As if we don’t have enough to do around here for April and May, more events are headed in our direction and they are all important in their own ways.
Although I am not usually the town crier for specific events (that role is best left to calendar sections of Web sites and good friends who keep up with such matters), I would not want you to miss gatherings of particular significance simply because you have not done them before. And in this case, you haven’t done them before because the events themselves have not been done before.
The first of the events takes place on April 3 and 4. New Orleans is the starting point of a 14-city tour, with two days spent in each city, sponsored by the International Society of Africans in Wine, or ISAW.
Before we move on, I suggest you: 1) go back and re-read the previous paragraph. It is the concise explanation of what is going on here and 2) clear your mind of previous connotations of wines from Africa.
ISAW was founded by a wine-knowledgeable, eminently likeable young man from Atlanta who has a vision of establishing a training center for African wine grape farmers in the Stellenbosch region of South Africa.
Stephen Satterfield thinks it’s important to train black South Africans to enter the wine industry, making them self-sufficient and productive in their lives and providing us with good wines from that region, something that has not been consistently done over the 350-year history of grape growing in Africa.
Those are laudable goals that can be achieved with our support, and all we have do is show up for a few very interesting parties, enjoy fine food, drink good wines already being produced by some of the very few wine estates owned by black South Africans and enjoy fun music. Sounds like a recipe just made for New Orleanians.
The entire two-day event is called “Drink Well. Do Good.” On Saturday, April 3, there is the Do Good Concert. A New Orleans musical group, Kora Konnection, will stage a benefit featuring West African Mandinka music and New Orleans jazz. The event unfolds at Café Prytania, located at 3445 Prytania, by Touro Hospital, at 8 p.m.
The next day at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in the Riverwalk will be the Drink Well portion of the festivities.
Wines from South Africa will be featured, notably M’hudi and Seven Sisters, along with food pairings from local restaurants, including Dooky Chase.
Check out the Web site, www.toastafrica.com, for full information and to purchase tickets.
The other event, which is also a first-time effort and will only be staged in New Orleans, is the Independent Champagne and Sparkling Wine Invitational, or ICSWI. This takes place April 16 to 18, mostly at the Convention Center but also at other locations around town.
We first caught wind of this festival last summer, but for some reason there has been relative quiet surrounding the inaugural effort of what the promoters hope is an annual outing, maybe here again or maybe not. Along the way, there have been some prelude events in New York to build brand awareness for the organization, as well as entice producers of champagnes and sparkling wines to participate.
As you know, these are not the best of times for producers of wines with bubbles. Their products, which usually reside at the upper end of the wine price range, have been noticeably affected by the economy, and lovers of such beverages have turned to champagne alternatives, such as the wines from America, Spain (cava) and Italy (prosecco).
But this event aims to bring all of the bubble folk under one tent and allow the consumers to enjoy some good juice from all over the world. The promoters of the event are mainly from New York, though there is a New Orleans lass among them, Katie Callahan, who now calls both New York and New Orleans home. She is passionate about her wines, as well as about her beloved New Orleans.
The various events, including seminars and tastings, will focus primarily on small producers of champagnes and sparkling wines from all over the world, including multiple places of origin in France, Italy, Spain, the US, Germany and Austria. In the Champagne region, these are referred to as “grower champagnes,” with much smaller productions than the larger houses that release millions of bottles each year.
There are bound to be a whole range of experiences with these wines with which you may not be familiar. And it is good to support these producers’ efforts because with this group, you will be tasting the love of winemaking and the sense of place that are sometimes missing from the products of the large producers.
Although, to confess, I love them all: big ones, small ones, even in-between ones.
Tickets for the ICSWI event begin at $200, which includes two days of grand tastings and the seminars. You can do more by spending more, and depending on your level of interest and appreciation, that may be the way to go for you.
Head to the Web site, www.icswi2010.com, for all the information you will need to get excited about what is about to unfold here.
The point is, just like we told the world on Feb. 7, Super Bowl Sunday, New Orleans is back. These folks have put their faith in our abilities to stage events in our town and allow us to enjoy the experience.
We should support these efforts because they are not only worthy of our support but also important to their respective causes. It’s good stuff, and we can have a great time while enjoying excellent beverages, good food and even a little music.
It all sounds like New Orleans to me. See you there.
