Why Winemaker's Like Nantucket.

I sent this out to some friends in the industry and got some great responses, which I have listed below.

Why Winemakers Like Nantucket
Five-day island event draws 160 winery participants
by Hugh Tietjen

Nantucket, Mass. -- The 12th annual Nantucket Wine Festival, held on the scenic Massachusetts island May 14-18, was as big a success with participating vintners as it was with its estimated 3,000 attendees. The elaborate event this year drew some 160 wineries from the U.S. and Europe, including several top Burgundy producers--Beaune, France, is Nantucket's sister city. "Consumers here are not just drinkers--they are here to learn," said Laurent Drouhin of Maison Joseph Drouhin in Burgundy. There are only four events that count, Drouhin told Wines & Vines. "Aspen, Vail, Naples and Nantucket. Only one of those do we do every year--Nantucket."The schedule for the five-day event is a dozen pages long; highlights include "Great Wines in Grand Houses," in which local residents open their homes to 12-20 guests for sit-down tastings. Some of these include meals prepared by top East Coast and local chefs. California vintners pouring in the "grand houses" included O'Shaughnessy, Rudd, Fisher, Steele, Arrowood, Coturri, Freeman, Four Vines, Calera, Far Niente, Cliff Lede, Baldacci, Kendall-Jackson, Silverado, Hess Collection, Shafer, Rosenblum, Steltzner, Taylor Family, Chimney Rock and Robert Sinskey.A trio of Luncheon Symposiums featured Spanish wines, a Burgundy Master Class, and The Stars of Stag's Leap, with winemakers or principals from Baldacci, Cliff Lede, Silverado, Pine Ridge, Shafer, Ilsley, Robert Sinskey, Steltzner, Taylor Family, Clos du Val, Chimney Rock and Stags' Leap. Throughout the event, winery lunches and dinners were hosted by local restaurants which paired their cuisine with wines from one or more winery, with principals in attendance from Elyse, Trinchero, Napa Cellars, Folie à Deux, Fisher, Rudd, Freeman, Rombauer, Wente, Peay, Bridlewood, Shafer, Steele, Newton and Michael Mondavi's Folio Spanish collection.

The Grand Gala, held at the White Elephant Hotel on Nantucket Harbor, featured at least 30 stations, each pairing a winery representative with a chef, with a silent auction to benefit the Nantucket Historical Association.Charles Krug Winery poured at the gala. Krug proprietor Marc Mondavi called the festival, "A wonderful event," and commented that it "really works to sell wine."Ray Coursen from Elyse agreed that the "Marketing exposure is great," and said he's participated in the festival nine times. "It's that good," he said. Josh Jensen, proprietor/winemaker at Calera Wine Company, was a newcomer. "This was my first time," he said. "I'll be back next year.""I've done eight events in five days," said Dave Guffy, director of winemaking at Hess Collection. Like many of his colleagues, Guffy believes that the Nantucket festival is "the biggest and best on the East Coast."

Virtually every participating winery representative echoed Duffy's sentiments. Given its location in this traditional New England vacation spot, the Nantucket Wine Festival draws from a huge market of high-demographic and knowledgeable wine consumers. In fact, positive responses were universal. The only negative for winery reps was the sheer number of events in which they could participate: it was a lot of work, but the loyalty of attending wineries seems to show that Nantucket in May is the place to pour.In addition to the Historical Association, proceeds from the wine festival benefit the Nantucket New School, Boys and Girls Club and Community Sailing. For details, visit nantucketwinefestival.com.

• Dan Thomas: "No mention of blacking out drunk or riding around town with a crazy cigarette smoking Georgia Girl."
• Kevin Foran: "First off, what a blatant lie!!!! "consumers are not just drinkers" Laurent knows better than that. :)"