Can’t tell your Viognier from your vodka or your Bogle from your Bloody Mary?   There is one wine-soaked event that will teach you everything you need to know -  as long as you are willing to work for it.  Once a year Gambit’s Reds, Whites & Blues wine tasting brings together 150 different wines (and other beverages) in a bluesy event at the Pavilion of the Two Sisters at City Park.  This is a teach-yourself evening where you stroll around the beautiful room, chat with friends, listen to The Harry Mayronne Trio and Leah Chase and nibble on goodies from, among others, Besh Steakhouse, St. James Cheese and Cafe Degas.

The best part?  There is a raffle to win 150 bottles of wine.  Trust me (my best friend won last year) that is a LOT of wine.  It might even get you thru this holiday season.

New Orleans has no shortage of ways to imbibe - but 150 different drinks at one event…and the chance to win a bunch too?  This is a must-do.  Bring friends.  Bring co-workers.  Bring visitors.  Bring a designated driver.

Thursday October 15

6pm-9pm

City Park Pavilion of the Two Sisters

Cheers!

It may be a cold, rainy Monday night in London but people all over the city are excited about what is to happen tomorrow in Washington DC.  Well, maybe not people ALL over the city - but definitely three taxi drivers, two advertising execs, a United flight attendant and two guys at a sporting goods shop in Fulham.  There is an energy around London that I can, with relative certainty, say was not here when Bush took office.

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The Lexi Theatre (up the street from where I am staying this week) is broadcasting inauguration coverage live from 8pm tomorrow night.  Tickets have been sold-out since Saturday.  The advertising agency my friends work for is tuning into the festivities first thing tomorrow and will keep their business television on Obamamania all day (plus providing snacks and doilies in red, white and blue). Craigslist London boasts of the American Expat Meet-Up group and their inauguration party for over 4,000 people.  Madame Tussauds is unveiling their wax figure of Obama tomorrow and Democrats Abroad’s Inaugural Ball at the Royal Lancaster Hotel is sold out.

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Whatever your politics, one thing is clear: in one small corner of the world, an ocean away from the United States, there are a helluva lot of people holding out hope that the change Americans have voted in is going to make the world a better place.

Like lots of people we spent Thanksgiving week traversing the highways and byways of Louisiana.  We started with dinner in Lafayette on Sunday night, New Orleans on Tuesday, Baton Rouge on Wednesday and New Orleans again on Thursday.  Punctuated by a super rainy weekend,  by Saturday evening we had no groceries and no energy.  The only option was dinner out.  We were treated to the braised short ribs (to be specific, “sweet and sticky fried beef short ribs with hearts of palm, cucumber and lime-ginger vinaigrette”) by Lilette at Gambit’s Red Whites & Blues fundraiser and swore we would visit the restaurant “soon.”  Though that turned out to be a month later, we were thrilled that we stuck with it. Lilette is a neighborhood brasserie without the pastiche of a brasserie.  The service was attentive without being annoying, the atmosphere was charming and lively and the food was fabulous.  Once again I found it refreshing to visit a  New Orleans restaurant lacking a sibling rivalry amongst the entrees, with each trying to outdo the other in size, number of ingredients and colors.

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The other great thing about Lilette was the wine list - which included an interesting and diverse collection of wines from $24 to $135 (not including a few expensive Champagnes).   We selected a 2005 Bordeaux for $42 that was a fantastic match for our meals.  I had not heard of the particular wine before, Chateau Tour Bayard, but I knew the region in Bordeaux (Montagne-Saint-Emillion) and I knew that 2005 Bordeaux was already building a reputation for being one of the best in decades.

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Five years ago the restaurant company I was working for in New York took on the laborious task of turning all seven of our restaurant’s voluminous international wine lists into strictly American wine lists.   It was just shy of a monumental task which our 29-year-old wine director accomplished by first finding wineries in each state, then by tasting a tremendous amount of wine, some of which was incredibly bad.  Fortunately there was a lot that was also very good.

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As it happens Louisiana is proud to be home to six wineries - but only one of those wineries produces wine from grapes, a primary necessity in selecting the wine for our wine lists.  Thru no regional nepotism, John Seago’s Pontchartrain Vineyards wine was selected as one of the wines we would not only have on our wine lists around the country but would also be featured at a press-heavy kickoff luncheon in Manhattan.  There were 100 American wines opened at this lunch event and American wine all-stars such as Michael Mondavi, Jess Jackson, Bo Barrett (of Bottle Shock fame) and Doug Schafer poured wines side by side winemakers like John Seago.

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John was wonderful.  He is an avuncular character well-versed not only on wine and Louisiana but how those two things intermingle.  As well he is quite a history buff and knows a tremendous amount about wine’s history in America.  His quest to start a vineyard in Louisiana is enough to fill several hundred pages alone.

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This Saturday, November 29th, from noon to 5pm, Pontchartrain Vineyards is hosting a Harvest & Holiday celebration with food, hayrides, barrel tastings, tours, music and, of course, wine.  Adults $7, Children under 12, free.  This is a great opportunity to meet and mingle with the people of Pontchartrain Vineyards and to taste wine local to Louisiana that doesn’t start with “strawberry” or “muscadine”

Click here for directions.

In conjunction with the inaugural release of their new Monterey line, La Crema, a producer of good, reasonably priced, cool-climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines (each in the mid-$20 range)  also launched a new website to help consumers understand what is behind the flavor and aroma descriptors used on their wines.

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The website is www.lacrema.com.  The site takes a while to load and, for your own sanity, make sure you are on a high speed connection, but once you are there it is well worth the journey.  Winemaker Melissa Stackhouse talks you through a “virtual tasting” of their Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines explaining the various aromas and flavors you can expect from their wines.  Another option finds her coaching you on how to host a  “tasting party” for friends.  The idea being that you can purchase and prepare aroma and flavour components frequently mentioned in wine (examples:  cherries, black tea, butterscotch).  You buy these components, put them in containers, let your friends sniff everything out then see if you can find that aroma in the wine.  It is an excellent idea - is a lot of fun for both a novice and an experienced wino alike.

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So, for anyone who is still in front of a computer at work, not yet on official Thanksgiving holiday leave…check it out!