Memories from Our Honeymoon

Posted on August 23, 2013 by thewineraconteur

Every morning as I go downstairs to have my morning breakfast and coffee, I get to wander by some art work, which always reminds me of our honeymoon.  We both had never gone on an ocean cruise, so that is what we opted to do.  We thought of Caribbean sunsets, romance, dancing, fine food and fine wine.

 Laboure-Roi Pommard 1993

After getting situated on board our ship, we decided to check out a Champagne Art Auction that was to be held that afternoon.  We went thinking that perhaps we could find a piece or two for our new home, and to start the trip off right with some champagne.  We went to the auction and enjoyed some house champagne and looked at the art work that was available, and we also found out that an auction would be held each day of the trip, so we knew that we would have a stop to make daily, if time permitted.  We eventually ended up with three pieces that we won during the week, and on the last auction, there was one piece that we had fallen in love with, but the price was very dear.  When it did not sell, I approached them with a private treaty offer for the piece and it was accepted, we were elated and much poorer from the experience.

 Martiro's Mixed Media

Another memory I had was that when we had booked our trip, we were assured that we could have a table for two, since; after all we were on our honeymoon.  The first night when we went for our table, we found out that not only did we not have our private table, but we were not seated with other honeymooners, because of our age, we were to be seated at a table where the other diners were the ages of our parents.  I then recalled that they had discussed during our orientation of a private dining room at the top of the ship, that was more for intimate dining, and the only proviso, was that there was a mandatory three dollar per person gratuity required, which did not sound so outrageous, so we made a bee line there.  The room was more like a fine restaurant instead of the large cavern that dinners were held in, and that instead of an hour and half that was allotted one could spend as long as they desired having dinner.  We had found our location; we figured that we could spend about three hours for dinner and still make it to the shows and events for each evening.

             Lady in Red                  Oriental Lady on Handmade Rice Paper

Our waiter, from the outset, informed us that he was going to spread out our dinner, because he claimed that “Americans” ate much too quickly, so he made each evening last for at least three hours.  While our dinners were not the event styles that one hears about on a cruise, they were excellent dinners, and we ended up trying almost every dish on the menu by the week’s end.  There were hot and cold appetizers, with some of the best escargot that I have had to this day.  The Caesar Salad was so impressive and it was made table side, that my Bride, tried to make copious notes of each step, but our waiter said that it was not necessary and brought us out a card with the recipe that he used, and we still use that recipe, and my Bride always gets rave reviews for her salad.  The entrées that were served were varied, some pasta dishes, veal, steak, chicken and of course sea food and fish.  I kept one of the menus as a souvenir and I am glad that I did.  There were also several desserts offered each night and served with some wonderful coffee.

 Modern Art Mixed Media

We enjoyed a different bottle of wine each night with our dinner, but alas this was when the “new” glues were just started to be implemented by the wineries, both domestic and foreign.  Each night we asked to have the label soaked off of the bottles and only one bottle of wine was successful and we were not going to try to carry seven empty bottles back with us, along with all of the duty free purchases we made and were bringing home as well.  The only label that I have to show for the trip was a Laboure-Roi Pommard 1993.  This is one of the famed villages of the Cote de Beaune in the Burgundy area of France, and a fine bottle of wine it was made from the Pinot Noir grape varietal which is the grape for the area.

Norwegian Cruise Line MB

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Wyandotte Art Fair

Posted on August 21, 2013 by thewineraconteur

The term “raconteur” means a story teller, and as “The Wine Raconteur” I can look at an item and relate it to a story about wine.  The late comic Morey Amsterdam was known for having a joke file in his brain, and if one gave him a word, he could use it in a joke.  I am not equating my ability with a fabled comic, but I feel that I can humbly achieve a similar consequence.  There was a period when my Bride enjoyed going to art fairs, some were small and others were quite large, as in the Wyandotte Art Fair which encompasses the majority of the downtown streets.

 Iris Print 1

At that point we were in an acquisition mode for our new home and we were looking for art that we both could appreciate and hang on our walls.  We met after work and went to walk the show in anticipation of finding something, and I remember that it was one of the hottest days of the summer, and since we were both in business attire, we were sweltering.  As we walked past booth after booth of arts and crafts and other sundry items that are the hallmarks of these shows, and I might add that this show carries awards and is up in the pecking order of these art shows;  my Bride espied our next purchase.  There were two numbered litho prints by one of the artists and they both had a depiction of irises.  Now let me explain that one of the criteria when we were shopping for a new home was a formal dining room, and that room has served us well over the years.  The wallpaper in the dining has a very subtle pattern of irises, and these two pictures were going to go into our dining room.

 Iris Print 2

Now here is where the wine comes into our story.  After purchasing the two framed pieces of art, we decided to go and have a bite to eat, and to get out of the heat and humidity.  Suffice it to say, that neither of us care for the food that is associated with art fairs, so we went to a tavern that has served downtown Wyandotte for years called RP McMurphy’s.  Now if you are movie buff, that name might ring a bell, it was the lead character’s name from the play and later film “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”  The establishment reminds one of an old speakeasy from the Roaring Twenties, and its appearance has not really been altered probably from that period.  They make some great sandwiches and great bar food, and that is what I chose, my Bride being much more health conscious than I had a big salad.  I can not tell you for sure what brand of wine we had that evening, other then the request for “cold” chardonnay and they kept coming, until we finished our meal and we had beat the heat.

MI RPMcMurphy's MB

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“Come and Knock on Our Door…”

Posted on August 19, 2013 by thewineraconteur

As long as I can remember, my daughter has called “dibs” on a piece of art work, which I bought when I was first started to learn about some of the fine arts.  As I was learning about wines, in those early years, I also started to appreciate art perhaps that is from the odd occasion when I would play “hooky” and spend a day at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

 Life Magazine The Flapper

Back in the day, one of the few places that I was able to buy wine, when I was in High School was at the old J.L. Hudson department store in downtown Detroit, and I would then take my purchases and go and catch a city bus to go back home with a student fare.  Oh the ironies of the moment, as I look back on those days.  Now this particular department store, was a museum of sorts for me; because I could look at all of the items that were out of my realm of knowledge, and they were all for sale.  Not only was there wine, but fine furniture, oriental rugs, framed and loose art work, a book store as well as a book shop for the classics with limited editions and fine bindings.  Items that I had seen in movies, but had never encountered in my neighborhood growing up.

One day as I was strolling through the art galleries and print shop, I saw a framed picture that caught my eye, and to this day, it would still catch my eye; a framed Life magazine with a stylized picture of a “Flapper Girl” of the “Roaring Twenties” super-imposed on a butterfly.  Though I have never done any serious studying of this picture, I would presume that it was one of the first depictions of a “Flapper” for national distribution.  I had to own this piece, and I remember putting it in layaway and making payments on it, and then later I hung it proudly in my flat in Detroit.  Later when I married, this picture was proudly hung in my first home, and I never really thought about it again, except to admire it on occasions as I would walk by it.  All of this changed, when there was a television program, and it could have been new or in syndication as the years blur somewhat, but my daughter recognized this same picture hanging in the apartment living room of a show called “Three’s Company.”

Ch L'Escadre 1966 Blaye

All of this exposition is to explain that I had caught the desire to collect finer things around the same time.  As I taught myself about art, to a degree, I also had a thirst for wine studies as well.  One of the earliest bottles of wine that I bought was a Grand Cru from the Cotes de Blaye, which is a cousin of the Bordeaux Region.  It was a bottle of Chateau L’Escadre Grand Cru Cotes de Blaye 1966.  I remember buying this bottle because it said Gironde on the label, and from talking and listening I had discovered that Gironde was a department or a state of France and that Bordeaux was the principal city of it.  I was trying to learn as much as I could, as quickly as I could.  At that time my brain was a sponge soaking up all the knowledge that I could acquire, though it would take years for my palette to catch up.

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Excellence in Customer Service

Posted on August 17, 2013 by thewineraconteur

Not too long ago I wrote about my Bride going to visit her sister down in Louisville.  Now they have a wine cellar that gives my cellar an inferiority complex.  My Bride never goes down there empty handed, even though that is like taking coal to Newcastle as the old saying goes.  So she asked me to pick out a nice bottle to take down there, and when she gets there, she also bought some good table wines, just being a good guest.  I went and selected a nice bottle of Pinot Noir for her to take, as that is their most popular wine of choice at the moment.  In fact, I like to stock up on some Pinot Noir wines for the times they come up to visit, plus some Chardonnays and of course some Cabernet Sauvignon wines.

 Tudor Tondre Reserve Pinot Noir 2007

The wine I chose was a Tudor Pinot Noir Santa Lucia Highlands 2007 that I had received as one of our selections from a shipment from “A Taste of Monterey,” a wine club that we joined after we found them on our first trip to Carmel, California during a vacation.  I had really wanted to open the bottle during one of the times that we were all together at our house, but the chance never occurred.  Well I sent it down, with hopes that they would enjoy it.  Well I was right, they not only enjoyed it, I was called and asked to get them a case of the wine, if I could.   I talked to my Bride and even she enjoyed it immensely and she is not a big fan of Pinot Noir, so I told her, even though we don’t have any more room at the moment in the cellar, we should get at least a six pack of the wine for ourselves, since it was that great.

 Case and a half of Tudor Pinot Noir

I went online to see if the wine was still available and it was.  As much as I think I am computer savvy, I still have a problem using a credit card online, and since I have always been in retail, there is just something about talking to someone, rather than an impersonal cyber order.  I called “A Taste of Monterey” and told them what I was looking for and found out that they had the eighteen bottles of the wine that I requested.  I thought great, and placed the order, since they already had our credit information on file for the wine club selections that we received.  Life is grand and all I had to do was wait for the delivery truck with the order.

 Taste of Monterey Note Card

The delivery came as scheduled, tracking online deliveries is wonderful.  I then proceeded to open the cartons up, and then I discovered the wine was not the wine I had ordered.  I called “A Taste of Monterey” to explain what had happened, first I talked with one of the customer relation people that work at the store, and they in turned relayed the information to their manager.  The manager called and emailed me, to see if the problem could be resolved, and then she acted as a liaison between me and the owner of the company.  They offered me a special pricing for the one time on the wine, due to the mix-up, rather than having me ship the wine back and then having to ship another order out.  I talked to my Brother-in-Law to let him know what was going on as well, and he was so impressed with the first wine, that he was all the more eager to try another wine from them, sight unseen in a matter of speaking.

 Taste of Monterey Salutation

When all the dust settled, I ended up with eighteen bottles of Tudor Pinot Noir Tondre Reserve Santa Lucia Highlands 2007.  This wine is made entirely from the Tondre Grapefield with a Wine Spectator score of 92 points and there were seven barrels produced of this wine.  The manager was most gracious and concerned and even sent a follow up email to make sure that all was good.  I have written about some of the wine club selections that we have received and I look forward to opening one of these bottles soon to let you know about this wine at another time.  If I was happy with the wine club when we first joined, and I am now ecstatic about the original decision and wish to let others know what great customer service and quality merchandise they handle for the entire Monterey wine area.

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“Somewhere Beyond the Sea” Torbreck “The Factor” 2001

Posted on August 15, 2013 by thewineraconteur

This is another article that I have actually wrote as a favor to my friend Oliver, who writes a  wonderful blog that I enjoy and follow called The Winegetter.  I am not sure if this is a re-blog or not, since I am the author, but all is fair in love and wine.

“Somewhere, Beyond the Sea”

It is my honor and privilege to make another appearance on the pages of this popular wine blog.  My name is John and I write about wines as “The Wine Raconteur” and I am guest writing another article for my good friend Oliver at his request, while he and his wife are on holidays.  The word “raconteur” is an old way of saying a story teller, and most of my articles are woven around a memory and a wine, as I do believe that wine should be enjoyed and there should be a great memory of the occasion.   As I stated in my other guest article, Oliver gave me the theme of “Beyond, The Sea” and I have presumed that he meant that I write about a non-domestic (American) wine.   Since my last article was across the pond about a French wine Chateau Latour 1961 a famed wine from the Commune of Pauillac of the Medoc, I thought I would traverse the other body of water and discuss a wine from the Barossa Valley in South Australia, Australia.

 Torbreck The Factor 2001

I was managing a clothing store, that was popular at the time, and we had plenty of customers that not only enjoyed quality clothing, but also quality wines.  This was a major “pro” for the store, but unfortunately there were a few more “cons” to this establishment, but that is not germane to my story.  There were always some beverages on hand for the customers, and there were times when the customers brought in their selection to share as well.  One memorable day a customer brought in two different vintages of Opus One wine from Napa Valley, suffice it to say that it was a great day, but not business wise per se.  Let me just add, that one of my unlisted duties when I was hired was the ability to wash and maintain a collection of crystal wine glasses, as we had both stemmed and stem-less wine goblets for the customers.   Thankfully most of the customers that drank beer did not require a glass.  Sometimes there were discussions about wine and other subjects, with the least interest in adding to one’s wardrobe at the moment, but that was a rare time.  I have found that the subject of wine is a great “ice-breaker” when meeting new people and it is popular discussion point and that some people have very strong opinions of certain wines and areas.

As I sit here looking at a wooden box which is my temporary muse, that at one time held a magnum of wine this is another story.  The marketing of magnums especially in individual wooden wine boxes, I think is a great plus, while it may add a small cost to the total package, I do believe it proclaims to the customer that yes, this wine should be taken seriously.  The wine was a Torbreck “The Factor” 2001 from the Barossa Valley in South Australia.  Torbreck Vintners, the winery was founded by David Powell in 1994 and he signed the back label of the magnum near the numbering of number 195 out of a count of 240 magnums that were bottled of this wine.  Mr. Powell named his winery after the Torbreck forest in Scotland.  The wine “The Factor” was his homage to the great old Shiraz vines of the Barossa Valley and one of the mainstays of most of the wineries of this area.  The manager on a Highland estate is referred to as “The Factor,” hence the proprietary name.  This particular varietal grows well in several parts of the world, but I must say that Australia has been a big promoter of this type of wine, and now other areas have also had great results with it as well.  One of the reasons that this wine is so full and rich in flavor is that it spent twenty-four months in French Oak barrels with thirty percent of them being new.  This is not a wine that was made for quick consumption, as the nuances and traits of these old vines were allowed to mature in the barrels properly.  Torbreck Vintners also produces several other varietals as well as some other “named” wines.

 Beyond the Sea DVD

As my regular readers know, I tend to soak off labels and store them in scrapbooks as an easy way to remember wines that I have enjoyed.  Also many other labels have become the “wallpaper” on a couple of walls in my cellar as well.  This particular set, alas though empty now, has been kept intact as a curio in my cellar and a great talking point.  I guess my collecting interest goes beyond just cellaring and drinking wines with good friends.

“We’ll meet, I know we’ll meet.  Beyond the shore.”

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Gifts from a Vacation

Posted on August 13, 2013 by thewineraconteur

I have to admit, that sometimes I am just like a little kid, when I am presented with gifts.  I am always so appreciative of gifts that I esteem them, because I am honored that someone that enough of me, to buy me something.  When my Bride returned from her “girl’s” vacation in North Carolina, she was busy unpacking her luggage and she did not want any assistance.  That is always a clue, that there is something that she may not want me to see immediately.  So I stayed at my desk in the office working on the computer.  Then she came into the office and handed me a couple of gifts to say “thank you” for letting her have a private vacation.

 Hahn Winery Meritage Central Coast 2011

One of the gifts was a box of chocolates that she got me, while they made a side excursion to Asheville, North Carolina.  There was a chocolatier that furnished the hotel with chocolate for the guests, and they also made a wine chocolate, which she bought for me, as she knows that I have been known to enjoy a piece of chocolate now and then.

 Renaissance Box of Chocolates

The other gift was a bottle of wine, are you not surprised?  It was a bottle of Hahn Winery Meritage 2011 from the Central Coast of California.  This is a family owned winery, and this Meritage was a blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.  I looked at the price tag that she left on the bottle and I saw that it was from Belk’s in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Belk’s is a department store down there, from the old school and the last time we were there together we did a wine tasting in the store.  I also remember that there was a cafeteria or small restaurant near the wine shop and one could order some dishes and buy a bottle of wine to enjoy with the meal.  I wish this service would be offered at more department stores, but then wine is not carried in most stores any more.  I remember the old days, when the prestige stores offered a wine department, like the former J.L. Hudson Company in Detroit.

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Trouble

Posted on August 11, 2013 by thewineraconteur

“Oh we’ve got trouble; we got lots and lots of trouble.  We got trouble right here in River City”

I am paraphrasing some of the lines from a great number from The Music Man, the classic American musical of stage and cinema.  This is the second of a new challenge among some of the wine Bloggers who come up with a theme that we must all write about in conjunction with our favorite topic of wine and the topic chosen was trouble.  I accepted the gauntlet of a challenge from “The Armchair Sommelier” (a writer that I myself follow) and then I had to think about the subject.  Trouble could easily have been a story about my youth and perchance a night of over indulgence, but that seemed too contrite and expected.  Then I thought further and decided that no one ever over indulges on wine, so it would be categorized as fiction.

To me trouble means not according to Hoyle, a SNAFU or something that would create problems.  There should be no problems with wine, though I know that I have wrote about a bottle of Champagne that I discovered to late in my cellar, that would have been appropriate, but I had already done that.

Then it dawned on me, two occasions where I had to remember the Boy Scout motto “be prepared.”  Where I had to react in a way similar to episodes an old television show called MacGyver, before I gave up watching television for good.

 Pommard AlexisLichine 1966

One time, I remember going to someone’s house and was taking some wine as they had invited us out for dinner.  It was going to be a nice quiet evening of food, wine and conversation.  One of the wines that I had brought was one of my all time favorites Marquis de Riscal Rioja Reserva 2000, which I had bragged about to the other couple as a great dependable wine.   As we were getting ready to have dinner, I asked them in they had a corkscrew, so that I could open up the bottle of wine.  They informed me that they did not own such a device.  Now I immediately thought that I was among heathens, as this is as important of a device for the kitchen as a pot or a pan or a knife or a fork.  I was stunned for a moment, and since we had been drinking cordials during appetizers, I really did not want to leave immediately to go find a corkscrew.  I knew the other man prided himself on being a bit of a handy-man, so I asked for a long wood screw, a screwdriver that would correspond to the wood screw and a pair of pliers.  When my odd request was fulfilled, I removed the entire metal capsule from the top of the bottle to get a clear view of the cork.  I proceeded to insert the woodscrew into the cork, until it was the length of the cork, then I grabbed the pair of pliers and slowly and carefully pulled on the head of the woodscrew and slowly pulled the cork out of the bottle, by more brute strength, because there was no mechanical leverage to avail, like what a mechanical corkscrew offers.  It worked, and we were able to continue on with our dinner.  Since that time I have had to do this once again, so now I also use one of my wine carriers to bring the bottles, because they are fitted with a corkscrew and I can proceed with out the hindrance of pagans (just joking).

 Cork with wooden screw inserted

The other occasion, and unfortunately this trouble has been encountered many times since, was when I was just learning about wines.  I had a bottle of Pommard 1966 by Alexis Lichine that I was really looking forward to having.  This was a pretty classy bottle of wine for the youngster that I was, but I figured that was how I was going to learn what different wines tasted like.  Why buy a bottle of Burgundy, when you had a chance to get a bottle of Pommard?  All was going well that evening, until I went to remove the cork from the bottle and it crumbled on me, which was the first time I had ever encountered this from a cork.  At first I was devastated, should I throw out the bottle?  I could not do that, not on a student’s income.  As I started to think, I realized that I had just been given a Melita coffee system, where one placed a funnel-like apparatus over a cup or mug, put a coffee filter into the apparatus, add the ground coffee into the filter and then pour boiling water into the apparatus and let the coffee drip into the cup.  I quickly found the coffee apparatus and grabbed a coffee filter and placed the unit over a large carafe that I had acquired.  I slowly poured the contents of the bottle into the apparatus and let the filter handle the disintegrating cork.  Half way through the procedure I changed the filter paper, as it had accumulated a lot of cork, and finished emptying out the bottle of wine.  Perhaps not the classic way to decant a bottle of wine, but it did work, and may I add that the wine was wonderful and I saved the evening.  Since then I have maintained a funnel at the house and have had to use this special technique on several occasions.

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A Great Phone Call

Posted on August 9, 2013 by thewineraconteur

On occasion I get phone calls from friends about wines, and I am sure that if you are reading this, and you are known among your friends for wines, you get similar calls.  I was actually getting ready to write an article, when I saw a friend’s name pop up on my phone and I always enjoy talking to him as he is very gregarious and has become quite the “foodie.”  My Bride and I and he and his wife have enjoyed several wonderful meals together out and about and even back and forth at our respected homes.  I am probably a bad influence on him as his enjoyment of wines has blossomed since we have made our acquaintances.

 Pride Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 2001 - Google image

He called me from Nashville, Tennessee as he was with his wife at a conference, and they were out on the town that evening.  He asked me if I had ever eaten at Kayne Prime Steak House and I had to tell him that I had never eaten there, in fact I had never been to Nashville, though my Bride has been several times, and he may have blended the two of us together.  He was going on and on about the restaurant and how they were rated one of the top ten in the country, more specific than that, he did not get, but he was looking forward to having a great meal.  In fact later on, he called me back to rave about the Waygu steaks that they both enjoyed that evening, and I told him that I am sure that the steaks were wonderful, as I have only had Kobe steaks a few times and Waygu steaks a few more times then that.

 TN Kayne Prime Google Photo

Anyways, the reason for the initial call was that he was thinking of ordering a certain wine, but he was not sure if he should.  This is where I came into the picture.  He was thinking of ordering a wine from Pride Mountain Vineyards of Napa Valley, California.  He said that they had a 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon for $95.00 and I thought it sounded like a great price, but just as I was checking on it for him, the Wine Stewart had come to his table, just as I was telling him that if they were selling the wine for $95.00 a bottle, that he should buy every bottle and that I would split the purchase with him.  I had to laugh because I could hear the Wine Stewart explain to my friend that he had misread the wine off of one those “kindle” type readers, and that the wine was priced at $950.00.  I could hear the disappointment in my friend’s voice, as he told me that he would call me back, and that he had to make another wine selection.  When he indeed called me back, he was laughing and he could not believe that he had made such an error, and I joked that it was only a decimal point off, in fact now that I think about it, he did not tell me what wine the two of them ended up having, but I am sure that he did a fine yeoman like effort as he did rave about the restaurant, and had a couple of suggestions of where we should go to next, and I am looking forward to sitting across the table from him for another fine meal.

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Antonio’s Cucina Italiana

Posted on August 7, 2013 by thewineraconteur

I recently had dinner with a friend at a restaurant, which started its origins back in my old neighborhood.  As kids we used to congregate at a park, and if it we would walk or drive across the other side of the park we would be in Dearborn, while we all grew up in Southwest Detroit.  The original restaurant was called Roman Village, and it is still a going concern.  Here is this one restaurant that serves Italian cuisine surrounded by Middle Eastern cuisine on one side and Mexican cuisine on the other, and they have survived since I can remember.  Roman Village was the first Italian restaurant that I went to without my parents, so it holds a certain special memory.  Now I was joining a friend to have dinner in their second location, which is located in a large strip center in Dearborn Heights.

 Argiano Non Confunditur Rosso Toscano 2010

Antonio’s Cucina Italiana showed the same bustling activity that Roman Village has always had, each and every time that I had been there.  We each selected a pasta dinner, after we decided that we did not want to share a pizza, which is one of the hallmarks of the original restaurant.  My friend had a special of the evening, which was a pesto dish with shrimp, while I chose a classic shrimp dish from the menu.  My friend ordered a Caesar Salad and requested anchovies, and I ordered the house Italian salad and I also requested anchovies, and I was glad to see that this simple request was honored with out the seemingly common answer of today, let me see if we can do that.  Little things like that, just seem to please me.

 MI Antonio's BC

When I was looking at the wine list, the first page was offerings of wine by the carafe, and then when I flipped the page, all I saw was stellar wines that I did not feel like ordering.  I was amazed that there was such a major jump in the wine offerings, and then I realized that the middle page was stuck together, and here was a very nice wine offering in the price point that we were comfortable having amongst friends.  The wine that was chosen was listed as a Super Tuscan and I was intrigued.  The wine that we received was an Argiano “Non Confunditur” Rosso Toscano 2010.  It was an interesting blend of varietals; Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah and Sangiovese, which had been barrel aged for a year and then four months in the bottle before it was released.  When our server brought the bottle, she was all set to uncork it, and she was surprised as we were that it had a screw cap enclosure.  The wine I must say had good color, nose and a delightful aftertaste, and perhaps I am just used to having red wines with fish at times, but it worked very well with the shrimp dishes.  I would suggest this wine as a very affordable wine to compliment a good Italian dinner and I do think it would be excellent with any meat dish as well.

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A Girl’s Week

Posted on August 5, 2013 by thewineraconteur

Charlotte, North Carolina has been sending a siren call this way, since the last time we went there.  Alas, this time was I was not as accessible, but my Bride was as she went off on a “girl’s” vacation and spent a week with one of her best friends that had moved to this city of finance and a little organization known as NASCAR.  I wish that I had been able to have joined her, as her friend in Charlotte is a hoot, and we do have so much fun.

Domaine de La Butte Borgueil 2012

While they were in Charlotte the young ladies made a side trip to Asheville, North Carolina and they stopped by and had dinner one night at Bouchon French Bistro.  When she called me and told me the name of the restaurant, I was surprised at the name, which means Cork in French, and is the same name as two different restaurants we have dined at, that are also bistros, but owned by Thomas Keller, famous for his French Laundry restaurant in Napa Valley.  The restaurant in Asheville was not part of the chain, but they enjoyed the dinner so much, that on the return trip back to Charlotte they dined there again.

 Rombauer Vineyards Chardonnay Carneros 2011

The first night, my Bride was very excited because she selected a bottle of her favorite varietal, namely Cabernet Franc.  She found a bottle of Domaine de la Butte Borguiel 2012 from the Loire Valley in France.  The Loire Valley is most noted for the white wines, and rose wines.  The district known as Touraine is known for two villages that produce red wines; Chinon and Borguiel (with a side note that Rabelais was born in Chinon and would often mention the local wines of his birthplace).  My Bride was indeed in heaven having enjoying bistro food and a bottle of Cabernet Franc.  On the return trip, the two ladies while having dinner enjoyed a bottle of Rombauer Vineyards Chardonnay Carneros 2011 with equal enjoyment.  While Rombauer Vineyards is located in St. Helena in the Napa Valley, this wine was produced from property in the Carneros district.  While my Bride does not get gushy or descriptive in her discussion of wines, I knew that she enjoyed them both, because if she didn’t then I would have heard more about the wines, when it is negative.

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