Most people think of Detroit as a dingy rust-bucket town of automobile manufacturing and a murder rate that rivals Chicago.  There is a lot more, but if you only pay attention to the headlines and media, you may miss out.  There is a lot of culture, way beyond even my beloved Motown, that I grew up with.  One of the premier museums in the United States of America is The Henry Ford, and the two main parts are The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village.  There was a group of us going and it was quite a hot day, so we went to the Museum to especially see the special exhibit on the puppet artistry of Jim Henson.

I thought that I had appreciated Jim Henson from the time my children were watching Sesame Street and then the Muppets in their various television shows and movies.  I discovered that I had actually started appreciating his magic in my youth going back to 1963 on the Jimmie Dean Show and his Rawlf/Rowlf the dog and later on The Hollywood Palace.  So, I predated Kermit the Frog and most of his other creations.  It was a beautiful exhibit featuring films, drawings and of course the puppets.  I also got very nostalgic as there was a huge continuous montage of perhaps a hundred different episodes going on at the same time, so that you could not concentrate on all the actors and actresses that appeared on The Muppet Show, and of course each clip had to end with Statler and Hilton.  As I looked around, I think that I realized that the parents were having more fun compared to their children that they had in tow. 

We stopped for a quick snack at a new eatery in the Museum, the last time I was there, they were still working on it.  The restaurant is run by Plum Market, a specialty grocer in the Detroit area, and they were offering pre-made salads, snacks, sandwiches as well as hot dishes like braised rib tacos.  Plum Market also employs Madeline Triffon who was the first female Master Sommelier in America, as their In-house Sommelier.  On a hot day, the perfect wine that they were offering was Kris “Artist Cuvee” Pinot Grigio delle Venezie IGT 2019 from the Winebow Group.  The label is the work of Riccardo Schweizer, a friend of the winery owner, a native of Northern Italy and a student of Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro.  Delle Venezie is one of the best-known designations of Italy, because of all the Pinot Grigio wine.  In 2017 the name was transferred to a new DOC and the IGT changed its name to Trevenezie, but if the winery doesn’t adhere to the rules of the DOC, it can still use the IGT designation.  There were no production notes on this wine, but I think it is safe to say that the wine was made in Stainless Steel to keep the fruit and the acidity as fresh as possible.  The nose was very light and so was the wine, it was what we call a quaffable wine and perfect for a hot day.