When Jeffery Lindenmuth took the stage on the first morning of the 2024 New York Wine Experience, the executive editor of Wine Spectator looked out on a crowd of more than 1,000 people—but they might as well have been family.
“When I arrived at the hotel last night, I was riding the elevator with a few of our guests all going up to our rooms, and they mentioned they were from Chicago, and they’ve been attending many years,” he told the crowd. “We talked about the program a little bit. I said, ‘Well, you guys have a pleasant weekend.’ And as they exited the elevator, one of them shook my hand and said, ‘It’s good to be home.’ I know so many of us feel the same. So I say to all of you who join us year after year to meet old friends and enjoy these great wines: Welcome home to the New York Wine Experience!”
The 43rd annual Wine Experience, held this year at the New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square from Oct. 17–19, is the world’s premier wine event, gathering wine lovers, winemakers, sommeliers, restaurateurs, chefs and retailers together to celebrate wine and friendship. It’s also a family reunion of sorts, bringing together a community bound by their love of wine and the ties it engenders.
The weekend featured two evening Grand Tastings of 265 wines, two packed days of tasting seminars and presentations from wine stars, lunches hosted by Italian and Sonoma vintners, and a Champagne and whisky reception catered by some of New York’s greatest restaurants. Over the course of the weekend, more than 4,000 attendees got to sample some of the world’s best wines: a total of 348 wines were poured from 21,480 bottles into 60,270 glasses.
But beyond the thrill of tasting and learning about the world’s most iconic wines, the Wine Experience is a chance to see old friends and make new ones, to reunite with your wine family. It’s a chance to come home.
[article-img-container][src=2024-10/nywe24-friday-jeffery-101824_1600.jpg] [credit= (Photo by Daphne Youree)] [alt= Wine Spectator executive editor Jeffery Lindenmuth at the 43rd New York Wine Experience.][end: article-img-container]The Grandest of Tastings
The reunion began Thursday night with the first of two Grand Tastings. Across two floors of the hotel, guests were able to explore offerings from around the world, with 265 wineries each pouring a wine that has been rated 90 points or higher by a Wine Spectator editor. Winery owners and winemakers were on hand so attendees could meet the people behind the bottles.
“This is my first time, but it won’t be my last,” said Lois Berlin, an education consultant from Washington D.C. “What a great opportunity to taste wines I don’t normally drink and expand my palate.”
For the vintners, the event was the chance to both connect with some of their most loyal customers and also to meet their fellow winemakers from across the globe. “It’s such an honor for us to be here, mamma mia!,” said Cesare Benvenuto Pio, winemaker at Piedmont’s Pio Cesare. “No one puts on a wine event like this.”
Many of the invited wineries are family-owned, and it was striking how many of the vintners were the second generation to appear at the Wine Experience. Shannon Staglin of Staglin Family Vineyards in Napa poured alongside her father Garen. Barbara Banke of Jackson Family Wines tasted wines alongside her son Chris Jackson. Catherine Kistler was pouring for the first time, representing her family’s Occidental Winery, founded by Steve Kistler. Arturo Pallanti of Chianti Classico’s Castello di Ama represented his family while his parents were back home in Tuscany tending the fermentations of the latest vintage.
[article-img-container][src=2024-10/nywe-grand-tasting-overview-101724_1600x900.jpg]Source : https://www.winespectator.com/articles/overview-of-the-2024-wine-experience
