We’re about to roll into September, and that means the 2018 Newport Mansions Wine & Food Festival is only a few weeks away. It’s our favorite wine and food event. This year the lineup of wineries and restaurants is better than ever. There is also a nice list of seminars, all of which take place in the beautifully renovated Breakers Stables and Carriage House. There are high end wine dinners, an elegant evening of wine and food at Rosecliff, two Grand Tastings, the aforementioned seminars and a night of music and dancing at the Newport After Dark event. That’s four days of fun which extends from late mornings into the late evenings. There is absolutely something for everyone here.
The winery list includes names like Chappallet, Duckhorn, Franciscan, Ken Forrester, Mondavi, Sequoia Grove (who had the #1 wine on our Top Ten Reds list last 
year), Simi, Lapostelle and Justin, to name a few. By the way, Vega Sicilia is pouring at the Friday night Wine and Rosecliff event, and it doesn’t get much better than that. Want even more spectacular wine? Then go to the Opus One seminar, as they’ll be pouring five different vintages of the iconic Bordeaux style blend from Napa Valley.
Restaurants include establishments from the local area and as far afield as New York, Healdsburg and San Juan. There are a lot of them this year, and the food selection should be excellent. Having enough food available at a Grand Tasting is a key element of a great event. This one will have it.
We’ll be there, and hopefully you will be too. After the event we’ll publish our usual Top Ten lists for white and red wines, respectively. Every year we find new surprises, and several wines invariably find their way into our annual list of the year’s best wines. In the past it has been a great red blend from Israel, a small producer in Veneto with a great value Amarone, unbelievable Super Tuscans, classic California cabs from previously unknown names (as least to us) and of course, our favorite Slovenian producer. You just never know.
What will it be this year? We can’t wait to find out.
You can read all about the event, and buy tickets, by visiting http://www.newportmansions.org/events/wine-and-food-festival.
A votre santé!
Leave a Reply