Wine Enthusiast’s Toast of the Town New York

Thursday, May 3rd 2012

Toast of the Town New York will be taking over the Oscar Hammerstein Ballroom with more than 500 wines, spirits & beers and 35 local restaurants on Thursday, May 3rd 2012. Hosted by Wine Enthusiast Magazine, the Toast of the Town brings together thirty-five signature New York dishes, including bites by the likes of BLT Fish, Picholine, SD26 and Veritas all under one roof.

Satiate your inner oenophile with a light and fruity Riesling or an earthy Pinot Noir as you celebrate at the most anticipated wine event of the season. Mingle with NYC’s elite while enjoying the sounds of a live jazz band during this three-hour extravaganza. It promises to be one of the most memorable events of the year celebrating all things food, wine and The Big Apple.

For more information or to purchase tickets please visit www.ToastoftheTown.com

For a full list of wineries please visit: http://www.toastofthetown.com/wineries

For a full list of restaurants please visit: http://www.toastofthetown.com/restaurants

Wine Enthusiast’s Toast of the Town New York

Thursday, May 3^rd 2012

Oscar Hammerstein Ballroom

311 West 34th Street, New York, NY 10001

VIP Tasting 6 PM – 10 PM ($169) Early Bird Pricing $149 (Save $20 per ticket thru April 29, 2012)

VIP Tickets include early entrance to the event, exclusive access to hundreds of reserve wines, the opportunity to talk one-on-wine with the wine makers and interact with the restaurateurs

Grand Tasting 7PM – 10 PM ($109) Early Bird Pricing $99 (Save $10 per ticket thru April 29, 2012)

I think we tweeted about Maialino’s Nebbiolo bar a few months ago…?  They had a section dedicated soley to the Nebbiolo grape. How cool is that?  And so hyper-niche!  Talk about being a trend-setter.

Not to be outdone, Maialino has taken their specialized hyper-focused wine bar idea to the next stage – now showcasing some great winter red wines – from Italy… Northern Italy to be exact.  If we were asked to name some Northern Italian wines, we would most likely would say some of the following: Barolo and Barbaresco (from the Nebbiolo grape), Barbera (becoming a better known approachable red wine from the Piedmont), Dolcetto (the little sister red of the Piedmont), Gavi (white wine from the Cortese grape), Valpolicella and Amarone (versions of a Corvina, Rondinella and Molinera blend from the Veneto), Prosecco (affordable sparkling wine from Veneto), Pinot Grigio (no explanation needed), Soave (another fresh white wine)… and maybe Friuli (formerly known as the white wine Tocai).

But, now, you can explore more of the unknown.

Of course, you might see some of those better “known” varietals;  more likely, though, you’ll discover some super unique, interesting indigenous wines you may have a hard time pronouncing: like Lagrein, Iugum and Schioppettino.

Without needing a plane ticket you can taste the soil and the land of Northern Italy from your barstool. Expect distinctive wines that carry a salivating sweet-sour, even bitter, taste, wonderfully overlapped with flavors such as sour cherry, blackcurrant, blackberry, black cherry, raspberry, spice, roses, tar, ripe strawberry, truffle, minerals, cocoa, spice and earth….

We know you are an explorer at heart. So why not check out Maialino and tour the tastes of Northern Italy reds. You can sample them by the glass, quartino (about one-third of a bottle), bottle or even a half-glass.

(Important note: Italians make their wines to go with food. That is why when you grab a glass of red at an Italian wine bar when meeting a friend, it might not taste the same as it did when you had dinner the other night at a rustic Italian hideaway with the same wine. The food transcends the wine (and the wine transcends the food) to a point where the producers intend to take you. So, please, order a snack or two and release your taste buds.)

In the spring, news is they will change this concept to White Wines of Northern Italy.

(Find more on  NYWineSalon and photo.)

If you think you need to stay away from the Lower East Side for fear of getting lost in the mass of festive partygoers on any given weekend; you may want to think again.

Haute Living gives a nice, succinct review of one of the city’s first Organic focused wine bars, The Ten Bells.

And, here is Part 1 of an interview with Philippe Essome (aka Fifi), the wine buyer at Ten Bells wine bar, talking about serving French natural wines. We especially love this quote: “With experience you learn that natural wine doesn’t have to smell like the ass of a cow…”

If you enjoyed that, read on about the state of natural wines from one local Frenchman’s point of view in the follow up post.

Apps Only, a blog about eating affordably… by only eating appetizers, has a good (alert: dangerous to read if you are hungry) food review of the recently opened Edi & the Wolf – NYC’s newest Austrian Wine Tavern – and its tapas.

With at least a dozen whites and more red options by the glass, all at affordable prices, the wine pairings with these menu items were probably as equally mouthwatering.

Conclusion: If you haven’t gone, you should.