Waverly Stone Gastropub

Posted on August 10, 2024 by thewineraconteur

My Bride and I took a quick getaway to Holland, Michigan.  She wanted to see a couple of her cousins that could not attend the cousin’s reunion that she had taken upon herself to coordinate, and since she is married to a curmudgeon, she figured that where we were going to end up meeting was not far from Holland, so off we went.  We had a little traveling music, and we actually travelled light; which was a good thing as where we stayed the night had no elevator, and we were on the second floor, and we both only required one trip up and down the stairs.  We walked the ten or so blocks of the downtown, as she has already begun her Christmas shopping, and as for me, I just need to lose some weight, and walking is good; ask my Bride, as she is already on her second “fit-bit” watch, but now this one is attached to her iPhone and she thinks that she is so cool, doing a Dick Tracy impersonation.

She was looking forward to having a light snack and some wines at the Waverly Stone Gastropub, as we enjoyed it the last time we were there.  A father and son restaurant with training at the Culinary Institute of America in New York.  They began in a small way in 2014 when they created Macatawa Ale Company, and in 2018 they opened the Waverly Stone.  We had a great table at window side to watch the foot-traffic in town.  I was disappointed that the staff inside was too busy discussing the thermostat settings at their apartments; while one waitress was running around covering all the outside tables for dining and drinking.  We had developed a thirst, but I had to get up and ask, if we had to service our own table, or did the poor young lady working outside, was also working inside.  A “manager” sent me back to the table and took our requests, along with my little peccadillo about having a bottle of wine to be placed adjacent to the glass of wine for my limited photography skills.

My Bride wanted a glass of something sparkling and saw a wine on the carte that sounded like a Cremant de Bordeaux, as it was listed as Maison Idiart Lightly Sparkling Brut NV Bordeaux, France.  Her glass of wine came out with no bottle, I was informed that it was poured from a keg and they suggested that I get my visual art from their website.  Nicolas Idiart started his career in wine age the age of 19, after graduating from Blanquefort, and began his resume in the Loire Valley, then New Zealand and then Australia.  Then went into wine sales in Canada, back to France, and then global wine sales for the North American market.  He founded Maison Idiart in 2014.  He offers nineteen wines in bottles, two different wines in cans, six still wines and two sparkling wines in a Key Keg system.  The Key Keg system is a “bag-in-ball principle” and double-wall technology to keep wine and can keep a wine fresh and consistent for up to three months.  I could find no wine offered that fit the description from the wine carte that comes close to what was being offered. Suffice it to say that it was a pretty golden colored wine with a small steady stream of bubbles.  Coming in from a hot humid day, the wine worked.

I had a glass of Mary Taylor Wine Cotes de Gascogne Blanc IGP 2023 and I have a fondness, nay a desire to have an affinity for the most famed Gascon D’Artagnan as I am an old romantic.  Mary Taylor Wine was created over two decades of work creating a fun system or approach to wines from Franc, Italy, Portugal, and Spain representing the place name or appellation of the wine.  Gascony has had a colorful history in France going back to the Roman era.  The region is nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees, and gets both Oceanic winds and Saharan Desert winds. There are three sub-zones of Cotes de Gascogne IGP and this wine is from the Bas-Armagnac region with soil of red clay and sand, and alluvial subsoil.  The wine comes from the Gessler family that began farming there in 1928 after moving from Switzerland and is now in the fourth generation.  The wine is a blend of fifty percent Colombard, twenty-five percent Gros Manseng, twenty percent Ugni Blanc and five percent Sauvignon; and the vines are about twenty-five years of age.  The family practices sustainable farming and are in the process of converting to certified organic agriculture.  The wine is fermented and aged in Stainless Steel tanks to preserve the freshness of the grapes.  This pale-yellow wine offers notes of citrus fruits, white fruits, tropical florals, and lemon tarts.  On the palate there were tones of grapefruit, lemons, some good acidity and ending with a nice finish of green apples, peaches, and pears.       

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My Favorite Daughter and a Whirlwind Visit

Posted on August 7, 2024 by thewineraconteur

My Favorite Daughter came in for a visit, she did give me the dates, but then I never heard from her again.  Then I saw a post on a social media site from a granddaughter and she said that she was in Detroit, which surprised me.  Then My Favorite Daughter called me and slotted us in for the last day.  It turned out that she figured that it might be her last family getaway, as her brother (our son) was moving back, and she would have no one to watch her menagerie.  Not only did she bring her children, she brought her nephew and niece (more grandchildren) and their friends as well, so she was herding ten teenagers; almost like herding cats.  Upon arriving, they immediately drove south to Sandusky, Ohio to see Cedar Point Amusement Park.  Cedar Point is the second oldest amusement park in America and has seventeen roller-coasters; the third highest collection.  If that wasn’t enough, they all attended a Detroit Tigers baseball game, and then they all went to a party that was tossed for my daughter.

Dear Old Dad, was channeled into the time slot between hotel check-out and flight home.  She had wanted to go see Greenfield Village, but it was so hot, that she chose the Henry Ford Museum instead.  They left 120ºF (49ºC) and dry, and came here to 92ºF (34ºC) and almost 100% humidity, and they complained that it was too hot.  Which was fine, as the museum, besides having their usual displays also had a special exhibit of “Dinosaurs in Motion.” An interactive life-size metal dinosaur display utilizing recycle material, kinetics, biomechanics, and robotics.  The creatures were made by sculptor John Payne of Asheville, North Carolina who did consultations with paleontologist Dr. Mark Norell for accuracy.  I am not sure if the ten teenagers were having more fun with the pulleys and levers controlling the robotics, or the grade-school age children that were doing the same things.

We also took everyone out for lunch while we were at the museum, and they have a restaurant/market operated by Plum Market. I quickly grabbed a glass of Black Star Farms Arcturos Sur Lie Chardonnay Michigan 2022 and went and staked out tables for all of us to eat at together. Afterall, Michigan is the seventh largest producer of table wine in the United States of America.  Black Star Farms is rather unique in that it has vineyards and tasting room facilities on both peninsulas, so that they are kind of surrounding Traverse City which is kind of the focal point for all of the wineries in the area.  In 1998 Black Star Farms purchased Sport Valley Farm which was a one-hundred-twenty-acre equestrian facility, and the stylized black star was part of the architectural décor in the main house.  In their Twentieth year, they were honored to receive the 19’th Annual Canberra International Riesling Challenge (CIRC) -Best Wine of the 2018 Challenge and only the second time an American wine came out on top.  This is a non-oaked style wine, which I presume to mean that it is produced using Stainless Steel vats.  This particular wine carries a Michigan appellation, and hence it could be from fruit from both peninsulas (Old Mission Peninsula and Leelanau Peninsula).  The wine had a beautiful soft-gold color with lush floral notes.  On the palate tones of citrus, apple, and pear in a medium bodied wine with a short finish with a subtle mineral tinge.  My Bride and I have membership at the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, so we got a discount for all the lunches (except for my glass of wine).  She looked at me and smiled and said that we have had bigger lunch tabs; also, everyone wanted to take advantage of our membership cards to buy souvenirs.  It was a great afternoon for us and wonderful to see the grandchildren and My Favorite Daughter.

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Three Cabs from Korbin Kameron

Posted on August 4, 2024 by thewineraconteur

It was totally a pleasure to see Korbin Ming as he was pouring his wines from Korbin Kameron at my local wine shop The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan. When I first met Korbin, he was the Associate Winemaker at Korbin Kameron Winery and their Moonridge Vineyards; and now he is the Winemaker.  They are located up in the Mayacamas Mountain Range, in fact they are located above the fog line of Napa Valley, and the reason that mountain wines are so popular, is that they actually get more hours of sunlight and a longer growing season.

Korbin Kameron Cabernet Sauvignon Moon Mountain District, Sonoma County 2019 was the first of the Cabs that we tried.  Over the years, I have had the good fortune to try the Cabernet Sauvignon wines going back to 2006 and considering that the vineyard was planted in 2000, that was definitely one of the earliest issued wines.  Moon Mountain District AVA is a sub-appellation of Sonoma County, just north of the city of Sonoma and on the eastern edge of Sonoma County and is the western slopes of Mayacamas mountains between Sugarloaf Ridge and Carneros; while Mount Veeder AVA encompasses the eastern slopes.  Fermentation and Aging is done in French Oak, of which fifty percent is new, and the barrel time is eighteen months.  With a production of six-hundred-twenty-cases produced.  A deep garnet colored wine that offers notes of black fruit, figs, cassis, lavender, and some molasses.  On the palate black cherry and blackberries, cocoa, espresso and traces of leather, mingling with tight tannins, and ending with a nice finish of fruit and terroir.

Then we had the Korbin Kameron Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Mount Veeder, Napa 2015 from their Library Collection.  So far, I have been mentioning wines made on the Sonoma side, but now a wine and another vineyard is on 186-acre property on Mount Veeder in Napa. The area is famed for having a very long growing season, so the grapes can fully mature and become fully balanced.  This reserve wine was fermented and aged in pure new French Oak for eighteen months with a production of sixty cases.  This is a much bigger wine compared to the basic Cabernet Sauvignon from Moon Mountain District.  This was a deep purple colored wine that offered notes of black fruits, sage, and sous bois.  On the palate tones of red cherry to blackberry, baking spices, mellowing tannins, and ending with a long finish of fruit and slate (terroir).

The last wine of the tasting was Korbin Kameron Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Mount Veeder, Napa 2018.  This wine was fermented and aged in French Oak, of which seventy-five percent was new and it was aged for twenty months; and a production of fifty cases.  Another deep purple wine and offering notes of dark fruit, cassis, eucalyptus and sous bois.  On the palate there were tones of black cherries, blackberries, plums, cocoa, tight tannins, and a nice long finish of fruit and terroir.   

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Three Special Wines from Korbin Kameron

Posted on August 1, 2024 by thewineraconteur

Korbin Ming was pouring his wines at my local wine shop The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan and I think he was having as much fun as those that were there to taste the wines.  Now when I say special wines, to the wine maker, they are all special, but to the public, those that enjoy wines can appreciate the junctures that are sometimes offered.  Mitchell Ming first fell in love with the wines of northern California, then he found a property that he also fell in love with, and hoped that it would be ideal for his entire family to make wines together.  Korbin Ming is now the General Manager, Viticulturist and Winemaker, while his twin sister Kameron is the Wine Club Manager, and the younger sibling Kristin Ming is the Director of Design for Moonridge Vineyards.  Which bring us to Korbin Kameron Proprietary Red Blend Cuvee Kristin Moon Mountain District, Sonoma County 2019.  The Proprietary Red Blend is a mix of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec.  The wine is fermented and aged in French Oak, of which seventy-five percent is new, and ages for eighteen months; and one-hundred-fifty-five cases were made.  A nice deep garnet colored wine that offered notes of dark fruit, figs, and rose petals.  On the palate this was a big chewy wine, which is how I like them, as well as a good candidate for staining your teeth and offered tones of blueberries, dark cherries, cola, baking spices, and some pink peppercorn to entice you to have another glass.

Now for a limited production wine, that is not always offered, the last was from the 2016 vintage and we still have a couple of bottles left.  We had some Korbin Kameron Malbec Moon Mountain District, Sonoma County 2018.  Malbec is one of the forgotten grapes of the Medoc, as it gets so much attention from Cahoors and from Argentina.  The wine was fermented and aged in French Oak, of which half was new, for eighteen months; and there were thirty-five cases produced.  It was a classic inky-dark-purple color and offered notes of dates, plums, chocolate, and sous-bois.  On the palate it was fruit forward with tones of concentrated dark bramble fruit, tannins, and a medium count finish of terroir. 

Then we had another limited production wine, and the first one that I had encountered from the winery.  We had a glass of Korbin Kameron Petit Verdot Moon Mountain District, Sonoma County 2018. Petit Verdot is also one of the “Holy Five” varietals of the Medoc, and has mostly been used for blending, and mostly less than ten percent of the blend.  It is also a grape that appreciates the additional hours of daily sun that a mountain grown wine can get, as it usually requires a longer growing season.  The wine also enjoyed fermentation and aging in French Oak, of which half was new, for eighteen months; and thirty-one cases were made.  Another varietal that is appreciated for its deep-dark red color and offered notes of dark fruit, anise, violets, and dried herbs and spices.  On the palate a full-bodied wine that offered tones of plums, blackberries, dark cherries, hazelnut, vanilla blended with robust tannins, bright acidity, and a nice dry finish.     

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Another Tasting of Korbin Kameron Winery Offerings

Posted on July 29, 2024 by thewineraconteur

A wonderful way to spend some time at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan is with Korbin Ming, winemaker at Moonridge Vineyards, as he poured and showcased some great wines started by his father who named the winery after his twins Korbin and Kameron.  The nineteen-acre estate was planted in 2000 and it sits on the ridge of Mt. Veeder on Mayacamas Mountain Range and straddles the Napa/Sonoma County line at 2,300 feet in elevation.  The majority of the estate is in Sonoma County and they can look out and see Santa Rosa, Sonoma Mountain and on a clear day the Pacific Ocean.  Then if you turn around you are looking at Oakville and Rutherford, below the fog line.  That is the beauty of a mountain winery and one of the added benefits is a couple of hours of extra sunlight for the vines.

We started off the tasting with Korbin Kameron Sauvignon Blanc Moon Mountain District, Sonoma County 2021. Moon Mountain District AVA which is a sub-appellation of the Sonoma County AVA.  Moon Mountain is for the western slopes of the Mayacamas mountai ns between Sugarloaf Ridge and Carneros; while Mount Veeder AVA encompasses the eastern slopes.  The AVA is named after Moon Mountain Road which runs through the area and means “valley of the moon” in the local Native American dialect.  The AVA was granted in 2013, because of the region’s iron-rich volcanic soils, quite distinctive form the sedimentary soils of the surrounding area.  Initial Fermentation is in Stainless Steel followed by Malolactic Fermentation in French Oak barrels, eighty percent neutral and twenty percent new, for four months.  With two hundred twenty cases of wine produced.  A pale straw-colored wine offering notes of lemongrass, guava, and lime.  On the palate there were strong tones of yuzu, grapefruit, and honeydew with bright acidity and a medium finish.

The rest of the tasting featured red wines and we began with Korbin Kameron Merlot Moon Mountain District, Sonoma County 2019.  When Mitchell Ming began planting the estate, all five red Bordeaux varieties, as well as Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc were selected, after initial soil analysis.  Phil Coturri, the Vineyard Manager has been there since the beginning, and it has been said that no one has more experience farming mountain vineyards in Sonoma with thirty-five years pioneering organic and biodynamic winegrowing in California.  This wine was aged for eighteen months in French Oak, of which fifty percent was new; with eighty cases produced. A nice deep garnet color wine that offered notes of cherries, dark berries, alluring scents of cinnamon and cloves.  On the palate tones of black cherries, cola, and spices, blended with mellow tannins and a nice medium count finish.      

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Ygrec ’21

Posted on July 26, 2024 by thewineraconteur

I had a chance to try a White Bordeaux at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan and they were upset that my Bride was not with me, but I brought her there another day, after all, what I do for my blog (there is a big smile on my face).  It was a repeat for her of a still rather unknown white wine that carries the Appellation Bordeaux Controlee, which would not be all that remarkable, except that this wine is Chateau d’Yquem ‘Y” Bordeaux 2021 and not Chateau d’Yquem Sauternes that was famous and still has representation in the wine cellar of Thomas Jefferson

Chateau d’Yquem is by far the most famous dessert wine in the world and has definitely made the Sauternes district of Bordeaux prime real estate.  In the Classification of 1855 of the Medoc, it was the only estate to be rated as Premier Cru Supereiur and it still is, and while most say it will be great for a good fifty years, there are others that feel that it is the longest-lived wine and may be eternal.  The Yquem estate was owned by the King of England in the Middle Ages and has been producing late-harvest wines since at least the late 1500’s.  It is a two-hundred-ninety-acre vineyard situated on the highest hill in Sauternes.  Possibly the ideal setting to produce sweet wine; a warm, dry topsoil of pebbles and course gravel over a subsoil of clay that retains water reserves which aids the development of “noble rot” and the property has about sixty miles of drains to prevent waterlogging.  There is also normally about thirty acres of vineyard that is either fallow or with vines too young for the production of this noble wine.  The vineyard is seventy-five percent Semillon and the balance is Sauvignon Blanc.  There is a fine art to the winemaker’s craft and nothing is overlooked, including the almost continual hand harvesting of only the perfect grapes at each inspection to ensure that only fully botrytized fruit is selected or about one glass of wine per vine.  There have been nine vintages that were never produced in the last century, because the wine did not meet the specifications required.  The estate was under the Lur-Saluces family from 1785 to 1999 when it was sold to the luxury brand LVMH.  Our first time tasting this wine was the 2017 vintage.

The Chateau d’Yquem “Y” Ygrec Bordeaux 2021 was stunning and I will offer some background notes, because if you are like me, it is not a wine that one encounters that often.  It was originally made at the end of the harvest with the last bunches of grapes since 1959 and in 1966 the selection of the grapes changed and the wine is basically Sauvignon Blanc picked at the beginning of the harvest and a small amount of Semillon with Botrytis and in 2004 the brand was to be produced every vintage.  They now have a state-of-the-art vat room just to make this wine and the aging on the lees take place in the barrels, one-third of which are new and the lees are regularly stirred for ten months.  I thought I enjoyed White Bordeaux, but this was on a level, that I had never encountered before, it was so elegant with such finesse that I could barely contain myself, it was that awesome, almost ethereal in the finish. This is a white wine that is considered by many to cellar for twenty years.  If I thought it was wonderful, the look on my Bride’s face and in her eyes was scary as I started computing how expensive this wine would be, if she decided that this was her go-to wine and even though it is shipped in its own fancy wooden six-pack enclosed by cardboard for shipping, I was afraid that I would have to quit my retirement. A pale yellow wine with notes of pears, oranges, lime blossoms, vanilla, and almonds.  On the palate rich tones of white fruits, with traces of pear and lime, refreshing acidity, and a very long finish of saline, almonds, and terroir. I thought the 2017 vintage was awesome, this may be the freshest and liveliest white wine that I have ever tasted, and all my Bride said later, was who can we share this with?  Oh, by the way, if you are curious the “Y” is pronounced “ee-grek” in French. 

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A Family Reunion 2024

Posted on July 23, 2024 by thewineraconteur

My Bride promised her mother to keep the family together, her mother was the last of eleven siblings, and I and a few others felt that it meant the immediate family, but she likes to push the envelope, I guess. She contacted all of her first cousins, and got about ninety responses, so she created a party.  Most of her relatives live on the east side of Detroit, so she and a sister that lives in a far north-eastern suburb got up one morning and stood in line at a municipal city hall to put a deposit, on an enclosed hall, plus a nearby pavilion that had a large barbecue grill adjacent.  The grounds were perfect, clean, and offered a water park, and children’s park, a small walkway out onto Lake Saint Claire and plenty of parking with a guardhouse.  She went and had t-shirts, visors, and signs printed for the event. 

That morning, we were up at six in the morning to pack up the car, I was thinking that we should have rented a truck, but the car and the springs held up.  We took a portable refrigerator, a big chest, chaffing plates, a roaster, kitchen stuff, first aid kit, outside armchairs, two hams, and Armenian pilaf.  The park was about an hour away for us and she wanted to be there at nine, when they opened to make sure that she had both buildings and we also covered all the picnic tables in the morning as we set up signs.  She even bought a collapsable wagon to make it easier to carry stuff from the parking lot to the building. Here other big endeavor was that she made a video to explain to the younger first cousins and all the children, how everyone was related by family and then the ensuing families with names.  She bought a brand new “smart television monitor” that would accept a thumb drive with the video that played continuously on a loop.  Another sister brought a family tree and a cousin brought copies of census reports.  She also coordinated with everyone else regarding food, so that no one was hungry.  Unfortunately, with all of the coming and goings there was no group photo taken, and she had brought her fancy camera with panoramic potentials, and I think everyone was photographed, but her.

The park would not allow glass bottles, at first, we thought that they did not allow adult beverages, but it was only the glass that was not allowed.  So, we rinsed out two 2litre plastic Pepsi bottles and filled them with wine. We filled one with two bottles of Broadway Vineyards Keanu Chardonnay Los Carneros Sonoma 2019. In 2002 a prime property was found just 2 miles south from the Historic Square in downtown Sonoma and purchased by Jim and Marilyn Hybiske. Six of their wine loving friends joined forces to develop a small vineyard and produce exceptional Sonoma County wines exclusively for their family and friends. Work was begun on the vineyard in the spring of 2004 and in 2006 the first harvest produced very promising fruit and Broadway Vineyards began to thrive. The wine is pure Chardonnay, using Dijon clones.  A nice soft gold color wine that offers notes of white fruit, hay, pine, jasmine, and lilies.  On the palate tones of pear, apricot, pineapple, and vanilla with good acidity and a nice finish of pear and banana.  The second bottle was filled with Famille Quiot Domaine Houchart Cotes de Provence Rosé 2023.  Famille Quiot is a wine producer with numerous estates in southern France.  They have been making wine since 1748, starting in Vaucluse in Chateauneuf-du-Pape at Domaine du Vieux Lazaret. In 1890, they acquired the sixty-hectare estate of Domaine Houchart near Aix-en-Provence.  The family estate has its roots and was farmed during the Roman era, and is located in the plain between Sainte Victoire and Aurelien mountains, and has its own climate.  The land is clay and limestone soils, from the decomposition of the scree from the surrounding mountains.  The wine is a blend of Cinsault, Grenache Noir, Syrah, and Tibouren; with the average age of the vines being thirty-five-years.  The fruit is harvested in September, with direct pressing for most of the varieties, with vatting for almost two weeks in I surmise Stainless-Steel to maintain freshness; the wines are bottled in December.  This salmon-pink colored wine offers notes of citrus and strawberries.  On the palate the wine offers tones of red currants, watermelon, with great acidity and ending with a nice medium count finish of fruit and terroir.  Of course, my Bride wanted a photo of me, totally casual and drinking from a plastic cup, but I decided against it, as it has been done before.  

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Hillwalker Vineyards Mount Veeder

Posted on July 20, 2024 by thewineraconteur

I was at my local wineshop The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan to taste a vertical run of Hillwalker Vineyards of Mount Veeder.  Mount Veeder is an AVA in the southwest hills of Napa Valley, and famed for its Cabernet Sauvignon wines.  I had a chance to meet and chat with Kevin Morrison, who is the owner and winemaker at Hillwalker Vineyards, and he is a former Michigander.  The Fine Wine Source has acquired a quarter of the production of the three vintages from the estate.

We started with Hillwalker Vineyards Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder Napa Valley 2019.  The vineyard is now twenty years of age, and it is starting to produce it own wines.  The vineyard is 1600 feet above sea level, and is all organic, no pesticides, no machines for harvest, cow and horse plows, no irrigation, only dry farming.  This wine had an extended Maceration period of twenty-five days and aged for twenty months in French Oak, of which twenty-five percent was new.  The wine is sixty percent Cabernet Sauvignon and forty percent Merlot.  A deep red wine that offered notes of black fruit, blue fruit, rose petals and terroir.  On the palate there were tones of black cherry and blueberry, oak, pepper, with blended tannins, terroir, and a nice long finish.  This was not a typical California Cabernet that was a jammy fruit bomb to curry favors with the current wine tasters, this was an elegant Old School Napa, when they were more Medoc-centric and not trying to keep up with the neighbors.

We then had the Hillwalker Vineyards Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder Napa Valley 2020.  Now 2020 was a bad year for Napa Valley and the fires, but the fires were on the east side of the valley and Mount Veeder on the west side of the valley experienced virtually no smoke during the growing season. The owner/winemaker Keven Morison said that he is still experimenting as he proceeds, and this wine was eighty percent Cabernet Sauvignon, and twenty percent Merlot.  He also does his own crush-work, and he allowed twelve days for Initial Fermentation and then aged for twenty months in twenty-five percent new French Oak, and the balance in neutral French Oak; he also did a little testing using a glass carboy which allowed no air in.  The wines are aged in a cave onsite using indigenous yeast.  A deep dark red wine that offered notes of dark fruit, pomegranate, violets, dark chocolate, pepper, tobacco, and sous bois.  On the palate this wine offered tones of black cherry, black currants, ripe figs, baking spices, cocoa, tight tannins, and a long finish of fruit tones. Once again, this wine was not a fruit bomb from Napa Valley made to please a few writers and critics, this wine was old Napa, or the Medoc and to please the winemaker.  A great wine for cellaring.   

The lucky customers and clients that came for the tasting also got a chance to try the Hillwalker Vineyards Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Mount Veeder Napa Valley 2021 which was only being sold on a pre-pay program with delivery in the fall of this year, which tells me that there is some bottle aging done as well, before release.  This wine is still a work in progress for the winemaker as he is definitely not doing a cookie-cutter wine.  This wine was eighty-five percent Cabernet Sauvignon and fifteen percent Merlot.  More experimentation as this wine had Initial Fermentation for twenty-eight days using indigenous yeast and then aged in a combination of eighty percent concrete tanks and twenty percent new French Oak.  A deep red wine that offered notes of dark fruits, violets, dark chocolate, and sous bois.  On the palate there were tones of black cherry, currants, figs, baking spices, cocoa, tight tannins, and a long finish of fruit.  After two wines that were classic old-school Napa or Medoc, this wine at first surprised me, as it wasn’t following the same pattern and had a much fresher taste and only as we continued talking and taking notes did the finish get longer and bolder and this wine kept growing and growing on me.  I was one of the first people to try the wine and since this wine was still not even issued, I thought it would be in poor-taste for me, to ask for a second, but the finish totally impressed me.

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Fine Wine Source Club – July 2024

Posted on July 17, 2024 by thewineraconteur

It is always a pleasure to go to my favorite wine shop and it was double the fun, because besides picking up the club selections at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan; there was also going to be a special vertical tasting of Hillwalker Vineyards of Mt. Veeder, California.  A great daily double. 

As always there is a wine representing the Old World, and the New World and we will start with the Old World.  Monte del Fra Ca del Magro Custoza Superiore DOC 2019.  Azienda Agricola Monte del Fra is a wine producer near Verona in the Veneto region of northern Italy; they produce Veneto wines, Grappa and Olive Oil.  The winery dates to 1492, when it was owned by an order of monks.  The modern company was founded in 1958 and is owned by the Bonomo family.  The winery owns one-hundred-thirty-seven-hectares of vineyards and leases an additional sixty-eight.  Bianco di Custoza, also just Custoza as well as Costoza Superiore DOC are made using Garganega, Trebbianello, Trebbiano Toscano and Cortese grapes, and some view it as the white equivalent of red Bardolino, as the two overlap in the area.  The designation applies to dry white, passito sweet, and spumante wines.  As of 2019, seventy percent of the blend must be made from Cortese (Bianca Fernanda), Friulano (Tai), Garganega and/or Trebbiano Toscano, and no more than forty-five percent of any one variety; the balance can be Chardonnay, Malvasia, Manzoni, Bianco, Pinot Bianco and/or Welschriesling.  A Bianco di Custoza must reach 11% proof and be aged for three months, a Custoza Superiore must reach 11.5% proof and be aged for five months, and a Riserva must reach 12.5% proof and aged for twelve months.  Critics have rated this wine as one of the top five Bianco di Custoza wines.  Theis particular wine is a blend of forty percent Garganega, twenty percent Trebbiano (Ugni Blanc), ten percent Friulano (Tai), twenty percent Cortese, and ten percent Chardonnay.  The wine is described as “summertime in a glass” and is called refreshing and savory.  This wine is said to offer notes of white florals, botanical herbs, and yellow stone fruits.  On the palate it offers tones of apricot, honeydew melon, candied orange slices with a finish of bitter almond and traces of limestone, lemon, and lime.

Representing the New World is Stolpman Vineyard “Love you Bunches” Rosé Central Coast 2023.  Over twenty years ago Tom Stolpman found what he felt was the greatest viticultural site on Earth.  Hidden away on a limestone outcropping in the Central Coast region in Ballard Canyon.  He originally started with Syrah and Roussanne grapes, using sustainable growing measures and minimal manipulation. The original “Love you Bunches” was a Carbonic Fermented Sangiovese that they still make, and they also now make a “Love you Bunches” Orange using Orange Muscat, Pinot Gris, and Mourvedre.  The Rosé version is made from pure Grenache and the fruit is harvested from Southern San Luis, Obispo County and Santa Barbara County.  The fruit is pressed much more quickly for a pink-hued wine.  The grapes rest whole for twelve to twenty-four hours as Carbonic Fermentation begins, absorbing just a touch of pigment and texture.  The pun “Love you Bunches” refers to the extra “loving” treatment the grape bunches receive when the clusters are destined for Carbonic Fermentation.  The label shows the unique penmanship of their vineyard manager, Ruben Solorzano. A cool season, and late harvest allowed the wine to fully develop.  After the whole-grape Carbonic Fermentation, the grapes are then pressed and vatted in Stainless Steel tanks for a cool and extended fermentation for three months. The winery describes the wine as having a strawberry shortcake, fresh with a citrus zing.  A sassy pink wine that offers notes of fresh strawberries, florals, and citrus.  On the palate there are tones of upfront acidity, with traces of savory rhubarb with a dry finish of terroir with a spray of citrus.    

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An Afternoon Date at the DIA

Posted on July 14, 2024 by thewineraconteur

My Bride always seems to have several irons in the fire at any given time, as she has been a volunteer for many different organizations since before, we met.  Even though we are retired, I still have to book time for a date. Who ever created the concept of having mediocre looking watches that makes everyone act like Dick Tracy and count your footsteps was a genius; though for the record I still dislike that cellular phones make it too easy to find someone. She loves counting steps, so plenty of our dates include walking.  Well, there are plenty of places to go outdoors, but when the weather is getting close to ninety, we are neither kids, nor do we want to melt, hence some days at the museums are the perfect answer. 

The City of Detroit in its glory days created the Detroit Institute of Arts, and not only is it magnificent as a structure, it has been recognized as the finest art museum in the country, which is quite an accomplishment.  In elementary school, we used to take field trips there, and I have been going there ever since, some days in high school, we would cut classes to spend the day there; and on a hot summer day, it is the perfect place to be, as I always find something new after all these years.  My Bride and I even have Founder’s Society Memberships, even though residents of the tri-county area get free admission, which is wonderful, but so few people take advantage of it.  The museum even has there act together in halls that display priceless works of art in a cohesive flow, which is my biggest peeve, when we go to other museums while on holidays, art can appear to just be thrown on the wall, because there is space.  We both have our favorite halls, and sometimes we end up appreciating displays that we may have walked by in indifference at other trips.  There was even a special wing showcasing a modern artist from Detroit that made us feel like we were yokels from the boondocks rediscovering art.

All of this leads us to a little time of rest from meandering the three stories of a building the size of a city block.  Even with the wristwatch counting steps, it was time to take a moment and chat in the Kresge Court and have some refreshments, named after Sebastian Spering Kresge of S.S. Kresge’s 5 & 10¢ Stores, which later became Kmart’s.  When I was a kid and played hooky at times, the Kresge Court was actually open-air in the middle of the museum, but since those days it has been enclosed from the elements and for years, my Bride used to go to the Brunch with Bach sessions on the weekends.  We were going to have a casual dinner later, so we stopped for some Kettle Chips and some bubbles.  At times I am so romantic.  We had some Charles de Fere Cuvee Jean-Louis Blanc de Blancs Brut Vin de France NV.  Vin de France is a term for wines that do not fit the criteria for AOP or IGP appellation laws and are usually from high-yielding vineyards like in the south of France; usually found in “bag-wines” or “box-wines,” though there are exceptions and has more consumer acceptance compared to the old Vin de Table.  The history of Charles de Fere is the story one family’s commitment to the best traditional sparkling wine methods Jean-Louis Denois opened a sparkling winery at Fere-en-Tardenois, in the north-east of Reims in 1980, based on his family’s five generations of wine making.  The wine is a blend of Airen, Ugni Blanc, Durello, Chenin Blanc, and Chardonnay.  The wine is made in the traditional method (Methode Champenoise) and is aged on the lees for three months with daily stirring, and then second fermentation to create the Brut designation. A very pale golden colored wine with fine to medium bubbles and offering notes of tree fruits.  On the palate there were tones of fresh pears, and apples and rather crisp.  A very easy drinking wine on a hot day.     

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