New Year’s Eve

Posted on January 4, 2017 by thewineraconteur

tenuta-san-guido-sassicaia-bolgheri-2007I have to admit that that I like to go out for dinner quite a bit and you may have noticed, as I like to write about restaurants almost as much as I like to write about wine. Suffice it to say, that there are a few nights that I do not like to venture out on and New Year’s Eve is one of them. Over the years, I have found that the menus shrink, the prices rise and the service diminishes. I guess in my youth, I didn’t notice it as much, but now I do, so I know that there are other nights where everything will line up more favorable. Though I do miss the chance for some dancing, as bands seem more prevalent on that evening. So, for the last ten to fifteen years we seem to have everyone come here to ring in the new year, though some of the younger relatives skip our dinner to be with the crowds and that is understandable.
There was around thirty here, including the newest member of the family to celebrate the new year, but she didn’t enjoy the revelry, but she enjoyed the attention and the extra pampering. Some of the guests brought food which added to the selection for the evening’s appetizers and dinner.                                                                                                                       We started off with assorted cheese and crackers, real jumbo-shrimp cocktails and mini-quiche tarts. I have to admit that I am quite the nosher when it comes to appetizers like this. My Bride made chicken breasts in a mushroom sauce for the ones that are really not carnivores, and for the rest, she made a monster of a beef tenderloin. There were as many suggestions about cooking it, as there may have been diners that evening. There were a couple of suggestions about doing the tenderloin, butterfly cut, but in the end, it was carved into four pieces to facilitate the cooking and allowing more chances that we could get everyone happy with the range of pink-ness. As for me, a cut like that requires Medium-rare to ensure that the meat is fully tender. It was a simple marinade of garlic and rosemary; and after resting a bit after cooking, it was my job to carve the meat and of course I had to sample several of the cuts. My Bride did such a fine job that I think that I could have carved it with a plastic knife. She also made a full pork tenderloin that was also cooked perfectly, if I may say so, and by the time I finished carving all of the meat and sampling them, I really didn’t have room for the Caesar Salad, Armenian Pilaf or any of the other side dishes that were arranged. Actually, I didn’t even have room for dessert and they all looked great as well, and one of the desserts was the obligatory birthday cake for the January celebrants.

Cima Collina Tondre Chardonnay 2012
There were several different wines poured that evening, some were from the guests and others from the cellar and I shall mention just two of the wines sampled during the dinner portion of the evening. The first was a wine that I was impatient to try from my wine club. The Cima Collina Chardonnay Tondre Grapefield 2012 was the winner of the white wines that we started with. I have some reds from Cima Collina, but with a couple of true wine lovers in attendance, I had to try this particular wine. The Tondre Grapefield is another district in the Santa Lucia Highlands which are famed, at least to me, for their Pinot Noir production. With only one-hundred-ninety-one cases made, this wine had me really intrigued and it lived up to my expectations. It reminded me of a luscious white Burgundy in its complexity with just a kiss of oak and we all missed this bottle when it was finally emptied. The other wine of note that evening was a wine that changed the rules in Italy. When it first appeared, it was listed as Vino da Tavola Rosso or Red Table Wine, and then there was such a clamor about this wine, that the IGT designation was created for wines made in a district that were not the famed grapes for a certain district, and then finally this estate has the distinction of being the only single estate to have its own DOC. The wine is formally known as Tenuta San Guido Sassicaia Bolgheri 2007, but mostly it is just known as Sassicaia. Sassicaia if you translate it in English means “stony field” and the terrain reminded the winemakers of the gravelly soil of Graves in the Bordeaux region of France. This wine is also made from two grapes that are very important in Bordeaux, as it is mainly Cabernet Sauvignon and blended with a little Cabernet Franc. With the label reading Bolgheri Sassicaia DOC, the terroir eclipses the grapes and has made the Maremma district of Tuscany famous. While they started planting these grapes back in the 1940’s, the initial release was in 1968 as a Table Wine, not so anymore. This wine spends two weeks fermenting in Stainless Steel and then spends twenty-four months in French Oak to soften this explosive wine. I have to say that it was one of the finest Cabernet Sauvignon wines that I have ever had, and those that tried it, savored it for as long as possible. I mean I was ready to call it a night after having these two wines and a great meal.

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Christmas Day

Posted on January 2, 2017 by thewineraconteur

cvne-cune-rioja-reserva-2012For everyone that celebrates Christmas, while the holiday is so special, it is also hectic. For those that are having big dinners at their home, it is an all-day affair of cleaning and cooking. For others, it is traveling to sometimes two or more different houses to give everyone the Christmas Cheer; and that is what we do on Christmas Day. We try to cover as many relatives as possible.  On Christmas morning, it has become a tradition to have breakfast at my Mother-in-Laws home and since she has five daughters who are all married with children the house gets quite cozy with the ability to get everyone seated. There were doughnuts and Danishes, omelets, bacon and pancakes, enough to sate everyone for the morning. And then there are Mimosas, that wonderful breakfast drink of orange juice and sparkling wine. This is a drink where one does not have to splurge when making it, as any sparkling wine will work. We used Cook’s California Champagne Brut Grand Reserve NV, and you will notice that it is a “California Champagne” and since Cook’s was established in 1859 they have been grandfathered in for using the term “champagne” since it is now only legally used for wines from France, except for a few wineries that were allowed to keep the name, because of longevity. Cook’s proclaims that they are the “#1 Sparkling Wine in the U.S.” and I am sure that it is true, because they are a popular priced sparkling wine, made in the bulk process method using Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier grapes and it is festive.
After we left one house, we immediately drove to my Cousin’s house as she likes to have everyone over for Christmas dinner, and a fine spread she puts out. She always starts out with some classic Armenian dishes. There are platters of Lahmajoon or in the vernacular “Armenian Pizza.” Lahmajoon is a flat circular dough that is topped with finely ground lamb, green peppers, parsley, onions, tomato paste and garlic and then seasoned with salt, black pepper and red pepper for a nice spicy dish that is just rolled up and eaten as finger food, of course it seems like one must have at least six of them just to get started. Then there is Cheese Beoreg which is a small triangular shaped pastry of many layers of Phyllo dough stuffed with “brick cheese” and parsley and baked with plenty of butter until it is lightly golden in color, and once again, I think six is the magic number to get a complete appreciation for this snack. Then for those a bit more daring there is the classic Armenian charcuterie called Basturmah which is dried meat cured with garlic and cumin and it has to be cut paper thin, the meat is very spicy; and because of the spices, the scent of the meat stays with one for at least a couple of days, and since I have always worked with the public, it is one dish that I tend to refrain from. After all of the appetizers, and I did forget to mention that there was also Armenian “String” Cheese, we had to save some room for the eventual dinner. This particular year my Cousin made not one, but two whole beef tenderloins prepared perfectly medium-rare, one was a classic marinade of garlic and rosemary and the other had a rub of Moroccan spices. She also made a mushroom gravy to serve with the tenderloin along with Armenian Pilaf, three different hot peppers that were sautéed in oil, vegetables and she asked if my Bride could bring her Caesar Salad, which she did, very happily I might add. Then after everyone had seconds the table was cleared and then a huge spread of desserts was laid out, as if anyone had room, but we all managed.

Cooks Brut NV
Cocktails and beer seemed to be the drinks of choice, while my Cousin seemed to be enjoying her Bilinis, which is a variation of a Mimosa, but substituting Peach Nectar for the Orange Juice. We ended up enjoying an always pleasing bottle of Rioja wine from Spain. We were drinking CVNE “Cune” Rioja Reserva 2012. CVNE stands for Compania Vinicola del Norte de Espana and was founded in 1879 and is still owned by the same family. The family owns 1,350 acres, but that is not nearly enough for their production, so the other half of what they require is from contract growers. The wine is a classic blend of Tempranillo, Mazuelo, Graciano and Garnacha Tinta.  Rioja Reserva is the third tier in the pecking order of Rioja and to achieve that status, the wine has to be aged in oak for a minimum of fourteen months and then another two years in glass, before it is allowed to be released for sale. It was a good hearty wine and blended well with dinner, even though it was one of the few items for dinner that was not Armenian.

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Christmas Eve

Posted on December 31, 2016 by thewineraconteur

Christmas Eve is one of the holidays that we normally do not entertain on. This particular year though we ended up having everyone at our house, which is fine, because otherwise it seems as if my Bride becomes a catering company. So, since she does a lot of the cooking anyways, it really does not matter that much. All of the gifts were for the most part at our house prior to the evening, and we were still able to function for the most part, though it was a bit tight in the library, especially if there was a book that was needed, and for sure my Encyclopedia (and yes, I still have one and use it constantly) was buried in a corner on its stand.

trione-geyserville-ranch-red-wine-2008
The dinner requests were rather low key and rather low-maintenance so I did not have to watch my Bride get over-burdened or full of anxiety over any of the preparations. Ham, roast beef and chicken were requested. I could live with it, though I am not a fan of the spiral-cut hams, I guess that I am of the minority, and the roast beef and sautéed chicken are both comfort foods. She did slip in a few fancier dishes like Fettucine Alfredo, Armenian Pilaf, her famous Caesar Salad and Brussel Sprouts with bacon and Balsamic Vinegar. There were also a few more dishes that were brought in, as well as all of the desserts. I think that the most drama centered around my carving of the roast beef and the ham, but even that was relatively calm.

bartenura-moscato-igt-2016
There were only a couple of wine drinkers present, so even that was rather low-key as well. Of course, there were a couple of our stand-by California Chardonnays that I have written too many times about. Also, one of the guest brought a bottle of Michigan wine, that I did not see what it was, but it was in a jug looking bottle and the wine would be poured and then the jug would disappear again, so I cannot really say what it was. Also, another guest brought a bottle to share with some of the other women, the blue bottle of Moscato, and the marketers of that winery did a fine job, because that is how she went shopping for it. Bartenura Moscato 2016 in the blue bottle is very popular among some of the ladies and it is slightly effervescent naturally, especially for a wine that young. The wine carries an IGT designation from the Province of Pavia in Italy, as Moscato is not one of the standard grape varietals from that district. I really only went through one bottle of red wine, as I only had one brother-in-law that was interested in some wine, and then one glass of it went to my Bride. I opened up a bottle of wine that I had for some time that I wanted to try, and I always am fascinated that some of the wineries still use the more substantial heavier glass bottles. The Trione Geyserville Ranch Red Blend 2008 was excellent, if I may say so. I also get a kick out of how some of the California wineries do not belong to the Meritage Society, so they cloak their Bordeaux Blend wine with the simple description of Red Wine Blend, as the way Trione Vineyards & Winery did. The wine was a classic blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petite Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec all grown on their Geyserville Ranch estate, and this vintage was from the first from their new facility and it was aged for eighteen months in French Oak, and half of the barrels were new. The winery is in Alexander Valley which is located in Sonoma County so it has a different feel compared to Napa Valley, but as I said it was excellent and it reminded me more of some of the classified growths of the Medoc, it was that well made. Of course, my Bride asked if we had more of it, and I had to respond in the negative, but I told her that the odds were that we could get more, perhaps not of that vintage, but since they make over a thousand cases a year, it shouldn’t be that difficult. Just a great way to start off the Christmas week.

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Twas the Night Before the Eve

Posted on December 29, 2016 by thewineraconteur

It was the night before Christmas Eve and one of my assorted characters arrived in town to visit with her family. Ms. Yoga came into town with her son and she wanted to meet up with us, before she settled in with her family for a couple of days. She is always a whirling Dervish when she arrives and she always has so many people that she wants to see when she gets back to her home town. She wanted to meet up at Fleming’s Steak House for some food, some wine and some conversation and some laughs. She also invited a couple of her brothers to come and join us, and the more the merrier.

pessismist-red-blend-2015
We commandeered a table in the bar area as well as some additional chairs for the crowd. As we were looking at the menus, we took advantage of the House-made potato chips which were still warm, and they had changed the recipe as they are now sweet and spicy, and they didn’t last long. We first just ordered an assortment of small plates that we could all share from while we were chatting and catching up on what we had missed since the last time. We were nibbling on the House-made Burrata, Mushroom Raviolis, Filet Mignon Flatbread and Calamari. Afterwards several of us got the Prime Burger with cheese and bacon, and on the side French fries, onions, tomatoes and a wedge of lettuce. There is something about the burger in a steak house that always fits the bill for some casual dining.

terranoble-sauvignon-blanc-2015
And the wine was flowing during all of the conversation and the casual dining. There were several wines that evening, but I will discuss two of choices that night. The first wine was Terranoble Sauvignon Blanc 2015 from the Central Valley of Chile. Sauvignon Blanc has been grown very well in France, the United States, New Zealand and in Chile, as we as many other places around the globe as it noted for its refreshing tartness when it is young and it is very easy to drink. The Central Valley of Chile is the largest region and the appellation is akin to stating a California appellation as the fruit can be harvest from many areas across the region. I kind of splurged with a glass of wine with my burger, as I have heard good things about Daou Vineyards of Paso Robles in the Central Coast area of California. The Pessimist Red Blend 2015 was very tasty and not as jammy as one might expect, since it is a blend of Syrah, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah, Tannat and Grenache. The proprietary blend varies from vintage to vintage as I understand, and they do an admirable job creating a pleasurable wine, that even my Bride liked and she is not partial to Zinfandel. I even liked their tag line of “a pessimist is never disappointed” and I thought it was perfect for the wine, as one is never sure of a wine that has a unique name on the label. It was a very charming way to start the Christmas week with good friends and good wine.

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Alas, I Wish I Had More

Posted on December 27, 2016 by thewineraconteur

Most of the time that we have a dinner party here at the house, it is usually white or red wines and sometimes something sparkling. Our Christmas get together with the two Raconteurs ended up with a great surprise. Just before the company arrived, I had gone to the cellar to grab the red wine for the dinner, as I had pulled the sparkling wine in the morning to get chilled. While I was down selecting the red wine for dinner, I decided to select a dessert wine. We seldom have dessert wines, unless it is with people that really like wines, because we don’t like to have left over wines. I grabbed two different bottles, one older and one much younger, just in case I needed a back-up and then I put them both in the refrigerator to cool them down a bit more from the cellar.

peju-late-harvest-chardonnay-1997
We had a couple of different desserts to put out, and no, my Bride did not bake or make them. She found a huge Tiramisu cake and then a box of “Angel Wings.” Angel Wings are what we have always called them, there might be a fancier name for them, but I always connotate them with the Christmas Season. They are simply eggs. Butter, cream and a little flour made into a dough, put through a pasta press cut into strips and dropped into a pot of hot oil, then dried and while still warm they are very generously covered with powdered sugar. I have always found them in Italian, Hungarian and Polish bakeries; so, I am sure that they have many different names, but for Americans they are “Angel Wings.” They are probably not the healthiest item to eat, but it is the holidays. The Tiramisu cake was the largest multi-layered version that I had ever seen and it was equally rich.

glass-of-peju-late-harvest-chardonnay-1997
Now getting to the most important part of the dessert setting was the wine. I had grabbed as my first choice a bottle of Peju Province Late Harvest Chardonnay 1997 and I remember liking it at the winery when we were there, but it just kind of sat in the cellar undisturbed since that trip. I thought it was worth a try, since the wine was made with Chardonnay grapes that had the Noble Rot of Botrytis and most of these types of wines have long lives. Two other factors that made me willing to gamble was that the bottle was dark brown glass, and instead of a foil cartridge cap, the bottle was sealed in a wax or plastic covering, similar to what one finds in a new bottle of Makers Mark Bourbon, so I figured that it was airtight. Every wine that we have had from Peju Province has been excellent, so I had my fingers crossed. After breaking the wax seal, the cork completely crumbled as I tried to remove it, which meant that I had to decant the wine. As I was decanting the wine the aroma was wonderful, but the wine was very dark, I even took a photo of a glass of it, to show you the color, it was not quite as dark as a Stout or a medium brewed coffee. While the color might have been a bit startling, the taste was awesome. It was such a mellow wine with just enough sweetness to make everyone stop and marvel. It was so perfect that I really kind of ignored the desserts on my plate and enjoyed the Nectar of the Gods, all the while lamenting to myself that I did not have another bottle of this to share again.

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Two Raconteurs for Christmas

Posted on December 25, 2016 by thewineraconteur

We recently had a Christmas dinner for The Wine Raconteur and The Wine Raconteur Jr. The Wine Raconteur Jr. actually selected his nom de plume when he guest wrote an article for me, and I guess he chose that name to honor me. We have been friends for about twenty years, as I was looking for a part time employee and I posted the request at the local university. We always try to get together for the Christmas season as well as the two Brides and their two children. He has a job that requires a lot of traveling, so it is harder to coordinate the time to get together.

DeTierra Tondre Pinot Noir 2012

Well they came over and we immediately put out some appetizers and wine for them, and during that time, we also exchanged presents; it is always great to watch children open up gifts, especially if they like the gift and get excited. The appetizers were quite simple and just a way to get everyone relaxed and enjoy some wine in the living room, as it was just a couple of cheeses, crackers and shrimp cocktail. After we moved into the dining room, we started dinner. Of course, my Bride started with her famous Caesar Salad, and yes, I do brag about it, whenever I get the chance and she had bought a baguette loaf, because she received a fancy cutting board, but she didn’t want to use it, she doesn’t want it to get scarred – go figure. For our entrée, she made her newest and her latest popular dish, which is Salmon in a Bourbon Sauce, as well as Armenian Pilaf, spinach and green peas. She was guessing that the children might prefer green peas over spinach, but I think the dinner was accepted to a degree by the children, I know that the adults enjoyed it.

L Mawby Domaine Leelanau Leland Brut Rose NV

We started off during the appetizer portion of the meal with some festive wine for the season, and because my Bride just enjoys using her stemless crystal flutes, whereas I am more traditional and prefer a stem for my flute, and I actually have a set of the old saucer-style champagne glass, but they have been relegated now for dessert servings. I chilled a bottle of Domaine Leelanau Village Series “Leland” Brut Rosé NV from L. Mawby Vineyards from Michigan. Mawby has made quite a name for himself in Michigan wines, and has also helped other up and coming wineries as well, as I have been told by other winemakers. He is very serious about his sparkling wines and he makes some wines by the Charmat Method, but most of the wines he produces is by the Traditional Method, though he cannot legally call his wine Champagne. The “Leland” wine was a special run that Mawby produced for a group, and I had a chance to buy some of the over-run. The wine is a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Vignoles from 2012 and then just a small dosage of Pinot Noir from 2014 that was added for color, and hence the Non-Vintage status, and the wine was just perfect. Actually, I find it much more agreeable compared to the Non-Vintage sparkling wines from some of the famed big houses of both California and France and they are priced about the same. It was so good that everyone had seconds at least. For the salmon, I selected one of my Bride’s favorite choices with that dish, a wine that I had recently received from my wine club, and though I knew that it could have aged for probably another ten years, I was eager to try it. The wine was De Tierra Tondre Grapefield Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands 2012 and it was a pure Pinot Noir to enjoy and it continues to prove to me that the Santa Lucia Highlands has and will continue to grow this fussy varietal successfully. I have had other wines from this winery and I have been pleased. The Tondre Grapefield began in 1997 with just six and a half acres and is now eighty acres in size and they grow an assortment of Pinot Noir clones. At De Tierra, they aged this wine for twelve months in new and neutral French Oak and they produced one-hundred-twenty-five cases of wine. Everybody was happy about the dinner and the wines, except perhaps for the children who didn’t get to experience the wine.

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My Club’s Christmas Meeting

Posted on December 23, 2016 by thewineraconteur

The dinner club that I belong to has made some changes to the usual structure of the meetings. The Christmas meeting is now what is called a Dutch Treat meeting, meaning that each member pays for his dinner, and we have also gone and made another change and it is now a meeting with spouses. I am sure that the founding members, as well as some of the Old Guard when I joined some thirty years ago, that have since passed way, would all be spinning in their graves to know that women are invited. The club was originally a way for the members to get together with other hobbyists and have a “boys” night out, as they used to refer to it. The times have changed, and since this is now a “Dutch Treat” event, the attendance is much smaller, and to be truthful, it is the most expensive night out for the club.

chateau-tour-coutelin-2007
The last couple of years we have been meeting at the Oakland Hills Country Club, as one of our members also belongs to this prestigious and lauded club. It has two distinct golf courses and has been the site of many famous tournaments, but we were all going there for dinner. Something new at the country club was that they actually did an inventory of all the assorted golfing memorabilia that they have acquired over the years and then they built special new cabinets to show the collections. We were in one of the private dining rooms on the second floor of the club house which would have been overlooking the course, but it is dark so early, but it allowed everyone to look at the collections in the cabinets instead. As is the norm for the Christmas dinner, it was a set menu starting off with hot Hors d’oeuvres that were brought out by our wait staff for the evening. We began the actual dinner with a Caesar Salad and while it was very good, I still prefer my Bride’s and so far, hers has not been bested. Our entrée was Filet au Poivre and grilled Jumbo Shrimp (and yes, by anyone’s definition they were “jumbo”) with Rosemary Potato Gratin and Garlic Herb Lemon Beurre Blanc. Our dessert was one of the specialties of the country club for this time of the year, their Yule Log Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate Mousse, Chocolate Glaze, Berry Sauce and Whipped Cream. Everyone was well sated and very pleased with the menu that our member selected for us, for the evening.

MI Oakland Hills CC MB

As for drinks, the bar was quite open, though I felt sorry for the wait staff as they would have to go downstairs to the bar to get our drinks. I asked to see the wine list, and the waiter not only brought the main list, but also the better list, and he did tell me that they also have some real special wines that are not on either list, like assorted vintages of Screaming Eagle (first label), as the second label was listed on the better list. As I studied the well thought out list of wines, there were many that were too dear, especially just before Christmas, but I did notice that there were some Cru Bourgeois from the great Communes of the Medoc; how could one go wrong with one of those selections. My Bride and I had a bottle of Chateau Tour Coutelin Saint-Estephe 2007. There are five Classed Growths from Saint-Estephe, but they are also known for having quite a few Cru Bourgeois estates. While the wines utilize what is referred to as the Red Bordeaux Blend or in California as a Meritage, the grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec; Saint-Estephe with its heavy clay terrain favors Merlot more than its neighbor Pauillac. While the vintage year of 2007 was considered un-even, Saint-Estephe was noted for doing it right. The wine was everything I expected from a nine-year-old Medoc and we were not disappointed. Of course, for next year, perhaps I will do some better planning, but I am sure that I won’t still go to the better wine list.

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An Oxymoron

Posted on December 21, 2016 by thewineraconteur

My Bride is a volunteer, she always seems to be volunteering; I sometimes think it is so that she can get away from me. As if being a Mother, a Grandmother, a Godmother, an Aunt and a Bride is not enough to do when she isn’t working. She keeps picking up these  gift requests both from work and from her Church, so that others can have a nice Christmas as well; she does have a big heart. There are days when I feel that I am becoming a bachelor, she does so many different things at her Church. One of the groups had a Christmas dinner and spouses were invited.

columbia-crest-grand-estates-cabernet-sauvignon-2014

We were going to the Olive Garden, and we did not pick the venue. As I have said before, I am not a fan of chain restaurants and this evening did not change my attitude, but the food was fine. We were having a party of twenty and they could have put one more table in the row, as I think that I have had more space in an airline seat and my seat was at the seam of two tables that were not the same height, so I had to be careful where I placed my plate. We started off with a salad that was brought out family style and after asking for some additional peppers, it was enjoyable.  My Bride had the Jumbo Shrimp and Lobster Ravioli and I had basically the same dish, but with a small sirloin steak and it was cooked Medium Rare, so they did get that right. I figured that the less “Italian” the meal, the safer it would be for me, and I think that I called it right. Their idea of Jumbo Shrimp and mine though were miles apart, I have had larger shrimp in a Shrimp Cocktail and may I opine that there was a shortage of the Jumbo Shrimp, and yes, I know that it is one of the more popular examples of an oxymoron. Around my seat, I was surrounded by women and I had a chance to regale them with stories about old Detroit, and it turns out that one of the women came from my old neighborhood, so it was great reliving some of the old haunts that are no longer here. The Raconteur was at full speed with the stories to keep the ladies entertained.

EPSON MFP image

EPSON MFP image

The high point of the meal, beyond my storytelling was the bottle of wine and it was not Italian. When I looked at the wine list, most of the wines were popular priced and that made sense and then there were two bottles of wine that were at least twice the price of the other wines, and I am not sure how many bottles they would actually sell of an Amarone or a Brunello. I stayed safe and ordered a Cabernet Sauvignon and one did not have to worry about the any flourish of service with the wine, as our waitress, opened the bottle and just poured out two glasses for my Bride and I and took off. I saw the wine on the carte and I wanted to try a bottle of it as it was listed by Wine Spectator as a “Best Value” with a score of 91 points. The wine was Columbia Crest Grand Estates Cabernet Sauvignon 2014 from the Columbia Valley in eastern Washington state. I have had wines from this winery before, but I wanted to see if I agreed with their evaluation. The wine is 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot and 2% Cabernet Franc and was aged in older American and French Oak for eleven months. The first sip was not impressive, but after the wine had a chance to breathe and open up, it was very pleasant and I would order this wine again without hesitation. In fact, we did finish the bottle during the dinner, I guess story telling made me thirsty.

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A Surprise for a Sixty-Year Old

Posted on December 19, 2016 by thewineraconteur

Surprise parties are always very tricky to plan and require some clever maneuvers to carry them out. One of my cousins had celebrated her actual sixtieth birthday in November, but with Thanksgiving and a wedding, the milestone had been eclipsed by those other events. Her husband had other plans. He arranged that we should all meet at a restaurant called Matter of Taste, one of her favorite restaurants, and I am surprised that I haven’t wrote about it before, as we had dinner one night with the very same couple. We were all to be at the restaurant in their banquet room, on the second floor by six; while he had suggested to his wife that they go have dinner there and that they would pick up her Mother, my Aunt, and take her for dinner as well. He told her that they had reservations, but on the way to pick up my Aunt, they got delayed and my cousin is very punctual and she was concerned that they would lose their reservation. I think the delay was both to get her a little riled and also to accommodate some of the attendees that always run on “Armenian time.” As they were driving to the restaurant, he mentioned that his boss, was talking about having a party there and would the husband check out the facility, so he insisted on doing that before they had dinner. This also got her a little riled, and the room was dark, when they arrived and yes, she was surprised; and I am sure that she will forgive her husband and her Mother in time.

canyon-oaks-chardonnay-2014

Not only was the surprise perfect, so was the restaurant. Matter of Taste is a charming restaurant situated on a lake, and in the summer time, they have huge commercial garage doors on the water side that are drawn up, so that there is great ambience to the dining room. The menu was selected beforehand and I am sure that it is one of the guest of honor’s favorite dishes there. We started off with their House Salad that was a mixture of assorted lettuces with sliced apples, toasted Hazelnuts, dried cranberries, shaved carrots and New York White Cheddar cheese drizzled with a raspberry vinaigrette. While I don’t often get excited over a salad this was wonderful and very tasty. The entrée was breast of chicken, and all of the chickens, must have been first cousins to a turkey, because they were extra-large, and cooked perfectly and so moist. The chicken was accompanied with huge egg noodles wrapped around asparagus spears. During dinner, the room was almost quiet, as everyone was just totally immersed and impressed with the dinner. Afterwards there was a sweet table set up on the side with about eighteen different mini-desserts and coffee for all to enjoy, if they still had room after the dinner.

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There was a full-service bar arranged in one corner for all to enjoy with some very fine liquors and most were having craft cocktails which are all the rage these days. I true to myself went and explored the wines being offered. The bartender told me that these were the normal banquet wines that the restaurant offered, as compared to the wine carte that is offered downstairs in the restaurant proper and I was still interested in having some wine and so was my Bride, when she wasn’t busy photographing the event.  Most of the wines were from Vista Point Vineyards and they were all non-vintage California wines and a popular winery for large parties and caterers.  The wines offered were Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Grigio/Colombard and White Zinfandel. There was also Canyon Oaks Chardonnay 2014 also from California and that is what we both had for the evening, as it went well with the entrée and it was enjoyable, not a lot of nuance, but it filled the bill adequately for the moment. My Bride had photographed the moment and all the guests that were there, she has already had all the pictures developed and created an album that we will give the honoree when we see her.  My Bride selected about eighty photos to be inserted and there were additional leaves in the album to add more photos that I am sure other people had taken as well. All of the planning and stealth totally accomplished the trick and there was a wonderful evening for all, and I am sure a great memory for my cousin.

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December Delivery

Posted on December 17, 2016 by thewineraconteur

The latest delivery from our wine club A Taste of Monterey arrived and as always, I am like a little kid opening up presents from under the tree. It has been one of the best investments that we have made and I really can’t tell you how long we have been a member. We wondered into the shop the club maintains in Monterey, as we were going to dine at the legendary Sardine Factory in Cannery Row, not only did we dine, but we also bought our favorite piece of art, that is featured in our living room, we also bought wine at a satellite winery tasting room and then discovered our club. They offered at the time two options, one was for two wines monthly that were more popular priced, or three wines once every quarter of the year and these were better wines. Since, we were going to get twelve bottles of wine each year, we decided to get the better grouping and get some wines that the odds were, that we would not be able to find at home.

bernardus-sierra-mar-chardonnay-2014
The first bottle that was in the case was Bernardus Sierra Mar Chardonnay 2014. This wine immediately brought a smile to me, as we had actually visited Bernardus Winery on one of our trips to Carmel-by-the-Sea. The winery is located in the Carmel Valley and besides the winery, there is also Bernardus Lodge and Spa, and a spectacular restaurant on the grounds called Marinus; where we dined there after a tour of the grounds and a wine tasting. Sierra Mar Vineyard is a new vineyard on a hilltop location in the southern end of Santa Lucia Highlands, and so far, I have not experienced a bad bottle of wine from the Santa Lucia Highlands. This particular wine is made from three clones of Chardonnay and the grapes are all hand-picked and sorted at harvest. There were three-hundred-fifty cases made of this wine and the aging potential is five to six years, though most Chardonnays don’t last that long in this house.

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The next bottle is Blair Estate Delfina’s Vineyard Pinot Noir 2012, and Delfina’s Vineyard is the heart and soul of the winery, as it was the original homestead and farm for the family since the 1920’s. In 2007 Jeffrey Blair began growing Pinot Noir on this site, after seeing the accolades that this varietal has received from Santa Lucia Highlands and the Arroyo Seco, where this wine is from. The wine was aged for ten months in French oak. There were four-hundred-eighty-one cases of wine produced from this harvest, and it has been suggested that there will be six to seven years aging potential. With all of the great Pinot Noir wines that I have received over the years from this club, I am looking forward to enjoying this wine as well.

marilyn-remark-los-ositos-grenache-2012

The last bottle is a bit of a bittersweet moment, as the owners have retired and sold the winery. Marilyn Remark Winery had been producing Rhone style wines since 2003, after they returned from a trip to the Rhone Valley and decided that was their goal. The Marilyn Remark Los Ositos Vineyard Grenache 2012 will probably be the last wine we receive from A Taste of Monterey, but they did buy the entire inventory from the winery, so there is a potential that I may see another offering, though I know that I still have some other wines from the winery in my cellar. Los Ositos Vineyard is the Salinas Valley, just south of Arroyo Seco, so this wine carries the AVA of Monterey. Most of the Grenache wines that I have had from Monterey have been full bodied and jammy, and I am sure that this wine will be no different. As I have said earlier, I always enjoy the wine selection that I have received over the years and I will report on these wines, as they are opened.

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