This weekend is time again for the always popular Metropolitan Cooking & Entertainment Show in Washington, DC.

Join over 40 of DC’s finest chefs and foodies, along with special cooking presentations by well-known Food TV celebrity chefs, Paula Dean, Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis. 

Enjoy cooking demonstrations and head-to-head cooking competitions, food and wine tastings, tips on entertaining and cooking, along with workshops on everything from holiday cooking to knife and plating skills. 

With over 170 food related companies displaying and selling everything from exotic weekend cooking retreats, wine storage, and kitchen gadgets, the show is not just for the home cook, but for anyone who loves great food.

Two of the celebrity chefs, Flay and De Laurentiis, will also be signing their cookbooks, but you must purchase a ticket to one of their cooking sessions ($55-$80 and includes a General Admission ticket). 

Metropolitan Cooking & Entertainment Show
Walter E. Washington Convention Center
801 Mount Vernon Place, NW
Washington, DC 20001 (map it)

Dates and Times - Saturday, Nov. 8, 2008 – 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 9, 2008 – 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Tickets – Advanced online tickets for adults are $20.00 and $10.00 for children 6-12, with kids 5 and under free.  At the door prices -adults – $25.00, kids – $13.00. Tickets are also available by phone at 888-695-0888.

Interactive cooking sessions – $35.00 to $145.00 per session.

Nearest Metro Subway Station – Mt. Vernon Square – 7th St. – Convention Center – Yellow and Green lines.

Parking
Metered street parking is available but will be difficult to find near the Convention Center, try the public lots and garages within walking distance.

Images – Flickr – Bobby Flay, Giada De Laurentiis

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Post from: The DC Traveler

With the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains as a back drop, enjoy a sampling of wines from one of 17 Virginia wineries along with enjoy festival foods while watching hot air balloons (and even a few lawnmower races).

In it’s 12 year, the Hot Air Balloon and Wine Festival at Historic Longbranch had lots of fun activities throughout the day, including:

• Live entertainment
• Mansion tours
• Antique cars and the ld Dominion Fire Society antique fire engine display
• Kids activities
• Monster Truck rides
• Crafts and area artisans
• Radio-controlled planes
• Lawnmower races

Hot Air Balloon and Wine Festival at Historic Longbranch 
Longbranch Historic House
1830 Longbranch Lane 
Millwood, Virginia 22646 (map it)
540-837-1856

Dates and Times – Friday, October 17 – 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, October 17 and 18, 7:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Tickets – $10.00 per person admission, plus $10.00 for wine. under 12 free. 

Parking – Free

Images – Flickr – drinking wine, balloons

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Post from: The DC Traveler

Italian sparkling wines at the French Embassy? Is this possible? 

California champagnes being served on French soil?  Sacrilegious??!!

No!! Wine lovers know that great wines come from around the globe, not just one region or one country.  Especially champagnes and sparkling wines.

So sample over 25 French, Italian, Spanish, American, and Austrian sparklers that will be presented at the first Champagne and Other Bubbles Festival at the French Embassy in Washington, DC. 

The selection includes bubbly samples from around the globe including:

• Champagnes
• Proseccos
• Cavas
• Spumante
• Blanc de noirs
• Blanc de blancs
• Sparkling rosés
• Sparkling reds
• Bruts, Drys, Extra Drys and Demi-Secs

Presented by the local wine and education aficionados company GiraMondo Wine Adventures, the festival includes tastings, and a festive menu to compliment your bubbly samples, including chocolate fondue and assorted Mignardises (miniature French pastries).

With sparklers from around the globe, this is a great opportunity to try a variety of styles, types and countries of origins so you can serve the most appropriate at your next festive party, let it be a black tie party or an evening in the lawn at Wolftrap.

For artists and aspiring wine label designers, register to participate in the wine label design contest for a French sparkling wine. The grand prize is $300.

First Annual Champagne and Other Bubbles Festival
La Maison Française
4101 Reservoir Road, NW 
Washington, DC 20007 (map it)
301-841-7609

Date and Time –Thursday, July 24 – 6:30 – 9:00 p.m.

Tickets – $79.00 and are available online.  At time of writing, only a few tickets remained.

Nearest Metro Subway Station – Farragut West – Blue and Orange lines, and then a 15-minute Metrobus (D6) ride.  I’d recommend taking a cab.  

Parking – Limited free first come, first serve parking is available in the Embassy’s underground parking garage.  Free street parking is also available in the area. 

Images – Strawberry & Champagne, corks

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Post from: The DC Traveler

The great thing about the many local summer and fall wine festivals, is that the wineries come to you.

At the Vintage Virginia Wine Festival, in suburban Centreville, Virginia, you can taste wines from over 35 Virginia wineries. After sampling some of the 250 wines offered, attend one of the hourly seminars at the Seminar Tents, and learn about paring, wine making and its history, and the learn about the many wineries in Virginia.

Besides wine tasting, there’s activities for the kids, food and live entertainment.

Vintage Virginia Wine Festival
Bull Run Regional Park
7700 Bull Run Drive
Centreville, VA 20121 (map it)

Dates and Times – Saturday and Sunday, May 31 & June 1, 2008, gates open at 10:00 a.m. and close at 8:00 p.m.

Tickets – Adults – $25.00, Designated drivers and youth over 12 – $16.00, kids 3-12 – $5.00, kids under 3 FREE. The box office will be open 11 a.m. until 6: p.m. during the festival. Designated drivers are provided complimentary soda, water, and sparkling cider. Tickets are available online.

Nearest Metro Subway Station – Taking Metro to the festival is not viable, but a shuttle from the Vienna/Fairfax,/GMU Metro station (Orange line) to the festival will run hourly 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. ($20.00).

Parking – Free parking included.

Images – Flickr – glass, grapes from personal collection – © 2008 – Jon Rochetti 

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Post from: The DC Traveler

The Virginia Wine Showcase is this weekend in suburban Chantilly, Virginia.

Forty wineries will be serving, selling, and bragging about some of the 300 wines available for tasting.

The showcase also offers a series of fee-based wine seminars where you can learn about wine, winemaking, food pairings, and improving your enjoyment of the nectar of the gods.

Some of the more interesting seminars include:

• It’s All About The Chocolate – Perfect for planning a Valentine’s Day celebration, how to pair wines with chocolate. 
• Virginia Versus The World - Just how do Virginia wines compare to wines from other regions of the world? 
• Wine Futures And How to Buy - Similar to investing in stock futures? Find out.
• Winemaking Overview – Learn about the art and science of making high-quality wines.

Enter to win one of many door prizes and get a chance to win dinners, weekend get-aways and a 42″ LCD television. There’s also a Bounce Room to keep the kids distracted (they really shouldn’t be drinking wine anyway).

Virginia Wine Showcase
Dulles Expo Center
4368 Chantilly Center
Chantilly, VA  (map it)

Dates and Times – Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 9 – 10, 2008, 11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Tickets – $35.00 and are available at the door, $15.00 for non-tasters

Parking – Free parking is available.

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Post from: The DC Traveler

La Maison Française at the French embassy is hosting it’s annual champagne tasting with some of

France’s finest champagnes from the Champagne region (not to be confused with non-Champagne sparkling wines – read more here). 

Keep watch over this list for actual participants in the Washington, DC event.

Sample twenty different French champagnes, food and desserts prepared by the French Pastry School, while being entertained by live music.

The soirée also includes a silent auction and a raffle for two round-trip tickets to Paris.  Area chefs will also present a sampling of their own creations to accompany the “sparkling” evening. 

Tour de Champagne – Champagne Tasting 2007
La Maison Française
4101 Reservoir Road, NW 
Washington, DC 20007 (map it)

Date and Time – Saturday, Nov. 3, 7:00 p.m.

Tickets – $125.00 and are available online.

Nearest Metro Subway Station – Farragut West – Blue and Orange lines, and then a 15-minute Metrobus (D6) ride.  I’d recommend taking a cab.  

Parking – limited free first come, first serve parking is available in the Embassy’s underground parking garage.  Free street parking is also available in the area.  

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Post from: The DC Traveler

According a study on women winemakers in California, an estimated 15% to 20% of California’s wine-makers are women. And while it may currently be a a male-dominated industry, there’s no surprise that evidence indicates women’s senses of taste and smell are more acute, resulting in a high demand for winemakers with these heightened senses.

This fun and flavor-packed evening occurs at one of Washingtonian magazine’s consistent Top 100 Best Restaurants, Café Atlantico.  Each of the specially prepared five courses, created by Chef Katsuya Fukushima, is being paired with a premiere wine, including:

• 2004 Jose Pariente ‘Dos Victorias’ Verdejo, a classic white wine from two winemakers, both named Victoria
• 2005 Luca Syrah, named after winemaker Laura Catena’s son, Luca
• 2006 Susana Balbo ‘Crios’ Torrontes, from a longtime Argentinean winemaker, Susana Balbo.  The wine recently scored a 90 out of 100 in a Wine & Spirits review.
• Domaine Carneros champagne form  Napa (a personal favorite)

Regarding the champagne choice, I recently revisited Domaine Carnaros, the French-inspired champagne house on the edge of Napa Valley that’s related to the famous french champagne house Taittingers. I must agree with wine experts when they say that winemaker Eileen Crane is consistently creating better, more exciting and innovative champagnes in the Napa Valley than what’s being produced at Champagne Taittinger headquarters in Champagne, France.  

The food should presented should be as over-the-top as the wines, and definitely add to the pleasure of the evening. Chef Fukushima’s offerings for this special night of food and wine include tiny fried egg sandwiches with caviar and dehydrated banana; Idiazabal Cheese “Gnocchi” Andoni with Jamon Serrano Jus; and slow cooked Pork Tenderloin, Chicharrones with “Blueberries” and smoked Potato Puree. Check here for the full menu, and get ready to start planning a fun night out.

And not related to this event, if you’re interested in meeting a successful local winemaker, Jennifer McCloud, the winemaker at nearby Chrysalis Winery in Middleburg, VA often leads the tastings at her winery and, in my experience, is always more than willing to talk about her wines and the business.

Girls’ Night Out Wine Dinner
Cafe Atlantico
405 8th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20004 (map it)

Date and Time - Wednesday, Oct. 17th, 7:00 p.m.

Tickets – $125 per person including tax and gratuity. Call 202-393-0812.

Nearest Metro Subway Station – Archives – Green and Yellow lines, then a 1 block walk. 

Parking – Street and paid garage parking is available, as well as valet parking after 5:00 p.m.

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Post from: The DC Traveler

The article Wine-Lover’s Guide: 5 Wine Regions to Visit Now focused  on five of the most promising and enjoyable newer wine destinations, including areas of Spain, Central Otago in New Zealand, the region in Italy on the Adriatic coast becoming known for some of their white wines and Chile, plus Virginia’s enjoyable wine country.

To quote the article’s author:

“The state had been trading on the grape-growing reputation of noted wine lover Thomas Jefferson for 200 years without producing anything worthy of mention. Then a single bottle convinced me that Virginia was ready for consideration. And a single meal verified that it should be on the must-visit list of any adventurous wine traveler.”

And remember, as the bumper sticker I recently saw on a pick up truck in Virginia’s wine country said…Virginia makes wine, Napa makes auto parts.

Photo credit – personal collection

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Post from: The DC Traveler