I was tagging along with my Bride as we were going to have dinner at Champs and we had both presumed that it was the chain sports bar with two “P” s.  We were pleasantly surprised to find that we were going to an independent establishment, a rotisserie style restaurant that also did seafood for decades.  We were meeting some of my Bride’s friends, some going back to Elementary School and their spouses.  As you may have noticed, my Bride is very sociable.  We ended up getting there ahead of the rest and they ended up seating us near the fireplace in the dining room, which was appreciated as there was still a nip in the air, it is Michigan after all.

Since we were there early, it gave us a chance to study the menu, which I should have done at home and then I would have realized that it wasn’t the restaurant that we thought of.  My Bride saw that they had Perch offered in three different preparations, so she immediately decided on a sauté version.  I checked with our waitress about the ribs, which is something we normally don’t do at home, and I had to make sure that the meat fell off of the bone.  The last thing that I want to do in public is gnaw on a bone.  It did, I was happy, she decided on a house salad and I went with Cole Slaw, which I think is mandatory with ribs.

Since, we still had time I also studied the wine list and my Bride said that she would have a red wine, because I was going to have the ribs, I mean isn’t that a great spouse.  The wines were all in the same price points, within a few dollars and I always am looking for a new wine to write about.  I mean I would get bored always writing about the same wines over and over again, especially since so many have become the mainstays of popular priced restaurants.  I thought that French Blue Bordeaux Rouge 2019 sounded intriguing.  The winery’s theme is “Kiss French, Be True, Drink Blue” as created by the winemaker Stephanie Rivin, who states that she wishes to create an “American Twist” on French wines.  The wine is estate grown in Perissac, Bordeaux on sixty hectares of limestone and clay soils.  The wine is a blend of eighty percent Merlot and twenty percent Cabernet Sauvignon with average aged vines of twenty-five years of age; aged for twelve months in fifty percent American Oak and fifty percent French Oak barrels.  A pretty deep ruby red in color offering notes of black fruit.  On the palate, black cherries and currants lead the way with a fruit-forward, but not jammy taste, just a touch of vanilla, nice tannins and a decent finish offering more fruit compared to terroir.  It was a very good basic Bordeaux wine that I especially reminded me of my youth and this wine I would say probably even has a potential for aging for five to eight years.