One doesn’t normally think of New Mexico as a wine-producing region, but Gruet Winery has been producing vino since 1984 when three members of Gruet Champagne House settled there, according to Margaret Scholz of Vintner Select distributors, who was running the table with samples of four of the winery’s seven available varieties.
“Grapes grow very well in New Mexico,” she said. “Of course, they have to be irrigated.”
The event was held on Friday and Saturday at Jungle Jim’s Oscar Event Center on Dixie Highway.
According to Ed Vinson, Jungle Jim’s wine operations manager, the Wine Festival is all about educating the customers — and hoping they buy more wine.
“When people come in and taste, say, a chardonnay from France, they can go a few tables down and taste another one from Australia and learn why the same grape tastes different in other parts of the world,” he said.
“Many our vendors here are directly from the wineries and are very knowledgeable about their wines.”
Vinson said that they don’t put prices on the bottles of the wines at the tables so that people can have some fun guessing how much a bottle might cost.
“That way they can see that there are values in all price ranges,” he said.
Wine lover Mark Guttadauro came to Fairfield from Newport, Ky., for the second day of the two-day event. He said he’s traveled as far as Cleveland for a good wine tasting.
“I came here to see what’s available, what’s new, to try things I’ve never tried before and try some things I have tried before but can’t pass up,” he said as he finished off a sip of an ‘08 cabernet from Chateau Ste. Michelle. “Their ‘05 was stellar, but their ’07 I only bought one bottle.
“This one, I’ll probably buy some.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2188 or rjones@coxohio.com.
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