The Saturday of Mother’s Day Weekend

Posted on May 18, 2019 by thewineraconteur

Mother’s Day Weekend had the families going in twenty different directions it seemed.  My Bride tried to make the most of the situations and celebrated Mother’s Day on the Saturday that was the day for the monthly cousins’ luncheon.  It is a celebration of all the women of the clan that get together; Mothers, Daughters, Granddaughters, Nieces, Great-nieces, and Goddaughters.  The numbers fluctuate throughout the year, but there is always a nice turnout and they are considered regulars at the restaurant, even by the new owners, though many of the staff stayed on, so the staff has known the group for as long as this has been going on.  I would ask, but it is a tradition and that suffices.  You may have noticed that it is only the distaff side of the clan and that is by design, because if you added all the males and children, there might not even be a catering hall that could handle the crowds.  There were three males in attendance, but we were seated in another booth, away from the maddening crowd; and I don’t think it will be a tradition.  It was a great way for the women to honor my Mother-in-Law, who is the Matriarch of the clan, and she has many other titles bestowed upon her by the women that attended. 

This luncheon was held at The Masters Restaurant that I have just recently wrote about, plus all the many other times from my dinner club and smaller family gatherings.  The restaurant is convenient for all of the clan, except for my Bride and I, because we live on the other side of town, but it works.  The Masters Restaurant when you see the structure evokes the clubhouse in Augusta and that is by design.  I was at the table with two other men and we were having lunch.  One ordered an Angus Burger, one had a Breaded Whitefish dinner and I thought I was going to go light and order a salad, because we were meeting others for dinner that evening.  I had a classic interpretation of a Spinach Salad with onions, hard boiled eggs, bacon and Warm-Bacon-Dressing topped off with a Sautéed Chicken Breast; I may as well have ordered a Porterhouse Steak, as I was stuffed. 

Since it was my Bride and I, it made more sense for us to have a bottle of wine, it is more economical, and since the politicians in Michigan actually made a sensible law that says that you can leave the premises with an resealed bottle of wine, if all the wine isn’t consumed.  I wasn’t too concerned, because lunch was going to be at least a couple of hours.  It was strongly suggested that we have a white wine, because my Bride prefers white at lunch, and the last time, I pulled a fast one and ordered a red.  While my Bride enjoys wine with a salad, I normally skip wine with a salad course, but this was the only course, so I had to find something that I thought would work.  I found a wine that worked and also was appropriate for the surroundings.  We had a bottle of Ernie Els Big Easy White 2013 and the winery is located in Stellenbosch, Republic of South Africa; and in case you weren’t aware Ernie Els is an international award-winning golfer from South Africa and he now has a winery.  There are three Big Easy wines to choose from and they are the entry level wines from the winery.  The wine is pure Chenin Blanc the grape that has done extremely well in South Africa, and the fruit for this wine is from vineyards in the Cape.  Chenin Blanc was once considered the white wine of the Loire in France, South Africa now produces more than France, and once it was a bulk white wine, it has now come into its own quite nicely by serious vintners.  The wine from South Africa has a distinctive style of its own when compared to the Loire and it worked well with the quirkiness of the Spinach Salad.  The wine has a soft floral nose and a spiciness that is totally different from the Chardonnay wines that my Bride was expecting, but it worked and I am not outside looking in. 

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Foxglove Cabernet Sauvignon

Posted on May 16, 2019 by thewineraconteur

The second wine club selection for the month of May from the Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan is Foxglove Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles 2017.  A couple of months ago, the selection was a Foxglove Zinfandel.  Monthly wine club selections are usually affordable wine and normally wines that most people wouldn’t necessarily grab off of a shelf.  It is a great way to get the customer into the wine shop at least once a month and at the Fine Wine Source it enables one to get case pricing, even if you are only buying one to eleven bottles, so it is a great inducement to pay a monthly fee and get a couple of bottles of wine that may be out of one’s normal range of selection.

Foxglove is a label from Varner Wines, that are made by the twin brothers Bob and Jim Varner.  They began planting vines at their estate in 1980, but they only began their own commercial wine label in 1996.  Varner Wines produce designated vineyard, terroir driven Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines from Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz Counties.  The grapes that do not make the cut for the Varner label are released under the Neely label.   The Foxglove label produces around twenty-five-thousand cases each year of value priced wines; like a Chardonnay from the Central Coast and a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Zinfandel from Paso Robles.  The average age for the Cabernet Sauvignon vines is twenty years.  There are scant notes on technical information for this wine, other than full destemming and Malo-lactic fermentation.

Tasting notes for this wine, and I have not tried it yet, are silky tannins with super-ripe dark cherry, tobacco, licorice and plum, and proffered as one of the best values in California Cabernet Sauvignon.  The owner of the shop opines that there are flavors of cedar, boysenberry and cherries with a long silky finish.  Over the years, I have probably drunk more Cabernet Sauvignon wine than anything else, so it shall be an interesting wine to try.

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Franco Serra Gavi

Posted on May 14, 2019 by thewineraconteur

I just picked up the wines for the May wine club selection from Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan.  It is always fun to see what the wines will be, as I don’t read what they are, until I get them and bring them home, because I am like a little kid.  The first wine is Franco Serra Gavi DOCG 2017.  Franco Serra is produced by the Sperone family who has been making affordable wines for four generations.   In 1920 Antonio Sperone opened a wine shop in Torino selling local bulk wines to consumers, but his concern of selling a better product, compelled him to start his own winery in Puglia.  His business was destroyed during the bombings of World War II which caused his grandson to open a new facility near Milan where they produced vermouth, sparkling wines, spirits and wine.  In 1965, the family purchased seventy-five acres of prime vineyards in the Piedmont and built the current winery in the small town of Mombaruzzo near Monferrato.

Gavi or Cortese di Gavi DOCG is the white wine jewel of the Piedmont.  It is one of the most important white wines in Italy and one of the most popular that it exports.  The DOCG status was awarded in 1998 and with that award are all the rules that must be followed and obeyed.  The Cortese grape is an indigenous grape from the Gavi region and has been recorded since the 1600’s.  Even though the wine is from the Piedmont region, the wine making evokes Liguria, because the wine is lighter and somewhat fruitier.  The town of Gavi is the center of all production, and there is a subset Gavi di Gavi which is only for the vineyards within the confines of the township of Gavi, the other Gavi DOCG comes from the thirteen communes that have the right for the designation.  It is also another wine that carries a banderol to show the guarantee of authenticity.

I haven’t tried the wine yet, but I have had other wines from Gavi and they are known for their crispness with a floral nose and some sweet fruit.  I think the best of the wines offer traces of cucumber, a strange taste that one doesn’t immediately think of when discussing even white wines.  It is a rather bone-dry white wine with minerals that really appear in the aftertaste, very flinty and fresh acidity, that makes one want to pour another glass or two.  I think of this wine as a Spring to Summer wine and especially interesting before the main meal for me, usually with the antipasto, the charcuterie and the cheeses.   Hopefully they haven’t cancelled Spring on us, here in Michigan.

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NOVI Chophouse, Three Wines and The Caller

Posted on May 12, 2019 by thewineraconteur

The last time I was at the NOVI Chophouse it was in the Baronette Hotel, in Novi, it is now in the Crown Plaza Hotel, but still in Novi.  The City of Novi has a curious history, especially about the name, back in the stagecoach days of first the territory of and then the State of Michigan, on the established route from Detroit to Lansing, a spot along the way was No. VI or Number 6 stop, and it morphed into Novi.  It was also a long overdue moment to see The Caller and his lovely wife, as they have both retired and they are constantly on the go, it seems.  We could have met at a local family restaurant, to catch up, but it would not nearly be as much fun or interesting.  We were going to meet someplace more middle of the road for us, and we were going to go to Ann Arbor, but it seems that it is graduation time even at Michigan, and even the burger joints would be packed, so there were no reservations there, and then something came up that we had to attend prior to our dinner, so they graciously offered to drive further down the road to Novi.

The NOVI Chophouse was established in 1997 and it was taken over by the Epicurean Group in 2009, so the menu had changed a bit since the last time I had been there.  Our poor waitress probably had to go get meds after taking care of this table, because we were so busy chatting that food was almost the last thing on our mind.  We begrudgingly began placing some food orders in between laughs.  We all began with Wagyu Carpaccio with pickled fennel, arugula and black pepper Mascarpone.  There were then three orders of the Lobster Bisque with butter poached lobster and my Bride was the hold-out and ordered the Morel Bisque with chives and chopped morels; to remind us that she did not partake in our legendary Morel dinner one year, while she was in the Upper Peninsula on business.  The assorted sides were easier to decide upon as we went with the Novi Whipped Potatoes, Asparagus with Bearnaise Sauce and Charred Baby Carrots with Black Garlic Pesto.  The Caller’s wife went with the Filet Mignon and Bearnaise Sauce, while The Caller went with the “Steak Flight;” four unique four-ounce cuts, a Filet Mignon, a Wagyu Strip Loin, a Dry-aged Prime New York Strip and a Dry-aged Lamb Chop.  My Bride chose after a bit of cajoling, because I always suggest something for her that she doesn’t make at home, so she went with Pan Seared Hawaiian Sea Bass with Smoked Potato Pearls, Sprout Slaw and Maple Sage Agrodolce (an Italian Sweet and Sour Sauce).  I looked at the “Steak Flight” and I looked at the Venison and even the Elk, but in the end, I chose the Crispy Pork Belly and Duck Confit with White Bean Cassoulet and Tomato Concasse.  The only surprise for the evening was when I mentioned to our waitress that we used to get Seared Foie Gras at the old restaurant, and she said that they carry it, but it is not on the menu, at least we know for the next time.  We finished off with French Press Decaf Coffee and a Key Lime Pie for the four of us.

The ladies started with cocktails, oh so chic, but I ordered a bottle of wine from the beginning.   I guess they all humor me, and let me pick out wines, as long as I don’t go crazy and select some Unicorn wines.  I thought a white wine was a great way to start and I just said that it was a White Burgundy, because so many people are turned off by big oaky Chardonnays, so White Burgundy sounds so cool and interesting.  We shared a bottle of Collovray & Terrier Domaine Deux Roches Macon-Villages 2015 from the Maconnais region.  While there are some red wines in Macon-Villages, Domaine Deux Roches only processes white wines and this wine was done in Stainless Steel.  Here was a white wine that had soft floral notes, and a crisp mineral finish, and thankfully the wine was not heavily chilled.  The table was thrilled and a bit surprised that this was a Chardonnay and it made it through the soup course.  The second wine for the evening was selected while we were picking out our food orders, so that it could be decanted.  I saw this wine and I just thought it was perfect and how often does one find such a gem?  The wine was Chateau Desmirail Margaux 2015, a Third Growth from the legendary Medoc Classification of 1855, which still holds up to this day with just a few tweaks.  This winery goes back to the end of the Seventeenth Century and has had some changes of ownership, but they have all maintained Stewardship of an esteemed property.  The blending is pretty consistent year after year, because the grounds are grown with seventy percent Cabernet Sauvignon, twenty-nine percent Merlot and one percent Petit Verdot and all the grapes are destemmed before crushing.  The wine is aged in oak for a year, thirty percent new and they rack the wines every three months.  I thought the wine was sublime, but while The Caller enjoyed it, he was expecting a bigger wine, more of a California Robert Parker Cabernet.  I made brownie points with the dessert wine, because I steered him away from the classic Ports to something a little different.  We each had a glass of Domaine de Rancy Rivesaltes Ambre Vin Doux Naturel 2001.  This fabled dessert wine is from the eastern end of the Roussillon and it is uniquely made.  This winery was established in 1920 making sweeter wines for French consumption.  The wine is ninety-five percent Macabeo and five percent Grenache Blanc and most of the vines are about fifty years of age.  The wine is Vin Doux Naturel or Mutage Method with the addition of Grape Spirits to stop the fermentation and thereby maintaining natural sugar.   The first year the juice is left on the lees in Concrete vats, and then two years of Oxidative Aging or Maderization and then thirteen years in the barrel.   The wine being an Ambre was already showing signs of deepening of the color, and the wine is a bit syrupy by nature, but the nose was like ambrosia to me after such a big dinner and everyone was happy with the ending.  Our poor waitress thought we were going to make a night of it, but we eventually made our goodbyes and we know that we will meet again.

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Soon to be a Doctor

Posted on May 10, 2019 by thewineraconteur

We had a wonderful celebratory dinner the other night, as one of our nephews just graduated with all sorts of honors and has been accepted to medical school.  The universities may think they are liberal, but not when it comes time to give out tickets to view a graduation, then they get very squeaky tight.  We met up with the graduate and his parents and his grandparents at a restaurant near his parent’s home for a dinner.  Maybe, because I was not as brilliant of a student, but I do not remember all the different cords, pins and recognitions that end up on a graduation gown as he had.  I am sure that he was also tired of posing with everyone for the constant photo sessions, but we are all proud of him.  The waitress brought him a cocktail for his celebration in one of the largest glasses I have ever seen, and it is good that it was not full, or he might not have made it through the night.

We all met at The Masters Restaurant that is near his parent’s home and a place that they like to go to, even with new owners, the food and service is good.  I haven written about this place often, as my Bride and all her cousins meet there once a month for a get-together, and my dinner club meets there a couple of times a year there.  Actually, the waitress that was taking care of the party, joked with me, that I should study the menu, because when I am with my club, I only get a choice of maybe five entrée dishes to choose from.  I was actually proud of my Bride, as she chose something totally different and ordered Veal Marsala, I guess after Lent, she had her fill of fish for a while.  I went with the ribs, it is something that we don’t make at home, and it is usually not one of the offered dishes on the menu when my club is there.  I really couldn’t see what everyone else was getting, as it was a big table.

Some of the people like the guest of honor were drinking cocktails, but my Bride and I arrived before everyone else, so we ordered a bottle of wine.  I still think it is more economical, especially when it seems that a glass of wine is almost the price of a bottle at retail anymore in a restaurant, and depending on how they pour, they can get four to six glasses from a standard bottle of wine.  One can also find something more interesting especially compared to the list of “well” wines served at the bar.   We had a bottle of Oberon Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2017, produced by the Michael Mondavi Family; a name that has been in the valley for ages and is respected.  The fruit all came from Napa Valley County and if you think about it, there is an awfully large amount of wine that is produced out of that one small area and this wine is at a respectable price point.  The wine is ninety-four percent Cabernet Sauvignon and the balance of six percent according to the winemaker is a dash of Merlot and a kiss of Syrah.  The wine is aged for fourteen months in French Oak, of which forty-five percent is new.  It is a big California style Cabernet with a lot of gusto and dark fruit with a nice finish.  It will be good to have another doctor in the family.

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The Seven Year Hitch

Posted on May 8, 2019 by thewineraconteur

It is hard to believe that I have been writing for seven years, but WordPress just told me.  This will be my 1,463’rd article and I have only posted 1,357 photos on Instagram and there I am still in 2014. When I started thinking about it, everyone told me that I would have to be clever, because every obvious name would be taken.  They were wrong “The Wine Raconteur” was my first choice and it was accepted, though I never bothered getting it “dot com” as I wasn’t sure if my ability and interest would last, as I heard that the mortality rate was extremely high.  Raconteur was the proper name for me then and still to this day, as I am first and foremost a story teller, and even though it is an old fashioned word, since I started, I have noticed others used that term as well.  Then there is the thought that still pops up even now, who is going to read and care what you write, because you are not in the trade and you have no credentials.  I guess you can say that my credentials are what used to be called the School of Hard Knocks.  To this day, I have no credentials and I still don’t get carried away with descriptors, as some of the creative souls come up with combinations that to me, would make the wine sound totally unappealing.  I still meet up with people that have fifty some odd years of wine tasting under the belt and they agree with me, that talking about wine in the Dark Ages was much easier.

I have met only on the internet a large group of people that I truly enjoy and some I really call my friends.  As busy as bloggers can be, some with imaginary deadlines (like myself) and others that have become wine journalists, some of these people still have time to exchange niceties, quid pro quo responses and over the years we share in personal responses and jokes.  Some I only know by their “blog name” and they use the same name over several types of social media, and I guess that is how it should be.  Who would have figured that besides my blog I would be advertising it on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, though I will give you a caveat, and that is, do not get behind on your readings of your fellow friends, because you will never catch up in that endeavor?  I mean I have been able to used my nom de plume on different sites, though when I finally decided to go dot com, I discovered that my name was “bought,” so I went with dot net.  So, I do hope who ever has my name on dot com is happy, my only concern is that I still am computer challenged and I can’t figure out how to get email on my site, but eventually I will get that squared away as well.

I am still having fun, though sometimes I feel that my writing can become, if I am not careful be like Franklin W. Dixon and all the people who wrote using that name.  Some of my fellow bloggers are very successful and have won awards and travel and even they still maintain a humbleness, even when they are admitting that everything is complimentary.  Others, I feel, need to remind the world, how important they are, and I wonder if they do not pander and solicit for samples, because of “who” they are.  When I first began, and I would take photographs and notes, people would look askance at me, as if I came from another planet.  I only photograph wine, I really cannot capture the beauty of a plated dish at a restaurant, but if I am asked, I admit that I write.  I have had some wineries offer not to charge me for a tasting, and I have even had some offer me a trade discount (even though I am not really in the trade) and I guess, just through perseverance I am getting some recognition for my years of writing, I have even participated in three virtual wine tastings, which were plenty of fun, even if I had a back seat publisher (my Bride) reminding me, that I have to mention this or that.  Thankfully I don’t have to look handsome for a virtual tasting and I don’t need one of my trademark hats in the house.  Some of the people that I encounter actually look me up, while we are talking and especially now with seven years of articles being shown, I guess that is shows that I am not blowing smoke, not like the hot air from the subway lines that blew up Marilyn’s skirt in The Seven Year Itch.  So, I thank all of you, especially that charming group that I am endeared to, that all started about the same time as I did, and they are still writing and drinking (tasting) as well.

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Orcio and Dealmaker

Posted on May 6, 2019 by thewineraconteur

The final two wines of tasting from Jeff Cohn Cellars show the two thrusts in his approach to wines.  As stated, “single vineyard Zinfandel and Rhone-centric wines that walk a tightrope, balancing the pure expression of California fruit with the Rhone-influenced winemaking of vintner Jeff Cohn” the last two wines that I had at Fine Wine Source exemplified this concept.  A single vineyard wine and a California blend and both were Zinfandel at their soul.  I should also mention that  Jeff Cohn has a soul and he has found a way to praise his Mother, who believed in him and helped him financially to attain his dream as he has says “the Iris on the label is a constant reminder that my mother, Iris, is celebrated and recognized in every wine we make.”

The Jeff Cohn Cellars Orcio Zinfandel Cassata Vineyard 2015 shows his single vineyard passion with a wine made from Sonoma County.  The wine is seventy-five percent Zinfandel and the balance is Petite Sirah and this wine while the winemaker feels that it has a slight Rhone feel with a side trip to Italy, because this wine has been aged for ten months in Italian terra-cotta amphorae.  Here was a wine that delivered what I thought was a very subtle and interesting Zinfandel with rounded edges and some different spices that I couldn’t totally identify and I attribute it to the amphorae.  The wine had a nice long finish and there were only eighty-five cases made of this wine, so it may prove to be a bit more elusive in a search.

The last wine was the Jeff Cohn Cellars Dealmaker 2016 and here was a wine that had fruit from Sonoma and Amador Counties and beyond, just a big California Zinfandel that actually was blended with twenty percent Petite Sirah and came with a screw-cap.  This wine offered black cherries and black pepper and I wrote “good, all the way around.”  It was the most affordable wine of the group and that was its mission.  It is a dealmaker, because everybody will leave the table happy with the outcome.  I have to admit that it was just a fun and educational way to spend an afternoon.  The best thing is that none of the wines were that expensive, especially considering the passion and the craftmanship involved, and this from a guy that used to shun all Zinfandels, what I probably missed in the last fifty years.

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El Diablo and Smoke & Mirrors

Posted on May 4, 2019 by thewineraconteur

The Jeff Cohn Cellars’ wines that I was tasting at Fine Wine Source were getting better and better with each tasting.  There is just something so gratifying when one is tasting wines with people that know what they are talking about.  I have been to wineries, where the tasting room staff, could not really answer some of my questions.   So, to be with a staff that can talk about the wines, is a plus.  After all the years that I have been in retail, I can tell you, that there are some people that could just as easily sell a necktie as a box of nails in a hardware store, alas most people in retail, have no passion for the product, so it is so gratifying when one finds passion.  I find passion for wine in the staff at Fine Wine Cellars and it is obvious that Jeff Cohn has passion for his wines.  His passion may even increase now that he is situated in the Sonoma region and has a tasting room to show his craft.

I have to tell you about the Jeff Cohn Cellars Grenache El Diablo Vineyard 2015.  Jeff Cohn has sourced from this vineyard since 2010.  The “Fallen Angel” Vineyard is considered the perfect site for Grenache and the vines are from the Chateauneuf-du-Pape suitcase clone and is in the Russian River Valley AVA.  The vines are planted in both parallel and perpendicular terraces to take advantage of the natural climate.  The wine was aged for sixteen months in large neutral oak barrels.  There were one-hundred-fifty-eight cases produced of the wine.   A good nose promising peppers and spices, in a medium bodied wine with more of a red cherry taste and a nice finish delivering more spice.  A very nice bottle of wine.

The Jeff Cohn Cellars Smoke & Mirrors 2015 is a red blend that carries a California AVA and has been part of his portfolio of wines going back to his JC Cellars era.  The wine is a blend of thirty-five percent Syrah, twenty-nine percent Zinfandel, fifteen percent Petite Sirah, fourteen percent Grenache and three percent Carignane.  This was a bigger wine, with a nose of dark fruit and spice, a chewy wine with several layers of texture and nuance with rounded edges and a bit of a sweet finish.  This one would be just easy to drink with friends even before the appetizers come out.

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A Zin and #Pure Yum

Posted on May 2, 2019 by thewineraconteur

I am sure that a lot of the bloggers are more aware of Jeff Cohn than I am, but after a tasting of his wines at the Fine Wine Source, I have a much better appreciation of his work.  The winery is intertwined with the story of Jeff and Alexandra Cohn and their twenty-five plus years from when they were in Hospitality Management.  For some the siren call of the wine is overpowering and they are not happy until they have their own winery.  When he was a student of Enology, he was used to tasting straight varietals, but his first encounter with a Chateauneuf-du-Pape offered him an epiphany of what a wine can and should be, when it has been expertly blended by a craftsman.   While Zinfandel was a passion, he now had a passion for the Rhone and how he could craft his own wines.

The first wine that I got to taste was the Jeff Cohn Nun’s Canyon Vineyard Zinfandel 2015.  Nun’s Canyon Vineyard is planted with sixty to eighty-year-old vines, and the actual clones that were planted have been lost to history, and the read clay loam and the artistry of the vines evoke the charms of the Southern Rhone according to those that have been there.  Nun’s Canyon Vineyard is in the Moon Valley District AVA of Sonoma Valley.  It is one of the warmest areas, known for its volcanic soil and a very long growing season, it just recently was awarded its own AVA in 2013.  This wine is pure Zinfandel aged for sixteen months in two different neutral French Oak barrel sizes.   With only one-hundred-eighty-four cases of wine produced, this is hardly a bulk wine Zin.  I have definitely gotten over my old aversion to Zin, left over from my memories of home-made “Dago Red” that the old men made in the neighborhood.  Here was a wine with a big nose, lots of spice with fruit and a nice finish, just a good chewy wine to have with food or just with friends.

The second wine of the tasting was the Jeff Cohn Cellars #Pure Yum 2016.  Let us say that I was a little gun shy or reticent about trying a wine called #Pure Yum, initially it sounded like a new energy drink for millennials.  It wasn’t, is was a blend of two thirds Syrah and one third Grenache and thirty percent of the fruit was fermented in whole clusters.  The wine was aged for fourteen months in French Oak, of which thirty percent was new.  This was a fun wine that was big, but velvety with a good nose, good spice and I thought some nice residual heat, just an enjoyable drink.  With two-hundred-twenty-six cases produced, this is another labor of love that scored in the nineties, so it was not a production by the numbers.  I was already geeked for more wine from Jeff Cohn Cellars.

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Two Impostors by Jeff Cohn

Posted on April 30, 2019 by thewineraconteur

I was once again alone at the Fine Wine Source and I was a day late for the special Jeff Cohn Cellars wine tasting.  Though through the wonders of the Coravin system, I may not have heard about the wines first hand from the special guest, I was still able to enjoy the wines.  I thought the opening statement from the internet site for Jeff Cohn Cellars was very eloquent and terse with the statement “single vineyard Zinfandel and Rhone-centric wines that walk a tightrope, balancing the pure expression of California fruit with the Rhone-influenced winemaking of vintner Jeff Cohn.  I was having another private tasting and the employees were joining in with me, so that they could revisit the seven different wines that they were featuring.  Jeff Cohn began as an Enologist and eventually became the vice president of winemaking and production at Rosenblum Cellars and during his stint there he brought them great accolades when their Rosenblum Rockpile Road Zinfandel was rated #3 on the 2005 Top 100 Wines by Wine Spectator.   It was also at this time that he started his JC Cellars which was one of the original urban wineries of the East Bay. In 2006 he left Rosenblum Cellars to be full invested into JC Cellars and in 2012 he changed the name from JC Cellars to Jeff Cohn Cellars and then in 2017 he moved to Sonoma.

I began tasting the wines and I am going to switch around this narrative of the tasting, because when I got to the fifth wine and I saw the name, something in the back of memory switched on, and I responded that the wine sounded like it was part of the Orin Swift line, but I knew that I had, had it in the past.  Several years back at the Earle Restaurant in Downtown Ann Arbor we had dinner with some friends, actually it was The Caller and his wife, back before he was given his special name.  We had Jeff Cohn’s JC Cellars “The Impostor” 2009.  At this time the wine had a California AVA and at the time I remarked that the wine reminded me of a Rhone wine, even though it was a blend of Zinfandel, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Grenache, Mourvedre and Viognier.

Now here I was having the Jeff Cohn Cellars “The Impostor” 2014 and the wine has that Deja-vu feeling that I have had it before and this time I can even relay more information about it.  This lovely red blend is a mix of fifty-four percent Zinfandel, fifteen percent Petite Sirah, eleven percent Syrah, six percent Mourvedre, five percent Alicante Bouschet, four percent Grenache, four percent Carignane and one percent Viognier.  The wine was aged for eleven months in a blend of neutral oak barrels and foudres and concrete vats.  The wine had a nice deep color with a beguiling sweetness to the nose, black cherries and a nice long finish.  This felt like a Rhone wine and not a California fruit bomb that so many of the wine authorities seem determined to have.  I enjoy a wine like this, just as I enjoyed his earlier version

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