As the days pass quicker, at least once a year, I know that I can celebrate my day and have a bit of selfish-indulgence.  Well actually, I think that I may be stretching the day longer and longer each year.  We were going to celebrate our Brother-in-Law’s birthday, and his birthday is at the end of August, it is lumped together with all of the September birthday honorees, see how I am stretching the celebration.  I know I have no shame, but it is a race against the Grim Reaper and I am not Dorian Gray.

The actual birthday honoree and his wife, one of my Bride’s sisters and us went into the town of New Baltimore.  The community was founded in 1796 by French explorers, which make sense, as Detroit was founded by the French as well, and had a strong French community for years.  It has a quaint old-fashioned downtown on the water front, with a beach and I guess it was good that we got there on the day that we did, because they were getting ready for an art fair on the beach and I am sure that the next day, parking would have been impossible. We were wandering around the downtown visiting different store fronts and we went in for a tasting at the Washington Street Wine House “A Petit Winery.”  The winery offers wine, gift baskets and accessories and they were celebrating eleven years in business.  Their wines are international in scope, as they buy wine concentrates and finish the wines in house.  There were no vintage dates, no AVA concerns and at the moment were offering thirty-eight different wines.  They allowed a few complimentary tastings and when I went to take a photo of the wine and the glass, the wine bottle was quickly removed and I was told that that I was doing something not allowed.  I was so put off by their behavior that I rather lost interest, though my Bride tried her full allotment of tastings, though I did wish to try their Amarone, as I had just bought some for the house, that I haven’t even got around to writing about.  The Amarone tasting like raisin wine to me, so I guess they achieved their goal.  My Bride found a bottle that she wanted to buy, their Washington Street Wine House “Cheap Date” Riesling-Gewurztraminer NV, so that I had a bottle to photograph.  This was a pleasant and easy drinking wine with some floral notes and taste offering some citrous and honey. 

We then walked across the street to On The Bay, a boutique nautical fashion and home décor shop near the shore of Anchor Bay.  The shop had the feeling of a “Jimmy Buffet” album, with a full bar, beer and wine with offerings for Brunch, Lunch, Dinner or Dessert while having a day of shopping in New Baltimore.  We placed an order for their Lobster Roll, which we understand is the favorite of the locals.  It was Lobster meat served hot with drawn butter and their seasonings on “Hawaiian” rolls with a side of Pineapple Coleslaw; and we sat out on the patio behind the store, and outside of being a haven for bees that day, it was a fine appetizer for our dinner later on that evening.  We also had a bottle of Vino del Sol Gen5 Chardonnay Lodi 2018.  Vino del Sol was founded in 2004 and they refer to themselves as “The Argentine Wine Specialist” and offer wines from Argentina, California, Chile, Japan and New Zealand.  All of the wines that they represent are estate-grown, sustainably-farmed and family-owned.  For five generations the Lange family has lived and worked their land in Lodi, California and they are certified green by Lodi Rules Sustainable Wine-growing.  The wine is ninety-five percent Chardonnay, two and a half percent Viognier, two percent Sauvignon Blanc and a half-percent other.  The average age of the vines are fifteen years, they harvest at night, with gentle pressing, yeast inoculated, with two days of settling, fermented Sur-Lie for twenty days, and then aged an additional twelve months Sur-Lie, with twenty-five percent of the juice aged for six months in new French and American Oak barrels.  It was a nice Chardonnay with a good nose and some buttery-oakiness to the palate with a short to medium finish with a tinge of mineral terroir.   For a very reasonable price, this was a nice wine in the afternoon for us to share.