During the Memorial Day weekend, some of the Louisville clan came up, for an intensive visit.  On the books a Detroit Tigers Baseball game was planned, an evening of Drones, think of fireworks without the pyrotechnics and noise, a Memorial Day Parade and whatever could be crammed into the schedule. My Bride was going to be in charge of securing a restaurant during a holiday weekend.  All eyes were kind of focused on Saint Clair Shores, Michigan.  A restaurant that was near where the Drone Show would be, was chosen, the Shores Inn; the owner told my Bride that they would not take reservations, but if she got there, about an hour early, they would (wink, wink) create an area for the crowd.  Well, originally there was going to be eleven, maybe two hours before when we were all getting together that number had swollen to twenty-two.  We got there an hour early, the manager said that he would make it happen, so my Bride decided that she wanted to take me to Cache Cocktail & Wine Bar, which was one block away and it would be a better place to drink some wine. 

We walked into Cache Cocktail & Wine Bar and I was all set to have a nice glass or two of wine, before the craziness of the evening was going to unfold.  It turns out that the Memorial Day weekend also coincided with the Downtown Social District weekend, so the wine bar was anticipating hordes of partyers and not hordes of wine tasters.  So, they had more help and less options; as the merry-makers could take their purchased drinks outside where the street area was blocked off and plastic was the only glass being offered.  There were no food options and only their own branded wines were being poured.  I was not a happy camper, but they tried to appease me, and let me look at the wine carte; I would have been a happy camper.  Some of the wines that they stocked, could also be found in my cellar, so that did impress me, but I couldn’t buy a bottle of anything, but what they were geared for.  I volunteered for the good of my blog to try two of the house wines.  There was a Cache Pinot Grigio California NV, Cache Chardonnay California NV, Cache Cabernet Sauvignon California NV and a Cache Merlot California NV.  The wines were “cellared and bottled” by Free Run Wine Company of St. Helena, California. I could not find anything about this company, but I can make kind of an educated guess that they are a custom-crusher and warehouse for independent winemakers that cater to both individual wineries that can’t afford their own equipment yet, and for jobbers that will affix “house labels” for restaurants and caterers.  I did feel better as I recognized Free Run Wine Company as the supplier of the house wines at The Butter Run Saloon that I have wrote about a couple of times.  So, I was sorry that I couldn’t have noshed on any of their food offerings, as the bar went up several notches for me.

We got to the Shores Inn at the appointed time, and they had cleared one table, which was enough when we got there, and as the rest of the twenty-two staggered in, the restaurant had cleared two other tables and we were all able to sit down and eat.  I didn’t know what to expect, though a couple of people did tell us the food was good.  I really was pleased that they could squeeze us in, especially with the craziness of the weekend holiday and being a Social District weekend as well, and the food was good, and I would go back.  My Bride and I shared an order of Southwest Egg Rolls which was chicken mixed with jalapenos, chilies, red peppers, and black beans wrapped in a flaky tortilla, a small Antipasto Salad of lettuce, salami, ham, mozzarella cheese, black olives, tomatoes and pepper rings tossed with Italian dressing, and a Shores Supreme Pizza with Pepperoni, Italian sausage, mushrooms, onions, green peppers, and mozzarella cheese.  Most of the wines were what I would call catering company wines that were offered by the glass, because the wines came in magnum bottles.  I saw a wine that I knew came in a regular size bottle, and when I asked what the wine sold for by the bottle, our waitress had to go ask, because she had never sold it that way.  We had a bottle of William Hill Estate Winery Chardonnay North Coast 2022.  William Hill Estate Winery was founded in 1978 by William Hill and he made his first wine in 1976.  The winery is just off the Silverado Trail on the hills of the Silverado Bench and encompasses two-hundred acres at the foot of Atlas Peak.  The winery just recently made a business decision to close their wine club and their tasting room at the end of June 2024.  This particular wine is not from the estate, but is made from the North Coast AVA, which cover more than three-million acres of land north of San Francisco including: Napa Valley, Sonoma Valley, and Carneros.  The wine is a pretty golden color and offered notes of white and yellow fruits, white florals, and mown grass.  On the palate a glycerol-texture offering tones apples, peaches, and beeswax with a short finish.  After dinner, my Bride was tired and we went home and some of the others stayed to watch the Drone show.