No Escape

Posted on January 5, 2018 by thewineraconteur

Escape Rooms seem to be all the rage these days. We just went to a big family get-together and there were about seventy people that showed up. The party was held at “Time 2 Xcape” out in Clinton Township which is on the other side of the world for us, but we were game for a good time. The entire complex was rented for the evening by this group, so that there was no rushing and everybody could visit in peace. To the best of my understanding, a group goes into a room that is sealed off and then there is a group endeavor to solve an intricately designed puzzle of questions to escape from the room in a finite amount of time. Neither my Bride or I actually entered into any of these chambers as there were so many that really wanted to, that we allowed those to use the tickets. As you may imagine, my Bride was one of the instigators of this evening of revelry and the logistics of getting everyone together was under her watchful eye. Since the company was not used to crowds of this nature, there was a request for people to bring tables and folding chairs for each family. Our car was loaded to the max with all sorts of necessities for the party.


Not only was our car filled with a folding table, there were plenty of chairs, and all of her records for collecting the fees for the night.  It was also loaded with food.  We got there early with some others to lay out the floor plan as best as we could for the crowd. I might also add that the evening was a pot-luck dinner and one whole side room became the food headquarters. There were several salads and munchies, there were all types of hot foods like chicken wings, kielbasa and kraut, Fettuccini Alfredo, Lasagna, Swedish Meatballs, a ten-foot long hero sandwich and other dishes, I think you can imagine how the room filled up with food. There was also a sweet table set up with cakes, cookies and that type of goodies. Also with today’s dining requirements there was even a table set up for Gluten-free foods. My Bride and her sisters worked to get everything set up, both before the evening and then for getting the evening set up properly. Several of the guys, myself included set up a card table in the back hall behind the designated kitchen area and we held court there, eating and enjoying some adult beverages.


While the food was pot-luck, the beverages were also “bring your own” and I was more than able for that task as well, not to mention that I think I was the only one that brought a corkscrew so that endeared me to several people as well. The beer crowd and the screw cap legions were all set without my assistance. We started off with an organic Bonterra Chardonnay 2016 from Mendocino County. The organic fruit was pressed and aged in assorted ways. Seventy percent of the juice was aged in a combination of French and American oak, of which only sixteen percent was new. The other thirty percent was aged in Stainless Steel; so, there was a variety of different juices to be blended which made the wine very crisp with just a touch of oakiness or as some say “vanilla.” Bonterra is part of the much larger umbrella of Fetzer Wines. The other wine that I took was J Vineyard Pinot Noir 2015. This was a blend of Pinot Noir from three areas. Seventy percent of the fruit came from the Olson Ranch in Santa Lucia Highlands in Monterey County and I have been praising the Pinots from that region for some time. Twenty-six percent of the fruit came from the Russian River Valley and four percent was harvested from Santa Maria Valley AVA in Santa Barbara County. The different wines were aged for six to seven months in a mix of French and American Oak, then blended and bottled. The winery began in 1986 by Judy Jordan, the daughter of Tom Jordan, founder of Jordan Vineyard & Winery fame. All In all, a great time was had by all and a fine harbinger of the New Year celebrations.

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A Holiday Luncheon

Posted on January 3, 2018 by thewineraconteur

One of my many colorful character Ms. Yoga was in town for the holidays and everyone wanted to see her and one way was to all meet for a lunch. The last time we all met for a Sunday dinner at Parc in downtown Detroit, and one of the venues suggested was Cantoro’s Market. I have written about Cantoro’s Market in the past, as it is a Detroit version of the Eataly, the mega-market and restaurant chain that has a couple of locations in the New World. They are an Italian specialty market with produce, fish, meat, a deli counter, a pastry shop, a wine shop and a coffee shop. The other big attraction is that they have a full restaurant, all of which keeps the parking lot quite full. A lot of their die-hard old customers still prefer the original location which is just a market and a very packed store between merchandise and the shoppers. Detroiters are traditional and some don’t require “new.” All of us were meeting at the new location and the revelers were from all points of the tri-county area.


The dishes were all fresh and served in abundance, in fact most were already at capacity after we shared several appetizers. Ms. Yoga was leading the way in the ordering and we all followed suit. We started off with the “Formaggi Misti” a platter of five assorted Italian cheeses with crackers, fruit and toppings. There was a Caprese plate with DOP Bufalo Mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, basil, pesto and Extra Virgin Olive Oil. There was Calamari Peperonati with sweet, sour and spicy peppers, fresh lemon and marinara sauce. The last platter that we passed around was the Gamberi Alla Griglia or grilled jumbo shrimp, fresh chili and lemon marinade, farro and grilled vegetables. There is no way I could recall all of the assorted dishes that were ordered so I will stick with the two that I was intimately aware of. My Bride had Linguine al Salmone, which was house made linguine, fresh salmon, garlic, red pepper flakes, white wine and marinara sauce. I thought I was going to go with something a little lighter, but I was fooled when I ordered the Penne alla Puttanesca, which was imported penne pasta with a Puttanesca sauce (white wine, garlic, anchovies, capers, olives, red onions, red pepper flakes and marinara). When the dishes arrived, the size of the bowls had everyone requesting carryout boxes, before they even dug-in, and some claimed that they had enough for two extra meals. I guess it was no surprise, that no one ordered dessert.


Ms. Yoga was ruling the roost and she also ordered the wine for lunch, but told our waitress that I should have the honor of doing the tasting of each bottle. I was curious to see what white wine Ms. Yoga had selected as she does favor the whites. The Kelerei  Kurtatsch Chardonnay 2016 was a refreshing choice. It is from the Trentino Alto Adige DOC district of Italy, and since it is so far North, it also included the area as Sud Tirol which is the Germanic term for the area. The winery was founded in 1923, and they made a very crisp Chardonnay, in fact, Ms. Yoga insisted after dinner that I follow her to the wine shop as she wanted to buy a couple extra bottles for herself for the trip. She also did a fine job selecting the red wine for the meal as well. The Travaglini Gattinari DOCG 2012 did not even carry the varietal, except in small print on the back. Gattinari DOCG requires that it be ninety percent Spanna, the local name for Nebbiolo and the rest could be Bonarda di Gattinara and Vespolina, but this wine was pure Spanna. This wine is aged for three years, of which two years were in Slovenian Oak casks of varying dimensions and at least three months in the bottle, before release (their Riserva calls for four years of aging). The winery was founded in 1920 and is still family owned, and in 1958 they created their iconic dark glass bottle that is designed to make decanting unnecessary as the shape of the bottle keeps all the sediment from pouring into the glass. We had the wine very young, so it was a big bottle full of the tannins that would probably mellow out in about eight to ten years, and with the “red” pasta dishes it was perfect. It was a great afternoon, with a little shopping after lunch, which just seemed so natural in progression.

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A Wish

Posted on January 1, 2018 by thewineraconteur

We just want to take a moment and wish everyone a Happy New Year and may the new year bring you plenty of love, luck, health and happiness from this point on.

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The Best Laid Plans

Posted on December 30, 2017 by thewineraconteur

Tradition has it, that we have a brunch on Christmas Day at my Mother-in-Law’s house and everyone eventually gets there. The snow had kind of abated, but there was still some more coming down, but the travel time was not that bad. Everyone was a bit tired after the night before and the long drives that everyone had. It was a nice simple brunch of pastries, design your own omelet, fresh Kielbasa, bacon and Mimosas. It is hard to think of a brunch without a Mimosa. Mimosas are a very simple drink for an early day drink of orange juice and something bubbly. I have always been of the belief that when one has a mixed drink, the liquor can be a standard grade and not a top shelf item. I mean Canadian Club is fine for a Whisky Sour, but if I am having a Canadian neat, then I prefer Crown Royal. The same holds true for a Mimosa, I think it would be a sin to use Dom with orange juice, so we used Korbel California Champagne, which is produced in the time-honored way of “Methode Chanpenoise” and it is a blend of Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, French Colombard and Pinot Noir. A perfect way to start off the day.

Normally after the Christmas Brunch, we end up going to another house for dinner, but they are only going to do it every other year, because of their son’s marriage and his new in-laws live in another state, that is life and families all make adjustments. My Bride was going to try to have everyone come to our house for a dinner, but over the years other traditions have been enjoyed. We ended up going home and having a nice quiet dinner of some of the leftover ham and Armenian Pilaf from the night before that my Bride had made. After having a big meal, the night before and then the brunch, we really were not ready for another big meal. I guess maybe we are slowing down, or maybe just maturing.


I went down to the cellar and grabbed a split for the two of us to enjoy and I thought I would look for something different and interesting. There is always a chance that a split may not have as long of a shelf life as a full bottle or a magnum, I thought it was time to check it out. We shared a bottle of Duckhorn Vineyards Howell Mountain Merlot 1995. Duckhorn Vineyards was one of the pioneers of Merlot in Napa Valley when everyone else was interested in Cabernet Sauvignon. Howell Mountain is one of the most prestigious sub-region AVA’s in Napa Valley, and they were awarded the designation in 1984, Napa Valley was awarded their designation in 1981. There is no actual Howell Mountain, but it is a long and narrow hillside (mountain side) and named after the Howell Mountain Township, which is up above Calistoga. Since we had bought the wine at the winery and I am such a pack rat, which has helped over the years writing about wine, I actually found the winery tech sheet. The wine is 76% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc; and 96% of the fruit was harvested from Howell Mountain and the rest was from Napa Valley. The wine spent twenty months in French Oak of which half was new. I was a little concerned because the cork crumbled as I tried to open the bottle, and I had to decant the wine using a funnel and a coffee filter, and it was a good thing that I did decant it, as there was a lot of sediment that had settled on the side of the bottle during all of that cellar time. The nose was delightful and filled the room during the decanting period. The color had softened and was not as deep as a young Merlot would have been, as it had a little brown in the mix. The taste was sublime, the tannins had all mellowed out and it kind of reminded me of an aged Chateau Cheval-Blanc, it was that smooth; and it was too bad that we only had to oversized glasses of the wine to enjoy.

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Christmas Eve

Posted on December 28, 2017 by thewineraconteur

Christmas Eve has passed and now it is a memory, as so many others before it, in my life time. We normally have the meal at our house, but another sister of my Bride wanted to celebrate it at her house, before her work schedule gets totally out of control and she has no life, and I can readily appreciate that feeling. I think this year there were too many people wishing for a white Christmas, now don’t get me wrong, I like a white Christmas, but just a dusting where the grass is covered, but the streets and sidewalks are clear. This year I think too many got carried away with their wishes as we had about six inches of snow. A trip to their house usually takes about forty-five minutes and this time it took twice as long, and the return trip was almost twice as long as getting there. It is a bit of a white-knuckle trip when you see multiple trucks and four-wheel drive vehicles on the side of the road that end up in the wrong direction of the traffic flow. Then there are the individuals that feel that if the speed signs say seventy, they feel that they drive at that speed regardless of the weather and road conditions, and I will never understand that thinking.


After getting to the house and unloading our car of the ham, the Armenian Pilaf, a pot of stuffing that she baked and the Caesar Salad that had to be tossed, I looked at the kids playing video games and went back outside to shovel the sidewalk, I mean my Mother-in-Law would soon be arriving and she uses a walker for assistance. I guess at sixty-three I can still shovel snow, as long as I pace myself. Then my Brother-in-Law came out with his snow blower and finished the job that I started. And speaking of my Brother-in-Law, this Canadian has become a Michigander for all intents and purposes. Here we had six inches of snow and still falling and he was trying out his new “greaseless” deep fryer for the turkey on the front porch and he was barbecuing pork tenderloins on the grill in the back yard. Something about Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun. You know have a feeling for the menu for the evening, along with the many other side dishes, appetizers and desserts, made for a pleasant meal.  Afterwards there was a long period of gift exchanging, because with that many people, it takes time.


There were plenty of adult beverages to enjoy, though with the weather, there was not as much indulging as there could have been. I will discuss two of the wines that we brought for the party. We started off with a white wine to compliment the snow and the appetizers. The first wine was “Thurissey” Vire-Clesse 2014. Appellation Vire-Clesse Controlee is relatively new, as it was created in February 1999 and applies only to the driest white wines from the villages of Vire, Clesse, Laize and Montbellet in the Maconnais district of Burgundy. Domaine Saint Barbe has a total of 8.2 hectares in the villages of Vire and Montbellet where they grow Chardonnay. I had been looking forward to trying this wine and I am glad that even my Bride liked it, as it was much different compared to the Sonoma Chardonnay wines that lately have been our “house” wine. It had a very pleasant terroir that was immediately apparent with a nice aftertaste that lingered just long enough, making you look forward to the next sip, and it had a nice color and a soft nose. The second wine that I had brought is a varietal that I like to pair with turkey and pork, though some think that I am in a minority on the pairing. Domaines Lupier El Terroir 2011 of Navarre was from the husband and wife team of Elisa Ucar and Enrique Basarte that I have befriended over the years in my writings and on Social Media. The fruit was harvested from twenty-seven different plots with vines from sixty-eight to one hundred years old. All those vines of Garnacha, in Spanish, that we more comfortably know as Grenache, dating back to 1903, and there were 1,688 cases produced. This wine bowled me over from the nose and the first taste and I knew that I had chosen correctly. It is one of those meaty wines that one can chew while tasting it and could hold its own against the deep frying and the barbecue flavors. Thank you Elisa Ucar and Enrique Basarte for your fine labors of love, and I feel that this wine was even better then when I first tasted it, because of the additional cellaring time.

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A Very Merry Christmas

Posted on December 26, 2017 by thewineraconteur

My Bride and I want to take a moment to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. While I am typing away, she is in the kitchen preparing dishes for Christmas Eve and making plans for Christmas Day. The holidays are upon us and I wish you all plenty of love, luck, health and happiness. If you get a chance add a couple of wines for the festivities as well, and I will be back with the more stories about food and wine, family and friends, and back to a more traditional schedule. As we say in Armenian Shnorhavor Surb Tsnund.

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Two Bocksbeutals

Posted on December 24, 2017 by thewineraconteur

I received two splits of wine that are in the historic bocksbeutal bottles. The two wines were a gift from The Wine Raconteur Jr and he brought them over from a business trip that he had in Germany. The gift was greatly appreciated, because it is now a real pain to try to pack wine for a flight home. You may ask, and it is understandable that you have never heard of a bocksbeutal, but this wine bottle is even recognized by the Common Market as a distinct item for Franconian wines, a wine district in Bavaria and unlike most German wines. Franconian wines are typically described as dryer, more bodied and having more terroir than is usually encountered in the tall slender bottles that most German wines are marketed in. The bocksbeutal is a short, squat rounded bottle that looks more like a flask, and the half bottles even look squatter, if I may say so.


The first bottle is Weingut Geiger and Sohne Muller-Thurgau Kabinett Halbtrocken 2016. Weingut Geiger and Sohne was founded in 1850 and is the oldest winery in Thungersheim am Main. One of the unique differences about Franconian wines is that Riesling is not the leading grape of choice. As one can tell from the label the grape varietal is Muller-Thurgau, which is now the leading grape of the area. This wine has the Pradikat of Kabinett, which means that the proprietor feels that this wine is better than the basic wine, but it is not a late harvest pick like a Spatlese, and that this wine will have even more nuance and traits of what they feel is true for them. The wine is also “semi-dry” or “half-dry” as the label indicates “Halbtrocken.” I could not find any production notes on this wine, but perhaps by the time I drink it, I will.


The second half-bottle is Burgerspital Wurzburg Silvaner Trocken 2015. Burgerspital is one of Germany’s oldest charitable foundations that owns a wine estate, and this wine comes from Wurzburg, probably the most known and important village of the area. This wine is made from the Silvaner grape, which used to be the leading varietal for Franconia. This wine is listed as “dry” from the notation “Trocken,” and some writers have likened the wines of Franconia to be more like a French white wine compared to the “classic” German white wines. I am looking forward to trying both of these wines, probably with the same dinner, I just have to think of something special to pair it with, and once again a big thank you to The Wine Raconteur Jr, his Bride and his family.

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I Am Impressed

Posted on December 22, 2017 by thewineraconteur

We went to have a Christmas dinner with The Wine Raconteur Jr and his family. He chose his own nom de plume when he wrote his first guest article for me years back. I have known this young man since I had a hand in hiring him when he was a student at the university back in the day and I have been impressed with his knowledge and maturity ever since. I have watched him over the years grow and observed qualities that have made him a well-rounded individual with many interests, and some of them intertwine with my own interests. My Bride has also taken him as family from the first time she met him and we have had the honor to attend his wedding and to watch his family grow and prosper.


We had dinner over at their house, and I think it was partially so that his children could keep themselves entertained with their stuff. We started off with some appetizers of a home-made tomato based dip with crackers and some Fontina cheese. It turned out that the dip was made with Eggplant and it was the first time since I was a child that I have eaten Eggplant and the dip was excellent, so I may have to rethink my stance on Eggplant. The entrée for the evening was Lasagna, another dish that I do not like, as most restaurants have always slopped on the Ricotta and the Mozzarella and made an unpalatable dish for me. Once again, I was totally impressed with the dish as it was not what I was expecting and perhaps it was a Sicilian version that I had not encountered before, but my man, The Wine Raconteur Jr and his charming Bride did an excellent job changing my viewpoint on two dishes that I have not had for maybe forty years. Afterwards we had a tart of pecans and cranberries and he did remember that my Bride and I are delicate and require decaffeinated coffee.


We brought the wine for dinner, even though I knew that he would have something special, but we could not let them cater the entire meal without some input from us. We started out with a bottle of Spanish Rosé from a new region for me, which was fine with the appetizers. The Bodegas Cesar Principe Clarete de Luna 2016 is a very pretty deep pink color in the bottle. I could not find much production notes for this wine, but I must presume that the skins were left after the pressing for a couple of days to get this deep color. The winery has been in production since 1982 in Cigales, which is just north of the Duero in Castilla y Leon and this wine had five thousand cases produced. The wine is eighty percent Tempranillo and then evenly split among Verdejo and Albillo. The wine had a good nose and a soft finish and I did not see any problems with it when paired with the tomato-based Eggplant dip. Our second wine, I might have changed, if I had known the entrée of choice, but it still worked out well, even though the dish was Sicilian and the wine was French. We had a bottle of Domaine Savoye Morgon Cote du Py 2005 which is from the Beaujolais region and is made from the Gamay grape. Morgon is one of the ten Cru du Beaujolais districts and Cote du Py is a Climat of Morgon. Cote du Py is considered the best in Morgon and is known for having excellent aging potential. The hill of Py is the highest point of Morgon and was once a volcano and hence the ground is basically basalt, which imparts a unique terroir to the wine. The wine had a nice color, good nose and a decent finish, and after pouring out half of the bottle among the glasses on the table, I realized that I should have decanted the bottle, but it was too late, after seeing the tell-tale sediment line from where the bottled had rested since it had been cellared, so we worked around it. There was enough richness in the wine that it worked quite well with the dish and it was not showing any signs of age. It was an excellent evening and we had a great time, and The Wine Raconteur Jr impressed me that he could make an old curmudgeon change his opinion not once, but twice that night.

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A Doctor in the House

Posted on December 20, 2017 by thewineraconteur

We are busting the buttons off of our shirts and blouses, as my Bride’s God-daughter is now a PHD. I wrote earlier about how we went to observe her defense of her doctorate thesis and I said it was all Greek to me, but it made perfect sense to her and the people that understood it. We went to see her get her award and her “hooding.” The afternoon was full of pomp and circumstance from the moment they all entered the arena preceded by a marching bagpipe procession. The ceremony was for the Masters and Doctorate graduates. There were twelve of us there to witness the honor and we got there very early to block out our seats right in the front two rows.


There were even more that came out to celebrate afterwards at the newest location of Bigalora Cucina in Rochester. We have been to several of the Bigalora locations and the food is very good in a lively casual atmosphere. As the place settings state the fast terms of their secret success is “72 hours, 900 degrees, 90 seconds.” The pizza dough requires 72 hours before being used, the wood burning ovens are set at 900 degrees and the pizza bakes for 90 seconds; all to deliver the lightest pizza crust that you have ever had. As all of the guests arrived and before we went to where our party was going to be, we all sat in the bar area, munching on focaccia bread and fried Shishito peppers with sea salt. Afterwards we all sat down for family style servings of salad, endless supply of three different pizzas of Pepperoni, Margherita and Funghi. There were also platters of Rigatoni with both Marinara and Bolognese sauces. The meal was finished with Frittelle, fried Bigalora dough with house made chocolate hazelnut spread and a strawberry compote. There was also a large sheet cake with the proper salutations on it.


While we were in the bar the guest of honor tried one of the house wines. This house wine is not only featured at Bigalora Cucina, but also at Bacco Ristorante. The Baia Estate Rosé 2016 had a beautiful color and nose, but alas, I can find no information about it, other than it is being produced in the Leelanau County area of Michigan and made to Old World standards. My Bride and I started with some Spanish Coffees and then we got a bottle of wine. We had the Feudi di San Gregoria Greco di Tufo DOCG 2014. The Feudi di San Gregoria winery is a young winery established in 1986 in one of the oldest wine regions of Italy, namely Campagnia. Campagnia’s most famous white wine is Greco di Tufo, which as the name suggests is a clone of Greco Bianco brought over to Italy by the Greeks centuries ago, and there are only eight villages that are allowed to use this DOCG designation. The Tufo refers to the tough volcanic soil which imparts its terroir in the form of minerals that blend easily with the acidity of the grapes. By law this wine must be eighty-five percent Greco di Tufo, but the rest may be another old resident grape of the area Coda di Volpe Bianco. I think that it was fitting that the doctoral thesis and the wine varietal were both Greek to me, but we couldn’t be happier with our new Doctor.

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An Invitation

Posted on December 18, 2017 by thewineraconteur

Most of the times that we go out for dinner, we usually meet at a restaurant. One of the couples that came to our house for Thanksgiving invited us over to their house. This couple are old friends of my Bride and precede our time together. They ended up moving from the East side to the West side, which is rather unique in the Detroit area, most people just end up moving farther east or west and a few move north and some move Downriver; if you look at a map of Detroit, if one moves south they would be in Windsor, Ontario, Canada and that is the only point where Canada is south of the border.


So, we drove over to the other couple’s home which is only the next community over from us, and we met their neighbors, who had also been invited over for the dinner as well. As is customary, during some small talk, we found mutual associates and locations that we had in common. The other couple had brought a salad that started the meal off. The main entrée of the evening was a roasted pork tenderloin that was cooked perfectly and it was with a gravy and a couple of vegetables on the side. There was also dessert, which my Bride and I both passed on, as we were full, and normally we don’t have dessert.


Most of you won’t be surprised that we brought the wine for dinner, and not knowing the menu, I chose a white and a red wine. The white wine was Joullian Roger Rose Chardonnay 2014 from Joullian Vineyards Ltd. and the fruit came from the Roger Rose Vineyard in the Arroyo Seco AVA. The funny thing is that we had just received another wine from Joullian from our wine club “A Taste of Monterey.” We started off with this wine while having some appetizers and a chat in the living room. The fruit of this wine is actually from Dijon Chardonnay clones and since the vines are twenty to forty years old they survived the drought year of 2014. They have strived to maintain the concept of a Burgundy Chardonnay by using French Oak that has been cured for three years to minimize the oakiness that could occur. There were one-hundred-twenty-five cases made of this wine and it was delightful and it still had a lot of freshness to savor. The second bottle that I opened at the same time to let it breath was Pessagno Pinot Noir Four Boys Vineyard 2013, and I have had their Pessagno Chardonnay Sleepy Hollow Vineyard 2010. This wine comes from the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA and I cannot say enough about the Pinot Noir wines that I have enjoyed from this area. This wine was made from lightly crushed berries with about forty percent of the berries left whole for fermentation. They used both Burgundian yeast and native yeast cultures and they made this wine Sur Lees and stirred over an eleven-month period. There were one-hundred-fifty cases made of this wine and while it was a good Pinot Noir, I thought it was a little light for what I have come to expect from the Santa Lucia Highlands. All in all, a charming evening, even if my Bride thought that a certain Raconteur controlled the conversation, and perhaps she was right.

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