The last weekend of summer was glorious in Newport, RI, with warm sunshine, cool 
breezes off the ocean, and as much great wine and food as anyone can realistically handle in four days. This was the 2019 Newport Mansions Wine & Food Festival, and it was, as usual, spectacular. If anything the wine was even better this year, and we would be tempted to say the same about the food. It was well attended all around but never crazy crowded. The wineries, distributors, importers and restaurants were serving right till the end, with a few exceptions, and everyone looked very happy. We had a great time.
We’ll publish our usual Top 10 lists of red and white wines, although the red list might become a Top 15 this year, as there were so many world class wines.
Some of the wineries which really knocked it out of the park this year include Seghesio, with a lineup of deep, rich Zinfandels; St. Francis, whose value equation was almost impossible to beat; Dry Creek Vineyards, with beautiful wines from white to red; Alexander
Great wines from Seghesio
Valley Vineyards, and Gerard Bertrand. You can add some of the usual suspects in there as well, such as Chappellet, Sequoia Grove, Justin and Duckhorn. Trimbach had some amazing whites from Alsace. Montes had some great values from Chile, and an incredible Carmenere.
We would be remiss for not singling out Canard Vineyards, who had the most amazing line of reds we have ever
Mind blowing wines fro Canard
tasted through at a single table. These run contrary to the trend toward lower alcohol and leaner wines. They were all big, rich and unctuous, but with focused fruit and complex profiles, not to mention extreme length. Unabashedly in your face, they really are amazing wines. Adam from Canard ran out of wine right near the end of the Sunday Grand Tasting (after pouring many bottles), but we were fortunate in that we stopped by earlier. There will be a follow up on Canard, and we’ll talk about their wines in detail. Somehow we managed to order a case before we left the table.
Wined out? Not a problem, as you could get a cold beer, a gin cocktail or tequila cocktail, and an assortment of bourbons, vintage and tawny ports, sangria or a mimosa. Coffee and chocolate were at the ready. There were culinary demonstrations going all day on the main stage, if you just wanted to sit for a while and watch a world class chef in action.
Certainly we must also talk about the food, which was plentiful and varied. This event always has great food choices, and it is such an 
important part of a successful wine and food event. Saturday seemed to have a focus on tuna going on, while that switched to salmon on Sunday. Of course, it was probably nothing more than us trying different restaurants. At any point you could go out the back of the tent and stroll along the ocean, grabbing oysters, grilled beef, pork, shrimp and duck sausage. There were cheese stations and duck liver pate and breads and meatballs and on and on.
Here are just a few of our favorite bites. Trois Petits Cochons had the great foie gras with sweet mini peppers. Blackstone Caterers had a different tuna crudo each day, and they were both delicious. Alexian served their duck liver mousse with cognac, along with a truffle mousse, which are available at high end grocery stores. Lark Fine Foods had cookies and crackers for grownups, and Cheri loved the Salted Rosemary Shortbread Cookie and the Toasted Almond Biscuit. One of our old, Rhode Island favorite restaurants, Basta, had a tasty salmon crudo. The Mooring Restaurant, right on the wharves in Newport, served a great Farmer’s Market Salad with Narragansett Creamery’s ricotta cheese. Also, Artscience Culture Lab & Cafe had a Za’tar spiced lamb meatball that was perfect, with just the right balance of curry. Scarpetta had a tuna poke on a crispy wonton chip that stood out. There were many more.
A Friday seminar lineup
When you consider everything, including the wine, the food, the weather and the unparalleled setting, this was pretty much a perfect weekend for any wine and food lover. They know how to do this right.
We didn’t even mention the three seminars we attended on Friday, all fun and informative.
If you weren’t there, the good news is that they do this all over again next year, from September 17-20. We’re planning to come back, so hopefully we’ll see you there in 2020. A word to the wise – ticket prices will be rising in 2020, but you can lock in this year’s prices if you buy them before the end of this year.
You can read much more about the event on their website at https://www.newportmansions.org/events/wine-and-food-festival. We’ll be publishing lists and descriptions of our favorite wines from the weekend very soon.
A votre santé!
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