Where I didn't learn about wine and two places I can.

So, I attended Milwaukee's wine festival at the Milwaukee Art Museum tonight.  It was a beautiful night and Milwaukee's lakefront was a great backdrop for the event.  It terms of education and wine tasting...not so much.  Picture the tasting bar at the local grocery store.  That is a lot like what this was.  Not that I had high expectations going into it, this wasn't Napa Valley.  But at the same time, the crowd was not really into tasting as much as they were into drinking.  And drinking.  And drinking.  It was like being at Summerfest all over again, yet this time we all had plastic wine glasses instead of plastic beer cups.  And don't event get me started on the band that totally butchered one of my favorite songs - Gimmie Shelter - not to mention every other song that attempted to sing.  It didn't really set the stage for a fabulous event.

Now, I will fully admit, I am a bit of a wine snob.  And I probably could be considered just a snob in general... so to the non-snobby attendees this was probably a great event.  Anyway, the entire time I was there I thought about how fun it would be to attend the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen.  A girl can dream!  But, the entire reason I even attended the first Milwaukee Wine Festival was to see my good friend do a cooking demonstration and to catch up with his wife, another good friend of mine.  All in all we had a great time, but I fear my wine education has not progressed at all.  I did however taste two great wines - Wakefield's Cabernet Sauvignon and Hess Collection's 19 Block Cuvee.  Now, they were not the best I have had (I once got to taste Screaming Eagle), but for the evening, the were pretty good. So, the next time you are at Pick n'Save... just kidding!

On my quest to learn more about wine then what I have picked up from movies (GO SEE BOTTLE SHOCK NOW), working PR for a restaurant and just being around my friend Christian, I decided to explore as many new avenues as possible.  The first is another wine festival, yet this time I am pretty sure it will be a more educational experience.  Every fall, Kohler hosts a Food and Wine Festival at the end of October.  It is pretty pricey, but the events look worthwhile.  I plan on attending and using the opportunity to actually learn about wines as well as taste them.   And it helps that my Chef friend has been invited to do a demo at the event.  I'll keep you posted when I plan on attending in case anyone wants to come along and I will definitely post about the experience.

The second opportunity I have at my disposal is my sister.  She is currently studying wine and looking to make it a career.  On her journey, she is working to gain certification (not sure the formal name on this one) and needs some help studying, which means trying a bunch of wine and learning about how and where it is grown, blended, etc.  (On a side note, if I could go back and change my career path, it would definitely be wine making, grape picking or wine tasting in general.  I can't believe people are lucky enough to actually be able to do that for a living.  And PS, before my life is over, I fully intend to spend a few months picking grapes in Napa.  Some people aspire to mission work, I aspire to pick grapes.)  Anyway, helping my sister study will also help accomplish an item on my list, so Monday nights I will be studying wine.  If you have any interest and would like to join in on the learning, just let me know.

Cheers!