A Wine Time

We talk to Heinen’s wine buyer Ed Thompkins and WVIZ/PBS ideastream community relations director Peg Neeson about what visitors can expect at this week’s 11th annual Heinen’s/WVIZ World Series of Wine.

CM: With hundreds of food and wine offerings to choose from, what’s the best way to approach the “World Series of Wine”?
ET: The Grand Tastings are the way to learn. It also helps to have a game plan going in. It could be really simple — “reds or whites?”

CM: Is the World Series of Wine accessible to novice wine drinkers?
PN: Absolutely everyone could find something here they like, something they can learn.
ET: It’s a fun event. We encourage people to ask questions. It’s not stuffy, we try to demystify the process and make it fun and accessible for everyone who shows up.

CM: And what is there for the more experienced wine drinker?
ET: Personally, I’m my own target audience when we set up a wine seminar. And I’ve been a total wine geek for 20 years. Take the connoisseur’s table — it’s literally a once-in-a-lifetime experience to have all those bottles open at one time. That’s exactly what I heard from someone at a previous World Series, about a specific vintage: I’ve heard about this, but I never thought I’d have a chance to actually taste it. We provide that kind of opportunity every year.
PN: People just love this weekend. We’ve counted 2,000 people attending one or more of the events in past years. We’re hoping for at least that many in 2006.

Grand Tastings will be held at the Jacobs Field Terrace Club on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon and evening, Nov. 3 and 4. Wine seminars will be held Saturday afternoon, Nov. 4, at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel. For more information call 1-888-281-WINE or visit wviz.org/wsw