I always like to hear about good customer service as this maintains customer loyalty. I have mentioned enough times that I was in retail all of my life (but not wine retail) and I think of the little things that one can do to keep the customer happy. One of the adjunct services that I used to do was to keep abreast with the local restaurants around the metropolitan area, so that I could potentially send someone to a new place that they might not have been aware. If they were travelling to a city that I had been, I could also make some recommendations there as well.

People would also ask me about wines, not that I am a maven, but I try. Well just a couple of days after helping The Messenger pick out some wines for her Thanksgiving table, she sent me a photo of another bottle of wine. It seems that she had gone and selected a new automobile and when she picked it up, she was given a bottle of wine as a token of appreciation and she asked me my opinion. She even joked that it may make another article, and yes I think she is right.

The Messenger sent me a photograph of the label of the wine and asked me about it. The wine is Tenuta Santome Cabernet Sauvignon Marca Trevigiana IGT 2013. The winery was new to me and so was the IGT. The IGT stands for Indicazione Geograficatica Tipica and well, I knew the region Marca Trevigiana in Veneto for Prosecco, this designation refers to wines made in the district that are not Prosecco. The IGT covers any red, white or rosé, a blend or a varietal and the wine can be still, sparkling or sweet, so it allows a lot of leeway if the winery wants to do something different and in this case that are using Cabernet Sauvignon grapes for the wine. The principal grapes found in Veneto are Prosecco/Glera and Pinot Grigio, but now Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay is also used and there are red grapes that are new to the area as well like Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. So even though The Messenger is not a wine drinker, especially dry red wines, she has received a nice bottle to put out for company during a dinner in the future, and I would say that it was a nice gift.



The selection of wine was a bit trickier, it is easy to go with a white wine for both veal and fish. I was a bit daunted because of the Marsala and the Piccata which has lemon, butter and capers, but I know that my Bride enjoys a Chardonnay and they had a decent wine for us. The J. Lohr Estates Riverstone Arroyo Seco Chardonnay 2014 was up to the task. This is not a fancy Chardonnay but it has some breeding and comes from one of my favorite areas in California. Arroyo Seco AVA is in the middle of the Salinas Valley of the Monterey area and to me, it is always easy to select a Chardonnay from this area without any disappointment. This particular wine is made from Dijon clones and the wine is aged for seven to nine months in an assortment of American, Hungarian and French Oak. We both were happy and contented and before we left we congratulated the guest bartenders for bringing out a crowd of people for the event.






The most famous restaurant is the over hundred-year-old establishment of Win Schuler that is in its fourth generation of a family owned business. My Bride has eaten there long before I came into the picture and she was told about a new restaurant that we had to try. We went to Zarzuela, a tapas-style restaurant and though it was small, they offered plenty of choices to select, and we were stuffed, even with sharing these small plates of food. The food comes out rather helter-skelter at these types of restaurants, so one just goes with the flow. In no particular order we had Chorizo stuffed Mushrooms and they were a big hit. My Bride went crazy for the dates stuffed with goat cheese, wrapped in bacon and fried, she was concerned that it might have been greasy, but she was assured that it was not, and it wasn’t. We shared the Grande Mixta salad which was fresh greens, hearts of palm, asparagus, beets and a creamy garlic and cilantro dressing, we were a bit displeased that the dressing was lacking in more flavor, but the salad was enjoyable on its own merits. We also had Lobster Macaroni and Cheese and while it was good and filling it could have used a bit more zing. As for the wines my Bride had Segura Viudas Cava Brut NV. Cava is becoming a powerhouse wine in recognition for Spain, and this wine from Penedes in the Catalonia region is a great choice. When France started flexing their muscles about protecting their famed Champagne, the Spaniards created a new name for their wines and called it Cava, because the wine is stored in caves while the wine is fermenting and this wine is made with the designation “Metodo Tradicional” or better known as the Traditional Method. The wine is a blend of Macebeo, Parellada and Xarel-lo grapes and we have had that wine several times before. I had a glass of Echeverria Reserva Unwooded Chardonnay 2015, which actually had five percent Viognier blended in. This Chilean wine is from the Curico Valley and the grounds there are so respected that there are more grape varieties grown there, then anywhere else in Chile. This wine spent twenty-five days fermenting in Stainless Steel, and then an addition six weeks aging also in Stainless Steel, hence the unique term “Unwooded.” My Bride enjoyed my wine even more than her choice. I think that another trip to Marshall may be in store for us, maybe next year for some more walking, and to try Win Schuler.







