SMO Raises the Bar with Forks & Corks Grand Tasting 2025

SARASOTA — On Sunday, the cold weather kindly departed just in time for area gourmands to pour into the courtyard of the John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art for the Sarasota Manatee Original’s Forks and Corks Grand Tasting, a celebration of fine wine and gastro delicacies.

A cruel pandemic and a historic hurricane season that ravaged our coastline have bookended a tough five years for the bon vivant crowd, but we owe a tremendous debt to the SMO restaurateurs who have kept alive our days of wine and roses. However, after enduring a dry January that professional obligations required me to end early, Sunday’s spectacle left this child of Dionysus feeling far more optimistic about 2025 and the second half of our roaring '20s.

The 18th annual Grand Tasting marked the pinnacle of an event that has continued to attract an increasingly top-tier crowd of rock star vintners, with winemakers from all over the world offering their best vintages while our area’s celebrity chefs create the perfect pairings. As a member of the local press, I was ushered into the museum grounds early, where we were fed glasses of Taittinger Brut Réserve on the Porsche-laden promenade. A perfect late-morning, warm-weather champagne made from 40% Chardonnay, 35% Pinot Noir and 25% Pinot Meunier, it was a harbinger of what was to come: a day dominated by elite white wines varietals.

White wines are having their moment

Once inside the museum grounds, I decided to stick with the bubbly for a bit. Still operating on an empty stomach, I grabbed a sinfully delicious Crêpes Suzette courtesy of Miguel’s French Continental and washed it down with some Canard-Duchêne brut, followed by a taste of their dry and delicious rosé champagne, all in preparation for their main event offering, the 2015 vintage black label. Magnifique!

I knew I only had one more champagne tasting in me, so I headed to Champagne Jacquart’s tent, where they were serving up their 2015 Blanc De Blanc. This 100% Chardonnay bubbly emerged from the scorched earth in the summer of 2015 when viscous heat forced an early harvest that resulted in the pièce de résistance of Sunday’s sparkling offerings. As sublime as it was, I felt a tinge of sadness, knowing I’d reached the pinnacle of the day’s champagne adventure.

However, my blues quickly turned to glee when I encountered the gentleman at the Safriel House and was treated to a glass of their Old Vine Barrel Fermented Chenin Blanc. South Africa now bottles more of this increasingly popular white grape than any country in the world, and this is widely considered the quintessential example of its finest expression. This is a grape that I’ve come to appreciate so much as of late that I’m not sure I need Sauvignon Blanc in my life anymore. I can honestly say that this was one of the best whites I've encountered in quite some time.

Sticking with whites, I discovered Thompson 31Fifty, a very small-batch Russian River Valley winery that suddenly made me proud for my country. Winemaker Michael Thompson’s 2021 Sister Sophie's Chardonnay is an exquisitely crisp and clean white with a mild honeysuckle aroma and notes of stone fruits and citrus that come through with a mile-long finish. Only 105 cases were produced, making each sip feel like a distinct privilege. Side note: Thompson’s Pinot Noir is as good or better than any California expression of the grape I’ve encountered.

Fortified with a delicious tuna taco from Ophelia’s on the Bay, I made my way over to the Prisoner Wine Co.’s tent, where Director of Winemaking Todd Ricard introduced me to his Prisoner Unshackled Sparkling. Crisp yet light and mild in the very best sense, this is a very reasonably priced sparkling wine that struck me as something that would be the perfect starting point for potential fizz heads ready to give up their hard seltzers and gain some sophistication. At the same time, it remained perfectly palatable, even after all of the upmarket whites I’d enjoyed by that point. Bravo, Todd!

With room for precious few additional whites, I was glad to have saved room for the Sean Minor Signature Series 2022 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay, a crisp white with flavors of stone fruit and green apples with a touch of butter on the finish, easily one of the best Chardonnay’s you are likely to find under $30. Another tremendous value was found in J. Moreau & Fils 2023 Gloire de Chablis, a 100% Chardonnay from a region of France that produces precious few such offerings in the sub-$30 range.

On to the Reds!

There were a number of fine reds, including those from Alexander Valley Vineyard, which I profiled in Sunday’s edition following their Friday night wine dinner at Mean Deans Local. With Thompson’s standing head and shoulders above their other California brethren, it was on to Oregon, where the Willamette Valley has been producing the best Pinot Noirs this side of France’s Burgundy region. I grabbed an impossibly zesty Cucumber Gazpacho (each small cup tasted like two dozen cucumbers had somehow been crammed into it!) courtesy of Marcel DW, and I was ready for reds.

I was fortunate enough to meet Gina Hennen, Director of Winemaking and Viticulture at Adelsheim Vineyard, which has been making fine wines in the Chehalem Mountains of the Willamette Valley since 1972. In addition to their very tasty 2019 Staking Claim Chardonnay (which I sampled on my first lap), their Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is arguably the best Oregon Pinot Noir at its $40 price point. The winery's diverse mountain-to-valley vineyards allow for a wide range of expressions, and the 2021 Breaking Ground Chelham Mountain Pinot Noir, at just $50, is a downright bargain among top-tier WV Pinot Noirs.

Willamette Valley Vineyards gave Adelsheim a run for its money in delivering sophisticated Oregon Pinot Noir at very reasonable price points. Their 2022 Estate Pinot Noir, with aromas of black cherry, clove, and anise, turns juicy on the palate. This is classic Willamette Valley-style Pinot. More interesting to me was the 2022 Whole Cluster Pinot Noir, where hand-picked whole clusters are dropped in a chilled stainless fermenter to push out the oxygen with CO2 in a tightly sealed vessel. At just $29, it is arguably one of the best dollars-to-value wines on the market.

With a quick palette cleanse and fortification courtesy of a delectable stuffed chili pepper from Kolucan and a slice of lasagna courtesy of Café Gabbiano, it was time to climb my Mount Everest. Positioned next to each other were Château Pape Clément with their Grand Cru Classé de Graves 2016 (first harvests in 1252!) and Château Smith Haut Lafitte with their own 2016 Grand Cru. These were, hands down, the two best wines I tasted on Sunday, and the former was perhaps the best wine I’ve tasted in my entire life. I’m telling you, folks, this was vino bliss personified. Chateau Canon La Gaffeliere's 2016 Grand Cru was also quite spectacular. 

Perhaps sensing that I was experiencing a joy not destined to be oft repeated, the exceedingly charming Philippe Magrez generously insisted I enjoy a second glass of the 2016 Château Pape Clément before further insisting I end my afternoon with one final white: Clos Haut-Peyraguey 2017. This incredibly unique wine was almost indescribable. Aromas of toasted orange peel and candied pineapple with a layered flavor that seemed almost honeyed led to a long, velvety finish that couldn’t be followed. Exceptionnel, mon ami! It was the perfect encore to a sublime wine experience. 

Bravo to the Sarasota Manatee Originals for once more upping the bar. From the music courtesy of Kettle of Fish to the unparalleled serenity of the Ringling's grand courtyard, there are a few experiences that can compare to their annual grand tasting. Don't miss their next event, which will be the Savor Sarasota restaurant weeks in June. Click here to sign up for the SMO newsletter so you don’t miss an event.

Dennis "Mitch" Maley is an editor and columnist for The Bradenton Times and the host of our weekly podcast. With over two decades of experience as a journalist, he has covered Manatee County government since 2010. He is a graduate of Shippensburg University and later served as a Captain in the U.S. Army. Click here for his bio. Mitch is also the author of three novels and a short story collection available here.