Kinds of wine fairs

There are various kinds:
• Those with a set entry price which allow you to try a wide variety of wines.
• Others in which you pay for each glass tasted and you buy tickets. This often inhibits us and makes us pay more attention to the wallet than to the glass.
• There are also those where the visitor “qualifies” the wines. They are the most appreciated by people from the wine industry as, apart from the variety, there are the best vintages of each vineyard.

The objectives of the fairs can be various. There are those, for example, to show the virtues of each specific region. This happens in Chile with the fairs of the valleys of Colchagua and Maipo. They help to identify the region, taste the current production and see the differences with other areas. And clearly they are smaller.

There are those with commercial objectives, which are the most common. They seek, among other things, to promote specific lines of the cellars or promote some brand’s accessories (glasses, thermometers, etc.) plus the place where they are held (hotel, events center, city). As these are the ones that most people attend, we will concentrate on these to know how to take best advantage of them.

Suggestions for visiting a wine fair

The sommelier of Concha y Toro, Gabriel Salas, divides the list of suggestions for wine fairs into two: general and personal.

GENERAL ADVICE
1. Walk around the area: “I advise walking to see which and how many vineyards are present. It is important to have a map of the fair; you are going to need it all the time. Look, walk and when something calls your attention, do not hesitate to taste.”

2. Start with the dry whites: “The traditional way is to start with Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Riesling and Pinot Grigio.”

3. Continue with the more dense whites: “You should then consider the heaviest of the whites, like Chardonnay Viognier.”

4. Continue with the rosés.

5. Time for reds: “Begin with the light reds before proceeding to the heavier ones; first Pinot Noir, then Merlot, Carmenere, Syrah and lastly Cabernet Sauvignon.”

6. Sweet ones at the end: “It is recommended to leave sweet wines to the end of the visit. They thus increase in intensity and the mouth is pleased.”

PERSONAL ADVICE
Mr. Salas says that it has happened that he lost the best reds when he followed the above list strictly. He therefore proposes the following personal advice:
7. “Eat a good breakfast and a better lunch to avoid arriving hungry and to have the senses more tuned.

8. “The wines are often shown from less to more, so they approach the bar and leave (hopefully) with those that are more to the right.

9. “Drink the wine you taste only if you like it too much. If not, spit it out (there are special accessories for this). Similarly, leave wine in the glass and if you like it, then drink it.

10. “Between so many reds, try a refreshing white. It helps the mouth a lot to not confuse one wine and another.

11. “Take paper and a pencil to note the score, variety and vintage of the wines tasted.

12. “If there is someone on the stand dressed formally and is young, he will probably be a sommelier. Ask even the most basic; he knows and his job is to communicate it.

13. “Use comfortable clothes because you walk a lot at fairs.

14. “And don’t drive. Always take a taxi home.”