| Spill the Wine |
| Written by Lainey Seyler |
| Friday, 05 June 2009 17:01 |
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Last Saturday was perfect for an outdoor festival. It was sunny and hot, the kind of day where everyone is either eating a popsicle or wants to be. Last Saturday marked the second annual Urban Wine Festival, hosted by the Urban Wine Company, outdoors at 11th and Jones. The wine bar and retailer took over Jones Street just outside its storefront from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. with two tents that housed a stage for live music, food, a couple games and loads of wine, yet (mysteriously) no one who knew much about said wine — at least no one I could find. When I spoke with Urban Wine Company owner Shawn Robinson prior to the event, I was led to believe that some of the 200 wineries with wines served at the festival would send representatives. Robinson also said local distributors would serve the wine. But the only people who served wine to me were volunteer members of Urban Wine’s wine club; they knew perhaps a bit more about the wine than I did, and some seemed quite baffled as to how to serve wine. I think I expected something a little more akin to a tasting room at a winery with additional information about the wines and a few quirky stories. In fact, the festival seemed like an excuse to charge winos $30 to sample the contents of Urban Wine. The only thing worse than the service was the food. Pre-made sushi rolls came cheap at $3 but were barely edible. I can understand the difficulty of serving sushi en masse and al fresco, but the spicy tuna I tried tasted fishy and had no flavor except from the wasabi and soy sauce. The garden burger was good and came with what appeared to be house-made ketchup, horseradish-flavored mustard and pickles. The mustard was a bit spicy for my taste, but it seemed like something my dad would go crazy for. Other offerings at the grill included bratwursts, pulled-pork sandwiches and hamburgers. I was surprised Urban Wine wasn’t serving some of its menu items that go a bit better with wine, such as its charcuterie platter or tomato bruschetta. But I suspect people want burgers on a hot Saturday afternoon, and they are more apropos for a festival setting. One solidly pleasing element of the festival was the music. I caught the end of solo singer-songwriter Eddie Elliot’s performance. He was light and entertaining, and I made a mental note to look him up later. Always entertaining, The 9’s were up next. Though people were more occupied with the wine at the time, the band still put on a full-energy set. Having missed their knockout performance at the Omaha Entertainment Awards, I was glad I finally caught up with the group. Though I didn’t stay long enough to catch the evening shows, there was a lot of buzz about the final performer, Vlasis. Robinson expected 1,000 attendees at this year’s festival, topping last year’s impressive 600 — this year’s event saw around 2,000. I suspect the crowd was at its greatest after 9 p.m., Nomad Lounge took over the party after hours, bringing a DJ into the street. When I was back in the Old Market later that evening, people were coming and going from the tents. Urban Wine offers a nice variety of wine at very reasonable prices in a great location, but the festival fell flat for me. Visits to wineries or advice from sommeliers add so much to a tasting, with insight as to what makes each wine unique — and a good wine always has a story. Urban Wine’s free laborers didn’t know the stories behind the wine, which wasn’t their fault; and despite the lacking in this area, the crowd seemed to have a festive time. But, without the stories, Urban Wine is just another wine store, and the festival, a reason to get outside and drink. , Full Disclosure: The Reader is a presenting sponsor of the Urban Wine Festival. |