We sampled food from the greatest chefs, spent an afternoon with the master sommeliers of the Bellagio, and the "wheel of fortune" landed on the $1000 mark! YES!
Friday night began with a long line of foodies in anticipation of the surge to the pool area at Caesars Palace where nearly 100 vendors were waiting with their food and drink samples. Some of the attendees included BLT Burger, SEABLUE, MESA Grill, Nobhill Tavern, L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, craftSteak, Table 10 and Wolfgang Puck. The samplings included hearty comfort foods, delicate fish sensations, bisques, and extravagant desserts. Among my favorites were the BLT Kobe slider, a lobster ravioli like creation made from pickled diakon, delicate hamachi stuffed with crab, espresso banana pudding, shrimp on a sugarcane skewer, lamb shank in a thai style sauce, Emerril's Po Boy slider, and Bobby Flay's fantastic ceviche served in a half a coconut shell. A feast of the senses that included a wonderful Mondavi Icon Cabernet Sauvignon, a myriad of mixed drinks, and Ty-Ku Sake which I loved and I normally am not a Sake fan.
Criticisms:
Too many attendees - Future Grand Tastings should put a tighter limit on the number of attendees
Some of the wine was hot - Due to the heat of the day some of the wines were literally hot
Plastic wine glasses - I understand them but I don't like them.
Saturday I was surrounded by five amazing wines:
- Charles Ellner Brut Reserve Champagne
- Bouchard Meursault Burgundy 2005
- Banfi Brunello di Montalcino Tuscany 2003
- Trapiche Malbec "Vina Adriana Venturin" Mendoza 2006
- Toro Albala "Don PX" Montilla - Moriles 2004
It was truly a unique event as less than 30 of us got to interact with the likes of Steve Olsen of Bon Appetit magazine, Jason Smith the wine director of the of the Bellagio, Robert Smith of Piccaso, William Moss of Le Cirque, and Joesph Phillips of Michael Mina. I interjected my own agenda early when I asked for advice regarding what someone who is looking to make wine his second career (me) should do to make it happen. The entire panel had something for me and I was impressed to hear the depth of their activities in the wine culture. Despite their elevated status these guys make a point of participating in every aspect for the wine business from harvesting and crush to helping you select the right medium body red to accompany your foie gras.
They impressed me with their down to earth personalities, there were no attitudes here just a common love for wine and the bottom line as expressed by Steve "The ultimate goal of our jobs is to make people happy".
Take note you snobs of South Orange County! The wine culture is not about how expensive the bottle is or what the Manolo costs that you are drinking champagne from it's about people with a shared love, it's about what makes the wine community happy.
I especially enjoyed chatting with William Moss and Robert Smith as they had helped me stamp out the path I will take in the coming months. It is with this afternoon's event that I have decided to pursue the title of sommelier. To study and soak up the wine culture in preparation for passing the first test toward master sommelier.
To end the trip with a bang I was drawn to a $1 Wheel of Fortune slot machine at the Palazzo on Sunday afternoon and after contibuting $30 to the machine I got to spin the wheel and it came up $1000! YAHOO!
Needless to say we will be back in Vegas next year for UNCORKED 2010!
