“Mystery Blogger Award”

Posted on February 6, 2018 by thewineraconteur

I have been nominated for the Mystery Blogger Award by a young lady that I follow by the name of Cecilia Kennedy and her blog is “fixin’ leaks and leeks.” Now before anyone accuses me of being any kind of -ism, I referred to her as a young lady, first, because nowadays everyone seems to be younger than I am, and second, because she is a lady, which to me means that she is a woman, who also happens to be married and a mother, so I think that covers all of the bases. Anyone that has followed my writing for any period of time would realize that I am the type of individual that would doff my hat, and hold a door open for a woman, things like that were just done without thinking, when I was growing up. Of course, since I wear a hat properly, I guess that I am from another era, so everything goes hand in hand.


So, without further ado, I will list the rules as I received them, and I will respond accordingly as best as I can, as I do seem to ramble at times. The award is “for amazing bloggers with ingenious post. Their blog not only captivates; it inspires and motivates. They are one of the best out there and they deserve every recognition they get. This award is also for bloggers who find fun and inspiration in blogging, and they do it with so much love and passion.” I am not sure if that really describes me, but I will accept Cecilia’s nomination and hope that I can live up to the ideals that she has graced me with.


– Put the award logo/image on your blog. I think that I can handle that one, even though I came from the middle of the Twentieth Century.
– List the rules. Which I think I am doing, even though I am a bit of rebel, it is inherent from my generation.
– Thank who ever nominated you and provide a link as well. That would be Cecilia Kennedy and I enjoy and follow her blog “fixin’ leak and leeks” which can be found at https://fixinleaksdiy.blog and I highly recommend that you take a look at her writings.
– Mention the creator of the award and provide a link as well. The creator of the award is Okota Enigma and he can be found at https://www.okotoenigmamasblog.com/ and I am sure that this has made this blogger very endeared over the years.


– Tell your readers three things about yourself.
– 1) I guess that I am a bit of a packrat when it comes to wine, because I have saved labels and corks and even a few bottles of note. This has all come in handy for my writing, because it has given me visual aids for all of my articles. Every bottle of wine that has been mentioned, has been bought over the years, and I have saved the labels for a scrapbook, but I also have used the labels as “wallpaper” for the walls of my cellar to make by bottles feel more at home, and eventually when I get my arse in gear, the corks will become the crown molding in the cellar. I guess that I was raised by parents that survived the Great Depression with the concept of waste not, want not.
– 2) Another thing that I have saved that makes for great visuals are the matchbooks from the restaurants that I have eaten at, over the years. I still lament that restaurants no longer still use them as mementos, even if they are not socially and politically acceptable. There are a few matchbooks that somehow have slipped through the cracks of some great places, and a lot of times when I see one of the books, it makes me remember a meal and the bottle of wine. In conjunction with the matchbooks, I have saved other memorabilia from the restaurants, which just make me smile when I see them. I have somehow even managed to save some wine retail price lists from when I first got into wine, not to mention some menus and wine lists.
– 3) The thing that some people don’t realize about me, is that I am told that I have a great sense of humor, but a most of the time that is buried in my articles, but as I have looked back at some of the articles, I am pleased with the quality of improvement as I progress with my writing.
– I am to nominate ten to twenty people for this award and since I follow such a diverse range of bloggers, and I have noticed that other bloggers have also refrained from putting others on the spot, feel free to take your nomination from me.
– Ask your nominees any five questions of your choice with one weird or funny question (specify). Since I was not asked any questions of this sort, I will refrain from asking others in the future.
– Share a link to your best posts and since I am an amateur Raconteur, I will list my two favorite stories about wines, that I tend to still regale people with over a meal or a glass of wine. I am like that one favorite uncle that sometimes repeats himself with the same stories, sometimes enhanced and sometimes they are quite terse, depending on the reception of my audience at the moment.


Screaming Eagle Wine – My Favorite Story
I mean how often in one’s life, does one get a chance to try one of the famous cult wines of California?


A Celebration of the Women and Wine of 1961
The best dinner and wine selection I have ever had in the privacy of a home with other like-minded wine and food lovers.
So, in conclusion I will once again thank Cecilia Kennedy for this honor and I hope that she and others will be pleased with how I answered this. Now I think that I need a glass of wine.

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Brian Loring

Posted on February 4, 2018 by thewineraconteur

It was a pleasure being at a wine tasting with Brian Loring at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan. One could feel his passion for wine making and his ability to start a new career. He got his start in 1997 helping at another winery and he was totally smitten. While he owns no acreage, he does maintain a tasting room in Buellton, California. He has made some great contacts and contracts with over a dozen different vineyards in Sta. Rita Hills, Santa Lucia Highlands, Russian River Valley, Santa Maria Valley, Paso Robles and Sonoma Coast. His winery facility is in Lompoc and he said that he can be available for tours, but from mid-July to mid-November he basically cannot due to bottling and harvest, which is totally understandable. I had to marvel at how smoothly he ran the tasting, keeping track of most of the customers and what they were having next, even though there was a constant stream of new tasters.


The fifth wine of the tasting was Loring Wine Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir 2016 and it was interesting to taste the difference from 2015 to 2016. While this wine being sampled was not a single vineyard, the fruit all came from vineyards in the AVA; the vineyards were Rancho La Vina, Kessler-Haak, Clos Pepe, Cargasacchi and Aubaine. This wine like all the others being sampled were aged for ten months in French Oak, of which fifteen percent was new. I would venture to say that it is easier for him to produce all of his wines on the same schedule and be the most productive with his time. He produced nine-hundred cases of this wine. Here was a wine that had a bigger nose full of spices, and a bold fruit forward taste, with a good finish.


The last wine he was pouring was I thought a bit out of order if I had done the rotation, but it worked. He had a blended California AVA wine that was more popular priced and it was named after his nephew. The Cooper Jaxon Pinot Noir 2016 was a blend of wines from Sta. Rita Hills and Santa Lucia Highlands. He acknowledged Rancho La Vina, Kessler-Haak, Clos Pepe, John Sebastiano and Aubaine vineyards from Sta. Rita Hills and also Rosella’s and Sierra Mar vineyards from Santa Lucia Highlands. Just like the other wines this was aged for ten months in French Oak, with fifteen percent being new, and he produced seventeen-hundred cases of the Cooper Jaxon. The wine had a softer nose, a little softer color compared to the others, but it was very accessible and an easy drinking wine right from opening of the bottle. I would suggest any of the wines that I tried, and I look forward to trying some of his other offerings as well.

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Two Single Vineyards

Posted on February 2, 2018 by thewineraconteur

There I was enjoying a wine tasting at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan and being regaled with charming banter from Brian Loring the owner of Loring Wine Company. I think some of us were mildly amused from the fact that the day he was there, it was a pleasant dry day and he was lamenting that there was no snow. I think that most of us were happy that it was such a nice day, in fact, I was able to get by with just a sport coat and sweater and did not have to wear a cumbersome coat over it, especially with the crowd that was there. Loring Wine Company has a great motto “We’re a small company that produces tasty Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and whatever else strikes our fancy.”


The third and the fourth wine being presented were both single vineyard Pinot Noir wines. The third wine was Loring Wine Rosella’s Vineyard Pinot Noir 2015. This really interested me when I looked at the tasting sheet, as I have had several wines from Rosella’s Vineyard and I still have some cellared, and I consider it a great vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA of Monterey County. The wine was aged for ten months in French Oak of which fifteen percent was new and they produced four hundred cases of this wine. As most of you know, I am not a fan of descriptors when it comes to describing wines, but since I was at a tasting, I guess I should, because back in the day when I was learning about wines, the description went something like “this tastes like a Pinot Noir should” or “this is a poor example of a Pinot Noir;” though I will add that back then, one would substitute Burgundy for Pinot Noir. This wine had a great nose, a nice medium ruby color, well balanced and I would say a good cellar life of at least eight to ten years.


The fourth wine of the tasting was Loring Wine Keefer Ranch Pinot Noir 2015 from the Green Valley of Russian River Valley AVA. I have to admit that it has only been in the last couple of years that I have really discovered the Russian River Valley wines and I tend to be more impressed with each wine that I have had. This will probably be the last wines for Loring from the Keefer Ranch vineyard as it has been sold. Here is another wine that was aged for ten months in French Oak, of which fifteen percent was new and they produced five-hundred cases. A very bright wine with notes of cherry and pomegranate with a good color and a nice finish. I would think that a good six to nine years in the cellar, unless you like your wines very fresh, and this one was great with very little chance to breath.

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Loring Wine Company

Posted on January 31, 2018 by thewineraconteur

I got a heads up from another local wine blogger about a wine tasting at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan and it was nearby for me. This wine shop was on my radar, but for ages I was always off of work on Sunday and Monday, and so was the wine shop. I had a chance meeting with the owner while dining at his daughter’s restaurant and I reintroduced myself to him. The wine shop will require a special visit and article down the road. I was going to meet Brian Loring who calls himself “Owner/Yeast Herder” for Loring Wine Company. The tasting event reminded me more of going to a winery and doing a tasting, as it was catch as catch can, and I must say that Brian Loring did a great job keeping abreast of which wine to pour for everyone, as everyone was coming and going.


The first wine that I tasted was the Loring Wine Santa Lucia Highlands Chardonnay 2016 and I have to admit that my ears perked up, as I find that is probably my favorite district in the Monterey County. This is a Chardonnay made from the Robert Young (Wente Selection) Dijon 76 Clones and sourced from the Sierra Mar and Rosella’s Vineyards in the Santa Lucia Highlands, and I have had other wines from these particular vineyards. The two vineyards were treated separately, but both were aged for ten months in half French Oak and half American Oak, of which twenty percent were new. The winery produced one-hundred-twenty-five cases of this Chardonnay. The wine had a nice soft color, a soft oaky nose and was very balanced and easy to drink, and it sounds like I had the same opinion, as I had heard that they had run out of the wine at the shop.


The first red wine for the tasting was Loring Wine Clos Pepe Vineyard Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir 2015. This single vineyard wine is in the AVA that originally was Santa Rita Hills when it was established in 2001 as a sub district of the Santa Barbara County; due to protests from the large Chilean wine company Vina Santa Rita, the AVA was changed to Sta. Rita Hills in 2006. This wine spent ten months aging in French Oak, of which fifteen percent was new, and they produced one-hundred-fifty cases. I thought that wine had a lighter nose for a Pinot Noir, but it had a nice soft light purple color and it was well balanced. I think that it would benefit some eight to ten years in the cellar to really enjoy.

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El Enemigo

Posted on January 29, 2018 by thewineraconteur

We were invited out by our son and his wife for dinner and we tried to settle on a restaurant that is mid-point between our two houses. We settled on Andiamo in Bloomfield Township, which fits the logistics. My Bride and I have been there often, and I have written about some of our dinners there, but our son had never been there. We can remember when it was the Machus Red Fox, and that fine establishment had to close, because of the infamous night 30 July 1975 when James R. (Jimmy) Hoffa disappeared and he has been missing ever since. I guess there is still a cachet or allure to the building ever since.


The four of us were having dinner in the bar area, near where the band was playing, in fact we were the table adjacent to the music, but for the most part, we could maintain a nice conversation going. We started off the evening with some shared plates of “Sausag e Peppers” of house-made sausage, potatoes and Hungarian hot peppers done in a demi-glace and a platter of “Salumi e Formaggi” some artisanal cheeses and cured meats along with some mixed fruits and vegetables and Marcona Almonds. I won’t mention all of the dishes, but I will list what my Bride and I had for the evening. We both had the house salad which came with a Creamy Garlic dressing, and that is hard to pass up, since so few restaurants now offer what used to be a staple dressing. I ordered the Veal Marsala with wild mushrooms with a Marsala reduction demi-glace; I do like to order veal dishes when we are out, as it is one of the few dishes that we never make at home. My Bride ordered one of the specials and it was a huge pan of Roasted Chicken with a Pomegranate Honey Sauce, citrus, toasted almonds and Tzimmis, and Tzimmis is you have never had is a sweet stew made from carrots and other root vegetables and dried fruits. Alas Tzimmis is also a Yiddish word for a bother, which kind of describes all of the work and preparation to make the stew and unfortunately, I had a bit of a Tzimmis. I think that our waitress made an error, because she had to verify my order and there was a long lag time between the salad course and our entrée orders. All four dinners were brought out and they looked delightful, except that my dish was not hot, I would say that the temperature was more tepid and by the time the waitress came back with the perfunctory question “how is everything?” the others had almost finished the dinners. The manager then came and offered to have another dish made, but I said that it would take too long, so as compensation they deducted my meal from the tab, and it was a shame, as I was looking forward to some good veal. At least my Bride and I did get a chance to cut the rug a bit, before we left and did some dancing.


Our Daughter-in-Law very seldom drinks anything stronger than a cola, and our Son prefers beer, and when he asked what beers were on draught, he was informed that they only have bottled beer, so he asked what Michigan craft beers do they carry and the waitress immediately mentioned Corona, which struck both of us as odd, I guess when no one was looking Mexico was annexed to Michigan. They finally brought him a beer list and he was happy. As for my Bride and I we went with a bottle of wine, which is what I tend to write about. I was going to go with an Italian wine, but one wine caught my attention from the list and it intrigued me, and it really intrigued my Bride when I pointed it out to her. We had a bottle of El Enemigo Cabernet Franc 2011 from Mendoza, Argentina, so we had to try something new. El Enemigo means the enemy, and the vintners Adrianna Catena and Alejandro Vigil applied this quote on the back label “At the end of the journey we remember only one battle: the one we fought against ourselves, the original enemy. The one that defined us.” The wine was basically all Cabernet Franc with only eight percent Malbec blended in. The fruit came from the Gualtallary district of Mendoza and was aged for sixteen months in French Oak, of which twenty percent was new. The wine had a beautiful color, with a terroir driven nose. It started off a bit tight, but it opened up during the course of the meal and it turned out to be an excellent and refreshing wine choice. The company, the conversation and the wine all made up for my meal, and I know that we will end up going there again in the future.

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Wine and Suits

Posted on January 27, 2018 by thewineraconteur

My entire career has been as a clothier and not in the wine industry, though they can go hand in hand. I have met customers over the years that have impeccable taste, not only in clothes, but in food, wine and travel. I have taken the time to listen and read about many varied subjects, so that I could speak with some intelligence with these customers and to try to offer assistance in many different aspects. I often likened my position as similar to a concierge in a five-star hotel, to keep abreast of the theater, cinema, restaurants and wines. My breed of salesmen is a thing of the past for many people, like button-hooks for shoes. The concept of casual Friday that became slovenly days, has permeated our society. There are times when my Bride and I are the only ones dressed for dinner and I am not talking about the all too popular chain restaurants, but fine establishments that even pride themselves on having a fine wine selection. Today, one encounters clerks who have no interest in being there and God forbid if you have a question, or you encounter someone who feels that they are the epitome of knowledge, because they have a title. There are still some clothiers left on the face of the earth, and even some fine clothing stores as well. There is still a group of men who still wish to dress for business and they do not want to try to imagine what a cashmere garment may feel like on the web, so brick and mortar stores are their preference. They also want a proper fit, and don’t want to look like they have a spandex suit that is two sizes too small.


Where once every community had a clothing store, and depending on the city, there may have been five or six fine clothiers within walking distance of each other. I was there in the midst of all of those stores and what an industry it was. People dressed to please themselves and for where they were going and it was a more genteel era. There was a sense of decorum and deference. In the waning years of my career, I am working, not full time, and I view my current situation as a kind of clothing consultant, both to the store and to the customers. Some of my suggestions may take time to be absorbed, which is fine, because I am not a proprietor. My favorite maxim that was handed down to me, which I have always followed, is that a buyer cannot buy for his tastes, but for his customers, while it sounds easy to comprehend, the ego of many feel that they should dictate, instead of suggesting. A curious situation that I have observed has occurred in the past decade or two, for the surviving clothiers, is to be able to offer a glass of wine, beer or a simple cocktail to the shopper and his spouse. Your humble Raconteur has mentioned the concept and abetted the concept, as I could see it coming to fruition, but I was not asked for any suggestions, but I am glad to see it happening.


While I am no maven on beverages, over the years I have had my share of tastes. The ability to have some beers for a customer is quite easy and I can recite several excellent imported beers that would please most men, not to mention some of the newer craft beers that have been making excitement in that industry. As for liquors, I was glad to see that there were a couple of fine Bourbons, a Canadian, a Brandy and a Gin, though I think a Vodka and a fine blended Scotch is needed to finish off the selection. One must remember that this a convenience for the customer and not a watering hole. I did take a look at the two of the red wines that the store started off with, while not in the caliber of the Bourbons, it is much better than most of the box wines. The first red that I saw was Chateau Les Grand Thibaud 2012, which is a negocient wine from the Bordeaux region of France. I could not find much about the wine, but I would be willing to say that it is a blend of some or all of these grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Malbec and or Carmenere. The other red caught my attention as it a Spanish wine from a recognized, but not yet popular area of Almansa in the Castilla La Mancha district. Bodegas Atalaya Laya 2015 is from a newer winery that was founded in 2003, but the family has three generations of vine cultivation to their credit. The wine is seventy percent Garnacha Tintorerea, the local name for Alicante Bouschet and the balance is Monastrell, also known as Mourvedre. These two grapes are some of the workhorses of the area, and this wine spent four months in French Oak. The winery is affiliated with the much larger Gil Family Estates, which I am sure helps them get some representation on the shelf. Onward and upward to keep customers well dressed and happy while they do some shopping.

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Slow Down

Posted on January 25, 2018 by thewineraconteur

“Slow down, you move too fast…” are the opening words to a song that popped into my head about two wine themed gifts that I received over the past Christmas Season. I can also relate to the classic scene when Reverend Jim Ignatowski is preparing for his drivers license test in Taxi “S L O W D O W N.” Why you may ponder am I in the mood for being slow? It is because the gifts that I received are to speed things up. I have to admit that I tend to have a lead foot when I am driving if there is no traffic around, like when we are on a road trip, but if there is traffic or inclement weather, I guarantee that you will be calling me names if you are stuck behind me; I have no intention of getting into an accident. The gifts that I am going to discuss, I think are geared to the instant gratification crowd. To my way of thinking the pleasure of enjoying wine is in the genteel manner that one goes about having a glass of wine, it is not like we are swilling wine from the bottle.


The first item is called “The Wine Bar” and it is basically a wand that one puts into the freezer ahead of time to chill. Then when a bottle of wine is brought up, one uncorks the bottle of wine and inserts the wand through the neck of the bottle and the wine is instantly chilled from the inside out. Most of the time, I can assure you that there are plenty of bottles already chilling in one of the two refrigerators, as we are always prepared, but I will give the benefit of the doubt that there just might be a chance that we run out of chilled wines and this will be the answer, without the use of a wine bucket and ice. One day, we will actually try it out and see.


The other gift is one that I have used at other people’s homes and it does work quite well. The Oster Electric Wine Opener is electric and once it has been plugged in and fully charged, it says that will open up thirty bottles of wine on one charge. That is impressive, but I have not had a party or been to a party where that many bottles have to opened at one time, except maybe at a large wine tasting gathering, but I guess one should always be like the Boy Scouts of America and “be prepared.” I guess it will join the other assorted cork screws that I have acquired over the years. I have a simple, but excellent screw that has been mounted in an antique grape vine that just requires brute strength. Then I have a collection of different types from the classic chrome plate cork screw with the two arms, to the classic waiter’s pocket knife version, and actually this is my favorite type. I also have a monster version that has to be mounted on a flat surface, and it used to reside in a restaurant. I also have a collection of “rabbit” cork screw that works very well, but I think the most important part of a corkscrew is the screw itself, if it is well designed it actually works itself into the cork without tearing the cork apart. As for the ones that have two blades of thin metal, I have yet to be successful with it. As you can tell, if you haven’t realized by now, I am a creature of habit, and I hate to be rushed, and “I will serve no wine, before it’s time.” So, far you readers that did not recognized the words to the song, I think that I shall go and open another bottle of wine and I will be “Feelin’ Groovy.”

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More Touts

Posted on January 23, 2018 by thewineraconteur

I have to admit that sometimes my prose sounds like it was borrowed from Damon Runyon or Dashiell Hammett, and I guess you can blame it on my youth and my environment. People actually talked that way and it even filtered into the Sixties, because of all the generations that were influenced by Warner Brothers films of the Thirties. I don’t have a crystal ball for the future, but I wonder how the next generations will talk like, provided that language skills are still necessary. All this is a prologue for the word “tout” that I use quite a bit, in every day usage. In the parlance of the day, there were colorful figures that loitered around racetracks and betting halls and they would offer advice on a race to an individual. If the proffered tip proved valuable, they would then approach that person and expect a gratuity for the knowledge that they passed on, and hope for the largesse of the individual to make it worthwhile. These colorful individuals eventually named “touts,” because of their touts. Think of the three individuals who open up the musical Guys and Dolls in Fugue for a Tinhorn, who all read the same racing sheets and all come up with different horses to tout, or some of the peripheral characters from the “Thin Man” movies.


Well one of my dear colorful cast of characters, Ms. Yoga periodically touts wines to me through the use of the modern phone. Not the phones that I grew up with that were either mounted on a wall, or were on a cord, and the handset had a squiggly cord that was attached to the base. I am talking about the little things that everybody carries on their person as another piece of clothing. When I was a kid, who would have thought that a Dick Tracy wrist watch would actually become true. I digress again, well Ms. Yoga sends me photographs of wines that she enjoys while she is out at a restaurant or when she is entertaining clients. Some of the wines have been real winners, and others are just moderate, but I guess it also depends on the restaurant that she is at, for the moment, and we have all been out for dinner, where we pick the lessor of two or three evils, when it comes to wine, especially in those places where the waitress says that they have a red and a white wine.


The first wine that she touted me, I could barely find any information, in fact one source that I trust said that it was part of a larger wine umbrella company, but when I went to that site, this wine was not listed. Fog Banks Vineyards Chardonnay 2013 was this wine that has defied my research, not that I am a Rhodes Scholar. The only thing I can tell you is that from the label that the wine was sourced from the Central Coast of California, which is quite a large expanse, but then there are a lot wines with that same listing. The second wine that she touted has a bit more history and is from a part of California that I have not been to, actually there are plenty of areas in California that I have not been to, but I digress again. The Santa Barbara Winery Cuvee 33 Chardonnay 2015 sounds very interesting to me. The winery began as La Fond’s Santa Barbara Winery in 1962 and they were the first new winery since Prohibition in the Santa Barbara County and it is still owned by the family. Here is a wine that is a blend of sixty-seven percent aged in Stainless Steel and the balance is aged in barrels using the Sur Lie method and then the wines are blended together. The fruit is from the Los Alamos, Hilltop and La Fond Vineyards. Once again Ms. Yoga has supplied me with some new wines that I can perhaps one-day encounter and then drink to her good health, but I guess that I may welch on the gratuity.

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Bubbles Can’t Hurt

Posted on January 21, 2018 by thewineraconteur

January has been a killer month so far, with all of the extreme cold weather that has pounded us. We just got finished with the holidays and it should have been a month to just (ice) skate through. The extreme cold weather caused our garage door to die, one of the arms bent and the condenser on the motor burned out. I finally found a company that could handle the old-fashioned style garage door that we have, and they could put a temporary fix, but we have to have a new system installed. An unexpected bill, and then I was told that I had to clear twelve feet back for the new installation, have you any idea what a thrill it is trying to set up the logistics of moving the accumulation of stuff one stores in a garage. Then we had what I thought was a minor washer leak in one of the showers, but alas no, the leaking water found a way to disturb the ceiling in the basement two floors down. More trouble, and more stuff to move, while in the midst of packing up all of the Christmas decorations. I was expecting major work, like maybe having to cut a hole in the closet behind the shower, but the plumbing company that I contacted came out, and repaired everything without making any major renovations and for about a third of what they thought it would originally be. Then my poor Bride had a minor scare and ended up in the hospital overnight, but all was good, and she was released. We are also waiting for a case of wine, that was ordered almost two weeks ago, and that has been still unresolved to our satisfaction.


With the mixed bag of news that we have had, and trying to control all of the mess and chaos, it has been a rather trying time at the home front. With all of this extra work, finding places to move everything, it has cut into our date nights. Last night my Bride decided to make a fine dinner for us, so we had some salmon, vegetables and pierogis and onions, just to have something different. For two people we have two refrigerators and a chest freezer, and they are all packed, so it is not that we will starve, though getting to them is a bit of an undertaking at the moment.


We started to have some Chardonnay with dinner, one of her go to wines, when she doesn’t want anything fussy. We had opened a bottle of JaM Cellars Butter Chardonnay 2016, as this has become one of my Bride’s go-to wines these days, 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. I was feeling happy with the news about my Bride and I felt that we should have something a bit festive as well so I opened up another bottle of wine. L. Mawby Vineyards is a serious winemaker, and one of the wineries that my Bride would never forgive me, if we didn’t go there on the trip to Suttons Bay, even though they now have the Ann Arbor Vin Bar. This winery only makes sparkling wine, and notice that I did not say Champagne or even American Champagne, since there is almost a universal trade agreement that only allows Champagne from the Champagne district in France to be called it, though there are a few wineries that are “grandfathered” in that can still label their wine as “American Champagne.” Even though the winemaker is very serious, the winery is a fun place, and when we went to one of the tasting areas, our server/host for moment grabbed a hammer and hit a gong to announce that a tasting was going. They produce quite a bit of bubbly and the winery has two labels to differentiate the winemaking process that they use. The M. Lawrence line is division is made using the bulk process, also referred to a “cuvee close” or the “Charmat Process.” I will mention this group of wines from Brut to Demi-Sec, or the level of sweetness. The US label is a Brut wine made from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes. Sandpiper is a Semi-Dry wine that is a proprietary blend and that is all I was told. These wines are made in small batches and fermented in the “cuvee close method” as indicated on the label. I prefer a little more sweetness myself in this type of wine, as I am always afraid that extra dry can have little nuance. I am happy to say that I could taste some fruit, and a little oak which made it more appealing. So, here is to my Bride and I guess, she is stuck with me for the years to come.

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Me on Instagram

Posted on January 19, 2018 by thewineraconteur

I may be a little slow on the uptake for Social Media, but with a blog came Facebook, then Twitter and now Instagram. All in the endeavor for finding a few more individuals that may like to read about wine. I am not the most tech savvy person, and I am quite sure that my writings will not be monumental in changing public opinion or alter current wine trends, but then I have never been a trendy guy. I was the guy drinking wine, when the rest of the world was drinking mixed drinks or Budweiser. It was suggested to me by several people that I should try Instagram, so I did.


I have to say that I have found some very enjoyable new people since I started writing. I have also found some very pompous and arrogant people that on first appearances seem to be quite ordinary, but they are only there for you, if you can be of assistance, just like in the real world. I am sure that some people laugh, because I can be writing about a revered wine and then I will write many more articles about plain every day table wines, that some will turn their noses at, but I don’t care. I don’t have the lifestyle that affords me the life of indulgence of drinking fifty-dollar bottles of wine daily, in fact there are days when I won’t even have a glass of wine. All I know is that every bottle of wine that I have wrote about has been paid for, out of my pocket, unless I was at a party and then it may have come from the host’s pocket, but I always take wine to every affair, either as a gift or to add to the mix of offerings.


So, what is Instagram, that is the question that I had to ask myself as a novice, and I decided to treat it as a one-minute sound bite for an occasion or a wine, kind of like what I do with my writing, but on Instagram it is much terser. I decided to go back to the beginning of my journey as The Wine Raconteur, and featured on wine or location per posting. In the beginning I found that once a day would suffice, but I found that eventually I had to do twice a day, to keep up with my “likes” of other that follow me and that I follow.  My “follow” list is not that large, because I have not gone out into the Instagram world looking for people, I only respond to those that find me, not out of pride, I just don’t have the time to spend all day on the site.  Though there are those that “follow” you for a day or two, and then drop you like a hot potato, but hope that you don’t realize it, as they want to point to their ever increasing “Followers” numbers. I believe in quid pro quo and I have now a sheet that I have made of those that believe in the same concept, and there are some that I have even actually gone and seen every posting that they have done, but I only do this extra work, for those that have liked what I have posted. It may be silly or vain, but why give extra kudos for those that don’t give you the time of day, but expect you to fawn over their output.


I have to admit that there are some wonderful photos posted, and I wish that I was a better photographer. I have also learned to admire some of the work by others, and it may not be wine oriented, most are food-related, but there is also travel as well. I find that I dislike the ones that only feature themselves, but in the age of selfies, I guess that is to be expected. I decided to show some of the highest-ranking photos that I have posted, and there is no reason or rhyme that I can decipher of what works in the world of Instagram, but it is fun to spend some time there.

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