As some of you may know, my video “I JUST WANT A ZINFANDEL” won the Grand Prize at the 2024 Wine Spectator Video Competition. The prize included two tickets to the 2024 Wine Spectator NY Wine Experience, held in October at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. I was fortunate to attend in 2022 when “CABERNET TONIGHT” won the top prize, though I couldn’t make it in 2023. This post will highlight the recent October 2024 event I attended with my son, Cameron. This marked the 43rd year of the event
348 WINES…
From 21,480 BOTTLES…
Into 60,270 GLASSES…
Over 2 DAYS…
It was an unforgettable wine experience. The weekend kicked off on Thursday night, featuring over 260 wineries from 14 countries, including the US, showcasing 90+ point wines for four hours. The same experience occurs on Friday night. With so many wines to taste, it’s a challenge to sample them all while keeping up the pace. I find that during two hours of tasting, I can manage around 25 wines—though I’m chatting with winemakers, vintners, and proprietors. Keep in mind that we’re spitting the whole time so we can make it to dinner and get up the next morning to take on that day of tasting wine. Needless to say, it is a fantastic opportunity to connect with some of the best in the wine industry.
Tasting Fantastic Wines From Around The World
Here’s a partial list of the California wines we sampled during the two nights of the GRAND TASTING, along with several Italian, French, and Argentinian wines.
- Aubert
- BOND
- Caymus
- Chimney Rock
- Cirq
- Domaine Carneros
- Duckhorn
- Far Niente
- Flowers
- Frank Family
- HALL
- Kistler
- Occidental
- Opus One
- Orin Swift
- Pahlmeyer
- Paul Hobbs
- Ramey
- ROAR
- Sanford
- Schramsberg
- Siduri
- The Calling
- WALT
- Williams Selyem
All the wines poured have received a Wine Spectator rating of 90 points or higher, with over 65 of them rated 95 points or more.
Talking to winemakers like Mark Aubert (Aubert Wines) and Catherine Kistler (Occidental) was a highlight. I also had the pleasure of meeting Bernardino Sani, the Winemaker and CEO of Argiano from Italy, whose wine was #1 on the Wine Spectator Top 100. I mentioned to him that his wine was featured in “I JUST WANT A ZINFANDEL”. Naturally, he was thrilled and honored to hear that.
Grand Tasting Seminars & Presentations
In addition to the exceptional wines that were poured, there were four sessions held over the two days. Each session featured wine stars—prominent figures in the wine industry who have achieved a sort of ‘rock star’ status—presenting their wines. Throughout the sessions, there was also a countdown of the top ten wines.
The Friday morning session was kicked off with a screening of “CABERNET TONIGHT”. Since it has become a favorite of Wine Spectator Publisher/Editor Marvin Shanken, I am honored to say that it will continue to start this event for many years to come.
Today’s Wine Session
The morning session began with Wine Star Hugh Davies, President and Winemaker of Schramsberg and J Davies Wines. I had spent some time with him on Thursday night. Schramsberg is known for producing some of California’s finest sparkling wines and operates out of a historic winery, using traditional Champagne methods, including hand riddling. It is an amazing property to visit if you are ever in Calistoga.
Next up was Charles de Bournet from Chile, whose family has been in the wine business for seven generations—truly a remarkable story and the wine was excellent.
Thereafter, the third Wine Star was sports broadcaster turned vintner Jim Nantz, who shared the inspirational story behind his wine, The Calling. Between each presentation, we tasted wines ranked #10, #9, and #8. For more details, you can find information on the Top Ten wines on the Wine Spectator website.
Wine Is About People…
The morning session concluded with an interview featuring Wine Spectator’s Publisher/Editor Marvin Shanken and renowned Italian vintner Angelo Gaja. It was like two old friends catching up, sharing stories from their lives in the industry—a genuinely heartwarming moment. During their conversation, Gaja’s 2021 Barbaresco Sori San Lorenzo (98 points) was poured, with nearly 1,000 glasses filled from bottles selling for about $1,100 each.
… And Food
In addition to tasting fantastic wines, lunch was sponsored by the Instituto Grandi Marchi, which represents 18 Italian wine families dedicated to promoting Italy’s finest wines. Seventeen different wines were available at the tables, making it a bit challenging to keep up as the bottles were passed around. Cameron and I managed to taste about 8-10 wines.
Vertical Tasting From Generation To Generation
Later in the day, the afternoon session featured an engaging presentation from California winemaker Greg Brewer, who I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a few times over the years. He’s an artistic and dynamic speaker, incredibly passionate about his craft. Following his presentation, we tasted wines #7, #6, and #5, along with the Wine Value of the Year. The session concluded with a vertical tasting of Chateau Leoville Las Cases, where we sampled the same wine from different vintages spanning 40 years—starting with 2016 (98 points), then moving to 2006 (95 points), 1996 (92 points), and finishing with 1986 (95 points). It was an extraordinary wine experience, especially when Cameron noted that the 1986 bottle we tasted was older than he is.
To be continued…
Hello Wine Ponderers! Laurent here. Wow! What an incredible wine experience. I am extremely proud of Steve’s recent and third consecutive win with his new musical parody wine video – I JUST WANT A ZINFANDEL. Rightfully so, it took the Grand Prize of the 2024 WINE SPECTATOR VIDEO COMPETITION. I am so happy that Steve and his son Cameron got to enjoy this unforgettable event. However, I am bummed that I couldn’t be there with them. Maybe next time!
Great tale of your wine extravaganza experience!! Thanks.
Thank you Karl! If there is any way you can get to do this in your life, I highly recommend doing so! It’s not an inexpensive proposition (even with the comped tickets). But what an immersive experience…
Cheers to you.