Boone Hall Plantation, Magnolias in Charleston, South Carolina

Posted on February 19, 2013 by thewineraconteur

One day while we were enjoying the charms of Charleston, we became real tourists and took a trip to Boone Hall Plantation, which is one of the few working plantations in the South.  While it is not Tara or Twelve Oaks which were grand fictional plantations, it is a wonderful day trip to see.  While you are driving up to the plantation you encounter the Avenue of Oaks, which were originally planted by Captain Thomas Boone.  All of the people that you encounter during your guided tour of the plantation are dressed in the attire of the day.  There is an area where you can see how bales of cotton were set adrift and allowed the current to carry the cotton to Charleston, and from there they were sent to spinning mills in the North and to England.  It is also stressed that Boone Hall Plantation was one of the most humane plantations of its day.  The grounds were used for theatrical and television films through the years.  It was a wonderful way to spend a day in the old South.

SC Boone Hall Plantation Brochure

 

After returning to downtown Charleston, we enjoyed our wine tasting at the Inn, and then we changed for dinner.  We were going to a restaurant near the Inn called Magnolias.  I thought that it was the perfect name for a restaurant in the Old South, and Charleston by extension.  As we were seated at our table, our waitress was very gracious and informative about Charleston as well as about Magnolias.  We were telling her how much we enjoyed our dinner the night before at Cypress, and her eyes lit up.  She then informed us that both restaurants plus one other establishment were owned by the same gentleman.  She really made us feel at home.

SC Avenue of the Oaks PC

Magnolias was more casual of a venue, but they still offered a great meal.  We started off by sharing a shrimp and sausage appetizer with Tasso gravy over grits; I finally succumbed to trying them.  Then we enjoyed some blue crab bisque, we had still not had some of the legendary She Crab Soup that Charleston is noted for.  My Bride had a local fish dinner of Carolina Carpet Bagger filet with fried oysters, green beans with Madeira and Béarnaise sauces, while I enjoyed a sautéed Grouper with crab and artichoke topping, fresh spinach, a potato cake and lemon Beurre blanc.

SC Magnolias MB

 

As we were looking at the wine list for our meal, my trusty Bride zeroed in on another of our favorite wineries that we had visited in Napa Valley, namely St. Supery.  As this was a winery that we seldom encountered at that point, we ordered a St. Supery Sauvignon Blanc 2000 to go with our meal.  This wine paired very well with the courses, and was so refreshing from the humid weather we were encountering.

St. Supery Sauvignon Blanc Napa 2000

 

We had also ordered soufflé for dessert, when we had placed our other menu requests, because of the additional time to prepare a soufflé.  As we were having some coffee in anticipation of our dessert, our waitress brought over a gentleman to introduce us to.  He was the owner of the two restaurants that we had so far eaten at while in Charleston.  He sat down with us and started telling us his history and that he was originally from Michigan.  Well we had met another raconteur and we ordered a bottle of champagne to go with dessert and poured some for our new guest as well.  We had a bottle of Piper Sonoma Blanc de Noir champagne which added to the enjoyment as we were regaled by this gentleman and his tales of Michigan and of Charleston.  We also discussed other restaurants and wines that we had all enjoyed over the years, and I was surprised at the length of time, he sat at our table keeping us company.  What a wonderful evening my Bride and I had.

Piper Sonoma Blanc de Noir NV

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Fort Moultrie, Cypress and a Sauvignon Blanc in Charleston

Posted on February 18, 2013 by thewineraconteur

One of our day trips while we were on holidays in Charleston was to Fort Moultrie and the Fort Sumter National Monument, which is part of the National Park Service.  This fort defended Charleston Harbor from the Revolutionary War to World War II.  There was a lot of history to absorb while we were there.  While I was there, I couldn’t help but think that the structure of the fort reminded me of Fort Wayne in Detroit.  Both forts were designed to protect the water front, and both had a similar structure and feel to them.

 

SC Fort Moutrie Guide

We then returned to our loft, and got ready for dinner, as we had to change into attire fitting for dinner, as this is our habit, even on holidays.  We were going that evening to a restaurant called Cypress.  The restaurant was on the main drag as I recall of the downtown area.  We started off with crab cakes and lobster bisque and both were well made, rich and creamy.  I was going to have braised short ribs, but when I saw that they were accompanied by grits, I passed on one of my favorites and ordered a salmon dish that came with a very rich sauce and well prepared root vegetables, while my Bride ordered Wasabi Tuna with the usual accompaniments. We tried each other’s dishes as well, and we were both very satisfied.  After dinner while we were enjoying some great coffee and a Grand Marnier Soufflé, we were both in heaven.

SC Cypress MB

 

The wine list at Cypress was just as impressive as the menu.  After being out at the fort as tourists during the day and getting overheated, when my Bride saw that they had Duckhorn Sauvignon Blanc 2000, she could not be persuaded to try anything else.  Since our trip to the Duckhorn Vineyards, I do have to agree with her, that they do make an excellent product.  I did think that the Sauvignon Blanc went better with her tuna entrée, then with the salmon, and it made me understand her predilection for red wine with salmon, but that was a minor matter at the end of the day.

Duckhorn Sauvignon Blanc Napa 2000

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Charleston, South Carolina

Posted on February 17, 2013 by thewineraconteur

This was a city that we had to visit.  One of the most famous characters in literature hailed from this hallowed city of the South; Rhett Butler, one of the most famous men of print and cinema, and a man, that most men admire, not to mention the ladies.  My Bride was eager to start making plans for this trip, on one of our holidays.

GWTW

 

We were going to stay at the legendary Charleston Inn, but just before we booked the hotel, we discovered a smaller hotel that offered a loft apartment in the downtown of Charleston.  It sounded so quaint, that we had to book it.  Our room had parlor and the bedroom was up a flight of stairs over looking the parlor.  The Ansonborough Inn was where we ended up staying and they had breakfast in the morning, wine and cheese in the afternoon.  They had a little English pub, and then they had a terrace on the roof which looked out onto downtown Charleston.

SC Ansonborough Inn Flyer

 

As we wandered around, on a self guided walking tour of the downtown, three things stick out in my mind to this day.  As you walked down the streets and looked at these stately homes, with some of the most beautiful doors you have ever seen.  What is even stranger is that these doors are actually entrances to the front porch of most of the homes, as they were built perpendicular to the street to handle the sea storms better.  The second most unique thing that I noticed was there were house painters everywhere.  Between the high humidity and the salted winds off of the ocean, the houses were in constant need of fresh paint to maintain the proper look.  The third thing that I remember most was that all of the bars had the little airline bottles of liquor on the shelves.  I was told that it was the state law, which the bars had to pour from individual bottles for every drink ordered.  If you walked into a package liquor store, then you could purchase a fifth of your favorite libation.

SC Charleston Walking Tour Book

 

I mentioned the humidity; well it reminded me of New Orleans.  As soon as you stepped out the door, you just walked into a standing wall of water.  It was so humid; it was even difficult to enjoy my cigar, while my Bride did her shopping strolls through the town.  Not that she or we needed anything, but she just likes to shop.  Of course we would stop at a little sidewalk café and we needed something to fight the heat, like this split of Calera Chardonnay 1998 from the Central Coast of California.  That day it just hit the spot, and I am sure that it would again.

Calera Chardonnay Central Coast 1998

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Belly Dancers and Wine

Posted on February 16, 2013 by thewineraconteur

For years, one of the popular niche types of entertainment in the Metro Detroit area was Middle Eastern Music with “Belly Dancing.”  This type of entertainment seems to have vanished from the landscape and has been replaced with over sized television monitors which I do not find entertaining.  Be that as it may, one of the last of this venue was Mitch Housey’s restaurant.

MI Mitch Housey's MB

During the period that Mitch Housey’s was in business, ethnic food was not as popular or a staple of the restaurant business as it now.  This restaurant catered more to business people and couples looking for a nice dinner and a get-away.  Consequently that did offer quite a few dishes from the grill, like steaks and fresh fish, and a few Middle Eastern dishes.  As a rule, because I have enjoyed a lot of these dishes growing up, made by members of my family, I tend to shy away from commercial variations of the dishes that I know.  This was a great place to enjoy a steak dinner and to watch the entertainers dance for the pleasure of the audience.

Tommasi Valpolicella Classico Superiore 1993

The wine list for the red wines tended to be skewed towards Italian wines, which work well with beef dishes.  One night I opted for a Tommasi Valpolicella Classico Superiore 1993.  I have discussed my favorable bias towards Valpolicella wines many times.  The term Classico refers to the fact that the grapes come from the original controlled designated area for this varietal and the Superiore means that the wine has been aged for at least a year and that the alcohol content is at least 12% by law.  I have found that when one orders a varietal that has extra “words” like these, that the wine is fuller and richer, which adds to the enjoyment of the wine.

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An Art Fair and Portofino in Wyandotte, Michigan

Posted on February 15, 2013 by thewineraconteur

My Bride and I like to attend some of the art fairs that are very popular around the state and seem to be always held on the hottest days of the year, when we attend.  It also seems that we are always going right after work, so we always have business attire, which makes attending these shows even warmer.

MI Portofino MB

 

One of the art fairs we do like attending is the one in the city of Wyandotte, and it is also one of the largest of this genre.  After walking around the many blocks of the show and looking at the different types of art and crafts, we work up an appetite and a thirst.  Since these shows are held in the summer, with the extra heat, our thirst increases.

 

 

Most of the time, these fairs are so dense with people, that we look for better venues for dining, as some of the restaurants have lines of people standing outside.  We walked a little farther away from the crowds and decided to have dinner at Portofino, which is right on the water, in fact they have docking facilities for boaters, which guarantees them more action (one would presume, and here it was most prevalent).  The restaurant also has very large areas of glass to look out onto the Detroit River, which is very pleasant to have as a background during dinner.   We both ordered some fresh water fish dishes, which this restaurant prides itself on, and we were not disappointed.

Yalumba Viognier S Australia 2005

 

Since this was such a warm day and evening, and we were ordering fresh fish, we enjoyed a bottle of Viognier wine.  We have always found this type of wine to be refreshing in the summer months and enjoy the floral nose that this varietal always seems to deliver.  This particular evening we had a Viognier from South Australia made by Yalumba Winery.  They proudly proclaim that that are Australia’s oldest family owned winery.  The afternoon and evening was a day of enjoyment, further enhanced by our choice of wine that day.

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Peppina’s in Lincoln Park, Michigan

Posted on February 14, 2013 by thewineraconteur

I guess that I am getting a little nostalgic and have been thinking of some of the old restaurants and watering holes from my youth, and the early days of discovering different wines back then.  One of the places that I remember was Peppina’s in Lincoln Park; they had a drive-in service on the side with carhops and a neighborhood Italian restaurant as well.

 

 

In those days I would go there with a large group of the guys from the old neighborhood and we would venture into the suburbs to eat and drink.  Some days we would end up with a table of twenty brash young guys all wanting to have a good time and Peppina’s would serve our insatiable appetites at the time.

 

 

They had a big room, and in the back there was a special room called the Amethyst Room.  As I recall the walls and displays were covered with large rough amethyst stones and geodes.  I also seem to recall that they had some amethyst jewelry that they sold near the cashier stand, probably made by a local artisan.

 

 

We would all go there for some of the best pizza, and they also had homemade pasta.  There would be little squabbles over what was better the spaghetti or the gnocchi, and the debate would never be decided.  It was the type of food that all of us would just chow down and eat with a fevered relish.

Lambrusco Fratelli

 

It was a time of beer and some wine.  We would just order bottles of wine to put on the table and drink at our leisure.  Of course the few of us, that did prefer the wine would get some remarks questioning our manhood, as beer was the preferred drink at the time.  What can I say, we were all young, rowdy and there for a good time.  We would get bottles of Lambrusco wine, which was very popular at the time.  This wine is from the Emilia-Romagna area near Bologna.  The wine is made from the Lambrusco varietal, which tends to have a “grapey” taste as opposed to the nuanced tastes that can be found in other varietal wines.  At that time in my life I was still discovering wines, so each wine was an adventure and a memory.

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A Pleasant Surprise

Posted on February 13, 2013 by thewineraconteur

We were celebrating our monthly birthdays, and the venue this time was not at our house.  My Bride though, was doing the catering.  We loaded up our car with the assorted dishes and a birthday cake that she had prepared, as well as some wine and beer for the guests.

 

When we arrived at our destination, we started unloading the car and my Bride commandeered the kitchen to finish preparing the food for the party.  I was getting the wines ready to open, when my Brother-in-law, who’s house we were at, suggested that we drink some of his “swill.”  He then proceeded to go into the dining room and grab a bottle from a rack.  He proceeded to then rinse the bottle and clean it of its patina of dust.  He said I don’t know if it is still good, and I told him, there is only one way to find out.

 

The bottle was a magnum of Woodbridge Cabernet Sauvignon 1999.  The Woodbridge line is a very good set of blended wines under the Robert Mondavi umbrella of wines.  I was so impressed with the Woodbridge line, that when my Bride and I got married, we served an assortment of different varietals from this group at our reception.  Though, I knew the pedigree of the wine, I was not sure that a thirteen year old bottle that was stored in a dining room was going to be palatable, as this was not an ideal place to store wine.

Woodbridge Cabernet Sauvignon 1999

 

We proceeded to open up the bottle, and the cork came out in one piece, which was a good omen, as I was afraid that it may crumble from lack of proper storage.  When I opened the bottle, I poured some into a glass to see, if we could serve it.  The color was still amazingly dark as one would expect a Cabernet Sauvignon to be, if it had been younger.  The initial nose was a bit “dusty” from being bottled up, but as I swirled it in the glass, the nose began to open up and it had a positive aroma.  The final test, was the taste, and as I “chewed” the wine, I was happy to report that the wine was indeed, very drinkable.  The guests that wanted some wine were very happy with the results.  Just goes to show you, that you can never presume or pre-judge a bottle of wine, no matter the age or the ranking of the wine.  This was a very good showing, I felt for the popular priced line from the Mondavi family.

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La Trattoria Restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan

Posted on February 12, 2013 by thewineraconteur

This was a delightful little restaurant right across the street from the City Hall of Dearborn, in what is referred to as East Dearborn.  It was always a busy place of good homemade pastas and a small, but nice menu of classic Italian cuisine.  It was the kind of restaurant, one would think of as a good neighborhood eatery.

 

 

At lunch time, it was always packed, because of the local government and all of the businessmen that frequented Dearborn.  We used to go there in the evening, when it was much calmer and you could enjoy a serene, leisurely dinner.  It was a place where you would start out with an antipasto salad, a rich soup, a side plate of pasta and then one of several different dishes for your entrée.  They had a couple of good veal dishes, that were always prepared properly, and then you would finish off with a cannoli and some good coffee.

Bolla Valpolicella 1992

 

The wine list, of course was heavily weighted towards Italian choices, which made perfect sense as that is what paired with the cuisine.  The restaurant carried good basic wines, which were well known.  A typical selection for dinner would be a Bolla Valpolicella 1992.  Bolla is a very big Italian shipper and blender of wines; they have become a brand unto themselves.  In fact Bolla is one of the largest shippers of Valpolicella wines for the valley just north of Verona.  This a very deep colored and full flavored wine made from the Corvina Veronese, Rondinella, and Molinara grape varietals.  The wine that I am showing is the base Valpolicella wine, as there are other classifications of it offered as well.

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The Cruise Inn in Detroit

Posted on February 11, 2013 by thewineraconteur

In my old neighborhood, the main drag was called “The Highway.”  On the Highway was a very popular fancy restaurant and lounge called The Cruise Inn.  The restaurant was done in dark woods with a nautical theme.  There was a beautiful sailfish mounted over the center of the bar, which was caught by the proprietor.  On one half of the Cruise was the bar section and the other side was a very nice restaurant.  It was one of the premier restaurants in the old neighborhood.

 

 

It was also a haven for all of the Armenian men who grew up together.  If you ever saw the movie “Goodfellas” it had that same feel, as the lounges of that era all were of that genre.  There was always a crowd at the bar, and the tables were filled with other regulars that were there for the steaks and other basic grille dishes.  Also periodically there would be Armenian food offered, which upped the attendance.  As I said there were many regulars that hung out there for extended periods, as this was the norm for that period of time.  I think you could find a card game or two at some of the back tables to keep the men there a little longer.

 

 

It was all good fun, and I remember that at one time, they all started sported a baseball cap, way before that was a normal piece of headgear with TAC embroidered on the crown of the cap.  TAC was for “Thursday Afternoon Club which one of the wags of the group came up with, as a secondary alibi for where all the men would be.  It probably even sounded too good to the bosses at some of the local business that would have their employees go to their “club.”

Mouton-Cadet Boredeaux 1973

 

This period of time from the 1950’s to the 1970’s or so, was the period of cocktails and beers.  What would any man order to go with a porterhouse or rib-eye steak?  The cocktails were even manly back then, with no “frou-frou” type drinks, even for the women that were escorted into the Cruise.  There would also be a handful of assorted wines that could be ordered.  A few red wines and a few white wines were on hand, a few of them would be, whatever the current “hot” label was and the rest were basic wines that were just constantly ordered by the regulars.  One of the regular wines that I recall was Mouton-Cadet, a Bordeaux blend that was from Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Chateau Mouton-Rothschild fame.  This wine was a far removed relative of that classic wine, but it was a fine dependable red wine that suited the clientele and the cuisine of The Cruise Inn.

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Al’s Lounge in Delray

Posted on February 10, 2013 by thewineraconteur

I used to refer to Al’s Lounge as the classiest greasy spoon in America.  I know that it doesn’t sound nice, but Al’s was a great place for a quick dinner.  They had a nice interior, but what made me refer to it as this, was that the menu was a chalk board.  It was quite a gathering spot for the locals of this area, plus a lot of business men and people who worked in the area, when it was a bustling area.

There were always people dining there, and as I said, there were a lot of locals and regulars.  It was the type of restaurant where you would always run into people that you knew.  The menu had a lot of Hungarian dishes, as well as popular diner type food with a Hungarian twist or flavor to it.

I think of it, every now and then because my children would always want to go there.  They would inevitably order the same dish, as if it was an addiction.  I can still hear them say, that they wanted to have roast beef on an open sandwich covered with paprikash gravy.  If Al’s was still open they would still want to go there, just for that meal.

Al’s Lounge mostly dealt in beer and mixed drinks which was very common for the area and the times.  I would just get order a Bordeaux wine, normally as the wine selection was very limited and that would be the type of wine, they would have by the bottle.  Most of the wines were more of a jug type that would come out in a carafe.  Typically I would enjoy a bottle like a B&G (Barton & Guestier) Pontet- Latour which was a generic Bordeaux blend.  This was a good safe wine and would work very well with the dishes that we would enjoy at Al’s.

B&G Pontet-Latour Bordeaux 1972

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