8th Annual Philadelphia Wine Festival TN

The Eighth Annual Philadelphia Wine Festival - CellarTracker" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is basically a “for entertainment purposes only.” Not much value in these notes as it was a fast paced (but fun) tasting. I’m probably missing a few. I dropped the extra cash for the VIP ticket, which was the way to go. Admission 1 1/2 hours before general admission and specially designated VIP wines (the Haut Brion, Marguax, Sassicaia, Dom, Cristal, etc.). Good event by the much maligned PLCB. Yes, there were a lot of “off” vintages. And some (Kobrand, for example) should have brought more wine considering their huge portfolios. But some importers/producers definitely brought the goods.

So you would advise going next year then? I debated about attending this year, but, without an independent recommendation, ultimately decided that I didn’t trust the PLCB enough.

I give them credit – they put on a nice event. As you can tell, I would highly recommend springing for the VIP ticket if you can swing it.

They set up a nice store if you were so inclined to buy anything. The food situation was a mess, but I do not bother waiting for food, or eating food at tastings. That can wait.

Most of the importers/distributors were “involved” and were happy to engage. There was a diverse list of wines. Arranged alphabetically in a willy-nilly fashion and not according to region. So there was Ridge, for example. But then there was Terlato Importers. Or Wines of France. The importers/distributors often were sampling several producers. So it took time to orient ourselves. And we wound up missing wines because it was impossible to find them. A great example of situation where we did taste something but easily could have missed it is the two Dujac Burgs. They were being poured at the Zind Humbrecht table because the distributor is the same. If you were looking for Dujac, you never would have found it.

All in all a good event.

I was there all day starting with the trade tasting then the VIP and General. I missed the Z-H/Dujac table though I walked by about 20 times.
I tasted many of the wines you did. I see a couple you missed
The Rudi Weist table
Achaval Ferrer
Rober Kacher table - she had some Ogier Cote Rotie
Palmer, D’Dngludet
Domaine du Senechaux right next to Pierre Usseglio, how did you miss them?

The thing about tastings of this sort is the distributor’s rule, When they first started the event they twisted the arms of the wineries to get the owners/winemakers to attend.
Now it is mostly dsistributors.


When one woman was talking about Chardonnay and thinking the Puligny-Montrachet from Drouhnin was the be all to end all I looked at the distributor and mentioned Marquis de La Guiche expecting him to nod knowingly about which I spoke. I mentioned it again and all I got was a blank stare.

I found my most interssting conversations were with the importers.


I was pouring next to the Montelena table and they spent the whole day talking up the Judgement at Paris and Bottle Shock. They probably had 4-5 differnet pourers show up at that one table.


One distributor had 35 tables to man.

I go every year and get to try some nice wines.