Would anyone like to venture a guess to what this title refers? Try 600 wines, 6 people, and 2 hours.

I was fortunate enough to attend the “Philadelphia Wine Festival”, sponsored by Philadelphia Magazine and the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB), along with WineLog’s illustrious owners, Bill, Kim and Jason, my wife Kim, and Bill’s better half Veena.

This was an opportunity to try wines from all over the world, in addition to wines I had heard about and never tried. It was also an excellent chance to explore and expand my wine horizons with different varietals, regions, and producers. There was also opportunity to speak with some of the winemakers, Brand managers, and distributors’ representatives. With row upon row of tables the first task at hand was to plot out an approximate tasting order. I chose to begin with white, then red and finally the dessert wines. From a formal wine tasting perspective this is typical, but the downside is having to revisit tables for their other selections. A lot of extra work but, hey I like to make things complicated.

Okay, enough with the jabbering, my tasting notes are informal, here are the highlights:

Rudi Wiest selections were an awesome way to start a tasting. Christopher Bartha, Northeast Managing Director took us through the wines. The Reinhold Haart Riesling Kabinett Pieporter Goldtropchen 2005 $32 was a lovely wine with honeysuckle, peach, pebbles, with nice acidity and finish. The Fritz Haag Spatlese Brauneberger Juffer 2006 $35 was just beautiful, with tangy citrus, unctuous, with slight smoke and a long finish.

Also shining brightly, the wines of Remoissenet do not disappoint. A Bienvenues Batard Montrachet 2005 was very good but still closed in my opinion, while the Puligny Montrachet 2005 was all that and a bag of chips, with citrus and vanilla aromas leading to more vanilla, mineral notes and a long finish.

Always a stunner, the down under powerhouse Clarendon Hills and their wines were a hit if, not the evening. Tom Vandenberg from Capital Wine & Spirits gave us the particulars on these three beauties. Both the Blewitt Springs 2004 $70 and Kangarilla 2004 $60 Grenaches exhibited bubblegum noses, with the Kangarilla having pronounced vanilla and the Blewitt showing cherry, pepper and earth. A 2004 Hickinbotham Syrah $100 had dark cherry, bitter-sweet chocolate, supple tannins, and a juicy finish. Sometimes you just want to drink them without thinking.

Being a fan of L’Ecole’s Seven Hills Merlot, I really enjoyed the Bordeaux blend called Apogee 2005 $42. It had a bright cherry nose with vanilla, a little eucalyptus, and a long finish.
I tried my best to steer towards wines I had never drunk before, but some producers are hard to ignore. M. Chapoutier and Two Hands are examples of always must try wines. Starting out new world with the Bad Impersonator Shiraz 2006 you have that wonderful aromas of game, and pepper, earth and mushrooms adding to the big fruit. Next up was M. Chapoutier Belleruche Rouge 2006 $16. Nice cherry, surprising vanilla birthday cake nose 80% Grenache 20% Syrah. Finally, the Le Bernardine 2005 $60, had a little smoke, game, and plum, great finish, 95% Grenache, 5% Syrah. What an interesting wine and an example of what the discipline of Biodynamic winemaking can bring to the table.

The next time Kim and I are in California Wine country we are camping out in front of Paul Hobbs till they let us in. Jenifer Freebairn, Director of Sales and Marketing along with Hudson Austin from “The Wine Merchant” had us try some excellent wines from both California and Argentina. The Paul Hobbs Russian River Chardonnay 2006 $45 was a big California style with lots of toasty notes and thick fruit. and the Vino Cobos, Cobos Malbec was all the varietal has to offer an then some.

Another one of my favorites and the most elegant of all the wines was Chateau Margaux 2004 Cheery vanilla, graphite, approachable tannins; this was the best Cabernet based wine of the night.

Had a nice trio from a personal favorite Siduri/Novy, the 2005 Sonoma County Syrah $27; it drank well, with nice wild strawberries and spice on the finish. The Chehalem Mountain 2006 $28 had ripe cherry, earth, nice acidity, an Oregon Pinot through and through. Lastly, the Santa Lucia Highlands 2006 $38 exhibited big fruit, a little dirt, followed by a smooth finish.

Of course, after tasting all that wine, a little food was in order. We were lucky to have serving all us wine lovers, Roberta Adamo, chef at Penne Restaurant & Wine Bar. Roberta makes pasta to die for. Her homemade Gnocchi is like eating little marshmallow pillows, and paired with an equally good porcini mushroom sauce makes for one delightful entrée. The best Gnocchi I have ever had.

Lastly, you have to give a hand to Patrick Stapleton, Chairman of the PLCB for compiling such an awesome list of wines for us to sample, and Sara Neal, Marketing Manager at Philadelphia Magazine and staff for coordinating this event. Plus, this event benefits a worthy cause, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.