I married into French wine.
We poured a Côtes de Bourg at our wedding near the Loire. We opened a 2001 Givry 1er Cru burgundy last September for our anniversary. When the family got together recently after a long time apart, there was a bottle of homemade champagne on the table from my in-laws' own vines in Épernay.
They were delicious, extraordinary and memorable bottles. I married well into French wine.
So I would have some explaining to do at home if I ever recommended an American wine. Even more if I recommended a festival of American wines, such as this weekend's third annual American Fine Wine Competition Dinner, sponsored in part by the Sun Sentinel and City & Shore Magazine at the Lincoln Culinary Institute in West Palm Beach.
I can explain.
I like to think I have an open mind when I open a bottle of wine. I always hope the next sip will be the best one yet. I think discovery is one of the joys of wine appreciation.
While I adore wine from France — yes, cher famille, maybe even prefer it — I can't rule out the possibility a wine from somewhere else might surprise and delight.
So when co-founders Shari Gherman and Monty and Sara Preiser greeted me at a preview of the American Fine Wine Competition, I like to think I greeted them with an open mind, too. Maybe, I thought, I'll open a revelation here from Sonoma County. Maybe I'll come back with pinot stains from Oregon all over my collar, and have even more explaining to do at home.
I looked over the bottles assembled for the evening at Quantum House on the campus of St. Mary's Hospital, an early sample of the more than 500 wines entered in the competition in January.
"Where should I start?'' I asked the Preisers, Palm Beach County residents who publish The Preiser Key to Napa Valley. "What would you recommend?"
Monty Preiser smiled. "The Brochelle [syrah] won Best of Show in 2007," he said. "If there's any left.''
There was. Just enough from the tiny winery in Paso Robles, Calif., to remind me that it's good — very good — to keep an open mind.
Raspberry? Check. Black fruit? Check. Gingerbread? … I think so. Spectacular? Yes.
I felt a sudden, urgent need for additional research on the gingerbread issue. But I was in a room full of South Florida sommeliers and AFWC judges.
"Sorry, the Brochelle's gone," the Lincoln Culinary Institute student behind the counter said, shaking her head. "It went fast!"
There were other wines to discover from the principal growing regions of California, Oregon, Washington State, New York, Virginia, New Mexico and (surprise!) Ohio.
Gherman, the competition's president and chair woman, smiled. "This is one of the few wine competitions in the country that celebrates only American-made wine," she said. "With Florida recognized as one of the top three wine consumption states in the United States and with the country looking in our direction to see what wine trends are, it makes perfect sense to host this national event."
I was beginning to see it now, as I swirled a glass of 2006 DeLoach Pinot Noir. I could imagine this evening in West Palm Beach with great food, a good cause and discoveries by the glass — without a French wine in sight.
I wouldn't even mind doing some explaining at home.
Mark Gauert is the editor of City & Shore Magazine, which is published by the Sun Sentinel. He can be reached at mgauert@SunSentinel.com.
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