Greece and Oregon

Posted on September 27, 2019 by thewineraconteur

There we were sitting at the bar at Wines on Main in Chelsea, Michigan and you have to realize that is such a strange setting for this raconteur.  I was really excited about being here and to have another reason to come here, beyond the Common Grill, which is a wonderful restaurant specializing in seafood and fish.  There is also a very famous resident in Chelsea that I have never seen when I have been in the city, but the actor of stage and film Jeff Daniels has shunned both coasts to raise his family in his home of Chelsea and he has even created the Purple Rose Theatre for showcasing new plays and occasionally his own musical performances. 

Wines on Main was the perfect type of shop, especially for my Bride, because not only do they carry a nice assortment of wines that are not of the run of the mill grocery store/party store selection to keep me happy, but they carry all sorts of tchotchkes.  You don’t know tchotchke, that is understandable, it is a Yiddish word with Slavic roots for usually worthless trinkets.  Now the value of tchotchkes is predicated on if one is the owner of them or the one who bought them.  My Bride loves them and loves to give them as gifts to everyone and she would have bought some more items than she did, but by some odd quirk, our new stainless-steel refrigerator has doors that magnets do not stick to, otherwise we would have had new magnets when we left.  I mean you have to love the girl; she is always trying to be consistent.

The third wine that we tasted that afternoon was from Greece, and not a region that one usually encounters in a tasting, unless there is a theme or a meal involved.  We had the Semeli Winery Mountain Sun Agiorgitiko Dry Rosé Peloponnese PGIK 2018.  Semeli Winery was founded in 1979.   One of the principal cities in the Peloponnese peninsula is Nemea, and this grape Agiorgitiko is named after Agios Georgios (St. George) and from at least the mid Eighteenth Century has been one of the larger grape varietals grown in the region and is considered a local indigenous variety, possibly from the Fliasia grape.  Agiorgitiko produces a strong rich red wine, but it can produce a rosé style wine and it can also produce sweet wines as well. The same variety also sources high quality sweet wines from overripe grapes that have been partially sun dried.  This wine delivered strawberries and cherries to the nose, with a finish of red cherries with some nice acidity, though it may be my imagination, but I detected some olive oil that made me immediately think of Greek dishes and I wish this wine was available in Greektown when I was young and haunted that block or two, before it became touristy.  From the sun-bleached region of Greece our next wine was from the Willamette Valley of Oregon.  The Browne Family Vineyards Heritage Pinot Noir 2016 was a good red wine to follow a rosé and from a winery that maintains two distinct tasting rooms, one in Walla Walla and one in Seattle.  This wine is pure Pinot Noir and was aged for seven and a half months in ninety-five percent French Oak of which twenty percent was new.  The wine was a softer Pinot Noir and gave me red fruits both for the nose and in the finish.  With a softer finish, I think that this wine could pair very easily with most red meats and with meatier fish as well.  We were both getting into the afternoon’s tastings. 

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Wines on Main

Posted on September 25, 2019 by thewineraconteur

Wines on Main is a wine shop and wine bar out in Chelsea, Michigan that I have heard about.  The day finally came, my birthday that is, and my Bride asked me what I would like to do.  I gave her a couple of options and you know they were all wine focused, but I know that she enjoys it as well.  Since she is what one would call a “road warrior” she opted for the choice that involved the least amount of driving and since she knows the area much better than I do, she did the driving, because she really knew her way around.  I mean before we even met, she was going to Chelsea because she had a customer that was originally Chelsea Roller Mill and then became Chelsea Milling Company, but I think all of America knows then as the originator of the first prepared baking mix in the blue box called Jiffy Mix.  So, I guess my original memories of Chelsea, Michigan is Jiffy Mix.

We went into downtown Chelsea and eventually found a parking spot, as a retired merchant, I truly enjoy visiting a community that is lively and has a mix of businesses, so I won’t grumble about a couple of extra minutes searching for a parking spot.  It also gives me more time to admire the architecture of the community.  Even if the numbering system for the addresses, of odd and even numbers change when one goes from South Main Street to North Main Street, we found our way to Wines on Main.  I never asked the proprietor and I should have, maybe the next time, but the shop reminded me of the old apothecary shops in my neighborhood, you know the drug stores, before they became grocery/department stores.  In the back half of the shop was an old-fashioned soda (?) fountain set-up and that is where the wine tastings occur.  For this old raconteur, it was a perfect setting for me and you know that I am such a wall flower, no one realized that I was even in the shop, let alone attempting to do some wine tasting. 

I actually learned of Wines on Main from the resident sommelier that I met at another wine bar that is now gone, and the great thing is, this sommelier is actually a retired pharmacist.  Alas, he only works a couple of days a week and the weekends were not on his schedule.  He does aid in the buying and the write-ups of the wines that are featured each week for the tastings.  We ended up doing seven tastings that afternoon and I will discuss the first two wines that we had.  The first wine that we tried was Reserve de Castelnau Entre-deux-Mers 2017 from Chateau de Castelnau.  Entre-deux-Mers translates to “between the two seas,” but here the two water ways are the Garonne and Dordogne Rivers of the Bordeaux region, and the area is one of the hardest to keep track of, because is has several small appellations, and the region grows red and wine, dry and sweet, and then some of the wines go under the generic listing of either Bordeaux or Bordeaux Superiore.  The appellation for Entre-deux-Mers is actually for white wines made from Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Muscadelle and Ugni Blanc.  This particular wine was sixty percent Semillon, thirty percent Sauvignon Blanc and ten percent Muscadelle.  It was delicious and I could already see the wheels spinning in my Bride’s mind as to how many bottles did, she want to get.  The second wine that we tasted was a more familiar one to us; Gary Farrell Russian River Selection Chardonnay 2016.  Gary Farrell was one of the original winemakers of the Russian River Valley, way before there was an appellation and he is striving to produce Grand Cru quality Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines for over three decades. The Russian River Selection is a blending of different vineyards and blocks of land that are combined to just give a great balanced wine with enough buttery finish and acidity to be totally enjoyable.  I was already happy with the first two wines.

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Brunch in a Bank

Posted on September 23, 2019 by thewineraconteur

Most of the time when I am in my bank, I get a cookie or two, but it was my birthday weekend or maybe birthday month and we ate at The Fed.  We were going to meet our son and his family for brunch, it was also his wife’s birthday celebration as well.  My Bride suggested one place and I suggested a new location, one that is a further drive for us, but very convenient for them.  I had read about The Fed in Clarkston, Michigan and how a couple had bought an old bank and gutted basically the entire interior save the vault and created a restaurant.  Years ago, when I was in the midst of seeing the best job I ever had disappear, because of spineless, feckless politicians and a corrupt style of eminent domain, I remember taking one of the principals to look at a potential location for a store that had a great location and was a former bank.  The concept did not work especially twenty years ago, but I always thought the idea had merit; I guess being a child of parents that survived the Great Depression, the thought of reusing something was handed down to me.  The Jossman State Bank building was erected around the turn of the last century and to be truthful, after we parked the car, I was looking for a building of grandeur and my image of old bank buildings growing up in the city of Detroit.  The building was different than what my mind’s eye had imagined and since there was no signage, I asked some people that were dining outside if I was at the right location and then at the same time I saw the front door was opened and hence I could not see the name etched on the glass. 

We went inside and got a table, because they would not take a reservation for less than a party of eight and we only had six.  My Bride and I got there before the kids who live closer, so that was good, so we could make sure that we were guaranteed that the tab would come to us.  The interior was gutted right down to the bare brick walls, so one would never realize that it was a bank until one saw the vault with the big door swung open and two tables were inside of it, with a chandelier hanging overhead from the exposed ceiling.  The immediate appearance of the restaurant conveyed casualness as the chairs and tables did not match and neither did any of the utensils, in fact it caused a bit of consternation for our one grandson, as he did not want to use a salad fork to eat his meal, so his one sister changed forks with him, so that she ended up with the largest butter knife and the smallest fork at the table.  The brunch menu was small, but well thought out and reminded my Bride and I of our favorite place for brunch in Las Vegas.  My Bride saw that they had Lemon Souffle Pancakes with Ricotta cheese, berries and raspberry syrup and she also ordered one poached egg ala carte and that is the dish she invariably orders when we have brunch in Vegas.  I ordered the classic version of Eggs Benedict with the peameal bacon, poached eggs, English Muffins, Hollandaise Sauce and breakfast potatoes and I also ordered a side of sausage patty, but I ended up with sausage links as I was told that was all they carried anymore. The rest of the crowd ordered their dishes and I had to watch my grandson eat his order of the Eggs Benedict by making the two halves combined and devoured as a sandwich and it worked for him.

We decided to have Mimosas and we had a choice of one Mimosa or bottomless Mimosas and the price differential rather precluded one Mimosa.  The glasses were brought to the table with the bubbly, but no juice.  We were informed that they have a Mimosa station with assorted juices and assorted fruits and berries to make a frou-frou design of your own.  My Bride went and made a fancy one for herself and brought me a small glass of orange juice so that I could make a tincture of color with my drink.  The bubbly was Coastal Vines Cellars Brut Cuvee NV, a ¨California Sparkling Wine. ¨ Coastal Vines Cellars is part of the much larger Bronco Wine Company and this sparkling wine was done in the Charmat Methode, also known as the bulk method.  The wine is a blend of Chardonnay, French Colombard and Fructose/Glucose.   All in all, it was a delightful brunch and then all of us decided to check out the local art fair that was going on that weekend.

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Friends Remember Friends

Posted on September 21, 2019 by thewineraconteur

On our last night on Mackinac Island, we misjudged traveling time (walking) and got to the Island House Hotel early.   I guess it is better to be early than late.  The restaurant was still in the midst of final preparations, but the bar was open, so we decided to have a drink, you know those things happen.  As we were looking over the wine list, I get a text from Ms. Yoga wishing me a Happy Birthday, even though it was early and asking where we were on the island.  I texted her back and that got me remembering a business affair that the three of us attended maybe twenty years earlier at the Grand Traverse Resort and Spa in Acme (just think of Traverse City).  I was there as a spouse, imagine that, and I was issued a folder with my name on it, that included voucher tickets for the assorted meals that I would be attending, while all of the attendees received drink vouchers as well, spouses did not.  Well I was kind of brash that evening and I walked up to one of the main hosts and just mentioned that my folder did not have any drink vouchers, and lo and behold, he gave me a stream of drink tickets as if I had one a major award at Chuck E. Cheese.  I guess there were a lot of unallocated tickets and I became a lucky recipient.  As we were wandering around there was a station that was only making Hummers.  Now, you may not know what a Hummer is, but it has been a mainstay, off and on, for almost fifty years, since it was created at the Bayview Yacht Club in the Detroit area.  The Hummer is made of Kahlua, Rum and Vanilla Ice Cream; an adult milk shake.  Tradition is that the first drinkers of this new cocktail ended up humming the rest of the night.  I had so many tickets that it felt like I was buying the house a round.  The drinks can be lethal, and it was for Ms. Yoga, but not for the reason that you think, it turns out that she had a reaction to the ice cream and has stayed away from dairy drinks, since that evening.  The things I remember. 

Well any ways, while I was texting a return message, my Bride jumped ahead of me at the bar and ordered a cocktail, a Negroni, she has been on a Negroni roll lately and she really feels chic about it.  Well I was in the midst of cooling down from our walk over from our hotel and I was a bit over heated as I had a sport coat on, I still like to dress as if we were back in the days of resort wear.  I remembered that on one of our walks in Carmel-by-the-Sea we had walked down from the city to see Clint Eastwood’s ranch on the ocean and by the time we had walked back, I was hot, over heated and thirsty and we stopped in a bistro bar once we got back to civilization and the bartender there suggested an Italian Moscato.  I looked at the wine carte and they had Voga Moscato NV by the glass.  Voga Moscato is from the Pavia region in Northern Italy and carries a Moscato IGP designation.  As typical of all Voga wines the bottle is more of a cylinder instead of the classic wine bottle shape and the wine was rather delicate and not super sweet and what the Italians call frizzante, slight effervescent.  My Bride looked at me, as if I had created a mortal sin, but I told her that I wanted to try the wine, in case we can find something nice for the family that wants a sweeter wine and I have no objections to this wine, as I found it to be rather refreshing. 

After our dinner, they brought over a platter showcasing the desserts of the evening and they told us that Ms. Yoga had paid for our desserts.  We tried to cancel that order, but it was too late.  We were rather full after the dinner, but we were staring dessert dead in the eye and then my eye had a little twinkle and we ordered a Hummer as a fitting tribute to the long friendship between my Bride and Ms. Yoga, and I kind of fit in somewhere in the middle.  “Here’s looking at you kid.”

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1852 Grill Room

Posted on September 19, 2019 by thewineraconteur

Our last night on Mackinac Island and we had dinner at the 1852 Grill Room at the Island House Hotel.  The Island House Hotel is one of those stately hotels that is located between the “downtown” section of the town and Mission Point where we stayed and it overlooks the marina and docks of the waterfront.  The Island House was established in 1852 and have not only created assorted businesses on the grounds of the hotel, but have branched into the main drag of the city with several restaurants on the main street,  Ryba’s Fudge Shops (one of the original fudge purveyors on the island) and they have recently opened up on the main street a business that to me, is a little out of character for the island, but probably a great investment, as they opened up a Starbucks Coffee House. 

We had a table at the front of the restaurant alongside the windows looking out at the marina that I had reserved, not the best and it worked, as they were a couple of other tables with stellar views, but it appeared that they were reserved for guests of the hotel and some long time customers, I was just glad that they had reserved us our table.  We started our dinner by sharing an order of the hotel’s 1852 Signature Crab Cakes of Jumbo Lump Crab Meat, Dijon, Cilantro with a Key Lime Vinaigrette.  My Bride had the Lake Superior Planked Whitefish (wild caught), oven roasted on a Maple plank, with Duchesse Potatoes and roasted vegetables.  I had the Pan Roasted Duck Confit with a savory Sweet Potato Mash, and a Michigan Cherry-Port Demi-Glace.  In hind sight, I probably should have ordered the Dover Sole a la Meuniere, as our family from Kentucky had dinner in this restaurant one night and highly touted this dish, well maybe the next time. 

We enjoyed a bottle of wine, but even though I had duck, we did not have a Pinot Noir, just to confuse you, who think that I am a creature of habit.  I found what I thought sounded very interesting and it was the Sans Liege Wines “The Offering” Santa Barbara County 2015.  The web site is very attractive, but is not big on a history of the winery, but they use fruit harvested from ten named vineyards in the area and they have two tasting rooms.  This particular wine is a blend of forty-eight percent Grenache, twenty-eight percent Syrah, twenty-three percent Mourvedre and one percent Viognier.   The wine is aged for seventeen months in a mix of new, second filled and neutral French Oak.  Sans Liege prides themselves on being free to make his own wines, though this wine was a New World “Rhone” wine and it was delightful with the touch of Viognier I thought just for the nose. The wine was rather big for my Bride’s Whitefish (but she doesn’t mind) and it was an interesting pairing with the Duck Confit.  

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Goodfellow’s Wine Cellar

Posted on September 17, 2019 by thewineraconteur

Now and then I like to have a glass of wine, you may or may not believe that.  Here I was on Mackinaw Island and we still found time to take a nice walk for a couple of miles, of course there are a lot of other people doing the same thing, especially when walking is the favored mode of transportation.  We tried to keep on the straight and narrow, but she shops and I just look around.  It would have been the perfect day for a cigar, but I gave them up, so now I am just another guy walking down the street.  Of course, we (she) had to stop and look at some of the stores, because she wanted to buy gifts or perchance something looked so cute, she had to give it more study.  Me, like I said, a cigar would have been good, but I have been good and I seldom even think about them anymore.   We ended up at a wine bar, of course we have been there before.

Goodfellow’s Wine Cellar is a third of a complex that is in the lower front of the historic Lake View Hotel, of course just about every hotel on the island is historic and if you kind of step back and look beyond the storefronts, you really are amazed at the size of the buildings on the island.  There are three Goodfellow entrances on the main drag.  There is “Wings and Things,” the “Italian Chop House” and “The Wine Cellar.”  I probably go to more Italian restaurants than any other style, or at least it seems that way, but we have never eaten there.  We usually stop at The Wine Cellar have a nosh and a couple of glasses of wine and then walk back to the hotel.  The nosh my Bride had her heart set on, was some Baked Brie and it was out of stock that day, so we had to rough it and just have some wine, I mean it is not like we were starving since we had gotten on the island and breakfast was wonderful, but no Mimosas, so no discussion about that meal.  With all of the cases of wine, I knew that we could find a couple of glasses of wine to rejuvenate us for the long trek back. 

I am forever trying to get my Bride to try something new, and most of the time it works, there have been a couple of times that she wasn’t thrilled with a wine, I guess it just meant more for me.  She had a glass of Vignobles Domaine Laffourcade Savenieres 2016.  Savenieres is a parish amidst the Anjou region of the Loire Valley and they are known for having rather strict yield restrictions for the vineyards and the grape for the region is Chenin Blanc.  In the old days the region was known mostly for a sweeter wine, but now they produce from sweet to dry.  This was a very good example of a Chenin Blanc, a bit chewy, more steely or minerally with a finish of chamomile.  I wanted to try something different, because I had been drinking Cabernet Sauvignon and I had a glass of Laurent Dufouleur Bourgogne Pinot Noir “Le Minee” 2017.  I could find almost nothing about Laurent Dufouleur, so I shall presume that they are a negocient and the grapes are from the Cote de Beaune.  The wine had good color and nose for a Pinot Noir from Burgundy, but it was very young, so it didn’t have the nuances that I would look for, but it was also affordable to be served by the class.  Just a nice way to spend a couple of hours and trying some new wines. 

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Dinner at Mission Point

Posted on September 15, 2019 by thewineraconteur

It was a rare event that we were traveling to a resort for a business meeting and we didn’t make any side business trips.  My Bride had a meeting to attend a meeting at two in the afternoon, so we left pretty early in the morning, because it is almost a five hour drive from our house to Mackinaw City and hope that we catch a ferry across the Straits before they start running every hour, instead of every half hour.  One of the wisest things was when they raised the speed limit of the interstate to 75mph when you are away from metropolitan areas.   It also helped that we took a secondary route for part of the trip to avoid seeing the official state flower of Michigan in full bloom, the orange pylons that indicate road construction, as it was, we still were able to enjoy an eight mile stretch of them.  When we arrived at the ferry service, we split into two teams, one to unload the luggage and get it tagged for the right hotel, because who wants to schlep luggage for about a mile?  The other went to get the passage tickets and the parking on the enclosed lot for the weekend right outside of the luggage pavilions for the return trip.  We made it with time to spare, and ran into some others on the same boat trip, and the water was looking rather choppy, so we ended up on the lower level of the hovercraft in the glass enclosed section of the boat, the brave ones up above enjoyed the bracing temperatures of the Straits. 

Arriving in the downtown of Mackinac City is always a unique event, as everywhere you look there are people walking about, as well as watching your step to avoid the deposits left by all of the horses that handle the delivery trucks and taxi services on the island.  There are also plenty of places to rent bicycles if one wants, and I have never been on a hovercraft where there haven’t been personal bicycles being transported along with the luggage.  The hardest part was keeping my Bride on the straight and narrow to get to the resort, as she had to pass by many boutiques and fudge shops, as we knew that there would be plenty of time for her to shop.  The best news was that when we got to the hotel, they had a room ready for us, there was no luggage yet, as we made better travel time than the horse drawn wagons, but I could work on my computer, while she attended the meeting.  Our laptops were the only item that we carried with us from the boat.  This was the first time I got to really see how big the main structure was and it seemed like the corridors went on for miles, afterwards we discovered a short cut, back to the main entrance. 

That evening there was a wonderful dinner event waiting for us, in a part of the resort that we had never been to before, overlooking the water.   There was a private bar, very well stocked and a big appetizer table set up for noshing with an assortment of finger foods to get the taste buds rolling.  The dinner started off with a nice salad, but I was able to request early enough a salad without cheese and some Italian dressing, and the Italian dressing may have been the most used dressing on our table.  We had a choice of an entrée from whitefish, airline chicken or a small filet, and all the dishes were plated with the same potatoes and vegetables, I guess for ease in the kitchen.  My Bride of course had the whitefish, and it was such a large piece that so did I, and I had the filet, and I shared it with her, so we had our own version of “surf and turf” and both dishes were cooked perfectly, which is quite an accomplishment considering the size of the room;  I might also add that the people that had the chicken were raving about how well it was cooked as well.  For dessert there was cherry pie and chocolate cake, set up as help yourself, so most took a little bit of both.  While the majority of the imbibers were enjoying cocktails, there were some beer drinkers and yes, there were some wine drinkers as well.  Several people had asked me, if I was going to take photos of the wines, and I told them that I did it early when we first got there, so as not to impede the flow of traffic at the bar.  The choice of three wines for the evening were all “house wines” as they carried the Mission Point label.  The Mission Point Mackinac Island Cabernet Sauvignon and the Mission Point Mackinac Island Chardonnay, both carried a California AVA.  They both said on the back “Cellared and bottled by Free Run Wine Company, St. Helena, California” I could find no information about this winery, other than a web page, and I sent a letter requesting some information, but I never heard back from them.  I could presume that perhaps they do a bulk wine and then do limited private labels for different restaurants and hotels.  I will say that the two wines were very drinkable, we started off with the Chardonnay and finished with the Cabernet Sauvignon.  Just for the sake of a complete report, I had a glass of the Mission Point Mackinac Island Special Selection Late Harvest Riesling produced by Black Star Farms on Old Mission Peninsula in the Traverse City area of Michigan and I have written about Black Star Farms quite a bit recently.  I was expecting a much sweeter wine, so I was pleasantly surprised that it was off dry, even though it said “late harvest” and even my Bride didn’t mind it.  The weekend was off to a great start.

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A Tale of Two Hotels

Posted on September 13, 2019 by thewineraconteur

By the time you read this, we will be back from another trip to Mackinac Island, one of the most unique resort areas in America, and not just Michigan.  Mackinac Island is located in the Straits of Mackinac and between the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of Michigan and alongside of the Mackinac Bridge which spans the two peninsulas.  Probably the most unique aspect of the island is that there are no automobiles, other than a police car, a fire truck and an ambulance, but there is an airstrip for private planes, but no fueling or service facilities.  The three modes of transportation on the island is by foot, bicycle and by horse.  It is very odd to see a UPS truck on a barge off of the marina, and the truck is unloaded onto horse drawn drays for the final part of the delivery.  Tourism, hotels, bed and breakfast inns, restaurants, bars all await everyone once they either use the commercial hovercrafts or have a private boat in the marina, though I did see the cruise ship that now plies the Great Lakes anchored off of the marina as well.  I guess I should mention fudge, there are more fudge manufacturers on the island, than anywhere else I have ever been to.  My Bride goes there for business and I get to tag along and we seem to stay at two different hotels at opposite ends of the downtown district and they are also the two biggest to handle the business requirements for most meetings that tend to want to have a resort setting.

Mission Point has a storied life on the island as it was founded by Jesuit priests only fourteen years after Plymouth Rock.  There was a Mission House, a church, a school and a hotel there over the years.   There were a couple of different colleges that were there, in fact most of the original dormitories, now house the seasonal employees that work in all of the businesses.  There was even a film studio there, but just for a short period.  Now Mission Point is a sprawling complex of hotel rooms and suites, banquet and business rooms, restaurants, bars, putting greens, a theater, a pool and spa, shopping and I am sure that I missed some of the other amenities.  

                                                                                                                 The Grand Hotel was originally a joint venture of three transportation companies and the hotel was opened in 1887 and has since been formally recognized as State Historic Building, then placed on the National Register of Historic Places and finally a National Historic Landmark.  The hotel is famed for having the largest porch and offers a grand view of the Straits, and it was on the porch that Thomas Edison first presented his phonograph. The hotel actually charges non-guests a fee to wander the hotel and the porch, and some complain, but I think they are showing compassion for their guests.  It is also the only establishment on the island that requires gentleman to have a coat and tie for dinner in the main dining room, a lovely tradition and they will also remind men to remove their headwear upon entering the same room.  If someone doesn’t want to dress for dinner, there are several other restaurants on the grounds that are not that formal, and they also serve a high tea on the grounds of Fort Mackinac.  I have written about many of the restaurants at The Grand Hotel.

When we were on board the ferry getting to the island, I was excited to hear that Mission Point had a wine bar, but I guess that was premature, though The Grand Hotel does and it is called the Audubon Bar and they have an excellent wine list at the hotel.  I have never seen a complete wine list for Mission Point, but I have encountered many different wines while we have been there.  Both of the hotels also feature “house wines” that one encounters for group events.  At the Grand Hotel I have encountered a Chardonnay and a Cabernet Sauvignon made by Trinchero Winery of California.  A Semi-Dry Riesling by Chateau Grand Traverse and a Blanc de Noir Sparkling wine by L. Mawby Winery all from Michigan.   I found a Mission Point Cabernet Sauvignon and a Chardonnay made by Free Run Wine Company of Napa Valley, but the wines carried a California AVA.  I also found a Mission Point Late Harvest Riesling made by Black Star Farms with a Michigan AVA.  I might add that we found all of the House Wines enjoyable.  This time we stayed at Mission Point. 

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Two from Black Star Farms

Posted on September 11, 2019 by thewineraconteur

We were away for a little trip and my Bride got an email that a package was coming to the house that would require an adult signature.  She was perplexed, trying to figure out what was coming, since most deliveries are just dropped off on the porch, she wasn’t sure what she had ordered.  I said that it was probably wine, and since it was on her email, I was sure that it was from Black Star Farms.  When we were at the Inn at Bay Harbor, one night we had a chance to try a couple of glasses of wine from Black Star Farms, that we were so impressed with the wines, that we decided to make a detour on the way home to buy some of the wines that we tried.  Black Star Farms has facilities on both sides of Traverse City, one on Old Mission Peninsula and the other on Suttons Bay on the Leelanau Peninsula.  We experienced such exceptional service and attention from our attendant that we bought a club membership for four wines to be delivered quarterly.  The winery has three series; the premium Arcturos, A Capella and the Leorie Vineyard labels for sparkling and fruit wines.

The first bottle that I pulled out of the carton was the Black Star Farm Arcturos Sauvignon Blanc Capella Vineyard 2017.  The Capella Vineyard is on Old Mission Peninsula and it is acclaimed for its mineral rich soil.  Sauvignon Blanc should be a nice crisp wine that evokes grapefruit and lemon zest, and the best deliver refreshing acidity and a mineral terroir.  There were no production notes, so I will presume that this wine was aged in Stainless Steel.  The cooler climate of Michigan should produce a nice dry Sauvignon Blanc that should be enjoyed for about two years. 

The second wine that I pulled out, will make my Bride very happy, as it has become her favorite grape.  I know that she will get excited about the Black Star Farms Arcturos Cabernet Franc 2017.  This wine carries a Michigan AVA, because the fruit was harvested on both peninsulas and was first bottled by Black Star Farms in 1998 when the varietal was not as known or popular as it is now.  The best of the Cabernet Franc wines will deliver dark red fruits and spice, depending on the aging period and if it was new oak.  I think that they have enough experience producing Cabernet Franc that I think this wine could easily be cellared for five to ten years.  There will be further reports, since there two bottles of each wine shipped. 

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A “Critic” Discovers Downriver

Posted on September 9, 2019 by thewineraconteur

I am a dinosaur and I admit that, I still try to enjoy reading a newspaper daily.  For years there were three newspapers in Detroit, and then there were two, and now the two are in a joint association for production costs.  I read the morning paper, out of tradition, though since so many of their “journalists” now think they are more important than the event that they are covering they have to interpret the news for the uneducated masses that they must write down to; I want to form my own discussion from the facts, not from what they deign to tell me.  The paper got a new restaurant “critic” several years ago, and if he could he would only write about restaurants that are along Woodward Avenue as the rest of the Tri-County region doesn’t exist and then he prefers to write about restaurants that have Social Media consequences for good press.  As a retired clothier, I also find that he goes out of his way to look like a train-wreck even if he is going somewhere nice, but I come from the old school that one can always be overdressed, instead of being underdressed for an occasion. 

The poor “critic” was introduced to several locations in the Downriver section of the Detroit area, and I guess, because it is an area of working people and first, second and third generation Americans it isn’t worth the ink to write about.  He was reluctantly taken to nine establishments and discovered that not every restaurant has to be cutting edge to deliver quality food.  Out of the nine locations, I have actually written about six of them.  One is a surviving “house bar” in Wyandotte, and unless I was going with someone else, I don’t normally just walk into neighborhood bars, one I think of more for beer (and I write about wine) and the last one which I have tried to go to several times when meeting friends and though I have suggested this place, I have usually been outvoted. 

The first two are tried and true, and have become institutions for fine dining.  Sibley Gardens I first learned about back in the Sixties and though the front door stares at a rotted-out steel factory, it is the food that people go there for.  A steakhouse that doesn’t have to rely on gimmicks and over-priced entrées to get the people to return constantly.  I know that it sounds unusual that I would feel comfortable in an old-fashioned real steakhouse.  Another restaurant that makes me at home is Moro’s with the waiters in Tuxedoes and tableside service.  I love old-school and I really enjoy when you see people get dressed up for date night with their spouse, just like it should be.  When one thinks of Downriver, the Hungarians from Delray along with the Armenians, Poles and Italians all resettled and The Rhapsody is the best for Hungarian cuisine.  I would make a wager, even if one had never had Hungarian food, after dining at the Rhapsody, one could easily claim those dishes as comfort food.  While one may not think of the Downriver as Hellenic, don’t say that to the Greeks and the Auburn Café brings back the glory days of Greektown when it was really Greek and not a cartoon version of the old days.  I am sorry to say, that I was not even aware that this gem was around and I had to be told about it, and I am happy that I was.  The last two that I went to are both in Wyandotte, the first being Portofino that has a wonderful location on the Detroit River with plenty of glass, so that all the diners can appreciate the view.  I think of Portofino for seafood, which is appropriate and a nice wine list.  The last of the group is R.P. McMurphy’s and the “critic” thought he was going into an Irish pub, if he was a bit more literate in theater and cinema, he would have realized the R.P. was for Randall P. McMurphy and some of the other dishes have names honoring other individuals from the same play/movie.  While still maintaining the feel of a speak-easy, instead of having bar food, the bar serves real dishes that don’t have an over abundance of salt to have you keep drinking, like most sport bars do, and even a well selected wine list.   I was very happy to see that the area was recognized, even if begrudgingly because it was not on the Woodward corridor and I wrote about all of them without prodding, because of the wine and the moment, I guess the hallmark of my articles. 

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