The Tasting Panel magazine

April 2018

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10  /  the tasting panel  /  april 2018 This month, I'll be a guest speaker at the tenth annual International Wine Tourism Conference in Budapest. It's a fitting city for my speech, which will high- light the success of our three publications' ongoing promo- tion of Hungary's special wines to buyers in the U.S. Last year, The Tasting Panel declared 2017 "The Year of Furmint," and this year, we've shifted focus to our outspoken infatua- tion with the sweet elixir of Aszú wines from the country's Tokaj region. I'm thrilled to represent the U.S. with our point of view from the trade magazine side of the business, especially as this month's cover story spotlights the modern styles redefining Hungary's historic elixir. April and May will be busy months for the team here at The Tasting Panel. We'll see many of you at the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA) 75th Annual Convention and Exposition May 1–3 in Las Vegas, where our publications will run the blind wine and spirits competitions and fly in 36 wine buyers, sommeliers, spirits buyers, and mixologists to serve as judges. This event has been an annual tradition for us, but this year—for the first time—we'll also be included in the Battle of the Brands competition, where I will judge alongside some of the top dis- tributor names in the country to place some well-deserving new products on a pedestal for industry-wide exposure (see page 59). The results will all be featured in a future issue. While our April issue includes our annual report on agave products, we are also diving headfirst into rosé as we spotlight not only the wines we love, but the somms who also adore the category. April ushers in the beginning of our springtime features and rosé, with its meteoric rise in popularity, has proven itself as the season's ambassador. It's been a fierce winter from coast to coast, with fires, mud- slides, Nor'easters, and an awful flu epidemic that have tortured so many of us. We can't fight Mother Nature, but I believe these warmer, calmer months will let us all breathe easier. I wish you all a happy, healthy spring. Spring is the time of plans and projects." —Leo Tolstoy LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER Friends from Hungary: Dr. Péter Molnár, General Manager of Patricius Winery; Eniko " Magyar, Project Director for Wines of Excellence; Meridith May, Publisher/Editorial Director of The Tasting Panel and The SOMM Journal; and Attila Balla, President of Vinum Tokaj International. PHOTO: JEREMY BALL Publisher/Editorial Director The Tasting Panel

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