MWWC#36: Environment

Posted on November 18, 2017 by thewineraconteur

“Wait Master, it might be dangerous… you go first.”

Jeff at The Drunken Cyclist won the honor of winning the last Monthly Wine Writers Challenge and his reward was picking out the theme for the next challenge. He chose “environment.” I am the not the person to ask about the environment, as I can appreciate the end result from those that work the soil, I am lucky if I can grow dirt. It is pretty sad, that as a homeowner, that I or my Bride can not grow anything, and when we do get kind of successful the local rabbits and deer seem to cut short our progress. Thankfully the world of wine, does not have to depend on my ability to grow anything.


I thought of the recent fires that ravaged the wine country in California and then in Spain. I read some of the transcripts and even followed the first-person narratives of those that were in the midst of that tragedy and quite candidly, they did a much finer job, then I could, even if I tried to rehash the events and the drama. Then I thought of the recent new designations for wineries as they strive to be more than stewards for the land, as in the French “Agriculture Biologique,” which I applaud, but most of it is beyond my comprehension of being a good farmer.


So, my brain started a series of non-sequitur thoughts until I followed Igor and countless others who said “Walk, this way.” I followed them not down to a laboratory or even down a rabbit hole, but I walked down to the cellar. Those grand images of old wine cellars in Gothic mansions where the dust is part of the charm. The environment of the wine collection, something near and dear to the heart of those of us, who like to collect and drink wines.


The wine cellar is part of the lore of wines. Who cannot get excited when they see pictures or perchance an actual visit to some of the cellars of the grand estates on the continent. Where one can find bottles that have been resting since they were once laid down, which explains the wonderful libraries of wines that still exist, some perhaps past their prime, and others still waiting to show that they still have it. Some are like catacombs with cobwebs defying all that enter, not to defile the rest of the bottles. Those lucky souls that have the old bottles of vintage Port that have a daub of paint on the bottle, so that if the bottle is moved, it will end up in the same resting position elsewhere.


The closest that I ever got to being in a cellar of this stature was when we booked a tour and wine tasting at Neibaum-Coppola which was in the original structure built by the Finnish Sea Captain Gustave Neibaum who started Inglenook way back when. Our tasting was held in one of the old cellars, or with the magic of Francis Ford Coppola, maybe it was created to look like an old cellar, but it made the Rubicon taste all that much more wonderful. I have also had the privilege to be in some wine cellars of some old restaurants that are still in existence and that is a marvelous visit as well.


Nowadays the cellars are show rooms, just like they are putting small cinemas into the new houses. They have state of the art systems to keep the wines at a constant temperature and humidity. The woodwork and the marble in these rooms are as elaborate as a formal dining room. The wine magazines like to feature these elaborate rooms with their wonderful hordes of wines, usually in vertical runs. Not only is it possible to have house-envy, but now cellar-envy, as some of these cellars may have cost as much as my home.


When I first learned about wine cellaring when I was in high school, the main points were constant temperature (with an allowance for some fluctuation), darkness and the lack of vibration. These three rules I have always tried to maintain. My first attempt in my parent’s home was some shelves in the basement. My first home had a coal chute, under the front porch and next to what is called a Michigan Cellar for storing home canned goods. The house had been converted to a natural gas furnace, so the coal chute was perfect with racks that I built using two by fours. In our current house, I was able to actually build a cellar that is adjacent to two outside walls of the basement that have no insulation, but the walls adjacent to the actual basement are stuffed with insulation and so are the rafter above the cellar and the room stays nice steady fifty-five degrees with no mechanical assistance. I call it a cellar, but it is really just an oversized closet and with racks on both sides of the room, I can not turn around in the room. I built it to hold nine-hundred bottles, but I somehow have managed to cram around thirteen-hundred bottles in it, and yes, I am proud of that boast. I also managed to give it a bit of a cellar feel, by paneling the walls with the end crates of wooden wine crates that I carefully took apart, and when I ran out of wine crates, I actually pasted wine labels from all of the wines that I had drank that did not end up in scrap books. The racks I had ordered from a company and I had to assemble them like tinker-toys of my youth and when I get motivated I will finish the room with a crown molding of all the corks I have saved with this future project in mind. That is the environment for my wines.

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Two Enigmas

Posted on November 16, 2017 by thewineraconteur

Leave it to Ms. Yoga to write to me about a couple of wines that she enjoyed, actually she bombarded me with six new wines. Some may not consider me a bona-fide wine blogger, because I tend to ramble on about wines, but that is just my style. I like to enjoy the moment and I like to have fun. Yes, wine can be very serious to me, but not at the expense of the moment. I guess that is why my collection of assorted wine drinking friends put up with me, because I guess I have a sparkle in my eye when the subject of wines arises. Ms. Yoga is an old friend of about twenty-five years and she and my Bride even have a longer run in friendship, and some how food and wine and merriment are always part of the equation when we are together.


Ms. Yoga does quite a bit of traveling in her present position and she enjoys having a glass or two of wine after hours, when she isn’t doing her yoga. Thankfully she does it, and not me, or I might be The Crippled Wine Raconteur. She usually drinks white wines, but she will never turn away from a red wine and she wrote to me that she enjoyed Apothic Wines Inferno 2015. I have had a couple of the wines from this winery and they are an enigma for the wine blogging community in that their wines are all “proprietary” which means that they do not list any technical information, in fact it is sometimes impossible to decipher what types of grapes that they even use. Their Apothic Red is a blend of Zinfandel, Merlot, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon while their Apothic Crush is a blend of Petite Sirah and Pinot Noir. The Apothic Inferno is unknown at the moment, but their selling feature is that it is blended in Whiskey barrels, which is not totally unknown as even the Robert Mondavi group have done this, and I have had two different wines that were aged in Bourbon barrels, including one that uses the famed barrels of Pappy Van Winkel. I haven’t tried the wine, but I am sure that it is a full-bodied wine like their basic Apothic Red with some whiskey traces and one day I may get a chance to try it.


The other enigma wine that she wrote about is Cooper’s Hawk Winery Sparkling Almond NV. Cooper’s Hawk Winery also has a chain of restaurants with thirty locations which also offer wine tastings as well, and I am not sure if Ms. Yoga went to one of their restaurants or had the wine elsewhere. Cooper’s Hawk Winery also produces about six-hundred-thousand gallons of wine per year, which is quite the amount of wine. The winery is located in Lodi, California, but the fruit I would hazard a guess is from many areas, as they offer scant information and no technical information. Even the grapes are not listed, though I did see one site that suggested that the wine is a blend of Viognier and Roussanne and steeped with almonds for flavoring and since it is a sparkling wine, I will go out on a limb and opine that it is probably produced by the Charmat Method, which is widely used for bulk production. Most of the reviews that I read about this wine were positive, and I think that I would try it, as I have very fond memories of a Tante from Milwaukee that I never met, that was a confectioner, and every Christmas while my Mother was alive, she would send her a twenty-five-pound box of hand-made and hand-dipped Marzipan; and that taste is what I compare to every piece of Chocolate Covered Marzipan that I have ever tried. So, Ms. Yoga is two for two, for two wines that defied any real research about the couple of wines that she enjoyed, but are worthy of a taste, if I ever encounter them.

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Jordan Painter

Posted on November 14, 2017 by thewineraconteur

The guest speaker for Klinker Brick Winery at D. Vine Fine Wines in Livonia was Jordan Painter, who is the Regional Manager for the winery and he was a good soul, as his name was printed on the sheets as Justin Painter. He was explaining how all of the classic structures in Lodi were built using klinker bricks which are heavier and stouter than the average building brick and that the name was an homage to the history of the area. He was sharing the discussions that evening with Lee Hershey who usually hosts the wine tastings. He was very passionate about the products and could quote all the production information without a cheat sheet and he seemed to be enjoying himself that night.


The fifth wine of the evening was Klinker Brick Winery 1850° 2014. The name of the wine refers to the temperature required to fire up klinker bricks when being produced. This wine was a blend of sixty percent Cabernet Sauvignon, thirty percent Petite Sirah and the balance was Old Vine Zinfandel. This wine was aged for twenty-two months in American Oak and produced a wine with long legs, a peppery spice to the tongue and a long finish. Even with only ten percent of the wine being Zinfandel, it added a nuance that I rarely encounter, and it was delicious.


The last wine of the evening was their “reserve” wine that in the first couple of years caused the winemaker grief, because it was so feisty from day one. The Klinker Brick Winery “Old Ghost” Old Vine Zinfandel 2014 was from their oldest plots and most of the vines were over one-hundred years of age. The fruit harvested from these plots were the smallest in ratio of ton to acre and there were looking for the smallest berries to use with “more skin to the flesh.” Even the label had a rather ethereal feel to it, as it was a blind embossed image of an old grape vine. This wine was aged for twenty-two months in a mix of American and French Oak barrels. This wine really won me over for the enjoyment of a well-made Zinfandel. While they are no production numbers for the wines, this wine is limited in sales to one case or twelve bottles per customer and I can understand their request. A delightful evening and a chance for this old war-horse to reconsider his thoughts about Zinfandel.

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Klinker Brick Winery

Posted on November 12, 2017 by thewineraconteur

Here I was learning about Klinker Brick Winery from Lodi, California and I was all ears, though I was also ready to keep tasting some wines. There was a special wine tasting that evening focusing on this one winery at D. Vine Fine Wines in Livonia. There was almost a full house and quite a few new faces, though in no way, am I a regular, like some of the people. Klinker Brick Winery is into its Sixth Generation, but they began as grape farmers and would sell their fruit originally to the home wine makers and Zinfandel was the main crop in this area. Eventually they began selling the crops in the latter part of the 1900’s to other wine makers and eventually they took the plunge themselves as there was a strong demand for their crops. They have about sixteen plots of land mostly along what is known as the Lodi-Mokelumne River as well as some in the Clements Foothills. They produced their first bottle of Zinfandel in 2000, and their first Syrah in 2001.


The third bottle that we tasted that evening was the Klinker Brick Winery Old Vine Zinfandel 2014. This wine is a blend of fruit from all sixteen parcels of land. When they say Old Vines here, they are Old Vines from youngsters that are fifty-five years old to some that are one-hundred-thirty-five years of age. This wine was aged for fifteen months in American Oak, of which sixty percent were new barrels. This wine had the sweetness that I think of when I think of Zinfandel, but there was enough spice to make it totally interesting to me. It was a glass staining wine that had a long finish and yes, I would have had some more, if it was offered to me.


The fourth bottle that we tasted was also a glass stainer, the Klinker Brick Winery “Farrah” Syrah 2014 was my kind of wine. I make no pretense, that I have a certain bias to Syrah wines, especially when they are full bodied and spicy, like this wine was. Here was a wine that was aged for fifteen months in French Oak and the fruit was all from the Lodi-Mokelumne River area. This one was a real war-horse and I am one of the few that really like Syrah with a big roasted turkey at Thanksgiving or for that matter, any time we make a turkey with all the fixings, as they say. I will follow up with the last two wines of the tasting.

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Some Lodi Wines

Posted on November 10, 2017 by thewineraconteur

The more that I write about wines, the more I realize how little I know. I mean there are so many areas and so many wineries that I am not sure that I can ever learn enough or try enough wines. There is a certain amount of conceit that begins when one writes about any subject and the more one delves into the subject, the more one realizes that the acquired knowledge is scant. I have never been to Lodi and when the chance occurred to try some wines from that area at D. Vine Fine Wines in Livonia, I had to try them. Lodi is directly East of San Francisco and because of the bay, it maintains a more moderate almost Mediterranean climate, helped by the many rivers in the area. While it is part of the much larger Central Valley, it has its own AVA, because of the soil and terrain that differentiates it from much of the Central Valley that is known for producing bulk fruit for wines. Part of my hesitance in the beginning to trying wines from this region is that it is known for Zinfandel, and I grew up as a child tasting the home-made “Dago Red” wines that a lot of the immigrants used to make and I never really liked the taste, especially after I started to discover the wines from the Continent. D. Vine Fine Wines was featuring six different bottles from Klinker Brick Winery.


The first wine that we tried that evening was the Klinker Brick Winery Albarino 2015 which is a varietal that is only recently making in-roads in the area. The fruit is from the Mokelumne River area of Lodi and to maintain the crispness of this grape, it was aged for eight months in Stainless Steel. It was a light gold in color with the nose subtle fruit and a refreshing tartness and a touch of the minerals in the terrain, that appealed to me. I found it very easy to drink and it reminded easily of other similar wines that I have enjoyed before.


The second wine of the evening was one that I have actually tried before, and it was at D. Vine on another occasion. The Klinker Brick Winery TranZind Red Blend 2013. Here was a high proof wine that relied heavily on the Old Vine Zinfandel that the area is noted for, and this wine was also from the Mokelumne River Area. The wine was a blend of eighty percent Zinfandel, ten percent Petite Sirah and then an equal amount of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. This was a moderate body wine that was not overpowering as I can find some Zins to be, but you could tell what the major part of the wine was. I will discuss the winery, the regional manager of the winery and some more wines as well.

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Defense for a PHD

Posted on November 8, 2017 by thewineraconteur

Can we say that we are proud, to have a PHD in the family? Well we are and we attended a defense seminar for the degree by our niece. I consider myself fairly intelligent, but I got lost in the title of the paper. “A Missense Mutation in the Loss-of-Function Intolerant Actr2 Gene Suppresses Thrombosis via Multiple Mechanisms” totally through me a curve ball. In one of my other hobbies there are times that I have to juxtapose three different languages doing research, but this is beyond my realm of understanding. It was interesting to observe the presentation and the slides, even with some cute pictures to animate the presentation, but after the first couple of slides, I like any outsider just kind of watched in silence and awe. My remembrance of PHD to goes back to Calhoun the Lawyer from the old Amos and Andy programs of my youth, which are not politically correct and hasn’t been for decades.


After the defense, there were about ten of us that went out for lunch, but the woman of the moment could not attend, as she had oral arguments to do, in a private session. We went to one of the chains that had a location across from the university, but I will refrain from mentioning the place, as our waiter tried to ingratiate himself totally in the moment, to the chagrin of the diners. One person ended up with a plate that had burned Chicken Parmesan. My Bride had ordered a Caesar Salad with chicken, but the chicken must have flown the coop. I had roasted chicken with rigatoni, caramelized onions, mushrooms and a Marsala Cream Sauce, but the sauce was barely there. Our waiter was more interested in letting us know that he works for tips, but he was totally unaware of what he was serving or doing. He even told me that he could not bring a bottle of wine to the table for me to photograph, as it was illegal, so I told him to put it on a separate empty table. I had actually lost my temper with his quality of service and let him know it.


I finally found the proper way to photograph the wines, and the bartender and the manager of the establishment did not have any problems with what I was doing. The wine list was rather scant and I can appreciate that in a college town setting. My Bride had Popcorn Cellars Chardonnay 2015, while the company was located in Napa, the wine had a California AVA and their site stressed that some of the fruit was from the Santa Lucia Highlands and other coastal areas. It said that the fruit came from individual wine blocks and that they were all fermented separately. The lots were then “oak-aged” in a combination of medium and medium-plus French Oak, which is a new write-up for me. It had some buttery finish and a deep Chardonnay color. I went with a safe wine from the list, as I had the Banfi Cal Di Sasso Cabernet Sauvignon & Sangiovese IGT 2015 from the Tuscan region of Italy. The Cabernet Sauvignon was what caused this wine to carry the IGT designation, and I am sure that this wine was aimed for the American public. The wine was a decent red wine and I am sure that it is made in bulk, as all I could find was “the wine is released after appropriate bottle aging.” The dinner was still good, because of what we were celebrating and we are looking forward to the big day when she receives the official degree, and that is something for any family to be proud of.

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A Remembrance

Posted on November 6, 2017 by thewineraconteur

I very seldom stray from the fond memories of wine, but bear with me, as I am today. “Woulda, coulda, shoulda” is an expression that I heard bandied about in my youth and now as I am older and can reflect, the expression is much more meaningful and poignant. To my readers that follow my writings they know that I have a group of characters that I have given nom de plumes and I do this, to maintain their sense of anonymity. My old music teacher from my Junior High School passed away and he really touched a lot more lives than one can imagine. I saw references to some historic films like “Goodbye Mr. Chips” and “Mr. Holland’s Opus” and I can understand why those films were selected. I grew up in a middle-class area of Detroit and back then the city was still more “white” and segregated. I had experienced already at that youthful age teachers of assorted ethnic and racial backgrounds, but they were all part of a homogenous scene that was the norm. Then I and others in my school encountered the new music teacher and he wore turtlenecks instead of neckties and he had an “Afro.” He was also “cool” in a very sublime manner, it wasn’t an affectation. That was back when music was part of the curriculum of education and this teacher made students want to learn how to play an instrument. I learned how to play the alto saxophone and I guess I was decent enough, because I went from second chair, second alto sax to first chair, first alto sax and that was quite an accomplishment, because the saxophone was the instrument of choice for this teacher. Though I was totally amazed, because he could play every instrument in the band and if a student was having problems, he would actually take their instrument and play the movement for them to make them see how it should be done. We would have the classic vanilla type of school music to perform, but this teacher would sometimes dip into his own pocket and buy sheet music for the band of music that was “hot” or not considered appropriate. He would even have the assorted parts of the band stand to play certain movements, just like we were part of the big swing orchestras of the Forties and the Fifties. I can also remember vividly hearing him yell “B-flat saxophones” when I knew it was me that missed that note.


After I had left the Junior High, I would get messages eventually that he would like me to come and play with the band when I was in high school, and by that time I was playing tenor saxophone, but he needed a baritone sax, which I did not have, but he allowed me to play his when he needed that distinctive sound. It was because of this teacher that forced my Father to find a Selmer saxophone for me, and it was a basket case sitting in the attic of a former jazz musician that he knew, and we got it totally refurbished for much less than what a Selmer would cost new, and I was a cool dude. I never even had to do an audition for my High School band, because of my grades from this teacher, was recognized as more important than the audition. I am getting rather teary-eyed as I write this, as I realize that as time went on, I had lost touch, though I had heard that he was in charge of the entire music department for the city, by the time that he retired. After his retirement, he did not sit idle, he and a large group of also retired musicians created a big bad that would perform and just charge enough to cover the rental of the hall where the concert took place and the group was even named after him. When the alumni of the Junior High began having reunions, this teacher showed up with his saxophone, from the very first reunion which was rather impromptu at a bar, and he asked if he could sit in with the musicians that were playing at that bar. He also brought his saxophone to some of the other reunions and played with his former students, some unlike me, became either professional or semi-professional musicians and those were some nights to remember.


“Woulda, coulda, shoulda” is my lament with the fast-past world of today, I would find out about his performances with his big band at halls or even the famous Baker’s Keyboard Lounge, the longest continuous jazz nightclub in the country. I was hoping to find one of my matchbooks from there, but as is the case, when you need it, it is not easy to find. Baker’s was host to such luminaries of music as Dave Brubeck, Gerry Mulligan, Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Oscar Peterson, George Shearing, Sarah Vaughn, Joe Williams, Maynard Ferguson, Cab Calloway, Woody Herman, Nat “King” Cole, Rick Margitza and my teacher. It was also a “Would, coulda, shoulda,” moment for his funeral, as there was no viewing the night before the funeral, and the day of the funeral I had a prior commitment that I could not alter. I know that some of the alumni that he touched did attend, but I still feel sad that I wasn’t there, as I know that I would have heard through all of the eulogies, discussions and music “B-flat saxophones” and it would have been oh-so proper.

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Chartreuse

Posted on November 4, 2017 by thewineraconteur

Chartreuse is a color, a digestif and all found in a restaurant by the same name. It is a very quaint restaurant in the corner of the Park Shelton and it looks upon the Detroit Institute of Arts. It has the feel of a courtyard adjacent to an atelier. There are hanging plants from the rafters, there is a “living wall” near the bar, and a mural near the entrance with splashes of chartreuse color. It is a well-run operation with an abundance of trained help that work like Ninjas, keeping the water glasses filled, plates removed and new plates served all seamlessly and without interrupting dinner conversations. The restaurant was packed with all of the tables being utilized, we had no reservation and we had seats at the bar, and as long as the bar was in both directions, all of those seats were taken as well, as well as the sofas in the lounge area. My Bride was asking me what Chartreuse tastes like, and they immediately offered her a sample to try, as they stock several different brands of this famed drink, though she decided that she would prefer to have wine for the evening. The patron mix was interesting, half of the crowd was from about my generation and the men all had sport coats on, and the other half is what is now termed hipster. They were all there to enjoy the food.


After we had our appetizer and some wine, we selected our dinner choices. The menu was tight and the food was fresh, as the chef goes shopping daily to determine the menu. My Bride had the Short Ribs which had a Fusion accent to this classic dish, as it was prepared with Coconut Rice and a Mango-Pineapple Hot Sauce, I was not as daring, but it was right up her alley. I went with the Duck Confit, a natural selection for me when offered, and it came with Barley Risotto, Blueberry Mosturda and Mushrooms; I was a little concerned that the dish might have been too sweet for me, but there was just a tinge of sweetness. In fact, most of the food critics in the area tout the fact that if there is a fruit and mustard combination, don’t pass it up, and they were right. We then shared a Key Lime Pot de Crème with Michigan Blueberries, Graham Crackers and a Sea-Salt Chocolate bar; not overly sweet and a very enjoyable consistency.


As I said in the last article, the wine carte was very tight and well thought out. They were also touting California wines and donating proceeds from the sales for the month to send to California, so we did our part for dinner. My Bride had the Broc Cellars Love Red North Coast 2016. This was a blend of Carignan, Syrah and Valdiguie. Valdiguie is found in the Vin du Pays in the Languedoc-Roussillon region as well in Provence, it has been grown for years in Napa and was originally called Napa Gamay, but that name is no longer being used since the grape has been identified properly. The fruit is from the Frei Vineyard in Solano County’s Green Valley and the neighboring Wirth Ranch and Parenti Ranch. Chris Brockway calls his facility an urban winery as it is in Berkley and he prides himself on great contracts with specific growers. This wine was aged for eight months in neutral French Oak and it paired well with her dish, even with the hot sauce. Since I had the duck, I am a creature of habit and I looked for a Pinot Noir. I had the Bench Pinot Noir 2015 from the Sonoma Coast of Sonoma County. This wine is made by Brack Mountain Wine Company and they did a fine job with this finicky grape. Seventy percent of the fruit was destemmed and then the balance was placed in clusters atop of the first grapes for the pressing. After the fermentation period the wine was aged for eleven months in French Oak, of which thirty percent was new. I was very happy with the wine and you could taste the artisan and craftmanship in the glass. I am sure that we will be back, and I think that I delayed trying the restaurant for a while, because a couple years back they were selected as the Restaurant of the Year by the Detroit Free Press, and I am always afraid that an honor like that can be detrimental at times, but not at Chartreuse.

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The Park Shelton

Posted on November 2, 2017 by thewineraconteur

After going to the Detroit Institute of Arts we walked across the street to have dinner at Chartreuse restaurant in the legendary Park Shelton. This was a hotel back in the day, famed for having Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo living there, when he was painting the masterpiece of a mural on the walls of the DIA glorifying the automobile and the assembly line. The hotel was opened in 1926 as the Wardell Hotel, named after Fred Wardell of the Eureka Vacuum Company. Later it became part of the Sheraton group, originally as the Wardell-Sheraton, then later as the Park-Sheraton. When it ceased to be part of the Sheraton group it became the Park Shelton and it went from a hotel to an apartment building and now condominiums. Some of the famous celebrities that frequented there were George Burns and Gracie Allen, and Bob Hope. We also had a chance to wander the main floor which besides have Chartreuse also had another restaurant and some independent ladies retail shops. One could still see the grandeur of the old hotel in some of the shops.


Chartreuse is a bistro on the corner of the hotel looking onto the DIA. When I originally tried to get a reservation, I was told that the earliest table I could get was for after eight that evening. The lady that answered the phone then suggested that they maintain open seating around the bar and that it was first come, first served, so we promptly got there before they opened at five. There were a couple of sofas in the bar area with low tables, that I did not think would be good for my back, so we took two seats at the long bar at the corner. My Bride at first was chagrined about the location, until she realized that she could watch the food preparation, as the kitchen was right off the bar. The menu was rather short, but well thought out and our waitress explained how the menu changes weekly if not daily, depending on what the chef has selected while out shopping. There were a few items that stayed the same, but all others were subject to change. Some of the dishes were cold and some hot, some for carnivores and some for vegans, so everyone could find something to eat. She even suggested that we try a new appetizer that was just out for the first time, which we did. We shared an order of Wagyu Beef Tartare with Avocado, Chili Mayonnaise, Scallions and house-made Tortilla chips with African and Mediterranean spices. It was delicious and a harbinger of what we could expect for the rest of our meal.


As I said the menu was short and well thought out, and so was the wine carte. Most of the wines were not what is normally encountered and certainly not the run of the mill selection found usually. My Bride still wanted something bubbly after we had the Prosecco during our lunch at the museum. She had a glass of the Stephanie Serol Rosé Turbullent NV sparkling wine made of Gamay from the Cote Roannaise AOD from the Loire Valley. A charming wine with a delightful flavor and made in the “Methode Ancestrale” way, which is probably the first method developed to make commercially effervescent and sparkling wines, and one of the more potentially difficult ways to do it. The wine is originally fermented in concrete and then bottled, with no additional dosage, just from the natural sugar. The bottles go through the usual time lapse and they go through a disgorgement, just to remove the deposit that naturally occurs in this process. I wanted to start out with a white wine, and the main thrust of the wine carte focused on California and they were donating some of the proceeds from the sales to aid after the fires in the wine country. I had the Broc Cellars Shell Creek Vineyard Chenin Blanc Paso Robles 2016. Chris Brockway has an urban winery in Berkley and one of the contracts he maintains is with Shell Creek Vineyard for their fruit. Shell Creek Vineyard was planted with vines in 1972, but the Stanton family has owned the land since the late 1800’s. The fruit is direct pressed, fermented and aged in a combination of a 500 Liter Stockinger (Austrian wood) and one-year old barrels for nine months with no filtration. The winery made a total of two-hundred cases of this wine, so that explains why I had never heard of it, or had the chance to try it before. I found it to be an excellent glass of wine to start the night off with.

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Monet and Church

Posted on October 31, 2017 by thewineraconteur

The Detroit Institute of Arts had just opened up a new exhibit and we made an afternoon at this grand museum, one of the finest in the country. The exhibit of Claude Monet and Frederic Church showcased two distinct artists and genres. The “Monet: Framing Life” centered around the Institutes only Monet piece “Rounded Flower Bed” which was formerly known as “Gladioli” and the name was changed after new research. There were ten other paintings including works by his fellow friend and Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir during the early years in Argenteuil. The “Church: A Painter’s Pilgrimage” focused on one of America’s most famous and financially successful painter of the mid Nineteenth Century; and the working vacation that he and his family took to the Levant. Two completely different styles of painting in a grand setting. I knew that my Bride was an avid Monet fan, as she fell in love with his work when she discovered some of his greatest pieces on a vacation that she had in Paris, long before we met.


After we toured the exhibit, we decided to stop and have a quick bite to eat, as we were going to try a new restaurant (to us) that was across the street from the DIA. The museum has two cafes and we decided to dine at the Kresge Court, which is now enclosed and protected from the elements, but when I was a youth and I sometimes skipped a day of high school, I would spend the day at the museum and have a bite at this same court, and my Bride used to go here for their Brunch with Bach events. The Kresge Court is named for the philanthropic family that started with Sebastien Spering Kresge who formed the S.S. Kresge stores, one of the original “dime stores” and in fact the first one was located on Woodward Avenue between Grand River and State Street, just a few miles from the DIA; the company eventually ceased the “dime stores” after the success of their K-Mart stores. In this beautiful setting we decided to share a “Midtown” which was Capicola, Bavarian Ham, Genoa Salami, tomato, arugula with Dijon mayo on a ciabatta with some house-made chips.


We had also developed a thirst as the environmentally controlled atmosphere in the museum had us feeling a bit dry. So, we had to have some ice water and we also shared a couple of splits of wine. I mean this trip would not have even been mentioned if we only drank water. The splits were Cavit Lunetta Prosecco Brut NV, and Lunetta means “Little Moon.” Cavit is the largest producer of Prosecco and they own the largest facility in Italy strictly devoted to the production of sparkling wine. Since this was Prosecco it is all Prosecco grapes, or as it is known outside of the Prosecco region as Glera. The wine is made in the Charmat Method, and the secondary fermentation takes thirty days in Stainless Steel. The wine was just perfect for the sandwich and then we spent a couple of hours looking at some of the other galleries at the DIA, before we went off for dinner.

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