While we were still celebrating my birthday, and yes, I do like to prolong the celebration, we had some time between Vicente’s for lunch and Immersive Klimt.  We wandered around Downtown Detroit and there was a wine bar, that was not open, the last time we were in the area.  The establishment is the House of Pure Vin, and you know that I have to stop and be nosy, all for the sake of my blog, as I wouldn’t want to miss something. 

It was quite sterile in appearance, cold and rather aloof in feeling, which perhaps, is the goal to attract the hipsters that I do not claim to be part of, nor that group that calls themselves “influencers.”   It is both a wine shop and they have a tasting bar and they have a back room with a large tasting table adjacent to a large wall with a series of bottles connected to something similar to a “Coravin System,” but monitored by a credit card that you had to purchase ahead of time if you want to drink any wines. We were told that you could only buy in increments of twenty-five dollars, so we bought credit for the four of us. The shop and the wines are curated by a Master Sommelier, but we were left to fend for ourselves, as I guess they are not partial to people walking in off the street.  They explained how the gadget works, gave us each a glass and left us to our own devices.  My Bride discovered that two of the smallest pours gave more volume compared to the second size pour, and that it was more economical in cost to the second pour as well.  The group tried a Gewurztraminer, a Rosé, a Gavi di Gavi, a Pineau d’Exception, a Sardon de Duero, and a blend of Gros Manseng and Sauvignon Blanc.  There were plenty of different wines to choose from, starting with Bubbles, Reds and Whites. While we were there, two people came in to the back room, tried a glass under the supervision of the help and then they left.  

Of the different wines that we tried the Clarendelle Rosé Bordeaux 2021 was the most interesting and flavorful.  Clarendelle is part of the Clarence Dillon Wine Group, which was established in 2005 and they offer four wines; a red, white, rosé and a dessert wine with the fruits coming from Dillon estates across Bordeaux.  The selling point of this wine is that the Dillon family in 1935 bought Chateau Haute-Brion.  The wine is a blend of sixty-five percent Merlot, thirty-two percent Cabernet Sauvignon and three percent Cabernet Franc.  The fruit was harvest in the last two weeks of September and had direct pressing, and a short maceration and fermentation period, presumably in Stainless Steel, to maintain the crisp, fruit flavors.  The pale pink-salmon colored wine offered notes of tropical fruits like Pomegranates and Lychee.  On the palate, tones of fruit, a touch of menthol, pepper with very soft tannins, fresh with a medium finish of fruit.