The Wine Curmudgeon will spend much of the next 10 days sipping and spitting in the interest of wine. I'll be at the Colorado state competition this weekend, helping to pick the best Colorado wines. And next week is the biggie -- the Indy International Wine Competition, the be all and end all for regional wine, weird grapes and all of the things that I love about wine.
If there is an obscure grape that is used to make wine, then we'll be judging it at Indy. Yes, there will be chardonnay flights, but there will also be chardonel, vidal blanc and seyval blanc flights. That I was asked to judge is quite an honor; the list of judges includes some of the biggest names in regional wine, including Missouri's Doug Frost, New York's Jim Trezise, and Indiana's Richard Vine.
My schedule is so hectic, in fact, that I had to turn down another great competition -- the International Cold Climate Wine Competition, which allows only wines made with grapes that can survive a Minnesota winter. Frontenac, anyone?
I'll have reports on each competition when I get back, and the blog will roll along while I'm traveling with the usual features.
How about a good Choke-cherry wine or maybe a rubbard. Are your escapades limited to grape wines. If so you might get a rich and hearty Muscadet :) as its grape (Melon de Bourgogne) too can tolerate a lot of abuse by the weather. This is the only reason that the vineyards around Nantes, France grow it. It takes a lickin' and they can keep on sippin'.
Good luck and best of success in your search for fine local wines. You are going to the fringe of the wine world.
You might want to first review this Wikipedia article on exploration of the North Pole (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Pole) and note how many people didn't come back from those early expeditions. Get your will up to the date and life insurance paid before you depart.
Stay Safe!
Russ
Posted by: VintageTexas | July 29, 2010 at 09:10 AM