Bourgogne Gamay, one of many wines at the APVSA event

The APVSA, Association for the Promotion of Wines and Spirits in North America, is a unique business with a focus on providing exposure to wine and spirits producers to importers. Throughout the year they host numerous events for wineries to promote their wines.

Early this week we traveled into Washington, DC to attend the Once Upon A Wine wine tasting event. This particular wine tasting was located about three blocks from the well known Union Station. The majority of wineries represented were mainly  from France, although there were also wines from Portugal and Spain. The French regions represented in this week’s DC tasting were: Champagne, Bordeaux, Rhône, Roussillon, Occitanie, Languedoc, Provence, Bourgogne, Centre Loire, Beaujolais, Val de Loire, Alsace and more.

Monday’s Once Upon a Wine event took place from 12:00 Noon until 5:00 pm. Wineries and French Champagne Houses were represented. Tables were arranged around the circumference of the rectangular room and each table had a representative from the wineries to answer questions about the wines, vineyards, varieties and cost.

With so many wines available at the event this week, it was not easy to decide which ones to taste and write about. Terry and I decided to write about different wines from different producers. Terry’s preference was to visit the Champagne Houses while the majority of wines I tasted were reds. Future blogs on Wine Trail Traveler will focus on several of these wine producers.

In January and February 2018, the Once Upon A Wine event is traveling from city to city with the intention of promoting European wineries to wine importers. In addition to importers, wine writers are also invited to attend.

In 2018, Once Upon a Wine has already been held in several North American cities including Montreal, Halifax, Toronto, Detroit, Columbus, Washington DC, and New York City.

The schedule thru February 8 is below. If you are a wine importer or a wine writer try to attend one of these sessions.

• Orlando: January 25
• Miami, January 29
• San Antonio: January 30
• Phoenix: January 31
• Los Angeles: February 1
• San Francisco: February 5
• Portland: February 6
• Vancouver: February 7
• Calgary: February 8

Watch for our future blogs about the individual wineries and wines we tasted at the Washington DC event.

Cheers!
Kathy