Tidbit: Online Oenophilia at the Four Seasons
By Terry Trucco
Wine — real or virtual?
Can you tweet a wine tasting?
A trio of top sommeliers from Four Seasons hotels aims to find out on November 17. That night, at 7 pm New York time, anyone anywhere can log onto Twitter, search for hashtag #FSWine, raise a glass (crystal or virtual) and join the online discussion that ensues in what’s billed as the first ever online wine tasting at Four Seasons.
The idea is to sample and discuss wines that will go well with holiday foods. Two reds and a white made the cut. Participants are encouraged to purchase them locally, sniff, swirl and sip along with the pros, and join the twitter.
The chosen three — Loosen Bros. Dr. L Riesling, Paraiso Syrah and Chappellet Mountain Cuvee – hail from Germany, the Salinas Valley and the Napa Valley respectively and are in the $30 range.
As for the selected sommeliers, each will be tweeting from his, or her, home-base hotel. And each brandishes intriguing credentials.
James Tidwell, sommelier at the Four Seasons Resort & Club Dallas at Las Colinas, is co-founder and head of the Texas Sommelier Association. Mark Sayre, affiliated with the Four Seasons Austin, is a budding winemaker voted one of Wine Spirits magazine’s seven best new sommeliers of 2010. And Bon Appetit magazine praised Dana Farner, beverage director at Wolfgang Puck’s restaurants at the Beverly Wilshire – a Four Seasons Hotel, as “one of the best around.”
Why let Twitter host a tasting? The idea was to extend the reach of Four Seasons’ experts beyond bricks and mortar, we’re told. And apparently Four Seasons aficionados are social media savvy.
Still, for those who prefer hotel wine tastings in a hotel, several links in the FS chain will stage simultaneous tastings on the 17th. Each serves up the triumvirate of wines, assorted nibbles and strategically placed LED screens for a nominal fee. Among them are the hotels in Dallas and Austin where Tidwell and Sayre are in residence and Four Seasons New York. The event at the latter will unfold in a corner of the Garden Wine Bar, overseen by the house sommelier.
Information at http://fourseasonswine.eventbrite.com/.
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Well, it will certainly tighten up the writing of wine critics — 140 characters or less.
Comment by steve — November 6, 2010 @ 4:39 pm
Ninety-nine virtual wines on a “wall”/
Ninety-nine virtual wines/
Delete one down and tweet it around/
Ninety-eight virtual wines on a “wall”/
Comment by Tony Ramirez — November 8, 2010 @ 5:57 pm