Wining Down at Club 50 at the Viceroy Hotel

Paula Niño

​Last night, Short Order attended the Miami debut of Wine Down, an event founded in New York by Andrew Levine and former Gourmet wine and spirits consultant, Michael Green.

Greek was the theme of the night that welcomed about 200 people to Club 50 at the Viceroy to taste pours from Boutari wines and small bites from Eos. Small bites that, as is common in events like this in Miami, barely made it out of the kitchen before people attacked them like hungry piranhas.

There was plenty to go around, however, and we managed to taste mostly everything. We loved the juicy, cooked-to-perfection lamb slider that was making its way around the room. Other bites included grilled chorizo with compressed watermelon, peppermint and feta, tuna tartare, shaved pork belly gyros (missed those) and roasted prawns with grapefruit and a rose water glaze.

Paula Niño

​Most of the eight Greek wines featured didn't really excite our palates, but there were a couple that we liked. While this event is billed as a wine tasting, it's really more a social event where different wines are served. Many people didn't pay any attention to their tasting sheets and the servers pouring the wines knew little about them. But from the looks of it this didn't spoil the fun for anyone.

Levine, who was at the event with Green, told Short Order he plans to continue the Wine Down events in Miami and expects to raise attendance to 500. Now that we know it's more party than tasting, the number doesn't sound so alarming.

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