Tired is the summation of my current state. The Festival at the Farm was excessively busy, at times very crowded, and otherwise dizzyingly active. But not so crowded as to make you feel uncomfortable, or too busy as to keep you from getting wine. Still I am tired. I basically saw the majority of the Arizona wine industy in a 5 hour span. Not just the wine makers and grape growers, but the restaurateurs, the wine shop owners and representatives from grocery store chains. There is a stack of business cards on my desk all of whom had owners expecting phone calls to set up meetings. After them came the cacophony of wine fans, a crowd that the word eclectic does not begin to describe. In all this we even managed to sold some wine. Heck, I even got a chance to taste some.
The music as acostic, the ice cream Blue Bell. Th auctioneers, who usually deal in cattle, spoke almost as fast as the wine disappeared. The high bidding items were vacation get away packages with wine makers dinners. The seminars on wine tasting filled up almost instantly. As did the parking, as I predicted.
The interesting thing about the AWGA's Festival at the Farm is that the wineries are not compensated for the wine they pour. Why is this you might ask? Because this is the AWGA's main fundraiser. Sure we sell some wine but to be blunt this was so our trade organization is able to pay its bills. Which is great for everyone. The more our organization grows the better we can support new growers and winemakers. As they grow and flourish they hire Arizonans. With more growth mean more quality local wine for us to enjoy. We are building an industry that will pay dividends to our great state for generations.
It also has a element of near term returns, in that it is an awesome marketing event. Tons of people who would not have otherwise known a winery existed are now raving about its wine. Left and right the shock on peoples faces who had just learned that Arizona makes quality was giving way to pleasant surprise.
I myself had a pleasant surprise when I sampled Coronado Vineyard's Riesling. Which while sitting here I am kicking myself for not snagging a bottle. Maybe next weekend during our Scent of Wine event at our tasting room in Willcox. A nice floral noise, with a crisp acidity, low residual sugar, a thickness in the mid palate, etc. The chicken salad sandwich was great too, and I do not like chicken salad normally.
If this post is scatter-brained it is because I am still tired. Look for better notes in The Arizona Republic on Wednesday.
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