by Food & Wine Editor Donna Shor
The International Wine and Food Festival bandwagon rolled into Washington with something for everyone, – in spite of snow, sleet and airport delays. Some events had to be cancelled and the first day – Thursday – was deleted completely, but Friday and Saturday brought out the goods.
True, it was a smaller crowd than expected at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center—but a very merry one. There was live music, strolling costumed servers offering liqueur shots, a Movers and Shakers crafted cocktails and spirits area, Capital Eagle beer bars and a Wine Tasting Room with over 100 vintners and their reps, all willing to pour generously and answer a myriad of questions. You could get a whole education in drinkables in just one night, from Shiraz to sake.
Carefully planned were the guided tastings sessions, Master Classes, and dishes by chefs of the status of Todd Gray of Equinox and the Center’s own Xavier Deshayes.
Welcomed at both the spirits section and the wine room were constantly replenished food stations. The ones at the wine area featured gourmet cheeses and roasted vegetables; the beer/spirits centers held sturdier fare, beginning with pizza.
Dessert tables at both areas offered varied sweet creations with simmering copper sauce pots of white chocolate, fudge or a luscious butterscotch plus attendants to dip melt-in-your mouth skewered custom marshmallows for you.
Spotted in the crowd was DC Taste’s Charlie Adler, leader of wine and spirit seminars and author of “I Drink On The Job,” a compilation of his adventures in the Wine/Food world.
A bright spot was the “Macchu Pisco” punch table of the pretty Asher sisters, whose sib Melanie da Trinidad Asher opened the company based on her Harvard Business School thesis that America needed more pisco and she could supply it. Another sister, a Harvard Law grad, handles legal details. With a Peruvian mother and American father, they have moved easily in both cultures.
The Wine Tasting Room was a delight and held to a high standard with some famous names and excellent wines served among the participating producers. There were also a few surprises as well, quite creditable wines from areas not usually turned to for vinuous pleasures.
At the Steele table Bill Bishop represented the legendary winemaker Jed Steele, who remained behind in Kelseyville, California, the state where for 45 years he has created fine wines. Jed possesses a Masters in Enology from prestigious UC Davis and is known as the man who created the thumpingly successful Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay, serving as head winemaker for ten years and leaving to start his own winery, accomplishing the feat of pushing out almost a million cases of it a year.
A gentle giant at 6’6”, Jed Steele is an idiosyncratic vintner who produces excellent bottles from the usual classic grapes, but is also interested in bringing in vintages from forgotten ones. His father, the historian-novelist Robert Steele, was a recognized wine connoisseur who christened him Jedediah Tecumseh Steele after the Shawnee Indian chief; Steele has named these second label wines from more offbeat grapes “Shooting Star,” the translation of Jed’s middle name in Shawnee.
This year’s Festival, though handicapped by bad weather, was a success judging by the reaction of the attendees. Here’s hoping that by the time this action-filled event comes ‘round next year, the weather is a little kinder and the much-anticipated Festival Marketplace vendors who were thwarted by the snow can get their wine-related merchandise here for us.
