Hey Everyone,

Hello Vino has participated in a few expos, attended some conferences, and presented our work to industry folks interested in mobile. We met Brady Sadler and Justin Griffin of dishKarma at the 2010 Boston Wine Expo and chatted about food, wine, and business.

The dishKarma goal is to improve individual dining experiences by developing a unique recommendation engine that takes the guesswork out of not only where to eat, but more importantly what to order. You begin by creating your personal menu through the dishKarma site or mobile application. Add as many of your favorite dishes as you can remember, course by course, from restaurants around the world. Each time you experience a remarkable new dish, add it to your menu so you can share and compare it with others. Your menu will constantly evolve based on new discoveries and suggestions from the dishKarma community. Say you're wandering the streets and want a burger. You could stop someone on the street, search Google on your cell or tap into a restaurant review site...or...try dishKarma which will suggest the best place to find that burger based on the dishes you've enjoyed in the past, or offer recommendations from your friends and community members.

A cool little fact about this service: GiveBackAmerica.org will donate one meal to Feeding America for every five dishes, aka one meal, that you upload to dishKarma.

The dishKarma blog offers short videos of chefs, foodies, and personalities sharing their "Ultimate Meal." Past videos include Gary Vaynerchuk, KISS 108 radio personality and host of TV Diner, Billy Costa...and Hello Vino :)

My Ultimate Meal with Wine Pairings:

Bread, Cheese and olive oil – Countryside farmhouse, Florence, Italy
Wine Pairing: Chianti

Mushroom Risotto - Brookstone Grill, Derry, New Hampshire
Wine Paiting: Dry Merlot

Pad Tai and Sushi - Ruby Foo's Time Square, NYC
Wine Pairing: Semi-Dry Riesling

Porterhouse steak and creamed spinach – Gibbet Hill Grill, Groton, MA
Wine Pairing: Pinot Noir

Table-side s'mores - Unwine'd, Vancouver, BC
Wine Pairing: Cabernet Sauvignon

Cheers!
Jim from Hello Vino

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This post is our contribution to Wine Blogging Wednesday, where bloggers in the wine industry post about a single subject or theme.

On this Wine Blogging Wednesday #61, Lenn Thompson had a great idea:

Rather than walking into your local wine shop to pick up a wine for WBW, I want you to actually visit a winery and taste a wine there. Bonus points if you can taste it with the winemaker or the vineyard manager.

So on Wednesday, September 16, Hello Vino went for the bonus points and took to the road up to Lodi, California to taste a few wines with Dave Dart, owner and winemaker at d'Art Winery.  I tweeted a couple videos while I was at the tasting room, but here's a video of Dave introducing the three wines we tasted:

The Wine Tasting

2007 d'Art Tempranillo

A very approachable red wine with touches of spice, nice fruit with a full mouthfeel, and a lingering finish that is quite enjoyable. Also food-friendly, this Tempranillo would pair well with sharp cheddar, roasted chicken with pepper & herbs, and spicy sausage.

More on dArtWines.com »

2006 d'Art Estate Cabernet Sauvignon

The "King of the Reds" - the grapes for the d'Art Cab are grown on the estate. Fittingly, the label on the bottle is a graphically-enhanced photo of the entry gate (in fact, all the wine labels are photographed and designed by Dave Dart). This is a big wine (15.5% ABV), with the distinct d'Art style of bold fruit and flavor, with softer tannins than other California Cabs. For a food pairing, you could pair this Cabernet Sauvignon with a roasted rack of lamb for dinner, then some dark, bittersweet chocolate for dessert.

More on dArtWines.com »

d'Art Lodi Port

This "California style" Port is a tasty dessert wine with big fruit and nice oak, with subtle caramel and vanilla flavors. Made up of 50% Tempranillo, 35% Petite Sirah, and 15% Cab, this Port would pair well with blue cheese, chocolate with almonds or hazelnuts, and even a nice cigar.

More on dArtWines.com »

The Winery

If you find yourself in the central valley of California, I highly recommend stopping into the d'Art Winery tasting room. Open Thursday through Sunday, 12-5pm, you'll most likely be greeted by owners Dave and Helen Dart.  In addition to the tasty reds and inviting atmosphere, you can take in the creative aspects of the winery with poster art of the wine labels designed by Dave, and even a drum made from a wine barrel and deer hide. If you're lucky, you may even find yourself tasting wines from inside the barrel room!

Cheers!
Rick from Hello Vino

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