Federal Hill Wine Festival: A Young Trophy Wine, In The Parlance Of Our Times…
$25 to get into the Federal Hill Wine Festival with 12 tickets. Each ticket worth one taste of wine. My numbers-based brain kicked into gear.
- Local wines for $2 a taste, really?
- In liters, how much beer could be purchased in Cross Street Market for $25?
- Which would be a better value?
In these economic times, one must weigh one’s options carefully. A legitimate argument was made to go into the Market, watch the Maryland game, and punt the whole afternoon. Despite this, we forged into the festival where, I found, we had been working under assumptions that proved to be incorrect.
First, the festival didn’t feature any local wines, a fact that all in our party greeted with a semi-satisfied shrug and a nod. It was as if we were prepared to pay for pour after pour of local favorites out of duty rather than hedonism. In a way, we’d been pardoned. California, Chile, Argentina, France. Stuff from everywhere.
Second, a “taste” is an imprecise measure of quantity. Nobody’s measuring cup has “taste” marked on the side. Typing “tastes to ounces” into Google isn’t going to get you far. Out in Napa, asking for a “taste” will get you an ounce of wine, a nose full of oak and a bill for $15. Not so in Baltimore. Your ticket may say “one taste,” but you may get something more in your glass. As the festival went on we sure did.
Logistically, the festival was a smashing success. Not too crowded. The band wasn’t so loud that you couldn’t think straight, but was just loud enough for you to smile and ignore. Enough tasting tents were there so that if one was crowded, you could bounce down to another. When we got tired of wine, we could pop into a bar, grab a frosty draft beer and watch some college football. Back outside, tons of variety in wines: each table had a portfolio of everything, not just one varietal or region.
Except one table: the beautiful “Sparkling Table.” No fussy decisions to deal with here, just golden bubbly or pink bubbly. As things got saucy later in the evening, we found that this was the best place to post up.
All the good wines were poured by the VIP tent which charged four tickets per taste. They ran out of stuff quick, like the Brunello and something else that I wanted. We settled on a Cakebread Cab and a Merlot or something. By this point in the day, anything that wasn’t written down wasn’t getting remembered.
Great event, looking forward to it next year.
Further coverage from Young and Married in DC.
