My Bride and I took a quick getaway to Holland, Michigan.  She wanted to see a couple of her cousins that could not attend the cousin’s reunion that she had taken upon herself to coordinate, and since she is married to a curmudgeon, she figured that where we were going to end up meeting was not far from Holland, so off we went.  We had a little traveling music, and we actually travelled light; which was a good thing as where we stayed the night had no elevator, and we were on the second floor, and we both only required one trip up and down the stairs.  We walked the ten or so blocks of the downtown, as she has already begun her Christmas shopping, and as for me, I just need to lose some weight, and walking is good; ask my Bride, as she is already on her second “fit-bit” watch, but now this one is attached to her iPhone and she thinks that she is so cool, doing a Dick Tracy impersonation.

She was looking forward to having a light snack and some wines at the Waverly Stone Gastropub, as we enjoyed it the last time we were there.  A father and son restaurant with training at the Culinary Institute of America in New York.  They began in a small way in 2014 when they created Macatawa Ale Company, and in 2018 they opened the Waverly Stone.  We had a great table at window side to watch the foot-traffic in town.  I was disappointed that the staff inside was too busy discussing the thermostat settings at their apartments; while one waitress was running around covering all the outside tables for dining and drinking.  We had developed a thirst, but I had to get up and ask, if we had to service our own table, or did the poor young lady working outside, was also working inside.  A “manager” sent me back to the table and took our requests, along with my little peccadillo about having a bottle of wine to be placed adjacent to the glass of wine for my limited photography skills.

My Bride wanted a glass of something sparkling and saw a wine on the carte that sounded like a Cremant de Bordeaux, as it was listed as Maison Idiart Lightly Sparkling Brut NV Bordeaux, France.  Her glass of wine came out with no bottle, I was informed that it was poured from a keg and they suggested that I get my visual art from their website.  Nicolas Idiart started his career in wine age the age of 19, after graduating from Blanquefort, and began his resume in the Loire Valley, then New Zealand and then Australia.  Then went into wine sales in Canada, back to France, and then global wine sales for the North American market.  He founded Maison Idiart in 2014.  He offers nineteen wines in bottles, two different wines in cans, six still wines and two sparkling wines in a Key Keg system.  The Key Keg system is a “bag-in-ball principle” and double-wall technology to keep wine and can keep a wine fresh and consistent for up to three months.  I could find no wine offered that fit the description from the wine carte that comes close to what was being offered. Suffice it to say that it was a pretty golden colored wine with a small steady stream of bubbles.  Coming in from a hot humid day, the wine worked.

I had a glass of Mary Taylor Wine Cotes de Gascogne Blanc IGP 2023 and I have a fondness, nay a desire to have an affinity for the most famed Gascon D’Artagnan as I am an old romantic.  Mary Taylor Wine was created over two decades of work creating a fun system or approach to wines from Franc, Italy, Portugal, and Spain representing the place name or appellation of the wine.  Gascony has had a colorful history in France going back to the Roman era.  The region is nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees, and gets both Oceanic winds and Saharan Desert winds. There are three sub-zones of Cotes de Gascogne IGP and this wine is from the Bas-Armagnac region with soil of red clay and sand, and alluvial subsoil.  The wine comes from the Gessler family that began farming there in 1928 after moving from Switzerland and is now in the fourth generation.  The wine is a blend of fifty percent Colombard, twenty-five percent Gros Manseng, twenty percent Ugni Blanc and five percent Sauvignon; and the vines are about twenty-five years of age.  The family practices sustainable farming and are in the process of converting to certified organic agriculture.  The wine is fermented and aged in Stainless Steel tanks to preserve the freshness of the grapes.  This pale-yellow wine offers notes of citrus fruits, white fruits, tropical florals, and lemon tarts.  On the palate there were tones of grapefruit, lemons, some good acidity and ending with a nice finish of green apples, peaches, and pears.