US Tour Launched 2018 Guide with Stops in Atlanta, New York, Houston and San Francisco
New York, NY, April 9, 2018 – Slow Wine’s 10th annual US Tour and launch of their annual guide was held last month in four cities across the US, to an enthusiastic reception from trade, press, and consumers.
Grand Tastings, which brought together Italian and Californian producers for the first time ever, were held on February 27th in Atlanta at the Southern Exchange, March 1st in New York City at Eataly Downtown, March 5th in Houston at the Hilton Post Oak (in conjunction with Taste of Italy), and finally on March 7th in San Francisco at Terra Gallery.
In New York, top buyers and members of the press were treated to a morning VIP seminar led by Slow Wine Editor Giancarlo Gariglio with three top local wine professionals: Jeff Porter (Beverage Operations director at the B&B Hospitality Group), Iacopo di Teodoro (Partner and Italian Portfolio Manager at Artisanal Cellars), and Susannah Smith (Wine Buyer at Flatiron Wines & Spirits). The seminar was followed by an exclusive one hour preview of the Grand Tasting.
In all, ten California wineries participated in the tour: Acumen Wines, Matthiasson Wines, Folded Hills Winery, Ampelos Cellars, Rhys Vineyards, Skinner Vineyards, Front Porch Farm, Littorai Wines, Old World Winery, and Scribe Winery. “We were excited to be among the first California producers to participate in the Slow Wine Tour this year. It was great to network with like-minded old world producers and share our wines with such an engaged audience,” said National Sales Manager for Littorai Wines, Rachel Dixon.
Based on the eager reception in both the US and Italy this year, the Slow Wine Guide will continue to feature California wineries in 2019. Additionally, the editors will travel North to Oregon in their rigorous tasting and review, and will make a special stop on the tour in Portland.
The Slow Wine Guide adopts a new approach to wine criticism and looks at a variety of factors to evaluate wineries in their entirety, taking into consideration the wine quality, typicity, and adherence to terroir; value for money; environmental sensitivity; and ecologically sustainable viticultural practices. In 2018, the Slow Wine Guide’s publisher, Slow Wine Editore, enlisted esteemed US editors Jeremy Parzen, Elaine Chukan Brown, and a number of other field tasting coordinators to visit hundreds of producers on the West Coast and evaluate them using the same rigorous standards the guide has become known for in Italy. All medal-winning wineries were invited to participate in the Slow Wine Tour.
