2003 Boston WIne Expo

[Kcwhippet]

You're certainly right about the ignorance and lack of etiquette of a lot of the masses. You're also right about the plethora of bimbos on the floor - both in front of and behind the tables, and the self important "experts" muscling up to the tables and expounding their expertise for all to hear. However, I've been to 10 of the 12 BWEs and, while all that bothered me at first, I've tried to learn over the years to ignore all that crap and create a little island around myself so I could have an enjoyable experience. I don't know which day you were there, but one thing I have learned is that Saturday tends to resemble a meat market singles bar. Sunday the crowds are less and have a greater preponderence of people who actually seem to know a bit about wine. Though the great unwashed are still there it's in lesser numbers. One advantage I have is that I get in on a trade ticket which gives me one hour on Saturday and two hours on Sunday to do some meaningful tasting before the thundering herd descends. As for the bad wine - there certainly is a lot of mediocre juice on the floor, but that's something you learn over time to bypass or to sip, spit and move on. For instance, over the two days I never once stopped at the KJ, Chalone, J. Lohr, Gallo (disguised, but there), Black Opal and others of that ilk. Another thing is that I'm a bit parochial in that I spend the majority of my time on New World wines. Right off the bat, I noticed South America was a bust. They only had their lower tier wines, so I moved on. Australia, New Zealand and South Africa had some nice wines, though they also had too much of the lesser mass market juice. So, I concentrated on finding the hidden gems from CA and NY. One thing I should mention is that quite a few wineries had some of their higher end wines open only during trade hours and put it away for the public. I think that's a disservice to those, such as yourself, looking for something besides the "usual suspects". For example, Wynn's (Australia) only had two bottles each of their John Riddich Cab and their Michael Shiraz open during the trade portion. They're exceptional wines that should have been available to everyone, and I told them so. After all, how does anyone know to ask for them if they don't know they're out there. Many of the wineries do keep a bottle or two of the "good" stuff under the table that you can get a sip of if you have the right approach. Another thing is that if I noticed a particular table was hopelessly crowded, I moved on to where there was some breathing room. I've been doing trade shows (participating or attending) since 1973, so I've learned to maneuver around the show floor to avoid the bottlenecks. So, I guess I'm just trying to say that I try not to let the negatives of the situation get to me and ruin the experience. I try to find the positive and go with it. Maybe next year we can meet up and do it together, and I can try to help you steer through the clutter and have an enjoyable day. BTW, I hope you don't think I've made it a point to disagree with your posts. That's totally not the case.