Welcome to Season Three of The Local Show. This week, the arts are where we turn our attention, in part because tomorrow night we get the rare chance to share Kansas City with the entire country on the PBS Arts Summer Festival. The program is called Homecoming: The Kansas City Symphony presents Joyce DiDonato.
DiDonato is an amazing singer who still makes her home in Kansas City, even though she’s a star on stages around the world. In fact, she won the Grammy for Best Opera performance last year. As you’ll see, she’s a big fan of her hometown and of the symphony as it has developed under the guidance of music director Michael Stern. Homecoming: The Kansas City Symphony presents Joyce DiDonato will air on Friday, July 20 at 9 p.m. on KCPT.
Randy Mason talks with both of them about the TV special and more, as well as with Paula Kerger, the president of PBS. But first, we want to share a behind-the-scenes peek at the Kauffman Center festivities in a piece we call Homecoming 101.
The Local Show goes from the world of opera and the symphony to the fringes of the art scene in Kansas City. Yes, it’s that time again for the Fringe Festival. Now in its eighth year, the 11-day festival is jam packed with live theater, dance, performance and visual art, puppetry and storytelling, bellydancing, plays, film and fashion.
Twenty venues stretching from the Crossroads into Midtown are slated to host more than 400 performances . Nick Haines gets a preview from Fringe Festival executive director Cheryl Kimmi.
A Baron Philippe de Rothschild, Bordeaux, France
THE WINE: Mouton Cadet Blanc, 2007 – $12.99 retail
From one of France’s legendary and most well known winemakers, a white blend of Sauvignon Blanc (40%), Semillon (50%) and Muscadelle (10%)
Total Score: 10
B Belvoir Winery, Liberty, Missouri
THE WINE: Plumeria – a blend of Traminette, Vignoles and Seyval – $18 at the winery
The wine is named after the owner, Dr John Bean’s, late wife’s favorite flower. The winery is located in an impressive Jacobethan Revival style building that was a former orphanage for the International Order of Odd Fellows.
Total Score: 21
C Holy-Field Vineyard & Winery, Basehor, Kansas
THE WINE: Seyval, Kansas Table Wine – $12.95 at winery and retail (only available in Kansas)
Holy-Field is a father and daughter team – Les and Michelle Meyer – who pride themselves on their canine ambassadors who feature on some of the wine labels. The dogs are: Vinnie, Bacchus, Corkie and Sinbad
Total Score: 17
D Charles Shaw Winery, Napa and Sonoma, California
THE WINE: Chardonnay, 2010 – $2.99 at Trader Joe’s grocery store
The wine is affectionately known as ‘two buck chuck’
Total Score: 11
E Chateau Ste Michelle, Washington State
THE WINE: Chardonnay, 2010, – $12.99 retail
A respected wine making region of the US. This winemaker is often in grocery stores and on restaurant wine lists in Kansas City.
Total Score: 18
THE REDS
A Rodney Strong Vineyards, Sonoma County
THE WINE: Cabernet Sauvignon, 2006 – $17.99 retail
A California Sonoma red that is often seen in Kansas City grocery stores, liquor stores on on restaurant wine lists.
Total Score: 11
B Jowler Creek, Platte County, Missouri
THE WINE: Chambourcin, 2010 – $19 at the winery and retail
Jowler Creek emphasize their sustainable vineyard practices. They use Olde English Babydoll sheep to control grass and weed growth.
Total Score: 4
C Stone Hill Winery, Hermann, Missouri
THE WINE: Norton, 2008 – $18.99 at the winery and retail
Stone Hill is Missouri’s second biggest winemaker producing 260,000 gallons of wine in 2011. They’ve been making Norton for decades. A Stone Hill Norton is thought to have won the prestigious award for best red wine “of all nations” at an international competition in Vienna in 1873.
Total Score: 21.5
D Gerard Bertrand, Languedoc Pic Saint Loup, Narbonne (Languedoc-Roussillon region, on the coast, south of Marseille) France
THE WINE: Grand Terroir, 2005 – $16.99
European Winery of the Year for 2012 in Wine Enthusiast Magazine’s annual Wine Star Awards. Wine Spectator magazine’s ‘Best Value Winery From France’ in 2008.
Total Score: 14
E Charles Shaw Winery, Napa and Sonoma, California
THE WINE: Cabernet Sauvignon, 2011 – $2.99 at Trader Joe’s grocery store
The wine is affectionately known as ‘two buck chuck’
Danny Wood, local wine enthusiast and author of the Regional Wine Taster blog, and Colleen Gerke, owner of Jowler Creek Vineyard and Winery, sit down with Nick Haines to discuss the stigma of locally produced wines and the challenges of changing people’s perceptions. We will share video pieces about Holy Field Vineyard Winery and Amigoni Urban Winery and we will conduct our very own blind taste test. Wine expert Doug Frost and Randy Mason host the tasting which features Eddie Kennison, Stretch, Stephen Molloy, Katie Van Luchene and Lucinda Kreifel.
Who will reign supreme in the battle of the grape?
