A class series held at Tin Parlour, a conservas wine bar in the East Village. The next tasting will be Thursday, May 23.
We’re pulling vines from Castilla, shoving them into ships setting off from the Canaries, and planting them in the red granite and green hills around the rivers Itata and Bío Bío.
We’re Cortes, fresh from the Reconquista, calling Aztec temples “mosques” and demanding new grapes for Mexican communion wine. We’re Pelantaro, a toqui of the Mapuche, whose 1598 victory over the Spanish in Bío Bío ended the era of conquista in Chile — Mapuche territorial autonomy would endure for another 300 years.
In other words, we’re pouring PAIS (aka mission aka criolla chica aka listán prieto). And that means we’re talking about empire, and eucalyptus monoculture, and what makes a grape variety ‘native’, and Pinochet, and settler colonialism, and ‘new world versus old world wine’, and the idea that tomatoes are Italian.
What’s in our glasses carries the past, but it also speaks to the future.
Tickets include 6 wines, tinned fish pairings, and an hour and a half class. 75/pp, industry BIPOC discount available.
Children's Atlas of Wine 