A Dinner While Being Serenaded by a Big Band

Posted on June 17, 2014 by thewineraconteur

Through out the years one makes friends that continue in your life. This was the case the other night, as a dear friend who is a wonderful saxophonist by avocation contacted us that his band was going to perform a dinner show. Not only has he been a great friend since I met him years ago when he was a high school student working part time, but he has also blossomed into a great father, husband, chef and a wine aficionado, and he has even been a guest writer for me. It was a date night and we were going out for dinner to a restaurant that we have been to before, and several more from within this local chain. We were going to Andiamo Dearborn, which in the old days was the Chicago Road House from my youth. It had been a while since we were at this restaurant, but the draw that evening was that the Henry Ford (College) Big Band was going to perform out on the patio. It was a comfortable evening to be dining outside, though the cottonwood was drifting around the tables, and later on I found out that the band members were the entrée for the mosquitoes that evening.

Duckhorn Decoy Chardonnay 2012
The Andiamo chain was celebrating their twenty-fifth anniversary for the year, which is to be lauded for any restaurant. The menu was enticing and the wine list was also a good draw, in fact my only complaint was that the tables for two out on the patio could have been a big bigger to accommodate all of the plates and stemware for dinner, but that is just a small gripe (I guess). My Bride ordered the Steakhouse Chicken which was a pan roasted chicken breast, bacon, caramelized onion in a white wine and crack mustard sauce with roasted sweet potatoes and braised greens. While I had the George’s Bank scallops which were panned seared atop black truffle risotto, lobster crème, basil oil and crisp Prosciutto. Both of the dishes were part of the anniversary menu and long time favorites of the restaurant. We also enjoyed a salad, an assortment of breads and a side of pasta. This was just a nice classic dinner for the evening and with the sounds of a big band behind us, it was even that much better.

MI Andiamo MB2
Since we were dining outside and the entrée choices that we had selected, I felt that a nice white wine would be enjoyable. A chilled wine out on the patio sounded so refreshing that I had to study the list. The list of white wines was smaller then the red white list, which is understandable as the restaurant offers so many different meat dishes and they had just converted over from a steakhouse concept back to the original Italian restaurant. I saw an old friend on the menu, from a winery that we visited on our trip to Napa, and as I related in that story, they did not even have a tasting room, so we did the tasting sitting upon cases of wine in the back of semi-trailer. We were enjoying a bottle of Duckhorn Decoy Chardonnay 2012. While we had visited and tasted the original Duckhorn wines in Napa, the Decoy series is from Sonoma County, so the Chardonnay wine is more indicative of this area, as opposed to Napa or even the Monterrey area. All in all, it was a perfect evening, a great date night, seeing an old friend, great music and a fine bottle of wine.

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The Best Crème Brulee Ever

Posted on June 15, 2014 by thewineraconteur

One of the great things about going on business trips to Chicago in the old days was that there were so many restaurants within walking distance from the Merchandise Mart where I was spending my days. I remember being invited out for dinner by a vendor along with about three other merchants and spouses. We were going to Bistro 110 which was a good hike from our hotel down near the famous Water Tower in Downtown Chicago. Chicago was one of the cities that we enjoyed walking around at night, so we tried to avoid cabs, unless the weather was not cooperating.

Santa Rita 120 Merlot 1991
Bistro 110 was a charming restaurant and they had an excellent staff, the service was wonderful and so was the food. Now when I am a guest, I always follow the lead of the host and some of the other diners to gauge what I should order off of the menu. I have always felt awkward in business situations of this nature, and then there was my Bride along for more expense for the vendor. As I say we followed the trend of the other guests and tried to stay within reason for the dinner tab. I started off with a bowl of the French Onion soup which was strongly touted by some of the other guests, while my Bride had an Artichoke baked with Brie, while hers was tasty, but I think I had the better of the two appetizers. My Bride went with a dish of grilled vegetables and I went with a bistro dish of Cassoulet which had a duck leg Confit, braised lamb shoulder and a ragout of white beans, and we both kept sampling off of each other’s plates, until there was none left to share. For dessert, it seemed that from others that had dined there before and from the staff as well, we had to go with the Crème Brulee, and to this day I think it was the best we have ever had. In fact there were other times when we had dinner at one restaurant and would walk over to Bistro 110 just to have more of this great dessert and some coffee.

IL Bistro 110 MB
The other dilemma when one is a guest at a dinner like this is the selection of wine. Thankfully some were drinking beers and some were drinking cocktails, but even back then I was starting to be recognized as a maven on wines, I think only because I like to talk about wines that I have had. I did not want to break the poor vendor’s wallet, so I scanned the wine list for something that would be a fine choice for all the people that wanted to have wine with the dinner. With my Cassoulet, a French Red Burgundy would have been my first choice, followed by a well made Pinot Noir, but this was the era of Merlot. I do not hide the fact that I enjoy a glass of Merlot, and this seemed to make the others happy as well. We had a couple of bottles of Santa Rita 120 Merlot 1991 from the Rapel Valley of Chile. A good safe bottle of wine that everyone could enjoy without being too “heavy,” and paired admirable with the other dishes.

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A Couple of Everyday Wines

Posted on June 13, 2014 by thewineraconteur

One never knows when there will be some wine at the moment. I was at a fine men’s clothing store and the subject came up, and of course I can fan a fire like this very easily. It is amazing how many people that appreciate a fine garment also appreciate a glass of wine and a good meal. These have been some of my favorite topics for years, as if you are surprised.

Finca el Origen Malbec Reserva 2012
The next thing I know a bottle of wine is opened and glasses are being filled. Now for the merchant this is an excellent marketing ploy and one that can only be done by fine independent merchants. The wine does not have to be stellar, unless the customer calls for an upgrade (in my humble opinion), as it is just a great way to have another common topic between the customer and the merchant. The wine was a very good choice without being a four star bottle. We were all drinking some Finca el Origen Malbec Reserva 2012 from the Uco Valley, near Mendoza in Argentina. The Uco Valley has become one of the key areas in Argentina for wine, as wineries from other parts of the world are opening up shop in this area to take advantage of the soil. This particular wine is from the first Chilean winery to enter the Argentine valley, as this wine is owned by Vigna Santa Carolina of Chile. This was a very fine everyday bottle of wine and it was a Malbec, which does extremely well in the valley. While this wine was a Malbec Reserva, fifteen percent of it was of other varietals to round out the taste and offer some extra nuance. For the Century Club fans that want to add a new varietal to their list there is some Bonarda, as well as Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. Good color and a decent nose with a touch of terroir, this wine is worth trying in a restaurant or at home with a good cut of meat.

Bogle Petite Sirah 2010
While we were taking a sabbatical from shopping, another customer came in bringing a bottle of wine that he wanted the owner to try, as this is his manner, as he enjoys the hospitality of the shop quite frequently. He brought a bottle of wine similar to the types of wines one encounters in this shop. The bottle he opened was a Bogle Vineyards Petite Sirah 2010. Bogle makes some fine everyday table wines and this was of that ilk. It was a fruit forward wine that had been aged in American Oak for twelve months before bottling and since the fruit came from two diverse areas, Clarksburg and Lodi, the wine has a California cachet on the label. So there it was two totally different wines from two different continents and both added to the camaraderie of the shopping experience.

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A Taste of Monterey Turns 20

Posted on June 11, 2014 by thewineraconteur

I just signed for my new wine club selections from A Taste of Monterey. This is a wine club that we discovered on our first trip to Carmel-by-the-Sea. The newsletter that was enclosed with the shipment announced that they are celebrating their twentieth anniversary of being in business. There is a brief history of the club and that three of the founders of the concept are still on the board, so that is some continuity on this project. Another thing that I enjoyed reading this brochure was that they had a sidebar that featured the different logos of A Taste of Monterey through the twenty years, as a former merchant I enjoyed seeing the changes. Just to make it clear to everyone reading this, some of the wine Bloggers enjoy receiving wines for their enjoyment and for them to write honestly about, I do not have to worry about that as I am a paying member of the club, so the three wines that I receive like clock-work is prepaid on my standing charge card order. So far, every wine that I have wrote about have been paid out of my wallet or given to me as a gift or I have shared in the cost as we split a restaurant bill. So with out further ado, let me mention the three bottles of wine that I unpacked.

Wrath San Saba Vineyard Syrah 2011
The first wine is from Wrath Estate Winery of Soledad, California; a winery that I have written about some of their wines. The selection that I received is Wrath San Saba Syrah 2011. The San Saba Vineyard is 72 acres just below the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA, where they grow Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah and Muscat. The location requires this wine to carry the larger Monterey AVA. There were 168 cases of this wine produced and the aging potential is eight to ten years. I am sure that I will enjoy it before then.

Aiena Pinot Noir 2009
The next wine is a new one to me Aiena Pinot Noir 2009 which carries a Santa Lucia Highlands AVA. So far every Pinot Noir from the Santa Lucia Highlands has been a winner to me, and I am hoping this tradition continues, as this area seems to be an ideal micro-climate for this fussy varietal that I am very fond of. This particular wine is a blending of grapes from two vineyards; Mission Ranch and Silacci. According to the notes this vintage is showier then the 2008 vintage and there were 425 cases produced and the aging potential is five to seven years.

Heller Estate Petit Verdot 2009
The last wine in the package is from a winery that we have visited, and at the time were not offering this particular varietal in the tasting room. Heller Estate Petit Verdot 2009 with a Carmel Valley AVA is the wine I am really looking forward to trying. The write up also discussed how the winery had to work around the weather the entire season, as it was not a typical growing climate that they encountered. Heller Estate is now one of the 100% organic listed wineries, and while I do not get too excited over this new fanfare, enough people do that I guess it should be mentioned. I have not had too many bottles of pure Petit Verdot, as normally I encounter it as part of a blend in other red wines, so this should be very interesting. There were 250 cases of this wine produced and the aging potential is eight to ten years

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“Once Upon a Midnight Dreary…”

Posted on June 9, 2014 by thewineraconteur

One of the most famous opening lines for a poem, and they were spoken by John Astin, an actor known for his off-the-wall characters then for his Shakespearian training. We were going to see “Gomez Addams” do a one man play about Edgar Allen Poe. We were in Chicago for one of my business trips back in the day, and I just happened to look at the Chicago magazine in the room and there was a small advertisement for this play and it was the weekend that we were there. While I was busy during the day doing what I was there for, my Bride had the honor of ordering the tickets and canceling the dinner arrangements we had made, she does get the fun jobs, and that is being said tongue-in-cheek. The reason we had to cancel our original reservation is that the theater was not downtown and with the Chicago traffic, we were not sure of the travel time and we did not want to be late.

Villa Cervia Montepulciano 1996
The theater was not a grand venue and I remember thinking to myself before the lights dimmed, was I watching an actor in the twilight of his career? When the lights dimmed, my negative thoughts were forgotten as we both were mesmerized by the actor and the lines that he spoke. I would venture to say that the entire dialogue that we enjoyed during the production was written by Poe and was selected from his prose and his poetry, not to mention from his many letters that he had penned to his family and friends in his short life span. Some of the readings especially from “Lenore” and “The Raven” still leave me goose-bumps and chills when I recall the moment today. I think we both developed even more of an appreciation for John Astin after this play, then for the roles that we had grown up seeing him in before.

IL John Astin Showbill
Since we were in a district of Chicago that was new to us, we got there early to hopefully find a restaurant before the show. We did find a restaurant, more a small little bistro, which I cannot recall the name of, as I do not have a matchbook from them (at my age every little reminder helps). We had a quick dinner as the restaurant was not pretentious and I am sure that they appreciated turning over the tables quickly. I remember the wine, because I had to carry it out with me in a brown paper bag, so I looked like a high class wino; and I had to carry it with us to the theater and then later back to the hotel. We enjoyed a bottle of one of our favorite go-to wines, if there is one on the menu. Villa Cervia Montepulciano D’Abruzzo 1996 made us happy that evening. This wine made from the Montepulciano varietal is one of the most known wines from Italy. Though at first glance it seems like a mouthful to pronounce, but once you have it down pat, it just flows. While we have had better and we have had some worse, I will always try a bottle of Montepulciano if I get a chance, as I know that so far I have never had a terrible bottle of it.

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Dining in a Boxcar Going Nowhere

Posted on June 7, 2014 by thewineraconteur

It was the beginning of the new era of restaurants, as I look back, but back then I don’t think we realized it. There was a new chain in town and it got everybody’s attention. The old staid look of restaurants had just changed and to this day, ambience and décor have become sometimes just as important as the food. There was a restaurant that had opened up, that was based in California called Victoria Station. It was impressive just to look at. I guess it was to evoke the image of London’s Victoria Train Station, and there was even an English style telephone booth on the grounds. The item that really caught one’s attention was the grouping of railroad cars, several box cars and a caboose. A true theme restaurant and one wasn’t even at Disneyland. The interior was also appointed with either true antiques or excellent reproductions of railroad paraphernalia.

Liebfraumilch Rheinhessen 1982
It was not fine dining, but it was fun and it captured the imagination of the public. This was a divergent course for a restaurant and they captured the fun of the moment. They prided themselves on Prime Rib dinners, and this was an extremely popular entrée at most restaurants at the time. In that era, it seemed every restaurant worth their salt, served Prime Rib with Au Jus and horseradish, either in a sauce or freshly ground. I remember having “Shrimp Victoria” which was a variation of Shrimp Scampi, as there were only a few places that I would have Prime Rib, because I always felt back then, that one got more fat, then meat, so I tried to avoid the dish as often as I could. The other thing that I remember and it was the “buzz” was the salad bar. This was a novel idea back then, and to think that even burger joints nowadays can be counted on having a salad bar. I seem to remember the salad bar over the actual dinner, only because it was a new concept and so was the restaurant design.

MI Victoria Station MB

It was also the era of Liebfraumilch, the generic wine originally of the Rheinhessen, but now from anywhere along the Rhine River. The funny thing is that most wine labels from Germany by law tell the consumer so much about the wine; it is almost information overload, until you get to Liebfraumilch. Then you get the bare bone facts; it is a product of Germany, it is from the Rheinhessen, it is a Qualitatswein and that it is a white wine.  I will go out on a limb and guess that this wine was made from the Sylvaner varietal that is the most common grape grown in the area.  Compare that with most other German wine labels and the label could be white with Wine across it. Of course most Liebfraumilch labels are very colorful with a lot of gold ink. It was the era and we all drank it Liebfraumilch from students on up the pecking order of dining society.

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Drinking Prosecco in the Upper Peninsula

Posted on June 5, 2014 by thewineraconteur

Have you ever noticed that after unpacking from a trip, you make a discovery that you over looked at first. That is what happened the other day. My Bride did her annual business trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, again this time without me, and I had to hear her tell me of the restaurants that she stopped by on her circuitous route. She got a chance to dine at some of the restaurants that we had visited in the past, and though she ate well, there is just something that is ungratifying about dining alone.

Anna Spinato Mini Prosecco NV
While she was up there she had a chance to enjoy some wines by the glass, along with her dinner, if she was in an establishment that had a decent wine list, otherwise I am sure that she just had a Dewar’s and soda, yes she can be pretty tough when she is thirsty. She always tries to make this trip before the dreaded “black fly” season occurs. I have to admit that my Bride is much more frugal about wine when she is by herself, then if I go with her. I guess that I am a bad influence on her and on our wallet as well, but there is always that wine that sounds interesting, and it always seems to be sold only by the bottle.

Anna Spinato Mini Prosecco Carrier
In her travels she found a little four pack of wine that she could chill each night, while she was making her notes from her day of business and she could have a chance to unwind. This trip that she makes is nothing but non-stop driving and that does take a toll on any individual. The wine was Anna Spinato Prosecco NV DOC, that was sold in a cardboard four pack of mini bottles and I guess they were marketing the wine for women, as there was only a depiction of a woman in a dress on the carton. The varietal is now referred to as Prosecco, but it was called Glera originally. This wine is produced by the Azienda Vinicola Winery and they are predominately in the prosecco business, but they do offer some other wines as well. Even the bottles were colorful as they had a special wrapper around the entire bottle that according to the their web site offers a low capacity of thermal conductivity protecting the wine from atmospheric changes and keeps the bottle from breaking, as it keeps all the shards intact in case of an accident. This mini-bottle is designed to offer two glasses of wine and since there was two bottles left, I took it upon myself to try a bottle. This task was done strictly in the interest in writing this article. The color was good, the bubbles were almost non-existent and the wine was a poor cousin to what a good bottle of Prosecco should taste like. For eleven dollars for the four pack, it was fine, though I find that the small bottles of any sparkling wine can be flat compared to a regular size bottle of the same wine.

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Back in Plymouth, Michigan

Posted on June 3, 2014 by thewineraconteur

Plymouth, Michigan is really a quaint city that was first settled in 1825, later became a village and finally incorporated into a city. It is almost exactly the halfway point between Detroit and Ann Arbor and looks like how one would picture the perfect small town in the cinema, with a park right in the center of the downtown area. We even looked into moving there, but the logistics of my Bride’s work and all of her driving, just added to her travel time just to get to a freeway and she can get impatient when she is behind the wheel. Plymouth is charming to walk around any time, and it has become a popular dining area with more restaurants still moving in. There are plenty of places where one can even sit out and wine and dine on the sidewalks and people watch. Even better yet, there are several places in town where wine is an important part of the menu.

Drouhin Laforet Chardonnay 2011
The other day my Bride and I were getting together later on in the day, and we had both had large lunches apart from each other. She asked if we should go to Plymouth to walk around and have something to eat and have a glass of wine or two. I guess I didn’t need much prodding, and off we went. While we were walking around, the outside dining areas were already filling up for early evening diners, and we ended up outside a wine bar and restaurant that we gone to several times before. I was surprised to see that the wine selection in the bins along the wall were quite light, and our waitress opined that she thought that they were getting ready to restock the wine list, as they did have a selection of more curious varietals and blends then the usual restaurant would carry. Since it was quite sunny and hot outside we decided to say indoors and just ordered some appetizers like crab cakes and fish tacos. We were thinking of a chilled white wine to enjoy. The first wine that I selected was an Austrian wine that I wanted to try, but they were sold out, and while we were looking at the wine list again, our waitress brought over a tasting of white wine that they sell both by the bottle and by the glass. We both liked it, but I felt like having a Chardonnay, but I did not want a typical California wine, so I ordered a bottle of Drouhin Laforet Chardonnay 2011, a Bourgogne Blanc that is made by this negocient that has been in the Burgundy region for decades if not centuries. This white wine with the most common listing of Bourgogne can be made from the grapes from the three hundred or so communes in Burgundy and they can offer a similar taste style year to year because of the work of the winemaker. In fact it was such a smooth and delicate Chardonnay wine, which my Bride decided that she wanted to buy another bottle to take home with us, and the restaurant offers to sell wine at half off the wine list price for taking off of the premises.

Clayhouse Wines Adobe White 2011
She was also pleased with the glass of wine that they offered to us as a tasting and she wanted a bottle of this wine as well to take back with us. This white wine will be delightful on a summer evening and it in its blend of varietals were two that I have not had before (knowingly), which if I ever get around to filling out the form for the Century Club it will help. The wine was from Clayhouse Wines of San Miguel, California and was from their Adobe collection named for a hundred and fifty year old adobe structure on the grounds. The wine was Clayhouse Wines Adobe White 2011 and had a Central Coast designation, which is quite broad, but it was a blend of Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc, Grenache Blanc and Princess. It is a wine that I look forward to having in the near future, as we were both pleased with the tasting that we had.

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The Palm Restaurant

Posted on June 1, 2014 by thewineraconteur

As I think of all the business trips I used to make to Chicago as a buyer, I have to smile. I did not represent a major department store, but a very fine clothier who ended up suffering a closure due to Eminent Domain. Who knows I may still be on that treadmill otherwise, but that is another story. After working all day at a trade show, there was always a bit of a reprieve in the evening for a fine dinner. Lunch at the show was always iffy, but I was working on the clock and not dining. Afterwards was a different matter. Sometimes I would join some other buyers or merchants, sometimes with sales representatives, and sometimes it was in a group of both, this was before I met my Bride and she started traveling with me.

Ruffino Riserva Ducale Oro Chianti Classico 1988
One night I remember a group of us were going to The Palm restaurant, which is legendary in New York, the Mecca for the clothing industry. The Palm did such a business, that they opened up a second floor of the restaurant, and years later to handle the overflow they actually opened up another restaurant right across the street from their first one. They slowly started opening up other restaurants around the country as business warranted. The Palm may have started off as an Italian restaurant, and they still have some fine classic dishes on their menu, but most people think of them as a steak house, of the old school. They serve aged steaks, seafood and monster lobsters, where most lobsters are around two pounds, The Palm serves three to five pound lobsters and the meat is extremely tender, they disproved the old thoughts that when a lobster gets too big, the meat gets tough. Starting with Lobster Bisque with the added lacing of Sherry and then a “man’s” size Surf & Turf, thankfully there were others at the table because the sides were more then ample for several diners. The good thing was back then I must have had hollow legs, because there was still room for flour-less chocolate cake for dessert. I certainly can’t eat like that any more. Later on for a short time The Palm opened up a restaurant in one of the northern suburbs of Detroit, but they did not last too long, I guess the fickle economic climate of the auto industry could not sustain them in the manner that they were looking for.

IL Palm MB
I did not select the wine that evening, but we did drink some fine Italian wine to accompany our meals. We were drinking Ruffino Riserva Ducale “Oro” also known as Gold Label. This is a Chianti Classico that makes the Sangiovese grape shine in Tuscany. While Ruffino makes a Chianti Classico and I think a Riserva as well, the Riserva Ducale is only made during stellar vintages and is aged longer then the DOC requires, both in the casks and then in the bottles

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I Love Marilyn

Posted on May 30, 2014 by thewineraconteur

Everyone knows “I Love Lucy” and if you are from that era, there was a blonde that created even more love, it was Marilyn Monroe. She had an earthy yet vulnerable appeal to men, and she probably still does, at least to this writer. By today’s standards she would be considered heavy compared to a lot of anorexic starlets and she was natural, not enhanced surgically. I mean who can not recall her walking along the train in “Some like It Hot?” Maybe some will consider me a Neanderthal or a Sexist Pig, but I am sorry I grew up seeing her on the silver screen, taken by my parents in my pre-puberty childhood, but I remember how the men and the women of that era would discuss her, and all in the positive. She had a tragic life and died very young.

Marilyn Merlot Napa 1991
One Christmas a very good friend of ours was visiting and she knew my penchant for collecting wine labels as well as for drinking wine. She always tries to find something to amuse me, and that we will drink during her stay. That Christmas one of the wines that she brought to our house was a Marilyn Merlot wine, made by the Napa Wine Company.  I looked at it and appreciated the label and the kitsch of it all. It was a Merlot wine, and readers may realize by now that I enjoy Merlot wines, whether the rest of the world denigrates them. After all the Merlot varietal is grown around the world and is revered as one of the important grapes in Bordeaux and is even found in some of the “Super Tuscan” wines in Italy. I remember that I thought that here was a wine where the label would be the best part of the bottle, and I thought our friend was daft for buying it, but why look a gift horse or wine in a negative fashion. We were enjoying appetizers and later on dinner and I thought that we should try this wine. My immediate thought was that it would be a passable wine taking advantage of the then hot current in Merlot wines. Was I wrong, we all enjoyed the wine and were very sorry that we only had the one bottle of it, when it was emptied.

Marilyn Merlot Napa 1993

Since then, I think we have enjoyed at least one bottle if not more of every vintage since our first introduction to this brand. We even enjoy the Norma Jean line, which is a younger and less aged bottle of Merlot. We have tried the Champagne and the “Sauvignon Blonde” that they offer. They did make a Chardonnay the first year, but dropped it, so I never had it, and they also offere a Meritage wine that was very pricey, that I never got, and the Velvet Collection has on the label, the famous calendar pose, that had a transparent drape that pulled over the label to hide her natural attributes that were revealed in that classic photo. I mean how wonderful is it that I can appreciate a wine two ways at once, and so far always be satisfied.

Marilyn Merlot Foil Cap

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