A Night with Matthew Kaner

Posted on September 14, 2018 by thewineraconteur

My second adventure with a virtual wine tasting through the auspices of Snooth.  I would hardly say that I am an old hand at it, but it was another learning experience.  The guest speaker for the evening was Matthew Kaner who is a wine director and partner at several wine bars in the Los Angeles area.   We were going to taste and discuss four German wines, and I have to be honest, I went and did some basic reading on the wines of Germany, because I really don’t encounter them that often.

The first wine of the evening was from Weingut Borell Diehl Muller-Thurgau Trocken 2017.  This wine is a Qualitatswein from the Rheinpfalz.  Qualitatswein is the Second Tier of German Wine Classification and about seventy-five percent German wine falls under this designation and the wine must come from thirteen official Andaugebiete (wine regions).  The grape for this wine is Muller-Thurgau which is a cross between Riesling and Madeleine Royale, created in 1882 by Dr. Herman Muller of Thurgau, Switzerland.  Known for a peach aroma and low acidity, it has suffered the ups and downs of popularity, because there is more current interest in planting Riesling.  I found the wine to have a pretty soft straw color leaning towards a bit of gold.  As the wine began opening up, I found it to have some hints of peach and green apple, which was refreshing, especially as it was the first wine.  I also found it to be chewy, which may not be a current acceptable wine term, but one that was bandied around when I was being introduced to wines, and I found that the wine had more acidity than I had expected and it had a nice long finish.  My Bride described it as delicate and light and thought she would we enjoy it with Whitefish, the very popular dish here in Michigan.  She also remarked that the bottle looked bigger, which I didn’t think much of it, but it was pointed out that the bottle did actually contain one liter of wine, so it was a bonus serving.  She kept going back to it.

The second wine of the evening was Weingut Koehler-Ruprecht Weiser Burgunder Kabinet Trocken 2016.  The label was reminiscent of the old Germanic lettering from the last turn of the century, but only for the name of the winery.  This wine had the Pradikat of Kabinet which is the first tier in the pecking order for a finer wine designation and back in the day, it was felt that the winemaker thought that this wine had more to offer compared to the basic crop.   When I was a kid, first learning about wines the Rheinpfalz was the largest wine producing district in Germany and produced the bulk of current consumption wines in Germany.  Landwein (like Vin du Pay or IGP) and Deutscherwein (table wine) with sixty percent white wines and forty percent red wines.  Weiser Burgunder is the German name for the grape known as Pinot Blanc and genetically it is related to Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir.  I found the wine to have a pale straw color, with a light floral nose and a scent of lime.  As the wine opened up it kept getting more interesting with some layers of spice to make it a fun wine to pair with some dishes that would have some heat to them.    My Bride who is like me, has even more trouble using descriptors, but she thought it was fresh and crisp, and she thought it reminded her of tea.

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A Virtual Wine Tasting of Some German Wines

Posted on September 12, 2018 by thewineraconteur

I have another virtual wine tasting this evening under the good graces of the wine site Snooth.  This is the second virtual wine tasting that I have been invited to participate in, and I now have a much better idea of what to expect.  Even if you are not participating in the tasting, one can watch the event in real time by going to Snooth.com.  The event will begin at 8:30 EDT and the host this evening will be Matthew Kaner, a wine director and partner at several wine bar in the Los Angeles area.  Mr. Kaner will be discussing the wines in sequence and those of us involved in the virtual tasting will be responding and typing our notes during the tasting and they will appear on a side bar, so that all can read and appreciate the observations of the others.

I have to admit that I went back and did some studies about the wines of Germany, as I do not encounter them that often.  In the old days when I first started learning and teaching myself about wines; France, Germany and Italy were the three main players that one would encounter in wine shops and in restaurants.  In the 1960’s and the 70’s the three largest selling German wines were Liebfraumilch, Blue Nun and Zeller Schwarzer Katz.  The first two were from the Rhine regions and the latter was from the Moselle-Saar-Ruwer.  As I was unpacking the wines I was trying to find a common denominator as the wines were from different wineries, and the only commonality was that the four wines were from the Rhine region, three from the Rheinpfalz and one from the Rheinhessen.  The varietals were all different as well.  Three of the wines were Qualitatswein, which is the second tier of German wine classification and then the wines must come from thirteen official wine regions; this classification probably accounts for the bulk of wines that one finds routinely.   The fourth wine is a Qualitatswein mit Pradikat, or fine quality.

The wines will be tasted and discussed to reflect the weight of the grapes from light to heavy.  We will begin with Weingut Borell-Diehl Muller-Thurgau 2017.  The next wine will be Weingut Koehler-Ruprecht Weisser Burgunder (Pinot Blanc) Kabinett 2016.  The third wine will be Weinreich Basisweiss Pinot Gris 2017 and then followed by Weingut Von Winning “Winnings” Riesling 2015.  I am looking forward to the evening and the following hashtag #TasteTheNew will be used on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Ms. Yoga in Chartreuse

Posted on September 10, 2018 by thewineraconteur

I have to admit that for all of the years that I have known Ms. Yoga, Chartreuse is not her color.  She has gone through the shades of purple, pink and teal, but not Chartreuse, but we got her into Chartreuse for dinner after we left the Detroit Institute of Arts.  The restaurant is in the historic Park Shelton hotel the next block over, so it was the perfect venue for dinner.  We arrived a little early, but that gave the ladies an excuse to go shopping, as if they need an excuse and I went to get our reserved table.  The ladies came back, but by this time I had already started some wine, it had been a little over two hours since we had a glass at the DIA.   Naturally the woman did not approve of our table and wanted a location more in the thick of it all, and they said that they probably put all the “mature” (my words) people in the back, and leave the front tables for the so called “hipsters.”  Since they were moving us to a new table, I had to find the original waitress and give her a special gratuity, since her sanity was saved by not having to wait on us.

We were explaining to Ms. Yoga that Chartreuse was a very unique little bistro with a very limited menu and a very limited wine carte, and both were not the run of the mill.  We started off with maybe the most prosaic dish, but it is Michigan, so we went with it, and that is the Smoked Whitefish Pate; just remember that I am with women that like to nosh.  The ladies eventually found their dish of choice.  Ms. Yoga went with Lobster Fried Rice with Rock Shrimp, peas, Thai Basil, Lobster-Soy, egg and spicy peanuts.  My Bride went with an order of Scallops with Sweet Corn Ravioli, tomato, roasted summer onions in a Corn Cob Bisque.  I almost went with the Crispy Duck Confit, but at the last moment I decided to go with the Wagyu Sirloin, with Corn Bread, Oyster Mushrooms, grilled scallions pickled tomato and a Romesco Sauce, which is a blend of red pepper, garlic and nuts.  It was funny, but Ms. Yoga wanted to try their Corn Bread, since she has become quite a maven living down South, and our waitress brought her one and she was happy with their version.

While the food was esoteric so was the wine carte and about the most recognizable wine was Bruno Paillard Extra Brut Blanc De Blancs Grand Cru NV.  While I was keeping myself entertained while the ladies shopped, I started with Domaine de la Bongram Domaine de Roally Viré-Clessé 2015.  Here was a new winery started in 2002 that has four hectares of Chardonnay growing in one of the newest appellations (1999) for the Maconnais region, and the rules are that the wine must be Chardonnay and it must the driest of the dry by measurement or it must be labeled either Macon or Macon-Villages.  The taste of minerals from the terroir was totally appreciated and totally refreshing.  Keeping with the theme of a White Burgundy without breaking the bank we then went to a wine by Domaine Jean-Noel Gagnard Caroline Lestime Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Beaune “Sous Equisons” 2015.  Here was another Chardonnay with a little different terroir, from an appellation where only twenty percent of the wine is white.  The wine is named for the “cliff above the vineyard” and a very enjoyable bottle of wine from a well-respected house and there were only three-hundred cases made of this wine.  We did need a red to finish off the evening, especially with my Wagyu Sirloin, and I might add that even though Sirloin is not that special of a cut, this steak was very rich and tender.  I went with something a bit quirky, instead of the expected.  We had the Quinta do Tedo 2012 from the Douro region of Portugal.  This wine was a blend of Tinta Roriz, or known locally as Aragonez and known internationally as Tempranillo and both Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca.   The winery gives a very mythic accounting of the founding of the winery and the area with no attest.  This wine was a mixture of wines that were aged from ten to twelve months both in Stainless Steel and French Oak (both new and old).  They produced about eleven-thousand bottles of this wine and I found it to have balanced and mellow tannins and some good spice, so I was a happy camper.  We had no room for dessert, or any room for some unique Chartreuse, but we were all very happy and I am sure that Ms. Yoga would not object to going back to this restaurant.

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Leia to Raquel

Posted on September 8, 2018 by thewineraconteur

We toured “Star Wars and the Power of Costume” at the Detroit Institute of Arts.  We weren’t sure if Ms. Yoga would be interested in seeing the exhibit, but when she said yes, we went ahead and booked the tickets for the special event.  The Detroit Institute of Arts is one of the crowning jewels in the city, and a few years back, when the city was in dire peril, the vultures were close to circling over this national treasure, but when it was discovered that it could not be touched, the city, the state, the country and dare I say the world, all breathed a sigh of relief.  I have been going to the DIA since I was in elementary school and I haven’t stopped since.  There were a couple of times that I can even remember skipping school with friends to spend the day there, and did I really admit to that?  Actually, my Bride and I have attended many museums on our travels, and I can rightfully claim that the DIA is a world-class museum, even if it tucked away in Detroit.

We arrived at the DIA in time for our scheduled tour, and it was a self-directed tour with a personal hand-held apparatus that acted as your personal docent.  I have to admit that my appreciation for the films are for the first three films, or episodes four, five and six.  I was there for the initial game changer known as “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.”  I would venture to say that the real interest for the three of us, was in the costumes from the first three movies, but it was interesting to see, how as the films became bigger and bigger, the costumes became much more detailed and intricate.  One of the interesting trivia facts that I took away from the exhibit, was that even from day one, there was a mandate by George Lucas that closures were to be hidden and unseen.  There were plenty of costumes seen, and not just for the humans, but there were uniforms, alien outfits, creatures and droids or robots.  One could really appreciate how tall Darth Vader, C3-P0 and Chewbacca were and how short in height were R2-D2, Ewoks and Yoda.  There were even some side references like Han Solo was costumed to evoke Gary Cooper from “High Noon.”

After the special exhibit we decided to go have a snack at the Kresge Court at the DIA and then look at some of the other halls.  When I was younger, the Kresge Court was actually an open-air court that was built in the near the center of the museum, it was where people could go and have coffee and a smoke, which people used to do back in the day.  My Bride always likes to remind me that she used to go there for the Breakfast with Bach events.  Now the Kresge Court is covered and safe from the elements.  There are two locations to have a quick bite in DIA, but this one is definitely the better of the two for the ambience, though some complain that it is much more expensive.  It was perfect for us, with just small plate offerings and a glass of wine.  I went and secured us a place to eat, as this room is always popular and the ladies went to place the order, they came back with drinks and sign holder with a numeral, so that the servers could bring our food to the right destination.  We ended up having glasses of Storypoint Chardonnay 2015 from California.  This was an easy to wine to drink, and when there is an offering of big production, very popular price wines offered, I usually suggest the Chardonnay, as a chilled wine is easy.  This wine was actually good, in that it tasted like a Chardonnay, the fruit had been sourced from Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake Counties, and each lot was fermented separately in a mix of Stainless Steel and French Oak.  There may not been a lot of finesse, in the production, but it hit the spot.

As we were getting ready to view some of the other halls, a lady that works for the DIA told us that it was raining very hard outside at the moment, a fact that we could not tell while in the Kresge Court, and she suggested that we go see a free movie that was getting ready to screen at the Detroit Film Theatre which is part of the museum.  I have to admit that for all of the years that I have been going there, I had never been to the DFT and was I amazed at the beauty of the room, the grandeur of the room is actually hidden by the fact that there is a very drab and unassuming hall and assembly area that one sees first.   There was a balcony and some private viewing boxes on both sides of the stage and with all the gilt-work, it made me remember the glory days of attending first-run theaters in Downtown Detroit as a kid.  We saw another Sci-Fi type of movie that had cheesier sets more reminiscent of the original Star Trek television show, and one of the funniest scenes that probably could not be shot today, was that of all the men trying to remove white corpuscles off of the jumpsuit that Raquel Welch is in.  The movie was “Fantastic Voyage” and yes, I did see this movie in Downtown Detroit as a kid in 1966.

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Ms. Yoga Holds Court

Posted on September 6, 2018 by thewineraconteur

As I have stated that when Ms. Yoga is in town, there is a schedule to follow.  It is understandable that she sees family, friends and even business appointments.  She likes gatherings and she had planned a gathering one night, that was on one of the few days that I actually work, as I am semi-retired for a lack of a better term.  So, I was going to meet them after I got off of work and my long commute.  She was going to hold court that evening at Fleming’s Steak House and she enjoys her steakhouses.  The only difference was that she was meeting everyone in the bar side, as opposed to the restaurant side, and that is always a fun side to be at.  By the time that I arrived, everyone was gone, save for Ms. Yoga and my Bride.

Since the last time that I had been to the bar at Fleming’s they had changed the menu from their “5 for 6 til 7” and created a complete mini-menu for the bar side, and you could order from the main menu in the bar as well.  I am not sure exactly what was ordered, but since the women are dyed in the wool noshers, there was a collection of small plates on the table and I was the designated vacuum cleaner.  There were a couple of half sandwiches like a filet, a prime-cheeseburger and a French-Dip.  There were also sides of veggies and even Candied-bacon.  I just grazed on what wasn’t touched that was either destined for me or for a “doggie-bag.”

While I was looking for a glass of wine to have with my smorgasbord of small plates, I saw that they were even offering a cocktail made using Duckhorn Sauvignon Blanc, but I passed and chose something that I was sure would pair with an assortment of carnivore dishes.  Of course, my dates for the evening had neglected to record the wines that they were having before I arrived and I really don’t like stock photos found on the internet, so I will only discuss my wine which was by Taken Wine Company of Napa Valley at it was their Red Blend 2014.   Taken Wine Company is a joint effort by two individuals that have Napa juice going through their veins, notably Josh Phelps and Carlo Trinchero and their first release was the 2010 vintage.  Here is a wine that is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Merlot and Petit Sirah and aged in French Oak.   I found it to be big, and not overly jammy, because the Zinfandel was not domineering in the nose, taste or finish, but just blended perfectly and paired with my hodge-podge of small plates.  Flemings should use Ms. Yoga for an advertisement as she always has at least one session here each time she is in town.

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Almost a Dry Lunch

Posted on September 4, 2018 by thewineraconteur

With Ms. Yoga in town, the week is all about scheduling, as she is in here for business.  The good news is that during the week that she is visiting, I actually have two readers of my blog that I can account for under one roof.   Ms. Yoga and my Bride are both in the same industry and that is how they originally met, and now they somehow include the fifth wheel (me) into some of their plans.  I was going to join them for lunch, and then they were going to do business stuff and I could do some wine stuff, and my stuff sounded so much better.

We were meeting at Meriwether’s which I have wrote about often and they do a very good job and have survived the trials and tribulations of the restaurant industry for ages.  They are a part of a small local chain where each restaurant is a separate unit with its own identity, so they are not cookie-cutter repeats.  The restaurant has the feel of an English Inn and they are known for their fresh seafood and steaks.  They are also known for their Teacup Bread and the accompanying Honey-Cinnamon Butter and as I look back, they have never offered a second helping on this wonderful side.  Alas, we were not having fresh seafood per se, because we were meeting for a not-so-fast lunch.  Ms. Yoga had the Charley’s Chowder and a Shrimp Caesar Salad.  I looked at the menu and decided that I wanted a Spinach Salad done in the classic way, with the warm Bacon dressing, and to my surprise, my Bride wanted that as well, and we shared a protein topping, or as I would call it a breast of chicken.

My two road warriors that I was with, refrained from having a glass of wine or a cocktail, because they were on the clock, I on the other hand was not on the clock and I decided on a glass of wine as there was no need to order a bottle just for one person.  I decided on a glass of Marqués de Caceres Rosado Rioja DOCa 2016.  The estate was founded in 1970 by Enrique Forner, whose family has been in the wine business for almost the entire Twentieth Century with vineyards in Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Cenicero and they basically are all planted with either Tempranillo for red wine and Viura for white wine.  They are also known for the use of American and French Oak for aging. This Rosado was basically Tempranillo with four percent Garnacha Tinta, hand harvested and aged in Stainless Steel to maintain the freshness of the fruit, in fact the wine was actually bottled in January after the fall harvest.  The wine had a very pretty coral pink color, with a floral nose, very refreshing and easy drinking and would have worked with almost any savory dish.  At least I had a chance to enjoy a glass of wine or there would have been no article, as who wants to read about a dry lunch?

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Ms. Yoga is Back

Posted on September 2, 2018 by thewineraconteur

One of my delightful cast of characters returned to Michigan and our home became her base of operations.  We have been on the go the entire month of August and then we even had more fun with her presence.  Ms. Yoga and my Bride go way back, BTWR or Before the Wine Raconteur, and sometimes I am just the fifth wheel, but what the hell.  We prepared to have her favorite guest suite ready, and some things were planned and some other moments were just going to be done on the fly, but there would be some wine encountered and why not, she would not have it any other way.

Ms. Yoga is a nibbler and I really think she prefers an evening of appetizers over a standard meal, though she does enjoy her steakhouses, and if that sounds like a bit of contradictions, so be it, but the outcome is always good and plenty of laughing and good times.  When she finally arrived and had a chance to somewhat unpack, we ended up in the breakfast nook and just started noshing.  My Bride was just pulling out all sorts of small plates with no rhyme or reason, but it was all done in the anticipation of her arrival.  Even the final course was more an appetizer dish, but I think we were running out of steam, not to mention room in the waist by the time the Crab Cakes were served.

As for wines, we went through several and all were standards for us here and they worked.  We had opened a bottle of JaM Cellars Butter Chardonnay 2015, as this has become one of my Bride’s go-to wines these days and if fact I think we had it on one of the nights that Ms. Yoga was here the last time, as it is an easy to drink Chardonnay for the price. The wine carries a California AVA designation as the fruit comes from Mendocino County, Santa Barbara County and Clarksburg. It is a commercial bulk wine that has some appeal, and since it is not done in oak barrels for aging, they use oak chips to impart the taste of the oak and the butter taste and texture that one gets from small batch Chardonnay wines.  The other wine was Ruta 22 Malbec Mendoza 2016 of Argentina.  Ruta 22 is the name of the major route in Mendoza, and the winery was established in 2010, so it is new, but the fruit for this wine came from three different areas of Mendoza, namely Uco Valley, Agrelo and Eastern Mendoza and the winery ages the wine up to two years in a mix of French and American Oak depending on the vintage. The wine had some excellent body and flavor and paired very well with our dinner, in fact the wine must have evaporated as it seemed to disappear.  The winery is part of the much larger umbrella company of Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits.  Malbec, Mendoza and Argentina are almost synonymous with each other, as Malbec is the leading grape of the area and it has been planted there from the mid-Sixteenth-Century by the Jesuit priest that initially came to the area.  The good thing is that we could relax and enjoy plenty of wine, because we were not going to be leaving the house.

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Lodi and Puglia

Posted on August 31, 2018 by thewineraconteur

I recently picked up the monthly pair of wines from the Fine Wine Source Wine Club, our newest club and quite close to the house.  While it kind of seems odd to see Lodi and Puglia together in the title, the two wines were from these areas.  The two areas were both bulk grape growing areas at one time and now most of the farmers are making the wines in-house or in collectives.  I also think of both areas as excelling in a grape that is the same, in Italy it is Primitivo and in California it is known as Zinfandel, or they are so close depending on who you talk to, and then it seems that every seems to think that it came from Croatia where it is known as Crljenak.  While I really did not do any real research, I am sure that one can find a Rosé wine from Puglia, especially know as everyone seems to be producing one.

Speaking of Rosé, the first wine is Klinker Brick Winery “Bricks & Roses” 2017 from the sub district of Lodi-Mokelumne River of Lodi AVA.  I have only recently discovered the Lodi wines personally, though I have read about them and Klinker Brick Winery is one that I have actually tried six of their wines and this will make the seventh.  Klinker Brick Winery is into its Sixth Generation, but they began as grape farmers and would sell their fruit originally to the home wine makers and Zinfandel was the main crop in this area. Eventually they began selling the crops in the latter part of the 1900’s to other wine makers and eventually they took the plunge themselves as there was a strong demand for their crops. They have about sixteen plots of land mostly along what is known as the Lodi-Mokelumne River as well as some in the Clements Foothills. They produced their first bottle of Zinfandel in 2000, and their first Syrah in 2001.  This wine is a blend of Grenache, Carignane, Syrah and Mourvedre and while I could not find any production notes, I will venture to say that it was done in Stainless Steel to maintain the freshness and crispness of the grapes.  While I did not do a tasting of either wine from the club, I noticed that this wine has a beautiful salmon color, and it was described as having fresh summer fruits with a clean and light acidity.  The owner of the shop described it as rich and full flavored…not a wimpy Rosé.

The other wine is a Primitivo which is usually a big and bold in your face wine, whether as Primitivo or as a Zinfandel, and as I have stated often, for years I shied away from these wines as I grew up drinking homemade “Dago Red” as a kid, which was usually fined with egg whites and for years that was all I could taste, but in the last ten years or so, I have cautiously been dipping my toe in the water for these wines again and I have enjoyed what I have encountered, and I still do get bottles of the homemade stuff.  The second wine is Agricole Vallone Versante Primitivo Salento IGT 2016 and I was told that this is the first time this wine has been offered in Michigan.  Agricole Vallone was founded in 1934 with one-hundred-seventy hectares of vines and other crops, and the grapes were sold to the local cooperative.  It was only in the 1990’s that they began bottling their own estate wines, they had already began producing their own olive oil.  The wine carries the Salento IGT designation, the largest and most common designation in Puglia, and IGT which is on the bottom most rung on the pecking order in Italy, but it allows the wineries the most leeway in production, as long as the grapes all come from the district, and I might add that some of the dearest and sought-after Italian wines only carry an IGT designation.  This wine has been described to me as having big tannins, dental enamel darkening  with offerings of dark fruits and berries with a deep full finish, that may require some time in the cellar to tame the tannins.  A wine like this is a natural with tomato-based dishes that Southern Italian cuisine is all about, from classic pizzas to bold and heavy pastas, or comfort food to me.

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Mint 29

Posted on August 29, 2018 by thewineraconteur

Traditionally when my Favorite Daughter is in town, we take her to one of her prized memories of restaurants in Dearborn, Michigan where she grew up.  Alas the town is not the same, the so-called leaders of the community are letting the city be cobbled every which way according to who has the money and the current political sway.  All the grand places that were famous in Dearborn are gone, either to be torn down to be replaced by a Burger King, or to create new office campuses, because a new generation of workers cannot work in an office environment, or other similar tragedies.  She went to some of the ethnic eateries that have survived, with some of her cousins and friends, but I want to take her to potential new places that perchance live up to her memories of old.  You can’t really go back home.

We decided to meet at Mint 29, a very new restaurant that I had heard did a good job, even though I haven’t lived in Dearborn for ages, I still have eyes and ears in plenty of locations.  For the longest time while I was in Dearborn, I considered myself an amateur modern historian of the city, so I was surprised to find out that while I knew that Mint 29 was in the old Dearborn Music store, I did not realize that the building originally held a bank.  The structure was built in 1929 and when the walls were being gutted they found some old coins dated 1929, hence the name of the restaurant.  The restaurant has that “hip” Chicago feel to it with the exposed brick-work and the open un-finished ceiling which I feel makes a restaurant louder, but I guess the current trend makers prefer that, so real conversations are kept to a minimum.  Mint 29 is a fusion style restaurant, in that the cuisine is not of one area.  We ended up getting there a little early, so we had gone through one order of an appetizer and had to repeat it when my Favorite Daughter showed up.  We had the Blini Smoked Salmon on French Potato Pancakes with Crème Fraiche and Black Caviar.   My daughter had just come from another restaurant, so she was not hungry at all, but I guess she wanted to see us, so that counts for a few points, but we did make her nibble and drink.  My Bride had the Tuxedo Seared Yellow-fin Tuna, which was black and white sesame encrusted, served with spicy seaweed sesame salad, edamame relish and sweet soy sauce.  Being the more provincial guy that I am, I had the Mediterranean Sea Bass, a pan seared Bronzini with shaved fennel in a Lemon Beurre Blanc Sauce.  The food was excellent and definitely worth a repeat visit.

It is rather unique that none of our children drink wine, but we plod along anyways.  My Bride started off with a split of Cantine Vedova Casa Farive Prosecco-Superiore Extra Dry NV.   Here is a wine that would have been made with the Glera grape, but since it is from such a fine delineated area it can call the grape Prosecco, since the rules and laws changed in Italy.  This is a wine made from the Charmat Method and it was very tasty.  The wine had small bubbles, a light straw yellow color and a faint floral nose to it, and since it was Extra Dry compared to a Brut, I enjoyed the finish a bit more.  We ended up having a robust red wine for our entrée dishes.   We had a bottle of wine from Paoletti Winery in Calistoga, Napa Valley.   Paoletti Winery has thirty-six acres in Calistoga and their first release was in 1994, so the wine we were enjoying was from their Twentieth Anniversary and this is the second time that we have had this wine while out.  Their Piccolo Cru 2014 was all fruit from their own estate and it was a Bordeaux blend with half of the wine being Cabernet Sauvignon and then Merlot, Malbec, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc.  The total time for the production of this wine was about sixteen months and it was delightful, with all the qualities that I expect from a Claret.  Thankfully the rules have changed in Michigan and if you don’t finish a bottle with your meal they will recork it for you and put it in a closed bag, so you can take it home with you.  We are not exactly sure when the next time we will all get together.

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A Singular Birthday

Posted on August 27, 2018 by thewineraconteur

We had just got back from Crystal Mountain and there was another get-together in the works.  This time four of the five sisters would be together, but they were all getting together to celebrate a two-year-old, who was getting her own birthday party, because her Mother didn’t want to the event to be co-mingled with the other birthdays as is the usual way to celebrate.  They used one of the sister’s home for the party, that had a swimming pool and invited some of their friends over as well, which is not a problem.  In fact, we even had an extra guest show up, as my Favorite Daughter was in town for a couple of days and she wanted to see everyone.

It can be an expense to cater an affair for twenty to thirty people, that is why most of the birthdays are grouped together for a once a month party.  The birthday dinner was very casual, consisting of hamburger, cheeseburgers, hot dogs and bratwursts, and three chicken breasts for three people that won’t eat the first four choices, and I am not one them just for clarification, because I am known to be fussy.  I think the menu was chosen, because the Father of the recipient of the party could do the food on the barbeque, while the Mother relaxed and let all of the other women take turns with the child.  I am glad that my Bride and some of the other sisters volunteered to bring dishes to the party as well.

We always bring wine with us for any gathering, just like we always bring food and this was no exception.  My Bride wanted one of her tried and true go-to Chardonnays and I wanted to bring something a little different even though I knew it wouldn’t be the best pairing for the meal, it was a hot summer afternoon, and I wasn’t going to be using the pool.  The other white wine for the afternoon came from a wine tasting that I had attended.  That wine was Milou Chardonnay 2016 from the Languedoc district of France, the fruit coming from the plateau of Asperes. Languedoc is getting more and more scrutiny as people are looking for some more affordable table wines. The terrain for this wine was basically limestone and clay, and had the taste of a basic Chablis. This wine is designated as a Vin de Pays D’Oc and while some may turn their nose at it, it was really good. It had the color of light straw and a soft nose, but it tasted very good, with even a nice finish. It was the type of Chardonnay that can fool people who claim that they don’t like big oaky and buttery California types, most would find it refreshing and then they would be surprised, but that is the beauty of wine.  My Bride decided that she was going to use the pool, and I and my Favorite Daughter went out for a drive and some coffee to catch up, but we were also going to meet for dinner one more evening, before she was going home.

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