Folktale Winery Pinot Noir

Posted on March 26, 2018 by thewineraconteur

We got home from Las Vegas and almost immediately we received our latest shipment from our wine club “A Taste of Monterey.” We discovered this club during our first visit to Carmel-by-the-Sea when we made a side trip to the city of Monterey, because we were going to eat at the famed Sardine Factory at Cannery Row.  It really doesn’t take much for us to get side-tracked, especially when we are on holidays.  In fact, we also bought a piece of art that is hanging in our living room from that trip as well.  I guess not all the money was fated to be in a 401 account, but boy have we had fun.  We ended up joining the wine club that day and they offered two different club programs.  One was for two bottles to be shipped monthly and these were in the more popular price range.  We decided to go with the Private Reserve Club which entail three bottles of wine quarterly, but they were not in the popular price range.  This is what we wanted to really get a taste of the wines from the region.

Folktale Winery actual roots go back to 1982 when Bob and Patty Brower began Chateau Julien Wine Estate and slowly and surely began growing the estate and the property with the intent of making French style wines in California.  The winery was acquired by Gregory Ahn and renamed Folktale Winery and Vineyards in 2015.  The five-acre estate winery is 100% organic and then they also have three hundred acres in the Arroyo Seco AVA and they grow Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.  The lead winemaker of the team at Folktale Winery is David Baird, who began his own Le Mistral brand back in 1982 and was one of the original Rhone-style producers in the area.

This is the second wine that I have received from the winery, the first being a Chardonnay and the new wine is their Folktale Winery Pinot Noir 2015 from the Arroyo Seco AVA.  The fruit came from three different vineyards that are all rated for being farmed and harvested sustainably.  I couldn’t find any actual production notes on the wine other than the fact that they were aged in neutral French Oak, but there was time schedule of events.  There was a little over eleven-hundred cases produced and their estimate is for an aging potential of five to six years.  I know that we go through a lot of Pinot Noir wines here, so I am sure that it will be opened in that time frame.

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All Good Times End

Posted on March 24, 2018 by thewineraconteur

Well, our trip to Las Vegas finally ended and it was a sad time to have to say “good bye” to our children and grandchildren.  Such is life.  We tried to spend as much time as possible with the children.  We didn’t go to any museums or nature areas, as we had done those in the past.  We did our required bowling time, because they all enjoy it and while the atypical Grandfather won one round, he didn’t win the second round and my back let me know later that evening that I can no longer use a sixteen-pound bowling ball.  My Bride and I had some quiet time to be together, and we also had time for the always present computers, hers for work and mine to try to keep up with Social Media; which is something that can never be accomplished.  This trip also proved that my Bride’s method at the one-armed bandits did not stay true to form, but that was probably the least of the cash outlays, so all is good, and you won’t here us say that we left winners from the casino, but we were winners for spending as much time as we did with the family.

We also found out that one of our favorite haunts at Tivoli Village which is just across the street from where we stay, is closed.  In fact, it appeared that all of the shops on the second floor were gone, so maybe by our next trip, we will discover something new.  We will miss the View Wine Bar as it was always a delight just to run in and have a bite and a couple of distinctive glasses of wine.  Hopefully next trip in, we can find a suitable replacement for when we develop a bit of a thirst.

There were several restaurants that we went to, that did not make mention, because of a lack of wines and a couple of places that were just for desserts.  One of the restaurants that did have wine was so chaotic and poorly managed that we will never go there again, so they will not be named, but we did have a nice glass of wine there.  The wine was not stellar, but in the middle of the day, sometimes all you want is a well-crafted drink that will not break the bank.  The times when we had ten out for dinner could break the bank.  We enjoyed some Charles & Charles Chardonnay 2015 from Washington State, and while we have had it before, it was the best offering from a limited wine carte.  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.  When we got to the airport, my Bride and I parted, as she was taking advantage of being so far west that she went to visit one of her co-workers who had retired and I went home to begin getting back to a normal cycle of life.

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Lunch with Our Son

Posted on March 22, 2018 by thewineraconteur

It was almost the end of our stay in Las Vegas and we hadn’t had a chance just to have lunch with our son and his wife, while their children were at school.  Since they live in Summerlin we were trying to find a suitable place to eat.  They had some errands to run, and we found out that they were going to be at Downtown Summerlin and that they had never been to Grape Street Café, Wine Bar and Cellar, and even though we had already eaten there, we could go back there without a problem.  Grape Street has been there for nineteen years and they have a California feel to the restaurant, with a slight touch of the Mediterranean to the food.  I think our son hadn’t gone there, because he thought it was more of a wine bar.

We arrived at about the same time as they did and we got a table inside, as the weather had not been as warm as we would have preferred, for eating outside.   My Bride and I were going to go with a salad, and our son and his wife wanted to try some of the entrée offerings.  My Bride had the Blackened Salmon Salad with hearts of Romaine, pineapple, Mandarin oranges, garlic croutons and a Caesar dressing.  I of course have always shied away from “frou-frou” salads, so I kind of went “macho” if that term can be used for a salad, and to think, years ago I probably would have never even considered a salad as a main dish.   I had the Steak Salad with iceberg lettuce, cucumber, cherry hot peppers, pepperoncini, red and green onions, shaved Parmesan and a Lemon-Oregano dressing.

Since our son and his wife really don’t drink that much, we opted for some lighter wines to go with the meal.  My Bride had the Crowded House Sauvignon Blanc 2016 from Marlborough, New Zealand, the second label of Catalina Sounds Wine.  I am quite sure that this was aged in Stainless Steel and I found it not to be as “grapefruit” forward as most of the Sauvignon Blanc wines that I have encountered from Marlborough, and it had some terroir, a subtle under layer of flint, that we both found refreshing.  Nor was it as dry as a French Sauvignon Blanc, but somewhere in the middle.   I wanted something light as well and opted for a very easy and well-respected Benvolio Prosecco NV from Veneto, Italy.  This wine is pure Prosecco, which elsewhere would be called Glera and is all estate grown.  This wine is fermented and aged in Stainless Steel for forty-five to sixty days and they use the Charmat Method to produce this sparkling wine.  Benvolio is now under the umbrella of the Jackson Family Wines group.  Unfortunately with the sun shining in the restaurant I could not get as good of photos as I wished, not that I am that great of a photographer anyways   The whole meal was totally enjoyable, but our son pulled a fast one and went and paid the bill ahead of time, so we were his guests, and we try to keep that from happening, as we know how expensive it is to raise a family.  I guess the next time, we will just have to be quicker on the draw.

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Pizza Time

Posted on March 20, 2018 by thewineraconteur

I tell you that it is difficult finding places to eat when you have a crowd of grandchildren to keep happy and they often times think that a burger is the only thing to eat.  I am sure that there are plenty of grandparents that would allow themselves to be taken to fast food eateries to placate their grandchildren.  My grandchildren have a pain in the arse for a grandfather, who would only eat like that on occasion.  So, we settled on trying a new pizzeria that opened in the area.  Settebello Pizzeria is a small chain with a couple of locations in California, Nevada and one in Utah and they make a Neapolitan style pie, the kind with the thin chewy crust baked in a wood-fed oven and having the signature char marks on the crust.  Our son had heard about the place, but had not tried it, but it had rave reviews from some of his co-workers.  Settebello is the nickname for the Seven of Gold card in the deck of cards of a classic Napoli card game called “Scopa.”  The game is so popular that there are several apps available for your phone to play the game.

I was ready to try a good pie, as I have to admit that pizza is one of my favorite ideas of fast food from the time that I was a kid, as we never had burgers in a restaurant, but pizza was a treat if we were good.  We started off the meal by ordering some plates of beets, a large antipasto salad and a charcuterie platter, just to get the taste buds warmed up.  I was all set for some beets, until I saw that there was Feta cheese mixed with them, so I passed, but I guess Feta is a popular cheese these days, just not for me, in fact I have the hardest time handling most cheeses, but the others enjoyed it.  Everyone got their own individual pie according to how they wanted it, and I had to try to duplicate a good old-fashioned Detroit style pie with pepperoni, mushrooms and anchovies, and I was impressed that they had anchovies, since so many places seem to have given up on them.

I have to admit that ever since I was a teenager, my beverage of choice with pizza was wine, even though everyone else that I grew up with wanted cold beers, and a lot of my friends still prefer it that way, while everyone looked at me with a cocked-eye and groaned.  We had a couple of wines with the meal.  The first that I will mention was Villa Viva Cotes de Thau IGP Rosé 2016.  The Cotes de Thau IGP is a large part of the Languedoc on the Eastern edge and the vineyards are planted on grounds that were originally formed by fossilized oyster beds, since they are near the water.  The Cotes de Thau IGP actually has six communes and they are mostly known for their white wines, because of the terroir and climate, but this wine was pure Carignan and the terroir was noticeable in this wine as well.  The other wine we had was Cantine Riondo Casa Lunardi Pinot Grigio Delle Venezie 2016.  While this white wine at quick notice looks like it is from the fabled city of canals Venice, the district is actually named for the Three Venices from an old administrative region created in 1866 and continued until 1919.  Cantine Riondo is an Italian wine producer formed of over 2,400 wine growers and founded in 2008.  They have six production facilities and five key brands of which Casa Lunardi is one.  This was just a pleasant and easy drinking wine and perfect for the moment.

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Peng Zu

Posted on March 18, 2018 by thewineraconteur

Even out in Las Vegas, where I should be the Patriarch of the family, I sometimes get over-ruled on the selection of a restaurant.  I am partial to independent establishments as opposed to the national chains that have seemed to homogenize the nation and eliminated local cuisine styles.  I also try to choose a restaurant that is not in my own back door, because somehow it just doesn’t seem like I am away.  Now I am not really sure, if there is such a thing as Las Vegas comfort food or cuisine, unless one thinks of the early days of all you can eat $1.99 buffets, that I never tried, for the sake of my intestines.  Nowadays, Las Vegas is a Mecca for enthusiasts of fine food, as almost every “name” chef has at least one restaurant and it has been usually found on The Strip.  That is wonderful unless you are taking out about ten people to dine in which case after a week, even the Brink’s truck would be depleted.

They were all checking out Peng Zu Asian Cuisine that was located in our hotel and was a new addition since we had last been there.  I would venture to say that the majority of people like Asian influenced food, I have tended to avoid it, just because I have found that most establishments would rather rely on MSG as a flavor enhancement, instead of actually being interested in creating quality food.  A couple of the people, including my Bride inquired about the MSG situation and they were all assured that it was not used, so we were going there to have dinner.  I have no idea what half of the dishes were, all I know was that there were plates of food being dropped off at the table, and the plates were being passed around.  I felt like a fish out of water, but I was amazed to see that even my grandchildren were eating with abandon and some could even use chopsticks.  My Bride is very adept using these utensils, and as for myself, I am still a heathen and use a knife, fork and a spoon.   I have to say that I enjoyed the appetizers, and outside of the egg rolls, I could not tell you what else there was.  I also thought that I would venture into something safe and order the Roast Crispy Half-Duck, which I found to be very fatty and greasy, so in the future, I will only order it from a bistro setting.  The good thing is that the food did not go to waste and everyone was enjoying their meals.

Since I knew that we were going there to eat, I stopped by a day or two preceding our dinner to look at the wine carte, and I was surprised that they did not have a single Gewurztraminer listed, and I think of this as a basic go-to wine for this type of cuisine, and in actuality, the wines that they were offering were just basic red and white wines that the average diner would recognize to go with any popular priced national chain.  I asked if there was a corkage fee, if I elected to bring in a wine of my own choosing and they said that there would be a ten-dollar fee, which I could live with.  Off I went in pursuit of a wine and I did not want to go crazy, but I wanted something interesting.  I found a bottle of Lucien Albrecht Tradition Gewurztraminer 2016 from the Alsace in France.  This winery goes back to 1698 and has survived the turmoil that is Alsace, swinging from one kingdom to another and back again.  They also pride themselves on hand harvesting the fruit and becoming increasingly better stewards of the land, as the industry has been going.  I could not find any technical information about this particular wine, but I will venture to say that it was probably aged in Stainless Steel.  It had a very nice soft color, with a soft nose, and it may have been one of the most delicate Gewurztraminer wines that I have ever encountered.   While the others were enjoying the food, I enjoyed the wine.

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Brunch at Echo & Rig

Posted on March 16, 2018 by thewineraconteur

“A hot dog at the ballpark is better than steak at the Ritz.” – Humphrey Bogart

Those are the words that greets you on the window as you approach Echo & Rig Butcher and Steakhouse at Tivoli Village, and from the time that we started making plans to go to Las Vegas again, there was constant mention of the brunch there.  I just wouldn’t be a good trip without it.  The whole main floor of the restaurant is a bar and a butcher shop that sells prime cuts of meat and they also age the meats in house.  It is much different than any other butcher shop that I have ever encountered.  The restaurant is located on the second floor and they also have a beautiful porch overlooking the town square of Tivoli Village, and that is where we decided to dine.  Even though it was a bit chilly, especially for Las Vegas, we have that Michigan blood, plus the overhead heaters and the portable gas heaters really helped as well.

We debated as to whether we were going to try something new, but we both succumbed to our tried and true favorites.  We did opt for something new that we shared before our main dishes arrived.  We split an order of Maryland Blue Crab Cake with a red pepper coulis and fresh limes.  My Bride started to waver but stuck with her original choice of Blueberry Buttermilk pancakes with house made Blueberry syrup. I naturally went big time and chose their featured item on the menu and how could I resist since it was a butcher shop as well as a restaurant. I had Short Ribs Hash and I love Short Ribs and these were Prime, with Yukon Gold potatoes, Bell peppers, Shallots, two Poached eggs and Smoked Hollandaise Sauce.  We did do some sharing and afterwards there was no room for any of the desserts that they were offering that morning.  Our appetites are not as large as they once were, but we were totally happy.

Now as for the “bottomless Mimosas” they were true to their word, as the wine goblet was filled as often as the water glass. The fresh orange juice must be dearer than the sparkling wine, because the juice was brought out in a small carafe for us to pour, while the sparkling wine was almost filling the goblet. The first time that we were there we had this wine, I had never heard of the wine that was being poured, but since then I have noticed other restaurants back home touting the same wine for their Mimosas. Wycliff Brut California Champagne is by the William Wycliff Winery which is under the umbrella of the Gallo Winery group. This screwcap bottle of sparkling wine is geared strictly to restaurants and catering companies, so that the consumer cannot check the retail price of the wine or buy it on their own. Since it is part of Gallo, I am sure that they have made sure that they were grandfathered in with the term “California Champagne.” This wine is made by the Charmat Method, which is a more economical way of producing a sparkling wine and since it was being mixed with orange juice, it was more than adequate. Traditionally the wine would be made with Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier and I will presume that all or part of those grapes are being used. All I can say is that it was a great way to start the day off.  The only thing lacking was the screw cap, instead of the classic pop of a cork, but it was still a great way to start the day.

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Marche Bacchus Survived

Posted on March 14, 2018 by thewineraconteur

We were going to try to meet some other wine bloggers for an afternoon while we were in Las Vegas, but I guess our communications were misunderstood.  I had suggested Marche Bacchus as a likely place to meet, as it is a wine shop, wine bar and a restaurant located in the middle of a residential subdivision on one of the engineered lakes.  I was told that they were closed, because a truck had crashed into their shop, and even though we were not going to meet them, my Bride still wanted to go there for a meal.  I called to see if I could get a reservation and they obliged and later on I read about the accident, and the business continued without too much of an interruption.  When we got there, we could see the physical damage to the façade, but we went in and saw that everything was about the same as the last time.  We wondered around the shop looking for a wine for our meal, because they only charge a ten-dollar corkage fee above the price of the bottle of wine, which is very reasonable, and good business savvy.  There were plenty of wines that would have caused me an instant divorce, if I selected them.  I also refrained from grabbing a bottle of DRC or Petrus to have a photograph taken with the bottle, as it was something that I couldn’t do, because I only write about the wine that I am drinking at the moment, or a wine that I have bought that will be in a future article when I open it up.  While I have had the good fortune to have enjoyed a few of the DRC wines in my youth, the closest I have ever been to a Petrus is seeing it in a rack in a shop, or on a wine carte, though I can still have a fantasy or two about it.

We were seated at a table down along the lake and I had memories of the Snake River Farms Kobe Beef Wagyu “Haute Dog” that I had the last time, my Bride was ecstatic that she was going to enjoy some Foie Gras, and while it was on the menu, it was only served at dinner time now, and they couldn’t serve any, because the required prep was not done ahead of time, we were informed.  C’est La Vie, as we say in Detroit.  We shared a couple of appetizers to begin with, as we were in no rush that afternoon.  We had their Escargot “Persillade” a classic interpretation of Escargot done in Garlic Herb Butter with Parmigiano Bread Crumbs.  The other appetizer that we shared was the Smoked Salmon Tartine with avocado, red onions, capers, Crème Fraiche and Citrus Aioli.  We were still a couple of happy campers.  I had the house salad from my Bride’s entrée and she had my Lobster Bisque from my order.  She had the Blackened Salmon BLT (with the bacon on the side, since it was Lent) with tomato, Bibb lettuce, bacon, avocado on a Potato Bun.  I had the Lobster Salad Croissant with tomato, avocado and Tarragon-Citrus Aioli, as well as her bacon rashers that she declined to have, as I am a brazen heathen at times.

The fun was in finding a wine and there were plenty there to choose from.  I was the kid in the candy store as I wandered the aisles.  I was looking for a white wine for the afternoon and something new that we haven’t had before.  We ended up having a bottle of Orin Swift Cellars Mannequin California Chardonnay 2014.  While Orin Swift Cellars are located in Napa, the juice for this wine was from across the state.  The wine was seventy-nine percent Chardonnay, but the balance was a blend of Viognier, Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Muscat and Roussanne.  The wine was aged for nine months Sur Lie in French Oak and it had a delightful color, a refreshing nose and just a touch of sweet.  The wine kind of evaporated during our lunch in the beautiful ambience of the setting.   I had to keep the bottle, just because Orin Swift Cellars always have the most unique label art and I wanted to keep it for my scrap book.  Just a pure idyllic day.

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The First Night with Everyone

Posted on March 12, 2018 by thewineraconteur

Here we were in Las Vegas and trying to find someplace that everyone would enjoy.  With the grandchildren getting older, there are all acquiring likes and dislikes about food, a rather common occurrence and one they could probably blame on their grandfather, the King of fussy eaters.  We ended up having dinner at Capo’s Restaurant & Speakeasy again which is in Las Vegas, but not on The Strip.  We had to enter through the classic speakeasy entrance, but now it seems that the world has discovered this fun little place and from what I hear, reservations are the norm, but when you are having ten for dinner, reservations are always the best idea.  The room still has the semi-lit ambience and live entertainment that one would expect from a speakeasy environment.  In fact, the hardest part was finding someplace for a group photo that my Bride took.

There is so much food that they serve with the entrees that it really wasn’t necessary to start with any appetizers.  Some started with the soup, but most were like me and had the house dressing of Creamy Garlic, which is very nostalgic and keeping with the theme of the restaurant.   Some of the dishes had quaint names like “Chef Sleeps with the Fishes,” “Dinner Tony Duck” and “Racketeer’s Ravioli.”  As you can see they play off of The Godfather, The Sopranos and the Kefauver Trials for the names of the entrees.  The fancy names were for classic interpretations of Italian dishes that one would expect to get, going out for dinner, with the added plus of a lounge singer in the background, truly a nice touch and something one doesn’t often encounter any more.

We started off with Famiglia Pasqua Passi Mento Bianco Veneto IGT 2016.  The Easter (Pasqua) Vineyards and Cellars began in 1925, in the famed Veneto district near Verona.  The name of the wine is a shortened version of “Passione e Sentimento” and is also known as “Romeo and Juliet” and that is about as passionate and sentimental as one can get.  The name of the wine is actually printed over a photograph of a portion of the messages left on the walls of Juliet’s house.  The wine is made from the Garganega grape, hence the Veneto IGT designation.  The grapes are left to dry in trays to concentrate the sugar and then macerated for twelve hours in Stainless Steel.  Part of this juice is then transferred to wooden barrels for a couple of months and then is blended with the balance from the Stainless-Steel tanks.  The lighting doesn’t allow the yellow straw color to be appreciated, but it was a very enjoyable wine to begin the evening.  The second wine of the evening was one that we have enjoyed each time we have been there, just three different subsequent vintages.  We were enjoying Allegrini Palazzo Della Torre Veronese IGT 2013, that they were listing as a “Baby Amarone.” The Allegrini family has been making wine since about the Sixteenth Century and they only bottle estate grown wines. This wine carries the Veronese IGT because it is a blend of Corvina, Rondinella and Sangiovese, otherwise it would have been a Valpolicella if instead of Sangiovese they had used Molinara. The reason that this wine is referred to as a “Baby Amarone” is from the fact that it is produced using the Ripasso Method with whole partially sun-dried grapes. Even in the dimly lit room I could tell that the wine was a deep color and with way then enough character to stand up to the rich Italian dishes.  A wonderful way to spend an evening with the family.

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An Afternoon in Vegas

Posted on March 10, 2018 by thewineraconteur

If one has never been to Las Vegas the bright lights are almost a Siren call for all of the glitter that is there.  Alas, for me that Siren has long been silenced from all of the years of going there, I now have other Muses that tend to entice me, as I discovered decades ago that I am not a gambler and thankfully that was not an expensive lesson.  So, what does one do in Las Vegas, especially when the internal clock is still set for three hours earlier?  We shop and sometimes if the Gods smile upon us, it is some great power shopping.  This was not the case, but it was worth a gamble, especially to keep us away from the tables.  While my Bride has an extensive wardrobe, I have to admit that I am no slouch in that department, though I am constantly reminded that my shopping is far dearer than hers.  We both enjoy buying shoes, but I wear such a unique size, it is amazing that I have as many shoes as I do, we both fall far behind Mrs. Marcos, but we do strive for that goal.

After a lackluster attempt at shopping, we did work up an appetite, so we decided to get a quick light meal, because we were going to have dinner with everyone later that evening.  I prefer independent restaurants for the most part and we ended up going to an eatery that we have enjoyed in the past.  We went to Grape Street which is located in Downtown Summerlin, which in itself is unusual, because Summerlin is a planned community that was designed and platted on paper, before the first shovel was inserted into the dessert ground.   The allure of Grape Street is that not only do they have good food, they are also a wine shop and bar which for us is an oasis in the dessert.  Even the tables that one dines on, are reclaimed wine crates with such heady names at DRC and Opus One, just to make us feel comfortable.  All we did is share a couple of appetizers to hold us over until our dinner.  We shared an order of Baked Brie in a puff pastry shell with toasted Hazelnuts, caramelized onions and an apricot preserve.  The other plate that we shared was Crab Stuffed Shrimp with a Scampi Sauce and some sides of charcuterie and cheese.  Our hunger was satisfied without being over sated.

Somehow it just wouldn’t have felt right to be dining at Grape Street and not to have wine, after all that is what I tend to write about eventually in all of my ramblings.  My Bride had some Schramsberg Mirabelle Brut Rosé North Coast AVA NV.   The juice for this wine came from Carneros, Anderson Valley, Sonoma Coast and Marin County.  The juice was a blend of sixty-four percent Pinot Noir and the balance was Chardonnay.  The juice was aged in a mixture of barrels and tanks for a year, blended then in the bottle for another two years to totally finish the wine in the traditional method.  I enjoyed a glass of Beau Joie Champagne Brut NV from Bertrand Senecourt in Epernay, France.  This wine was a blend of sixty percent Pinot Noir and the balance was Chardonnay.  This wine was aged for four years on the lees and then spent another two years in the bottle.  The name of the wine translates to “beautiful joy” if my French is up to par, and the bottle is encased in a unique recycled copper mail wrapper, which can be recycled afterwards, and the purpose is that it will keep the bottle chilled for a couple of hours after opening without the necessity of having an ice bucket, depending on the ambient temperature of the room.  I have to admit that both of the wines were excellent in delivering what a good sparkling wine should, but we were unanimous in our thoughts that the Beau Joie was the tastier and more interesting of the two.

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Vintner Grill

Posted on March 8, 2018 by thewineraconteur

Our first night in Las Vegas and we were not able to see any of our children or grandchildren, so it was a date night. I had talked to our son earlier to map out some ideas during our stay and he mentioned a restaurant that he had wanted to try, but he could never get a reservation as the place was very popular and not on The Strip. In fact, it was in the Summerlin area of Las Vegas and that is where we were staying. We called and got a reservation, possibly, because we wanted an early time, as we were still on our internal Detroit clock. Even with our GPS we had a little difficulty finding the restaurant, because it was nestled in a grouping of assorted businesses, which is very common in Summerlin, but we did find it and we were looking forward to it.


Vintner Grill for being in a modern building was like stepping back in time once we entered it. The white tablecloths made me smile and there was a magnificent polished and lacquered long bar that was very old school. The ceiling I noticed was tongue and grooved and rather reminded me of being on a yacht and we were seated at a booth centrally located in the restaurant and we could observe the bar and the ultra-modern kitchen that was open visually for the diners. We were not that hungry, but we knew that we had to eat. My Bride ordered the braised Lamb Bolognese with black pepper tagliatelle, Truffled ricotta and fresh grated nutmeg, it looked and tasted wonderful. I went with the Seared Sea Scallops with saffron risotto, English peas, fennel, pea sprouts and roasted pepper relish and I enjoyed it immensely. The wait staff was also old school and were very polished and not intrusive.


As for the wine we went with one that would really compliment my Bride’s dish and though it was heavy I did not complain. I might also mention that the wine list was very well thought out and they were not trying to gouge the patrons, which is really a nice touch. The Graffigna Centenario Malbec Reserve 2015 from the Padernal Valley of San Juan, Argentina. This is one of the oldest wineries in the area as it was established in 1870, so they have crushed a few grapes over the years. The wine was aged for twelve months in new oak barrels, which were a combination of French and American. As to be expected from a good Argentine Malbec the nose, color and finish were full bodied and big enough to hold its own, even without food. I think we may try a return trip here, the next time we are in town.

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