The Boston Wine Expo was a long running wine event held in Boston that ran for 25 years. I attended the event for the first time in 2012 and attended every year since then until the last year they held the event in 2017.

The Expo was held at the Boston World Trade Center, an expansive event space on the harbor. They stopped hosting the event before the pandemic, so Covid was not the reason the festival was shut down. I’m not sure if finances were the reason the event was stopped or that the event devolved into a drunk-fest, though in all the years I attended I never saw any of that type of issue despite the huge crowds with a copious number of wines being poured.

What I enjoyed about the Expo was that for a consumer event, it was well run and had a nice selection of wines of the world available to taste, but the best parts of the Expo were the seperate VIP room which featured high end wines that were not poured at general admission and many seminars. I had attended some really excellent seminars.

After a six-year hiatus, another organization decided to bring the event back to the city on March 25-26. They decided to make the event more “intimate” by moving it to a smaller event space, the Boston Park Plaza hotel located at 50 Park Plaza, in the Back Bay district of Boston, and dividing the tastings into two, two-hour tastings plus a ‘VIP’ tasting before the general admission. The also hosted a handful of seminars.

As I was happy to see the event return to Boston, I was also disappointed by the fact that the VIP portion of the tasting was held in the same room with the same vendors pouring the same wines as in the general admission session. Also, no hard copy tasting book.

Some of the wines I sampled:

2016 Cyrus Red Blend Alexander Valley

2018 BV Vineyards Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

2018 BV Vineyards Tapestry

2018 Forman Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

2018 Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

2018 Gilbert Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Horse Heaven Hills

2019 Louis M Martini Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

2019 Rutherford Hills Merlot Napa Valley

2021 Benton-Lane Pinot Noir Oregon

2021 Fess Parker Pinot Noir Sta Rita Hills

2021 Sojurn Cellars Pinot Noir Gap’s Crown Vineyard

2021 Sojurn Cellars Pinot Noir UV Lucky Wells Vineyard

2022 J Vineyards Pinot Noir Russian River Valley

2020 Penfolds Bin 389

2021 Berne Inspiration Rosé Cote de Provence