Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Posted on March 18, 2015 by thewineraconteur

Did you ever hear the expression “a place for everything and everything in its place?” Well I am getting ready to give the family room a new look, so I am moving everything out to make it easy to paint and whatever else may have to be done. I really like to paint and wallpaper, but getting my “arse” in gear can be another matter. Well as I started packing everything away in boxes, so that decisions can be made what is staying and what is no longer needed I found sixteen bottles of wine that were put aside and forgotten about, and some may have now gone to that great winery in the sky, but that will be for future stories.

Group 1

I divided the group of sixteen bottles of wine into two groups of eight and I will let you discover, as I did what I found and what my thoughts may be about their future. The first bottle is Barefoot Shiraz California NV, and I am sure that is was a gift, and there may be a fifty/fifty chance that it may still be drinkable. The next one comes from South Eastern Australia and it is Yellow Tail Chardonnay 2008 and just a visual inspection of the bottle tells me that it may have seen better days, because it looks like there is Pepsi in the bottle. Then there is a bottle that my Bride must have bought for someone that might not imbibe in wine or any alcoholic drinks. It is from J. Lohr of California and it is Ariel Brut Cuvee NV, but it is a dealcoholized sparkling wine; this is something I may just discard, if I can be so cavalier. Then there is a bottle of DeTierra Syrah 2002 from DeTierra Winery of Monterey and I am sure that it must have been from my wine club. This wine may be opened soon, just out of curiosity and I have hopes that it is still fine from this maker. Then I found a bottle that carries the famous name of Baron Philippe de Rothschild and it is the popular priced Mouton-Cadet Bordeaux Blanc Sec 1990, since this is a sweeter wine it is also a fifty/fifty odds on drinkability. The next wine is one that I hope is still in the positive side it is from Trione Vineyards & Winery of Alexander Valley AVA. It is a bottle of Trione Red Wine 2008 and is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petite Verdot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec and this blend is in one of those heavy bottles, so I am hoping that it is still a strong contender. The last two wines are sparkling wines from Cook’s Champagne Cellars of Madera, California. The first is a Cook’s Spumante NV and the other is a Cook’s California Champagne NV and I am not sure if either of these will make the cut.

Group 2

The second batch of wines that I found for this sad tale will continue. A wine by Pierre Savoye of Beaujolais his Morgon “Climat Cote du Puy” 2005, if it was just Beaujolais and especially a Nouveau, I would have my concerns, but I think this wine may make it. The next wine would have been interesting to me, as I have not had too many wines from Austria, but I am not holding my breathe for this bottle of Kenessey Riesling 1983. The next wine I know is from my wine club and I must have brought it up for a party, did not open it and it ended up lost with these other bottles. It is Galante Cabernet Sauvignon Red Rose Hill 1998 from the Carmel Valley AVA by Galante Vineyards and I am betting that this wine makes the cut. The next wine I am sure will be fine, as it must have recently been purchased to regale some of our friends that say our wines are too dry; as it is an Italian Santo Moscato D’Asti DOG Vino Dolce 2011. Then there is another popular wine that is seen in a lot of restaurants around town as it is a safe wine and I am sure that it will be fine as well. Apothic Wines Apothic Red 2009 is a blend of Zinfandel, Syrah and Merlot and while it is not a stellar wine, it will work well with a casual dinner. The next wine is one that my Bride must have bought, as she gets into a taste for this wine, and she probably finished her cycle and forgot about this last bottle, so depending on how old it is, it may still be good; a bottle of Madria Sangria NV of Modesto, California. Then there is a bottle that I am sure was a gift, a bottle of Charles Shaw Merlot 2002 of California, you may know this wine by its nickname “Two Buck Chuck” and I will not give this wine any odds, because of its age and brand. The last bottle is from some table wine that I had bought a case of years ago, and it is Domaine de l’Espigouette 1996. It is a Vin de Pays de la Principaute d’Orange, a term that is no longer used as it has been changed to IGP Vaucluse, this change occurred in 2009. The indicative blend of varietals for this wine would be Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah and Grenache. I would venture to say because of the provenance of this wine and not in the best of storage it may have seen better days. So here is a modern tale to admonish everyone, especially me to make sure that all wines are stored properly, and in the coming articles, I may bring up the winners and losers of this group as I have them boxed separately in the cellar now.

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Main Street Grill & Tavern in Milford

Posted on March 16, 2015 by thewineraconteur

It was a night of surprises, all brought upon by social media. I ended up meeting an old friend of mine from the Armenian Youth Federation days. Through the course of years I have met many new friends and got reacquainted with old friends, as one’s life takes changes in directions. My friend was a musician in one of the Armenian bands of my youth and he played at many weddings, conferences and affairs that I attended through those years. I saw a notice that he had posted that he was entertaining with another friend at a location, about a half hour from where I live, so I asked my Bride if she would like to do something different, as I was sure that it was going to be popular music, and she and I both hoped that there was going to be a small dance floor. It was the first time that I had ever heard my friend play popular music and for the most part they were now considered standards from my generation, but what was even more surprising to me, was that my friend also played the saxophone, which I never knew. He told me that he only took up the sax about a year ago, but that he also played the clarinet, another instrument that I did not know he played. Life can be full of surprises.

Darcie Kent Gruner Veltliner Monterey 2010

Milford is a charming community, a little off the beaten path, even by way of the freeways. It has a very quaint downtown area, and for years it had the honor of having the oldest continuous men’s clothing store in the state, but alas they finally showed their last set of attire. The Main Street Grill & Tavern was a new place for my Bride and me, though we have been going to Milford for a couple of decades together. This tavern was a delight and reminded me of some of the great watering holes in my youth, with a beautiful old bar that one really doesn’t see that much of any more. I only had two complaints, the first being that there was no place to dance, which is common nowadays and the other was that there were too many televisions, but this has been a gripe of mine for almost anyplace that I venture into any more; since they were having live music the televisions could have been shut off, but I guess I am in a minority these days. The tavern had a nice menu, and not just a “bar menu” and we enjoyed some grilled shrimp while we were listening to the music. As is my custom these days, I went looking for a business card for the establishment to add to this article, as matchbooks have long disappeared from the horizon, but they did not have any. So I had to venture outside and take a picture of the façade of the building, and please forgive me, but I am hardly a photographer.

MI Main Stree Grill & Tavern facade

The other surprise that I had for the evening was the wine list, not extensive, but also not the usual assortment that one finds everywhere. My eyes focused on a Gruner Veltliner and the wine carte mentioned that this was a famous Austrian varietal, and since I have had a few of them, I was all set to order another bottle. Imagine my surprise when I found out that Darcie Kent Vineyards Gruner Veltliner 2010 was from Monterey. As you may recall I really enjoy the wines that I have had from Monterey, as I even belong to a wine club from the region. This was a wonderful bottle of single vineyard wine from the Rava Ranch of the Blackjack Vineyards. It was a most enjoyable bottle of wine and the setting made it even that much more. I had great company, good music and a chance to see an old friend to boot; it really doesn’t get better then that.

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A Sunday Dinner

Posted on March 14, 2015 by thewineraconteur

Some friends stay friends forever. This is a dinner party of such friends. My Bride has stayed in touch with some of her friends from elementary school right through high school. A couple of them have moved over a couple hours away from each other, but they still get together and that is what friends do. This time everyone was meeting at our house for dinner and my Bride could not be happier. I mean she agonizes over the dishes and making sure everything is arranged properly, but that I think is when she is the happiest. She is aware of all the dietary requirements of her friends and she arranged the dinner preparations according to these needs. Actually she is getting quite good at making dinners Gluten-free when the occasion arises.

Marilyn Merlot 1994

She had several different appetizers ready for when the guest arrived, and considering the distance a couple of them traveled, they all arrived on time, and not “fashionably late.” For the cheeses she even got a couple of different Gluten-free types of crackers, just in case one was not as good as the other. When she was making her Caesar Salad, after tossing it in the dressing, she put a good healthy size plate of it on the side, before she tossed the rest of the salad with her sautéed breadcrumbs, she has decided that she likes the breadcrumbs over croutons for this salad. For the main course she was so happy with a dinner entrée that she had made before, she repeated it again; so she made Salmon with a Bourbon Sauce. There were several sides, and one of her girl friends, who is almost a vegetarian, brought a wonderful tray of vegetables with a Balsamic drizzle, she is a great cook in her own right, and her brother happens to be the chef overseeing several restaurants that grew from the original one that he started at. For dessert we had that great New Orleans treat Bananas Foster, which allowed me to bring up a story or two about this fabled dish, not that I need much coaxing.

Heredad Segura Viudas Brut Cava NV

When the guests arrived and their outerwear was put in a proper location, it was my job to find out what they would like in the way of beverages. I was going to start out with some white wine, and I offered everyone a choice of still or sparkling. I was surprised, but everyone opted for sparkling, but it did make the afternoon seem more festive. I opened up some Heredad Segura Viudas Brut Cava NV, and it is owned and distributed by the Cava House Freixenet. Cava was originally called Champana, until the French Champagne association fought to keep their product “Champagne.” Cava is now an appellation in Catalonia, though it is also made in other parts of Spain as well. The name Cava derives from the caves that the wine is stored in for at least nine months according to their rules, and they also produce Cava Reserva or Vintage Wine as well. This wine is made from Macabeu, Parellada and Xarel-lo varietals, but some are also blended with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and then there are also Rosado wines. The Brut designation for this wine is the third from the driest rating with some residual sugar. For our salmon dinner and to keep my Bride happy I went with one of our favorite wines, and though some may shudder when I mention it, to date we have not had a bad bottle of wine. We poured Marilyn Merlot 1994 from Nova Wines in Napa, and this was there Tenth Vintage. They just make a great bottle of Merlot wine, though I was a bit concerned because the cork crumbled and I had to decant the wine for dinner, but it was perfect, with no sign of being over the hill. All in all it was a great way to spend an afternoon.

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Seeing a Good Friend in Trenton

Posted on March 12, 2015 by thewineraconteur

Every once in a while one finds themselves going out to an area, that is off the beaten track and that is what happened the other day. Since we were going to be in Trenton, Michigan a good friend of ours was called and we arranged to have dinner with her. We anticipated that we should suggest one restaurant and she suggested another, and the funny thing is that it was the same a restaurant another friend of mine had suggested if we ever get down to Trenton, so off we went. Now I have to tell you, that our friend is a dear friend of my Bride, in fact, right after I had met my Bride, her friend called me and gave me a “Third Degree” interrogation over the phone to make sure that my intentions were honorable, not to mention that my Bride and her friend meet other former co-workers once a month for dinner just to keep in touch. The funny thing is that after we had ordered a couple were seated at the table next to us, and I heard my name uttered, and it was a vendor that I used to deal with when I was a buyer, who was out with his wife for dinner, and I would venture that we were both surprised to run into each other, even though I knew that he lived close by the restaurant. My Bride started telling her friend that this happens often, because I have met so many people through the years, and she related a couple of other incidents where this had happened, once even in Napa Valley.

Chloe Chardonnay 2012

We arrived at Café West early, but that did not keep us from going in and studying the menu and the wine list. My Bride decided that she was going to try a Key Lime Martini, because it sounded interesting, I decided to forgo a cocktail as I had to do some studying for our selections. We ordered a couple of appetizers so we could all share some of the dishes; we ordered Duck Egg Rolls and an order of Escargot and Crevettes to get started and by then the conversation was flowing. For dinner our friend ordered Chicken Marsala, my Bride ordered Crab Cakes and I went with the Seafood Mac and Cheese which came with Scallops and Jumbo Shrimp (which were true for a change, even if it is an oxymoron). We finished the meal by sharing one order of dessert, a plate of chocolate tubes filled with Bailey’s Irish Crème and chocolate cream filling the two ends of the tubes. While the ladies were breaking up the tubes to eat, I just took one of the tubes and dropped right into my cup of coffee and made my own after dinner concoction.

MI Cafe West BC

Since we were all having lighter meals, I decided to go with a white wine, even though I did have a duck dish as an appetizer. My first choice and only because I thought it sounded interesting was a Chardonnay from Spain, but alas they were out of that wine, and our waiter brought over two other Chardonnay wines to choose from, and one of the wines we had already tried, so I opted for a new wine. Half of the fun of writing this Blog is for the chance to try some wines that are new, it would be oh so boring to keep writing about the same wines over and over, even though it seems that I do, perhaps because both my Bride and I can be creatures of habit. I selected a bottle of Chloe Chardonnay 2012 from the Sonoma County in California. A lot of people would groan at a bottle of Chardonnay, but I like to try them, even though they can be a hit or a miss. I thought that this wine was a hit, as it was not overly buttery, as half of it is aged in stainless and the other half in oak and then blended together. There was enough acidity to be pleasant with all of the dishes and a great compliment to the evening. I may have passed on this wine in a wine shop, but in a restaurant, one can find a wine at times that surprises you, and we were happy with the choice.

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Some New Wines for Future Articles

Posted on March 10, 2015 by thewineraconteur

I just received some new wines from my wine club The Taste of Monterey. It is always interesting to see what wines are being featured and to be truthful I am appreciating the wines more and more from Monterey, which is a good thing, since I am paying for these wines. The brochure that came with this shipment has a fine article about one of the nine AVA (American Viticultural Area) in the Monterey County AVA. The nine AVA in Monterey County are: Santa Lucia Highlands, Arroyo Seco, Carmel Valley, Chalone, San Antonio Valley, Hames Valley, San Lucas and San Bernarbe, as well as the general appellation. The article mainly dealt with the Santa Lucia Highlands, and I have mentioned this area many times, as I have had some excellent wines from this sub-zone.

Boete Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

The first wine that I will discuss is Boete Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 2007. I have had a couple of wines already from Boete Winery and they have always been their Cabernet Sauvignon and this will be the first time for their reserve wine and I will look forward to trying this one. This wine is from the Carmel Valley. The notes with this wine say the wine was aged for twenty months in sixty percent new French Oak barrels, and it was racked twice prior to bottling. There were 233 cases produced of this wine and the aging potential is estimated at six to ten years, so I can wait awhile for this one.

Scott Family Estate Chardonnay 2013

The second wine that I received is a bottle of Scott Family Estate Chardonnay 2013 from the Arroyo Seco AVA which in inland from Big Sur. This is considered one of the coolest coastal regions and they normally have an extended growing period, sometimes even a month longer than Napa Valley. This wine enjoyed fifty percent barrel fermentation, but there were no notes on the amount produced, so I would venture to say that this wine has a large production, and the aging potential is suggested of four to five years. As I tend to read between the lines, I may drink this wine sooner, as I find that most Chardonnay wines are better young.

Paraiso Faite Pinot Noir 2010

The last wine that I unpacked was a new wine from an old favorite of mine; Paraiso Vineyards Faite Pinot Noir 2010 from the Santa Lucia Highlands. The Smith family of Paraiso Vineyards is one of the pioneering viticulturalists of Santa Lucia Highlands and they have named this wine Faite, which in Burgundy suggests a summit or mountain top, and this wine is the pinnacle of their four decades of growing the finicky Pinot Noir. There was an overload of technical data about the blocks of grapes grown for this wine, which tends to be a bit “Greek” to me. Suffice it to say that each block of a different clone of this grape was fermented in separate tanks and then the wine was blended into six French Oak barrels. There were 148 cases of this wine produced, and each bottle of wine was numbered and the aging potential of this wine is estimated for five to seven years, which I thought was short, but then again, they are probably better at these estimates than I am.

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MWWC #15: Success

Posted on March 8, 2015 by thewineraconteur

The latest of the Monthly Wine Writing Challenge themes has been proffered. The theme is to be “success.” I have been pondering this theme for several days trying to come up with a suitable way to tackle it. It is a real poser when it comes to wine and how to apply. I have even taken a sabbatical from my usual reading of other Wine Blogs, until I could come up with something that I am happy about, and I am not happy about not reading everyone’s writings, but I did not want to be influenced by someone else’s take on the subject. I will be back to reading shortly, I promise.

wine-stain Monthly Wine Challenge

Success in wine, the obvious is to write about the winners of the Classification of 1855 for the Medoc, which by and large is still true to this day. Then one could append this with the success of Chateau Mouton-Rothschild and their triumphant day in 1970, when they were no longer a Deuxiemes Cru, but a Premiers Cru; and I might add long overdue. Another easy road would be to write about the story of Chateau Montelena from Napa and how they beat the French in 1976, and the great wine themed film “Bottle Shock.” Of course that story has been told often. Then there are the many cult wines that have become legendary to wine lovers and those that like to write about wines. I have to admit that I have really only had one true cult wine, because they are really out of the realm of my wallet. Any of these concepts would merit a worthy article about success in wine.

Then it dawned upon me, a story of a bittersweet success, to me. Let me add that it is a success story and the winery should be proud of what they have accomplished, but it just makes the wine, all that more dear and more difficult for me to acquire and that is what I mean by bittersweet.

Cain Five 1994

The first bottle of wine that I ever had from Cain Vineyard & Winery was at a restaurant with a friend, who was rather full of himself and his “vast” knowledge of wine. When I saw this particular wine on the list, I strongly suggested it, because I had heard of it, but had never tried it; it was a major selling job for me that evening because he did not want to drink a “fake Bordeaux” wine. The wine was great and it became the focal point of the rest of the evening’s discussions. I still remember that Cain Five ’94.

I believe two years later, after my friend had married, and so had my Bride and I, the four of us went on a lovely trip to Napa Valley for a week. I had taken on the responsibility of selecting some wineries that we had to go to, and to book them ahead of time. I also selected a couple of restaurants and got reservations for them months in advance as well.
One of the wineries that I had booked for a tour and tasting was Cain Vineyards & Winery and it was a lovely visit and it was quite a story in its own right. Of course this Raconteur always likes to embellish and related this story as it was worthy of an article. One of the most telling moments of this trip was that I was only allowed to purchase two bottles of Cain Five ’95, as this was the allotment that we were allowed. I suggested that my Bride also then buy two bottles on a separate invoice, but they would not allow that either. I was a bit surprised at their rather cavalier attitude, but there was nothing I could do about.

Cain Five 1995

All of this exposition and a bit of a circuitous route, now comes to why I consider this story to be about a “bittersweet” success. This winery which I feel that I have proselytized over the years now sells this great wine by subscription. A success for them and their ability to maintain such a recognized high standard of quality, but it makes it all that more difficult to acquire the wine for my own cellar. For their vigilance and pursuit of making a fine wine, I salute them.

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Almost Back Home Again

Posted on March 6, 2015 by thewineraconteur

The other day I went to another planning meeting for my Junior High School open reunion. It is an open reunion because one could attend it, if they only attended the school for even one year, but it has also been opened up to the other students that attended the parochial schools in the geographic area as well. The planning meeting was being held at Roman Village restaurant which is actually in Dearborn, and I have mentioned this restaurant before. Why did we meet at this particular restaurant, if we had all attended school in Detroit? The answer is quite simple; because it was located across the street from a municipal park that everyone from the old neighborhood frequented from the time we were old enough to walk over to the park. The park not only had a magnificent enclosed swimming pool, but there were many baseball diamonds for us to play sandlot baseball, before all such activities became the realm of adult supervision of their children. It was a general meeting area for everyone, even if they had to walk ten or fifteen blocks to get there. The park is also held in high esteem for everyone that grew up there as the annual Fourth of July Parade in Detroit finished there at the park, and later that evening everyone was still there to watch the firework presentation. It is with fond memories for everyone that attended this planning meeting.

Ruffino Riserva Ducale 2011

As I pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot and noticed how packed the lot was, I realized that above and beyond the group I was meeting with, the restaurant still packs in people from all over, who return as well for the food and the great memories. I also had a moment to look over at the tip of the park, which to the best of my knowledge is still part of Dearborn, even though perhaps ninety-eight percent of it is located in Detroit. I also looked past the park to the cemetery that runs along the park on the other side and thought of my Mother who is interred there, as well as the many family relations and friends that left this Earth way too soon. We were all meeting in a side room, which also contained the bar service for the restaurant and there was ample room for all of us, though some of us were dining at the actual bar, because there was not enough tables and booths in this room. The service at the restaurant was excellent, and there was no problem with each of us having a separate bill for dinner and drinks, as some restaurants try to make it one tab for parties of this size. There were some jokes that we had all dined at Roman Village prior to all the staff that we encountered had even been born, I guess we are getting a little long in the tooth. I decided to have Gnocchi with a meat sauce, as this was the first restaurant that I had ever tried this dish and it brought back many memories for me as well as for the others.

MI Antonio's BC

As I was looking at the wine list, I had to recall the old days when there was only red and white wine by the carafes, and they were all jug wines. Times have changed and there was a very adequate selection of wines by the bottle and the glass being offered. I also admired the fact that there was a page of reserve wines being offered by the bottle including a wine by Gaja, but since I was by myself and not in the company of my Bride, I passed on such a lofty wine. I went with an old standby and it was a much better offering from this winery than is usually encountered. I decided that Ruffino Riserva Ducale Chianti Classico DOCG 2011 would be the wine to enjoy with my Gnocchi. This label is in a goldenrod yellow, where their premier Riserva Ducale Gold is printed on a gold label. Since I had just enjoyed a bottle of Ruffino Chianti a couple of days prior, I will not go over the same points, but will mention that this wine is from the “Classico” section of Tuscany, and the majority of the wine is made from Sangiovese grapes. The Riserva designation means that the wine has been aged commercially for twenty-four months prior to being distributed and it is a much more mellow wine and it may have been a bit over-kill for the Gnocchi, but it made the dinner even that much more enjoyable. Of course I do think back to those old glory days when we were drinking wines from carafes and having pizza there and thinking “la dolce vita.”

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“Open That Bottle Night”

Posted on March 4, 2015 by thewineraconteur

I am trying to keep abreast of the Wine Lover’s Calendar, and diverging from my usual writing, with the topic of “Open That Bottle Night.” It is the concept of opening a bottle of wine that you have been saving for a special occasion that never seems to occur. The wine could be expensive, or just has a great sentimental reason. The idea is to go and enjoy it, instead of leaving it collecting dust in the cellar, though the bottles do look cool that way. This special day for wine, was started from an article in the Wall Street Journal by Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher and I would say that it has been taken to heart by other writers, so I thought I would give it a try.

Chateau Croizet-Bages 1970 Wine Crate

The other night I wrote about the “National Drink Wine Day” and I discussed about the first case of wine that I ever bought, and I thought that I still had a bottle of it, well I did. I dislike belaboring a subject, but I thought that I should continue talking about this wine and this was the perfect day to open it. When I was down in the cellar, making sure that I still had a bottle of it, I looked up at a wall of paneling in the cellar; that consists of the panels from assorted wooden wine crates from back in the day, and I had given this end panel a position of status. I guess that I am a sentimental raconteur and pack rat.

Considering that this was my last bottle of wine from the case, I decided to see if I could find anything new about the wine and winery. There is a plateau between Pauillac and Saint-Julian-Beychevelle and it is referred to as the Pauillac Bages plateau. Chateau Croizet-Bages takes its name from the original creators the Croizet brothers. These two brothers bought parcels of vines from their neighbors during the first half of the Eighteenth Century and created their own successful vineyard. During the Revolution the brothers sold the estate and it was resold again just two years before the famed 1855 Classification of the Medoc. The current owners, the Quie family, acquired Chateau Croizet-Bages in 1942 from an American entrepreneur Jean-Baptiste Monnot (who had bought the estate at the end of The Great War). The chateau is still managed by the Quie family. The vineyards consist of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc.

The last bottle of Ch Croizet-Bages Pauillac 1970

So, it was a bittersweet moment as I unwrapped this bottle of Chateau Croizet-Bages Pauillac 1970, it was wrapped still in tissue paper, which I used to do when I first started collecting wines to protect the bottles from light, and it was the last bottle in my cellar from this old tradition. After I cut away the foil cap, the cork looked like it had seen better days, and my corkscrew had nothing to grab onto, and my cork-puller also could not remove all of the cork. So I pushed the rest of the broken cork into the bottle, as I knew that this wine would need some decanting anyways. I used my trusty coffee filter in a funnel technique and decanted the whole bottle which caught cork debris as well as the sludge that I had anticipated from a forty-five year old bottle of wine. The color was that soft shade that aged Clarets get, and there was still a nose, though a bit feeble, but even my Bride was a bit excited that there was still a nose to be discovered. The wine still had grace, the tannins were gone, but there was still some fruit. I guess cellaring from day one was good for this wine and I am glad that I had it when we did. I am not sure that it would have survived its fiftieth birthday.

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Dinner with My Club

Posted on March 2, 2015 by thewineraconteur

Once a month I join with my fellow friends for our dinner club, and our hosts this evening chose a place that I have written about many times already. If one goes to the Plymouth Historical Museum, one can even see some of the mementos of this restaurant from its past lives, from the old Hillside, which I remember, to Ernesto’s and finally to The Courthouse Grille. Our room for the evening was just off the main bar, but because of the hillside on which the restaurant is located on, we were on the second floor in this part of the building and we had a grand view of a snow covered parking lot. As usual, we were all enjoying ourselves during the cocktail hour prior to dinner, when the owner brought in a couple and giving them a tour of the facility. I was surprised to see that it was a retired client of mine from years past and his wife, and they were looking at the restaurant for possibly booking a party for their Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary Party; it was grand to see them, as I tore my self away from the group and we caught up on past friends and history, and I also discussed the quality of the restaurant with them.

Ruffino Chianti 2013
The Courthouse Grille always prints out a nice private menu for the group, so that we can make our dinner selection and that evening our hosts rather then limiting the menu to three choices allowed us to choose from seven different entrée offerings. While the restaurant may have changed names, Ernesto still had a strong influence on the choice of dishes that he served, and it was still heavily slanted towards Italian standards: Veal Marsala, Shrimp Scampi, Chicken Piccata and Lasagna, as well as a couple of fish plates and a steak. I was torn between the Shrimp Scampi and the Veal Marsala, so when that happens I tend to look at the wine list, to see if it can help me finalized my decision.

MI The Courthouse Grille Menu Feb 2015
The wine list by the glass did make my choice easier, as the white wines were not that exciting for the Shrimp Scampi, so I went with an old standby, a glass of Ruffino Chianti DOCG 2013 from the fabled area of Tuscany. I have been enjoying Ruffino Chianti wines in all of their offerings for years and I know that I will get a good glass of wine, and this evening was no different. The Chianti association requires that a Chianti wine must be at least seventy percent Sangiovese, and if it is a Chianti Classico then it is required to have eighty percent of that varietal. The rest of the wine can be a mix of Canaiolo, Colorino, Ciliegiolo and or Mammolo. The one curious aspect of Chianti in the old days, and this was only prior to 2006, was that they could also use white grapes as well and they were often Trebbiano and Malvasia Bianca. All in all, it was another enjoyable evening of friends, food and wine.

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I Missed “National Drink Wine Day”

Posted on February 28, 2015 by thewineraconteur

I don’t want you to feel to badly for me, because I do know that I had wine on 18 February, but there is a National Drink Wine Day. I have also discovered The Wine Lover’s Calendar put forth by American Winery Guide. Since I started writing these posts, I have started reading a lot of other blogs by individuals that like wine as much as I do. Some of the writers are much more learned than I am, and some just like to give as much detail as possible. If you have read my articles for any length of time, you may have noticed that I am not big on technical data, as I prefer to write as if we are across the table from each other with a glass of wine for each of us to enjoy. The other thing that I tend to shy away from is the jargon of wine-speak, I do not belabor the flavors and tastes of what I drink, because a lot of the terms I do not find attractive in my mind’s eye.

Ch CroizetBages 1970
One thing is for sure, I enjoy drinking wine, but only with friends, and maybe the odd time when I am at the keyboard. I have always enjoyed spreading the word about wine, and I really enjoy having discussions about wine. I like to hear other people’s take on wines, what they like and what they dislike; I may not always agree, but it is interesting. I remember drinking “swill” and very questionable “wines” in my youth with my friends at the local park and all the places teenagers would congregate back in the dark ages. It was also at this time that I had some people that encouraged me to try wines and let me share some of the great wines that were available here in the United States back in the late Sixties.
I also try to write about a mix of wines, from opening price, popular price and (God) did I really spend that much for a bottle of wine. I often wonder what it would be like to only drink First Growths and Cult wines, but then I think that I may loose my appreciation for them. One needs, I feel, to know what table wines taste like, as well as wines up the pecking order. I know that I can drive my poor Bride crazy, because I love to look at wines in stores, as well as studying wine lists in a restaurant. I thank God that I have my Bride, because she is practical, while she is looking at the extreme right hand column on the wine lists, I am looking at where the wines are from. Anyone with enough money can buy a bottle of Chateau Latour, Lafite or Mouton from the commune of Pauillac. I like to hunt for a potential gem that I may find also from Pauillac, but you have to know what to look for. I remember my first big splurge on wine was buying a case of Chateau Croizet-Bages 1970 which is also from Pauillac, it is a Cinquiemes Crus or Fifth Growths, but it was the nectar of the Gods to me, and kind of affordable for a student at the time. To me that is what National Drink Wine Day should be about, enjoying a bottle of wine.

Ch Latour 1967 Pauillac
I have written about times when my local merchant ran a special on a Meritage, we tried a bottle, liked it and bought several cases of it. It was the perfect everyday wine for us, when we eat in, and sometimes it is even a great wine with left-over meals the next day. That is not to say that we drink a bottle of wine daily, most of the time, maybe a glass of wine for the evening. People extol the medical virtues of wine, and I am all for it, but I take everything said with a question mark in my brain. In my own life time, I can recall how butter became something to eschew, and now our same government agency is saying that it has virtue, and is probably better than an ersatz butter. Then again when I was growing up there used to be television, radio and print ads for cigarettes (yes I am that old) and there was even a company that used to advertise that it was the brand most favored by doctors. So I do like to talk about wine, all kinds of wine, and at all different price points; and I will continue to do so from this pulpit. So bear this in mind when one day I may post a label of a wine that everyone knows and maybe the next article will be about a wine that will make you scratch your head and say “why?”

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