blantyre's (Lenox, Massachusetts) 12,000 bottle Wine List Dazzles the Experts by Philip S. Kampe

Here it is, a portion of one of the most amazing wine lists in America. Blantyre, a Relais & Chateaux property, built during the 'Gilded Age' has maintained distinction in both its hotel and dining arenas.

Recently, I spent an afternoon with Wine Director, Christelle Cotar, and viewed Blantyre's wine cellars in the basement of the main building. There are three separate wine cellars, each housing close to 4,000 bottles, making a grand total of 12,000 bottles.

Bottles retail from $50 to $20,000.

Below is a snapshot view of the wine list, as of August, 2015.


                                          

Philip S. Kampe
philip.kampe@thewinehub.com