A Barbera and a Zin

Posted on April 28, 2019 by thewineraconteur

It was time again for me to visit the Fine Wine Source for my monthly wine club bag of goodies.  I really think that is what is fun about having a wine club, because one never knows what to expect when one goes there, because we can all easily get into a rut on almost any subject.  When I was selling clothes, it was an easy phenomenon to see men always drift to the same color and patterns of suits consistently, because they didn’t want to put that much thought into the purchase.  Wine is the same way; most people find something they love and most try not to stray too far from that found love.  I even find myself doing that, unless I force myself to try something new, and sometimes it is to my Bride’s chagrin.

The first wine in the selection was the Tortoise Creek “The Chelonian” Zinfandel 2016 from Lodi, California.  I have been having more and more wines from Lodi in the last couple of years, and so far, I haven’t had a bad wine, so that says a lot about the pride of the winemakers.  My initial thoughts originally about Lodi was that it was almost entirely Zinfandel, so for years I kind of side-stepped the area, but I have acquired not only an appreciation for Zinfandel and for the other varietals that we have tried from there, that we would like to one day make a trip there.  Tortoise Creek Wines is part of Master Wines and hence you will see the Tortoise Creek label some from California and some from France.  Tortoise Creek has partnered with the Chelonian Research Foundation for turtle and tortoise research, and starting with the 2009 vintage they donate a portion of the proceeds to this non-profit foundation.  This wine is made abiding to the Lodi Rules that I tend to believe everyone there now agrees to, and the rules may grow in to other areas as well.  This wine is a blend of fruit from the Clements Hills region and Lodi AVA.  The wine is almost all Zinfandel with five percent Tannat and five percent Petite Sirah.  By using a gravity flow system, the fruit is destemmed, but not crushed and they use whole cluster fermentation.  The wine is then aged for six months in oak.  According to all the notes that I have read this wine will offer dark fruit and some vanilla and should work well with most meats, and I think especially barbecues.

The second bottle is Tenuta Neirano Le Croci Barbera D’Asti Superiore DOCG 2016.  The Sperone family has been making affordable wines for four generations, originally in Puglia and in 1983 they purchased seventy-five acres in the Piedmont.  The fruit for this wine came from Le Croci (The Crosses) vineyard and the wine is entirely Barbera.  The fruit is hand harvested and has three weeks of maceration and four weeks of fermentation in Stainless Steel.  The juice is then aged for one year in small oak cask and then an additional six months in the bottle before it is released.  I am sure that this wine will be a nice dark wine with dark fruit tones, a good showing of tannins and a balanced acidity, features that I expect from a Barbera and hopefully some black cherry as well.  This is another wine that will work well with red meats or a good rich sauce for pasta, and who knows maybe both will be enjoyed on the same evening at a party.  Time will tell.

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My Dinner Club at Rocky’s

Posted on April 26, 2019 by thewineraconteur

My dinner club has tried a few new venues and one of them was Rocky’s of Northville.   Rocky goes back to the heady days of the late Chuck Muer restaurants and Chuck Muer had helped Rocky turn Northville Charley’s into Rocky’s of Northville.  My Bride and I have been going to Rocky’s probably since he opened in 1993.  The restaurant has a back room that is perfect for my club, and it was kind of amusing to watch the other members as they were shocked at how busy the restaurant was on a Wednesday night, even without our group, and I was saying that I had never been to the restaurant when they were quiet, which is quite a testament to the chef.  Periodically the restaurant is also home to some “game” nights of exotic meals for the hunters and there is a large Kodiak bear that greets the patrons as they arrive, and the taxidermist did a spectacular job, and it has been there since I can remember, and it may have been there when it was Northville Charley’s, but that was so long ago, I am not sure, and I always forget to ask.

Our meeting that night did not offer any “game” and there was not even an offering of duck, which is one of the specialties of the house, but it was off of the regular spring menu at the moment according to our server.  Rocky’s is one of those old-guard establishments that still pride themselves on house made bread rolls that may not be totally photogenic, but they are truly well made and delicious, and this is from a non-bread eater normally.  The House Salad for the group was similar to a “Michigan Salad” without the cheese and it was served with a Raspberry Vinaigrette, except for one order with Italian dressing to accommodate one pain in the arse member, and you can all guess who that is.  The menu for the evening was a Grilled Atlantic Salmon with Rice Pilaf and Fresh Vegetables, Breast of Chicken Piccata with a Lemon Mushroom Caper Sauce and Rice Pilaf and Fresh Vegetables and a New York Strip Steak with a Red Wine Sauce and Mashed Potatoes and Fresh Vegetables.  Coffee and the traditional dessert of a Chocolate Sundae on Vanilla Ice Cream followed, and since I can remember that has been the dessert of choice, because of deference to our old Club Secretary, who had replaced his Father in the same capacity and between the two men, they almost covered perhaps the eighty of the over one-hundred years the club has been in existence.

As I told you, there was a rebellion by the some of the members who are tea-totalers who objected to having to pay for the drink part of the menu when they were hosts and eventually made the bar tab subject to each member.  Another member and I and sometimes others will take advantage of this change and order an interesting bottle of wine, which we would never have done, when it was on someone else’s dime and we would have stuck with the more prosaic by the glass offerings.  My fellow club member when we were at the previous meeting was concerned that the selection might not be good as he had never been to Rocky’s and I assured him that we would find something to please him, as well as myself.  Now my fellow member always chooses a Pinot Noir, because that is his wine of choice, and I being the proverbial pain in the arse always tries to make him stretch with the wine selection, as he lets me choose, even though we split the price of the bottle.  He looked at me, like I was mad when I suggested we have a Merlot, and I told him that original growers in Napa Valley thought this winery was mad for wanting to grow Merlot as well, and I got him interested, because I knew the history.   As you may have guessed we were having Duckhorn Vineyards Merlot Napa Valley 2014.  Duckhorn started in 1976 and their first vintage was in 1978 with eight-hundred cases of Cabernet Sauvignon and an equal amount of Merlot.  They have one-thousand acres of Estate property and they also buy additional fruit as well, like the agreement they had with Three Palm Vineyard which eventually became an exclusive property for them.  Duckhorn has expanded into other parts of California for their different label collections and have even ventured into Washington State and in 2016 Duckhorn Vineyards along with their five other labels were bought by TSG Consumer Partners, so it will be interesting to see if they maintain the quality that so many expect.  This particular vintage was blended with some Cabernet Sauvignon and the fruit is a mix of estate and contract purchases within the valley.   The wine was aged for fifteen months in a mix of new and used French Oak barrels.  It was pure pleasure to watch my fellow club member as he tasted and put his arms around this wine.  For their opening wine of this collection, they really deliver a product that has dark fruit and cherries with balance tannins and a great aftertaste.  I am sure that my friend will look at Merlot in a different light from now on.

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Marrow

Posted on April 24, 2019 by thewineraconteur

After seeing An Armenian Trilogy, we had reservations at a new restaurant that had opened up called Marrow.  It is located in an area now known in Detroit as West Village, to me it is just outside of Indian Village, but I am an old Detroiter.  The concept or conceit of the restaurant is that it is a butcher shop and a restaurant and for a bonus, an interesting wine list, because the owner also owns a wine shop in Downtown Detroit, that as of yet, I have not visited.  We really enjoy this type of concept when we visit the kids in Las Vegas, so we were going to give it a try, even if I was a bit hesitant, because they had a mission to be a full utilization restaurant, so tip to tail, and fruit to root, and they have an Oriental or Asian or whatever the current nomenclature and Politically Correct term is, influence on the dishes.  I am a guy that grew up with a Southern European bent to my diet, so I get a bit gun shy, but my Bride enjoys it all, and complains that I won’t eat certain dishes, but the restaurant did pass my no-MSG requirement.

We really were not hungry after enjoying popcorn and California bubbly at the cinema, and I think our waitress took umbrage with us, that she wasn’t going to load us up with an assortment of small and large plates.  I really wanted to try an appetizer of the Roasted Bone Marrow, which I grew up with, but it is not my Bride’s favorite dish and we were going to be sharing our dishes, so we picked accordingly.  I am sorry but Glutinous Rice Dumplings and a plate of Corned Tongue did not hit my comfort food list and both sounded like something too radical for me to even be adventurous with; and I know that I am a pain in the arse when it comes to dining, it is a good thing that I like wine.  We decide to split two dishes.  The first was Tallow Fried Brussel Sprouts with crispy onion, lime, Gochujang Sauce (a fermented chili paste), a 7-minute egg (sous vide) and Sesame Togarashi (a blend of sesame and peppers).  When the dish arrived, we were told to just break the poached egg and mix the Brussel Sprouts with everything else in the bowl and eat.  We split an aged New York Strip Steak, which was the beef of the day and it was served with local Sunchoke, “Horsey” cream, Kimchi and Charred Ramps; we both agree that the “Horsey” cream could have used some Wasabi, as the horseradish that they used was extremely mild, and my Bride thought that the Kimchi was mild as well (I can’t tell you, because I passed on fermented cabbage, yes I am boring).   I was surprised that after we placed the order, I had to chase our waitress to the back of the restaurant, because I wanted to tell her how we wanted the steak prepared, because she hadn’t asked, and she just looked at me like I was from another planet  and she told me that they only do the steaks “medium-rare” which was how I was going to order it, but her attitude was chafing us.

We both continued our wines for the evening with a bubbles theme.  My Bride had Domaine Gouffier Cremant de Bourgogne Chardonnay Extra Brut 2016 and alas the label did not photograph well, from the locations we had next to the windows as evening was beginning to fall, and we tried it with two different phones.  I could not find much about Domaine Gouffier, but they do offer many choices in the Burgundy region, including some of the villages.  The Cremant de Bourgogne is designation for the sparkling wines of the region and it can be white or rosé and the area that these grapes can come from is huge, I understand that the variety and quality will not always be the same, but this wine was fresh and tasty and both of the sparkling wines were a great segue to the steak.  I had Domaine Serol Turbulent Gamay Rosé Cote Roannaise NV of the Loire Valley.  This type of wine is called a PetNat and officially known as Methode Ancestrole, because they cannot call it “champagne.” The winery is a family estate that spans five generations and it was a delicious delicate sparkling wine with a very pretty pink shade and the Gamay showed itself quite well here.  With our entrée we enjoyed Domaine du L’Echevin Cotes du Rhone Villages Saint-Maurice 2016.  In the pecking order of the Cotes du Rhone, the Cotes du Rhone Villages is a step above the basic, and then if the actual village is named that it another increment above, but lower than a named appellation in the region.  Vines were already growing and recorded in the Fourteenth Century and Saint-Maurice received their appellation in 1967.  The estate is named after a former owner who was an Echevin (Mayor of Lyon) in 1586.  The wine is a blend of sixty-five percent Syrah and the balance is Grenache.  Each parcel of land is harvested and placed in separate Stainless-Steel vats for a long maceration period with no addition of yeasts or additives.  Half of the juice is aged in concrete and the other half in French Oak.  The juice in the barrels are racked every two to three months for a period of ten months or so, and then that juice is repressed and mixed with the juice that was left in concrete and another set of barrels that contained some of the free-flowing juice from the original crush.  The different juices are then blended for a month and a half and then are bottled, and the bottles rest for six months before they are released for sale.  I have a built-in bias for the red wines of the Rhone and this wine delivered a full taste of the Rhone with the peppery spice that I so enjoy with a steak.  It was a very interesting, educational and enlightened day for us.

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An Armenian Trilogy

Posted on April 22, 2019 by thewineraconteur

Some may think that The Lord of the Rings was dubbed in Armenian, but it is the name of symphonic opus that was written to remember and commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide by the Turkish Ottoman Empire of 1915.  It is also the name of an “indie” film that documented the course of this opus and the history of the composer Dan Yessian, who also directed the film.  I first became aware of Dan Yessian from the music he wrote for a locally produced television program in Detroit called Hot Fudge that my children would watch and enjoy; it was a mix of music, comedy and satire geared for the afternoon school crowd.  Dan Yessian has been famous in Detroit and nationally for the writing of commercial jingles, and this was a real stretch for him to write a symphony and he did himself proud with his success.  The premier of the film was during the Freep Film Festival organized by one of the two Detroit daily newspapers and the Detroit Free Press is probably more famous, because one of their most famous former employees was totally fictitious and that would be Lou Grant from the Mary Tyler Moore Show and later Lou Grant.  The film was to be shown twice during the week of the film festival and we had bought tickets for the second showing, and alas the theater that was to show the film had technical problems, so we ended up seeing the premier.

The premier showing ended up at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial, a beautiful venue that we have been to for weddings and parties, but we were not even aware that they had an auditorium.  The auditorium is called the Patriot Theater, a fitting name for the War Memorial, but an odd choice for the Detroit Free Press as patriotism is not part of the ethos of their editorial staff, as far as I am concerned.  The Patriot Theater was just an amazing room and listening to the music performed by the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra in Armenia there was just perfect.  The acoustics of the room were wonderful and even after the film, there was some discussions and a musical piece by violinist Sonia Lee and there really was not a need for the microphones as even the questions from the crowd were heard easily.  The Patriot Theater had both traditional seating and then there were several sections that had love seats and coffee tables, and my Bride and I found a perfect “high top” table for two to watch the film.

The Patriot Theater had a concession stand in the lobby where one could get popcorn and candy and soft drinks.  One could also buy, by the glass or the bottle several different wines and not the commercial institutional catering hall brands, because Duckhorn immediately caught my eye.  We would have probably bought a bottle of Duckhorn, but since we were going out to a new restaurant after the show, we decided to get a couple of splits of bubbly for a more festive setting.  We had the Domaine Chandon Rosé California NV and it was a delightful wine for a matinee performance.  Domaine Chandon was the first Champagne house to arrive in Napa Valley and they make the wines in the traditional method.  This wine like all non-vintage “champagne” is made from juice from several vintages to be blended to maintain the house taste.  This particular wine is mostly Chardonnay, but also Pinot Meunier and a splash of Pinot Noir for the dosage at the end which is also where the pink color comes from.  It was semi-sweet and not a bone-dry finish and it was fun with popcorn, but of course everything is better with some bubbles.

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Smith-Berry Winery

Posted on April 20, 2019 by thewineraconteur

We finally went to a winery in Kentucky during this last trip. I know you are probably saying to yourself; they have wine in Kentucky, I thought they only had Bourbon.  While it is true that most people think of Kentucky for Bourbon, every state in the union has at least one winery; and actually, the Commonwealth of Kentucky has seventy wineries.  I know this, because when we stopped for some tastings at Smith-Berry Winery and they gave us a wine tour guide for all of Kentucky.  The first commercial winery in the United States was founded by John James Dufour in 1799 in Kentucky.  One of my Bride’s sisters and her husband came with us to enjoy the change of scenery.  The winery actually encourages people to have picnics on the grounds, or eat some of the food that they offer, and they really encourage the picnickers to have a glass or a bottle of wine during the meal.  The winery also had a calendar of concerts and dinners on the grounds to definitely make a day of your visit.  You know, that I tend to be shy, almost like a wall flower when I am out and about, and surprisingly we ended up meeting a couple that have actually gone to all seventy wineries and were now doing a second tour.  I was surprised to find out that most of the wine that they produce at Smith-Berry Winery is not estate grown, in fact most was not Kentucky grown, but we were there and it is always interesting to try wines.

The winery was offering fourteen different grape wines while we were there and four fruit wines (not grape, and I know that grapes are a fruit).  The winery had the wines broken down into Sweet Whites and Blush, Sweet Sparkling’s, Semi-Sweet Whites, Dry Whites, Semi-Sweet Reds and Dry Reds.  The Tasting Fee was six wines for $6.00, and this was waived if one made a purchase.  According to my notes we ended up tasting ten wines, I guess that I am incorrigible and a known rebel for breaking the rules where ever I go.  The wines were priced from $11.95 to $15.95, so there was no wine that was going to break the bank.  The wines that I will mention were not in the order that we tasted, because we were bouncing around and then they wanted us to try this and try this one as well, and several of their wines had won medals at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.  Of all the wines that we tasted only one carried a Kentucky designation, the rest had American on the label and all of the wines were Non-Vintage, as to the best of my understanding, if you are not in an AVA, you cannot list a vintage.

The first wine that I will mention was the Blackberry wine and since this was actually the first berry wine that I have had, I had no real basis, but I found it to be off in the nose and semi-sweet, but not a wine that I would search for, but I am sure that there are plenty of people out there that enjoy this type of beverage.  The Sparkling Moscato NV I had to try, to see if we needed some for the house for our guests that don’t like dry wines.  The wine was carbonated to achieve that frizzante finish and the wine was better than I expected.  The Drennon Creek NV was an interesting wine in their Sweet White category and it was a Stainless-Steel aged blend of Chardonnay, Riesling and Vidal Blanc.  The other Sweet White that we tried was the Vignoles, and the fruit came from Missouri and we thought it was the winner of the day, especially for some of our dinner guests, and we bought six bottles of this wine.  The Riesling was semi-sweet and was aged inn Stainless Steel, so the fruit came through.  The Pinot Grigio was a nice, but light version of the type of wine I was expecting, but with a good nose and a finish that reminded me of green apples.  The Chardonnay was a very fine bottle of white wine with about twelve months of aging in a mix of French and American Oak barrels.  This was a very nice bottle of Chardonnay, creamy and tones of Vanilla and in a blind tasting I may have called it a California wine, and the fruit may have come from there.   The only Kentucky wine that we had was from the Semi-Sweet Red category and it was the Estate Grown Chambourcin and it was a tasty wine for this sometimes forgettable grape, and the other Estate Grown wine was the Norton, which they were sold out of, and I would have liked to have tried it, because I have enjoyed the tasting of that grape when the wine is done well.  The Petit Sirah was a good inky-dark wine that was aged for eight months in a mix of French and American Oak and it was a nice and easy drinking wine.  The Cabernet Sauvignon was aged for twelve months in French Oak and for its price was a good solid wine that could compete with a lot of the popular priced Cabs that are out there.  While I was a bit disappointed that my first Kentucky wine did not really offer a lot of Kentucky grown grapes, it did display the quality work and passion of the Smith-Berry Winery to put out a very nice and affordable collection of wines.

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Some Red Wines in Kentucky

Posted on April 18, 2019 by thewineraconteur

Family get-togethers are great and when they are a long weekend, there is plenty to party about.  I would guess the real hard work is for the host and hostess, because it is their house, their dishes, their food and their wine.  Though I know that there were contributions, it is a lot to do.  As I say, it may be a long time before the entire family gets together in Kentucky, but while it was occurring there was a lot of fun.  The logistics of booking the all of the hotel rooms, and we did kind of have our own wing on one of the floors was nice.  The hotel also had complimentary breakfasts being served for a couple hours each morning, so that took a bit of a load off of our hostess, but as I look back upon all of us having breakfast together, we should have taken a couple of bottles of bubbly and made Mimosas, I mean, I must be losing it, as the thought never came to me, until I am writing this down.

As for the dinners, even though, I kept mentioning white wines and several different types of fish, being served, there was also good old American red beef.  If you recall, when I was discussing all of the different dietary requirements for all of the guests, one of the residents in Kentucky has a very strict diet of beef filets, broccoli and green beans and no butter.  In case you think that is an odd diet, this individual doesn’t have a spare fat tissue to be found and he is doing half-marathons, don’t look at me, I am not sure if I could handle his diet or his athleticism.  Though I did indulge in filets on a couple of the evenings.

We had brought a case of wine with us, to mingle with the other wines that our host and hostess were serving, and even though it is like take coal to Newcastle, it is the proper thing to do.  We also took some Rosé wines, because they are popular and everyone seems to enjoy them.  One of our favorites now is Podere Ciona “Ciona Rosé” Toscana IGT 2016.  Franca and Franco Gatteschi were looking for a place in the countryside to retire to and found this one-hundred-acre estate with a house from the 18’th Century that had been abandoned for about forty years.  They purchased the property in 1990 and spent three years working on the main house.  They also started planning a winery and in 1997 they had their first official vintage.  They are located in the commune of Gaiole in Chianti Classico country.  They had been making a Rosé for a couple of years using Sangiovese, the grape of Chianti and Cabernet Franc, unfortunately one year the local wild boars decimated the Cabernet Franc vines, so this particular vintage is made from pure Sangiovese, and was aged for three months in Stainless Steel.  The entire production of this wine was a hundred cases of wine, and my local wine shop got the monopoly on the allotment of the United States quota.  The wine had a nice dark salmon pink color, with a nose of fruit and herbs, with tastes of strawberry, and watermelon.  It was very easy to drink and I find it much more enjoyable compared to the big boy Rosé wines from California that demand all the shelf space in most wine shops.  I also brought some Michigan wine, because I have really found some excellent wines the last couple of years on our tours.  We poured some Boathouse Vineyards Pinot Noir Leelanau Peninsula 2013 made from Dijon Clones and aged for nine months in French Oak and I found that this persnickety growing grape made a lighter wine, but as the vines mature, I also thought that I would like to see how this wine would age, and I have to say that the cellar time allowed this wine to offer some depth that it did not show when we tasted it at the winery, which made us happy, as we still have more at the house.  The last wine that I will discuss, is a wine that I have been watching unfold and blossom in our cellar and we may have gotten the last case of it in Michigan.  Yao Family Wines owns no vineyards in Napa Valley, but they do have a tasting room in St. Helena, with contracts with vineyards in Coombsville, Atlas Peak, Oak Knoll District and St. Helena, but the wines carry the Napa Valley AVA. The Yao Ming Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 was the perfect wine to end the evening with. The wine was almost entirely Cabernet Sauvignon, but there was 5% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot, and of the Cabernet Sauvignon there were three different clones and each was vinified separately before the blending. Here was a wine that was aged for eighteen months in French Oak, of which 65% was new, and they had created a wonderful drinking wine even with a high 14.3 Proof, and each time we have cracked open a bottle, the nose, taste and finish gets betters bigger and better.   That is what wine is all about, and the next time that we will all get together, will be in Michigan, because the acting twins are graduating in June, and their graduation party will be held here, to make it easier for all of the relatives.

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“Why Photograph Those?”

Posted on April 16, 2019 by thewineraconteur

There we were, the entire clan in Louisville, and all having a good time.  There was like eighteen people in and out of the house and the kitchen was definitely the center of attention.  The kitchen never closed.  How all the meals were made, always surprise me and I have watched this chaos for years.  We had brought a case of wine to the festivities and our hosts had even gone out to buy more wine for the weekend, it was just a good time.  Arrangements had been made so that everyone had seen the play Mary Poppins Jr. at least once during the weekend, since that was the whole reason for the party.

Wine was being opened at a rather continuous rhythm and the days and the nights were humming along.  There were times when my Brother-in-Law was giving me some joshing for taking photos of some of the wines that he thinks are just every day wines, and he said “why photograph those?”  I told him that most of the wines that I write about are “every day” wines, as I don’t and most people that I know don’t have the life style that First Growths require, I also don’t have that kind of an income stream.  I told him that I try to write about all types of wines from industrial bulk that are the backbone of the catering industries to the First Growths, if and when I encounter them.  I joked with him, that I think the same couple of bottles of DRC are photographed ad-nauseum for everyone to write about and extol the virtues of the wines, but most of the time, those high-powered bottles are shown not opened.  When I started writing, I used the labels that I had soaked off and put into scrapbooks along with notes, and to this day I am still removing labels.  That was one of the reasons that I have liked to show matchbooks from restaurants, just as additional proof.

The more I thought about it, the more I was sure that I was right, because what we might have considered every day, others will break out for special events.  While the event that brought all together was special, the attitude towards the wine and dine portion of the weekend was much more laid back.  Take for example the Bonterra Vineyards Chardonnay California 2017, here is a wine where the fruit has been harvested from different regions in the state.  Seventy percent of the juice is aged in a mix of French and American Oak and only fifteen percent is new, the other thirty is aged in Stainless Steel.  When all that juice is blended together there is a delicious bottle of Chardonnay that shows some of the creaminess without hitting you over the head with it.  The wine also delivers some crispness, and a touch of minerality and for the price, I think it is a great bargain, especially for crowds.  One of the other bottles that we were enjoying throughout the weekend was Bogle Vineyards Chardonnay California 2017.  Bogle is now one of the largest wine producers in the United States and it is still family owned, and they began with a small farm in 1968.  They endeavor to make a quality wine for a decent price, and they stick to all the basic grapes that have hit the big time in California like this Chardonnay.  This wine gets eight months of barrel aging and delivers a subtle Chardonnay that is very easy to drink.  The weekend was basically fish and chicken, so there was a lot of white wine to go around.  These are two white wines that I never have a problem with and yes, they should be photographed.

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Supercalifragilistexpialidocius

Posted on April 14, 2019 by thewineraconteur

I began telling a tale about being in Kentucky, and then I was side-tracked, just like I am in real life.  One thing about Raconteurs is that, no matter how flustered or way-laid, we eventually get back to a story, because somehow in the back of our brain, we know that there is more than a dangling participle left out waiting to be finished.  We had a monumental family get-together and in one weekend, we had the mother and all five sisters and spouses in town to see a high school production of Mary Poppin Jr.  It was not that we were all major fans of the film and later the play, but because the twins in Kentucky had the leads and it might be the last time that they are on stage for some time, as they are attending different universities in the fall.

It was an example of controlled chaos in the house and especially in the kitchen for my Sister-in-Law and I do think she was reveling the entire time.  Not only did we have all the siblings, but we had a strong showing of the children of the siblings for the weekend as well.  Now if you can imagine five sisters all trying to cook at the same time, and it was kind of Marxian (as in Brothers, not Communism), because every dish had to be studied to make sure that certain members could eat this or eat that.  There are allergies to contend with, and then there is Gluten-free demands and medically required diets, so the sisters may band against me, but at times it seemed that Groucho, Chico, Harpo, Zeppo and Gummo all were in the kitchen and basically being as functional as possible.  We also had some of the kids making side trips for oriental food and raids on a chain that will soon be in Michigan, in a big way Chick-fil-a.  I guess it isn’t as crazy when we have the big dinners here, or maybe I am just oblivious to it, because I usually don’t have a main seat in the kitchen area, but I think my Bride has a handle on the dietary rules of everyone, and she shops ahead.

Wine was flowing, and I really missed taking photographs of most of the bottles that we went through each night, but that is fine, because even I was caught up in the maelstrom of the event.  One of the bottles that evening was Charles & Charles Chardonnay 2015 from Washington State.  Charles & Charles is from Bieler and Smith, a joint collaboration formed in 2008 between Charles Smith of K Vintners and Charles Smith Wines and Charles Bieler of Three Thieves, Bieler Pere et Fils and Gotham Project.  The fruit came from the Columbia Valley and from three vineyards there; Evergreen/Ancient Lakes, Shaw High River and Moxee.  The wine was very crisp and belied its popular price.  They aged the wine for eight months on the lees, with twenty percent in barrels and the balance in Stainless Steel.

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Prie Carignane and Michael David Inkblot

Posted on April 12, 2019 by thewineraconteur

All good things must come to an end, and we were down to the last two samples for the virtual wine tasting courtesy of snooth.com.  There were two themes that were running through this wine tasting.  One theme was grape varietals that are not the “big three” to the mass markets and the ones that get all of the press.  The other theme was about Lodi and what a great grape growing area it is in California, where it was once only considered suitable for Zinfandel, the area has blossomed with its ability to let other grapes blossom and to be nurtured into another awesome community that should be on the bucket list for wine lovers.  This also leads me to introduce the third co-host of the evening and that is Stuart Spencer, who is the Executive Director of the Lodi Winegrape Commission and owner/winemaker of St. Amant Winer. While I cannot claim to know any of the co-hosts of the evening, there were several enjoying the virtual wine tasting with me, that I have not actually met, but I have become friends with in the wine blogging community.

The penultimate wine of the evening was Prie Vineyards Ancient Vine (1900) Block 4 Spenker Vineyards Carignane Lodi 2016. John and Lisa Gash were from Livermore, California and their first vintage was in 2005.  In 2012 they purchased the Cliff Mettler house and vineyard and constructed the Lodi winery in 2013.  The tasting room was built in 2015.  Carignane is the California version for the grape known as Carignan or Carinena, Carignan Noir, Carignano, Mazuelo, Gragnano, Pinot Evara or Samso.  The grape is native to the Aragon region of Spain and shines in the Priorat.  The grape also does very well in the Languedoc-Roussillon.  It has long been favored for blending and being harmonious with other grapes.  Carignane is known for evoking dark fruits and pepper, so it is not surprising that it is described often as being spicy and savory.  The wine had a good solid nose and I thought it was going to be really fruit-forward, but I found it very solid and balanced, with some cherry, some licorice and some pepper, the type of wine that I really like to “chew” as we used to say.  I think this wine will sell out rather quickly, as there were only seventy cases produced.

The last wine of the evening, was the one that my Bride was chomping at the bit, to try, as it is her favorite grape.  The Michael David Winery “Inkblot” Cabernet Franc Lodi 2016 was worth waiting for.  The winery was founded in 1984 by the brothers Michael and David Phillips, and they represent the fifth generation of Lodi grape farmers and their family goes back to 1850 in the area.  Their most famous wine is “The Seven Deadly Zins” that is produced from their seven-hundred-fifty acres.  The “Inkblot” Cabernet Franc comes from a nine-acre vineyard and spends sixteen months in French Oak, of which thirty-five percent is new.  We are both biased towards this grape, and this wine was so well made that it made us both smile with purple teeth.  The nose taunted us with cherries, it gave us a nice elegant taste with clean tannins and it lingered with some fruit and some mocha.  I think this would be a hell of a wine after about five years in the cellar.  This was just a wonderful evening of wines, and all of the wines were in the affordable price range, as the most expensive wine had a Suggested Retail Price of $35.00.  It was our pleasure to be included in this virtual wine tasting and another thank you to Snooth.  I am glad that I could give my thoughts that evening, tasting and typing away, and now reporting more leisurely while getting a chance to relive the wines.

 

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Lange Twins Aglianico Rosé and Mettler Family Pinotage

Posted on April 10, 2019 by thewineraconteur

I have to admit that we were pretty geeked up trying these sample wines courtesy of snooth.com and the virtual wine tasting; and all the wines were from Lodi, California and all lesser known varietals.  It has only been in the last couple of years that I have discovered the wines of Lodi, I guess you can say that I have lived a sheltered childhood, but I do think that most of the wine growing areas unwillingly play second fiddle to Napa and Sonoma.  I actually think that all of the other wine growing areas must work even harder, and in some cases even deliver a much better value and bang for the buck.  I would venture to say that one of the co-hosts of the even would agree and that was Adam Mettler who is the Director of Wine Operations/Lead Winemaker for Michael David Winery and he is also the Winemaker at Mettler Family Vineyards, and both are in Lodi, so his commute is not to bad.  I also have to mention that Adan Mettler was named Winemaker of the Year 2016 by Wine Enthusiast magazine.

The third wine of the evening was Lange Twins Winery and Vineyards Aglianico Rosé River Ranch Vineyard Lodi 2018.  Lange Twins Winery has five generations of growing sustainable wine growers and in 2006 opened a winery.  They have attained the Lodi Rules Sustainable Winegrowing Certified Green status and gaining recognition for their work.  In 2015 that planted almost seven acres of Aglianico vines, a native to southern Italy and known for being a late blooming variety.  Aglianico is know for having firm tannins, high acidity and can offer notes of plum and chocolate especially after aging and cellaring.  This wine is an exclusive winery offering this year and I found that as a Rosé this wine was fresh and gave me notes of strawberries and rhubarb, but the wine was dry and not sweet.

The fourth wine of the evening was the first red as well.  The Mettler Family Vineyards Estate Grown Pinotage Lodi 2016 was an interesting choice.  The Mettler family is one of the oldest families in Lodi since the late 1800’s and wine growers for six generations.  They have attained the Lodi Rules Sustainable Winegrowing Certified Green status and then in 2010 went to the next level CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers).  Pinotage is South Africa’s signature grape, a crossing of Pinot Noir and Cinsaut that was developed in 1925, but the first commercial planting was done in 1943.  Pinotage is a portmanteau from the two grapes, Pinot Noir and Cinsaut which is known locally as Hermitage.  I am not an authority on Pinotage by no means, but this was the first time that I did not notice a strong influence of terroir, and I may be naïve, but I thought this variety tended to evoke the land.  The nose promised dark fruit and a wispiness of smoke, the taste delivered some black cherry with mild acidity and moderate tannins.  My Bride is still reticent about Pinotage, but she is slowly appreciating the wines we have had. 

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