HC Binghamton Editor-in-Chief, Carmen Rey and I, fled the DT scene to New York City this past weekend to experience a night of wine tasting, education and, above all, fun.
Wine Riot is hosted by Second Glass, a company that simply just wants to get more people drinking wine. The event takes place in six major cities across the U.S. from Boston to Los Angeles. NYC was the second to last stop on this year’s Second Glass’ wine tour, and thanks to Her Campus, Rey and I were able to go.
The night was filled with 250 different wines from around the world, a photo booth with funky props (don’t worry people, Rey and I didn’t actually bring our own cowboy hats), some good music, eye-opening courses and plenty of happy people (myself included).
Wine Riot attracted people of all ages, those who have been drinking wine for decades as well as people like myself who are new to the scene. Despite this, Second Glass provided a relaxed atmosphere for all wine lovers.
The event featured wines from New Zealand, Spain, California, NY’s very own Finger Lakes and, most surprising to Rey and I, South Africa.
In order to keep track of the overwhelming number of wines, Second Glass created their own free, easy-to-use app. The app was a quick way to record which wines I really liked, those I only sort of liked, and then the wines that were just “meh.” App users were also able to see the “must try” wines of the night, according to other people at the event.
Toward the end, about when Rey and I started going a little wine-crazy, we attended a seminar called “Back that Class Up.” There we learned that a $4 bottle of wine could taste as good as, if not better than a $150 bottle. We sampled four different wines with four very different price tags. Although we couldn’t decide which wine correlated with which price, apparently that makes us better off. We’ll be just as happy drinking a $4 bottle of wine as we would be drinking a more expensive wine, and I know, I’m definitely okay with that.
Over the course of three hours, we each tried about 30 different wines. I would have liked to try all of them
I discovered that I’m more of a sweet white wine kind of gal. For those of you that feel the same, I would recommend 2011 Cavit Moscato. It’s sweet and cheap!
Rey prefers red wine and suggests 2009 Ontañon Ecológico for red wine lovers.
“$11 and organic. Everything a girl could possibly ask for and more,” Rey says.
Congratulations, Wine Riot, you accomplished exactly what you set out to do: get me to drink more wine. I certainly haven’t become a wine connoisseur, but now when I go to the liquor store, I can buy wine I’m confident I will enjoy.