…Social Media Decanted-VINO2010-Pt.II

Thursday morning led me back to VINO2010 at the Waldorf for a panel presentation titled, “Virtual Vino, Millenials and Social Media DECANTED!” The room was standing room only, and for weeks, there’d been a twitter buzz about sending questions for the panel–live.  And while some of us (self included) sing-sang for our supper by tweeting (and blogging) about the event, our twitter posts (@VINO2010) did (and do still) run live on their website.  Following in the steps of  Twit & Spit, this social media experiment actually helped generate a sense of community, both online and in-life, and it inspired discussion of what’s happening now and next.

VINO2010 NYC-Part I

This past week, VINO2010–Italian Wine Week–descended upon NYC, bringing together wine writers and buyers, importers and makers, educators, distributors,  and noise-makers; together beneath one roof and a million rooms at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.  There were presentations and guided tastings, meet and greets, and a Grand Tasting with no end in sight.  Apulia, Calabria, Toscana, and Veneto–the Regional Wine Dinners took place on Thursday night; and, of the 300+ participating producers, over 50 were Brunello di Montalcino.

VINO2010

Big week for Italian wine in the city! I’ll be at VINO2010 all day long tweeting and tasting and hanging with fabulous wine peeps.  Check out the stream of consciousness at VINO2010 where attendees’ tweets are live.  Blog posts on the event to follow…

Bin 71

Squat and squeezed on Columbus between 70th and 71st Streets, Bin 71 gets cozy at night, in a subway-rush-hour kind of way.  It’s dark with a marble top 12-seat bar, and a flat screen TV that glares like a mother’s raised brow from the corner.   Television aside  and there’s a fine 100 bottle selection, though the list of reds emphasizes size, as in these are BIG wines…the whites leave you (or rather, me) with a little more room to breathe.

Ten Bells

Perhaps I’m the last New York wine lover to write about Ten Bells on Broome Street, but I might be the first who didn’t leave the bar pledging my virginity to it’s greatness; and I certainly wasn’t compelled to leave an offering of my first born.  In fact, though the space is lovely, romantic, and rustic in a tenement kind of way, Caitlin and I both left not as converts…but rather a little disgruntled and questioning the hype.

A Buried Conversation Heart

From a cloud of dust

comes plum fruit

plump taut and ripe

He takes a bite

and wipes

The juice drips down his chin

In his pocket folds

green wood

a knife

and bitter almonds

***

French Blonde Lays with Stoned Fruit

Sancerre La Garenne

Grapefruit shimmers through screens of grain

The sky big boned

with spurs of spice

***

Stories of Barolo

The Barolo Brothers encouraged Modern

Drink well when you’re young!

Shorten your fermentations

and steel time

This is not the minute to lie idle in oak

Glass Fruit

Transfixed by glass fruit

Marley makes his rounds

If he knew our pleasure he might not sit watching

Lining the bar

ladies turn pages to Sinatra

Nosiola Grillo and Pinot Nero

The seated proprietress chats

Piemonte Toscana and Veneto

All rusty with interior contrasts

Stories of Burgundy

Audible sighs circle the table as we sip

each so remarkably disparate from the rest

God appears

Temperamental thin-skinned & fierce

A blank slate full of self-expression

it’s first to our lips

Ruby with an orange rim

it airs

turning leather to cumin and meat

I yearn to lock myself in the dark

narrow my senses

Sylvain Cathiard 2006

I scoop a palm of mineral rich soil

and eat