Thanksgiving 2024

Posted on December 7, 2024 by thewineraconteur

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year” as I kind of sing this to myself.  My Bride makes the holiday season special and simple.  The day before Thanksgiving is her completion date: she has all the Christmas presents bought, wrapped and sorted by family,  all the Christmas cards and her annual newsletter has been printed and inserted into the cards and posted as well, some were received the day after Thanksgiving (in Canada with their postal strike, the cards may arrive by Spring), the house is cleaned and ready, not to mention that the menu has been decided and she has even prepped some of the dishes.  This system was the best, back in the day, when we worked, as everything was paid by Christmas, and we could make plans to get away in January or February for a well deserved vacation. 

We started the day bright and early, I just assist the Maestro.  She actually got up and checked on how thawed the turkey was a four in the morning, and she was not thrilled and started last minute soaking of the bird, and by ten it was stuffed, sewn-up, prepped and placed in a roaster bag, and into the roaster that was set up in the library, away from the morning madness.  All the other side dishes she was preparing, as well as prepping appetizers and munchies before the dinner.  She made so many dishes, that she forgot to even bring out the Deviled Eggs that she had made, just prior to starting the turkey, so we had Deviled Eggs that we discovered with turkey leftovers and sides (though I am getting ahead of myself).  We started off with a couple of “go-to” white wines for my Bride, which made it easy for her to stay calm.  I selected the first red wine to serve with the buffet spread from the Old World.   Domaine Lafage Bastide Miraflores Vielles Vignes Cotes du Roussillon 2015.  Domaine Lafage is a major estate in the Roussillon in all shades and hues and from dry to elegant dessert wines like their Muscat de Rivesaltes.  They own about one-hundred-sixty hectares with vines that are hitting the century mark, hence “Vielles Vignes.” The Bastide Miraflors is a custom cuvee and is a blend of seventy percent Syrah and thirty percent Old Vine Grenache.  After six weeks of maceration the Grenache is aged for twelve months in concrete and the Syrah is aged in French Oak.  This is a deep purple wine has a heady 14.5% Proof and I usually don’t quote ratings, but for a very affordable wine Robert Parker gave this wine 94 Points.  This deep purple wine offered notes of red and black fruits, spices and minerals.  On the palate tones of raspberry, and blueberry, blended with anise and thyme, refreshing acidity, firm tannins, and a nice medium count finish of fruit, pepper and terroir.  I have been drinking this wine over the years, and still have seen it become a very age-worthy surprise and addition to the cellar.  Of course, I guess I didn’t buy enough, but there is still a couple of bottles left.

The other main dish of the day was a Pork Tenderloin that she marinated and broiled.  There were so many sides beginning with Armenian Pilaf and going to more traditional dishes like Stuffing and Casseroles.  There were plenty of pies that others had baked, and my Bride also had a traditional “Sander’s Bumpy Cake” decorated with all of the November birthday recipients.  There was almost panic in Michigan when it was announced that the company that had made this cake was another casualty and was going out of business, but this cake was rescued by another firm (if you want more about this cake just do an internet search, suffice it to say that it is a favored dessert in the State and beyond.  I went into the cellar and grabbed another interesting wine, one of our favorite domestic wineries, as I opened a Korbin Kameron Merlot Sonoma Valley 2011; it is an Estate Grown wine and Merlots have been one of my favorites since I was a teenager.  This wine preceded the Moon Mountain District AVA which was awarded in 2013, so it is still basically a new designation from Sonoma County.  This wine was aged for eighteen months in French Oak, of which half was new, and they produced three-hundred-fifty cases of this wine.  In 2020 I had the good fortune to try four vintages of the Korbin Kameron Merlot of 2007, 2009 2011 and 2015.  I was enraptured by the 2007, which we bought, but everyone else was in love with the 2015.  I think the extra couple of years in the bottle really changed my mind, but then I am very partial to older reds.  The 2011 was now showing me the virtues of good breeding that a Merlot needs.  This deep ruby red wine offered notes of red fruits, spices and sous-bois.  On the palate there were rich tones of red and black cherry, baking spices, perfect acidity, charming silky tannins and a beautiful long count finish of fruit and terroir.  We sent everyone home with leftovers and there was still plenty left for us, I guess twenty-two for dinner, will make us rethink the menu for the future, but then again it may not.

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After Dinner at The Earle

Posted on December 4, 2024 by thewineraconteur

There were five of us having dinner at The Earle in Ann Arbor, all five I guess are “foodies,” but only four of us are really in to wine, the fifth will enjoy a glass of what we were having, but not to our extent.  He also thought that we were all high-maintenance about the way we would ask questions about the dishes, not to mention the one person that had to keep requesting to have bottles of wine accompany the dessert choices.  The dessert of choice was as there were five orders of coffee and three orders of Chocolate Chambord Mousse made with whipped egg whites folded into melted chocolate, raspberry juice, Chambord, and whipped cream, finished with shaved Callebaut Belgian chocolate and a raspberry.  The Caller’s wife asked me to select a Port wine to go with the dessert she was sharing with The Caller.  I went with a fine safe selection of Fonseca 20-Year-Old Tawny Port NV from Fonseca Guimaraens.  Fonseca is a well-regarded Port house with three vineyard estates in the Douro region and the make the gamut of Port offerings from Reserve Ruby to Vintage Ports. Fonseca was founded in1815 by the Fonseca and Monteiro families, with the Guimaraens family taking over in the second half of the 19th Century.  In 1949, the company was bought by Taylor, Fladgate & Yeatman, which had loaned Fonseca considerable sums since the outbreak of war in 1939.  Despite the change of ownership, the house is run as a separate entity and the Guimaraens family still have key positions to this day.  There are roughly eighty grape varietals sanctioned in the production of Port, and some are truly lost both in name and in the vineyards over the centuries.  After twenty years, the wine has lost its deep red color and developed the “tawny” amber color, and the wine offers notes of ripe mature fruit, butterscotch, caramel, roasted nuts, and orange rind.  On the palate there are tones of rich, complex mellow fruit blended with toffee, caramel, butterscotch, and spiced oranges, with oak tones, ending with a long-count finish of fruit and roasted almonds.

The Caller had a glass of Chateau Guiraud Petit Guiraud Sauternes 2017, the second label of Chateau Guiraud and is made from younger vines.  The estate has eighty-five hectares planted with Semillon and Sauvignon with vines that average about thirty-five years of age on a soil of sandy and clay gravels, over red clay, limestone, and fossilized oyster beds; perfectly conducive for the spread of Botrytis Cinerea, or the Noble Rot that has made Sauterne wines immortal.  The estate was originally the Noble House of Bayle and bought by Pierre Guiraud in 1766, and stayed in the family until the 1980’s when it was bought by a group of like-minded friends.  The wine is a blend of sixty-five percent Semillon and thirty-five percent Sauvignon Blanc.  Only grapes that have been affected by the Noble Rot are picked by hand and fermented plot by plot in new oak barrels.  My notes for the Premier Cru is that once the level of sweetness is achieved it is aged for about twenty-four months in oak, before bottling (thought I am sure that the Petit Guiraud has a shorter maturation time).  This youthful wine had a beautiful pale golden color and offered notes of peaches, tropical fruits, white florals, and nuts.  On the palate there were tones of white peaches, honey-imbued fruits, fine acidity and a nice medium count finish of the honeyed-fruit and terroir.

I had a glass if Gould Campbell Vintage Port 1994 and to be truthful, I was not aware of this Port House, but my curiosity was piqued, and I didn’t know if I would ever encounter it again.  Gould Campbell was founded in 1797 when Garret Gould left Ireland and established the firm of Messrs. Gould Brothers & Co. in both Lisbon and Oporto.  Later he formed a partnership with Merchants and Bankers with James Campbell.  In 1970, the firm was acquired by the Symington family who have been Port producers since 1882, while still retaining its private family business.  The grapes are drawn from the Alto Douro area, known for their complexity and depth.  While the wines are made in modern temperature-controlled fermentation tanks, a significant proportion of their Ports are still made in small estates around Pinhao, using the ancient method of treading the grapes by foot in stone tanks called Lagares. Symington Family Estates owns several major Port houses, including Dow’s, Warre’s, Graham’s and Altano.  While there are over eighty sanctioned grapes allowed in the production of Port, most have been forgotten, lost, and intermingled over the centuries.  The five main grapes used are: Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinto Barroca, Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo), and Tinto Cao; and some other relatively common varieties are Sousao, Tinta Amarela and Mourisco Tinto.  The deep black ruby colored wine offered notes of ripe fruit, violets and lavender, chocolate and minerality.  On the palate a big wine with tones of red fruits, oranges, with noticeable acidity and a very pronounced mineral finish.  I am still mentally debating with myself about this wine, as it was not what I was expecting from a vintage port, but then I am not that knowledgeable about the different houses.  The Fonseca was the unanimous choice of the three dessert wines, as we all tasted each other’s wines. 

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A Reunion at The Earle

Posted on December 1, 2024 by thewineraconteur

It was like a working dinner, there was my Bride, and The Caller, and one of her key contacts, as my Bride’s division only had one client, and that client probably kept about seventy employees for the company she worked for, very busy.  The last time we had dinner with her old client, we had mentioned The Earle, and he didn’t know the restaurant, and he is a “foodie.”  He made the arrangements and the reservation and we all met there.  Actually, my Bride and I got there early, and even though it was a bit damp and chilly, we went walking in the downtown area of Ann Arbor, even stopped at a fine clothier that specializes in Italian men’s wear, and I found a new Blazer, and then when we got back to the restaurant The Caller and his wife, were just arriving, so I dropped off his package of wines that he asked me to get for him, which worked out well.  Then the client arrived, as we were already seated in the French Room, that my Bride maneuvered us into; our favorite room as the room is surrounded by endless amounts of empty French wine bottles of First Growths, Premier Crus, and a smattering of other Old World and New World selections that everyone could envy.  The wine list arrives in a huge looseleaf binder, and I would venture to say that it has to be one of the largest wine cartes in the state, with plenty of wines beyond our price points, like a Chateau Petrus 1964. 

We just ordered some appetizers to share while we were all catching up with events.  A classic presentation of Roasted Garlic with crostini and accompaniments, and an order of Mushroom Caps stuffed with sausage, garlic and sweet peppers, baked with Parmesan cheese.  I also had to quiz everyone about what they were going to order, so that I could attempt to make an educated guess about wines.  The first wine that we had was from a region in France, that I had never had, until a couple of days before this outing, and that will be in a future article, as I have future articles stacking up, a great way to go through life.  Getting back to reality, I chose for the group a bottle of Philippe Portier Quincy 2022, a Sauvignon Blanc listed with White Burgundies (?) and the district is pronounced as “can-see” and not like a television coroner.  Philippe Portier came from a family of four generations that he says started as peasants, and in 1985 took over the family business and created his own vineyard in Quincy.  Today he has over twenty hectares of Quincy vines and has also created an estate in Reuilly with Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir.   Quincy received AOC status in 1936 just prior to the approval of Sancerre, and is technically not in the Loire Valley, as it is east of the Loire Valley and is on the left bank of the Cher River (a tributary of the Loire).  The soil is sand and gravel over clay and limestone.  The wine is achieved using pneumatic pressing at a slow speed, and Fermentation and maturation at cold controlled temperatures on fine lees.  A pale golden colored wine that offers notes of bright citrus (mainly grapefruit), cut grass, and limes.  On the palate a full-bodied crisp wine with zesty acidity stressing grapefruit, limes, and a nice medium count finish of fruit and minerality.

For the dinner entrée choices it was quite diverse: Coquilles St. Jacques al crème de Xeres, but now listed as Sea Scallops sautéed with mushrooms and garlic, pan sauced with Sherry and cream with a Ruby wild-rice blend,  Veal Scallopini, lightly breaded and sautéed with garlic and mushrooms and deglazed with Marsala, finished with cream and served with Orzo, Stuffed Acorn Squash with roasted vegetables, sage, and honey, then tossed with quinoa and couscous, served with Brussel Sprouts sautéed with honey, lime, and pistachios, and Mezzogiorno, Liguini tossed with crumbled garlic sausage, Capicola, sliced hot peppers, olive oil, and Romano cheese.  I opted for something different in a red, we had Domaine des Amadieu Cairanne Cuvee Vielles Vignes 2014.  Domaine des Amadieu was founded in 1992 by a local family and owner of vines in the commune. The winery took over a building that was owned by the family Amadieu.  Cairanne was elevated to cru status in 2016, and prior it was classified as Cotes du Rhone Villages Cairanne.  It is basically alluvial soils of limestone with red, iron-rich earth over sandstone bedrocks. The domain has eight parcels in the district and the majority of the vines are over fitty years.  It is a blend of fifty percent Grenache, twenty percent Syrah, twenty percent Mourvèdre  and ten percent Carignan. The estate is certified organic and biodynamic farming. The fruit is hand-harvested and destemmed, and each varietal is vinified separately, with Fermentation on skins for three weeks in Stainless-Steel vats and then transferred to French Oak barrels of eighteen months; with no fining and light filtering.  A deep purpe colored wine that offered notes of red and black fruits, old leather, and baking spices.  On the palate this medium-bodied wine offered notes of cherry, blackberry, cassis, cacao, and licorice with soft medium tannins and acidity, a nice “chewy” wine with a medium-count finish of terroir. 

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“There Is Nothing Like a Dame”

Posted on November 28, 2024 by thewineraconteur

While I will always connotate this classic tune with Ray Walston, it was the second song sung by Bernadette Peters, and the moment of the show finally arrived.  We were at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor, Michigan and were we surprised when we finally found our seats.  First there was a snafu, because about a month ago, when we bought our tickets at the theater,  the tickets that we were issued, weren’t accepted by the admission takers, and we had to be issued new tickets with the proper QR code, and I was afraid that we had lost our seats, but the seats were still ours.  The surprise came from the fact that we had purchased two on the aisle in Row B, and we were expecting people in front of us, from the original schematic drawing of the auditorium seats; there was no Row A, so the only impediment in our view were some low-profile speakers at the edge of stage. While my Bride was enjoying the seats, I was in heaven.

Bernadette Peters, born Bernadette Lazzara was born in Queens, New York City.  She is a critically acclaimed entertainer with seven Tony nominations, with two wins, along with Drama Desk Awards, Grammy Awards, and has even performed with the Muppets on television.  She is probably most associated with composer Stephen Sondheim with starring roles in his stage musicals including “Song and Dance,” “Sunday in the Park with George,” “Annie Get Your Gun,” and “Gypsy.”  On the big screen she is known for Silent Movie, The Jerk, Pennies from Heaven, and Annie.  She performed for over ninety minutes straight with no intermission, just singing, no choreographed numbers, accompanied by her arranger on a Steinway grand, a classic bass fiddle, and a percussionist (who for you baby boomers, like us was Cubby from the original Walt Disney Mouseketeers).  Before the concert, we ended up having a nice conversation with two of her lighting crew, and I related how I had seen her when she opened for Rich Little, and they told us that they began their association with her, just a little later from that point.  We had wished that we might have gotten an invitation to go back stage with that story, but it didn’t happen.  We really enjoyed the show and I had to keep thanking my Bride for such a great gift, a totally wonderful evening. 



The theater appeared to be fully packed, even the balcony was full, and I noticed that they even had “stack chairs” lined up in the area between the front seats and the loge, as I wandered back to get some “refreshments” before the show started.  After all this is a wine blog, even though sometimes people think that I have forgotten that fact.  It is because I get chastised about some of the wines that I write about, but for those that understand, I write about what is available at the moment, as I am a realist.  We had Aural Kutral Sauvignon Blanc Maule Valley, Chile 2023 .  Aura Kutral is a wine group made up of two wineries in the Limari and Maule Valleys. The Aura winery owns over fourteen million liters of product stored during the fermentation process.  The Maule Valley is the largest wine-producing area in the country, as well as one of the oldest, and originally has been associated with bulk wine production; and it is slowly changing that perception. The sub-region of Villa Alegre where the winery is, gets extensive sunlight exposure and they are on volcanic soils with a sandy-loam texture.  After mechanical harvesting, the wine begins Initial Fermentation using dry yeast.  The wine stays in Stainless-Steel vats for about three months on its lees.  This pale-yellow wine offered notes of citrus, green apples and cut grass.  On the palate, a crisp light-bodied wine featuring grapefruit and ending with a short-count finish of fruit.    

  

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Almost Show Time

Posted on November 25, 2024 by thewineraconteur

We were finally on our way to see Bernadette Peters and her one woman show at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor.  I think we were both looking forward to seeing the show, perhaps me, a bit more, but my Bride does enjoy theatrical performances, and I think that I truly do as well.  In elementary school we were taught to project our voice using our diaphragm, and we I hear singers that have weak voices, I get disappointed.  An entertainer needs to be able to “work” the room, and to project.    I had seen her years ago, before she became famous, and I was impressed, and I was sure that she still had that quality.   My generation may be the last to have seen all-around entertainers, because I did get to see the last of the vaudeville stars, the dinner club stars, and the elites of show business who enjoyed years, no decades of rave reviews.

We started our evening off at Taste Kitchen, which is conveniently only several doors down on the same side of the block of the theater.  My Bride immediately got excited, because she saw the man who she claims makes the best Spanish Coffee drinks ever.  They also seated us in the adjacent room, that I thought was only used for parties, and we had a wonderful table for people watching as they strolled by, and many paused to peruse the menu that was posted as well.  My Bride was very pleased as she started off with Butternut Squash Soup with fried carrots, coconut milk, apple, red curry, and ginger.  While I had the Tuna Carpaccio with paté, chives, truffle oil, wasabi-soy aioli, and crostini.  For her entrée, my Bride had the Seared Diver Scallops with shitake, apple, fennel, arugula, miso-butternut squash purée, and coconut curry.  While I had the Sakura Pork Loin with Brussels sprouts, carrots, daikon, butternut squash polenta, and demi-glace.  We also had a bottle of Ottella Le Creete Lugana DOC 2022 from Azienda Agricola Otella.  Lugana is a white wine specific region that straddles Lombardy and Veneto but is considered part of Lombardy.  There are a couple of different designations for Lugano, but it seems that the wine has to be ninety percent of a locally known varietal known as Turbiana.  I have seen this wine listed as being Verdicchio, and I have seen it listed as Trebbiano di Lugano.  I have also seen where some that study the grapes scientifically have crossed off the possibility of Verdicchio, so I will call it Turbiana.  The Montresor family has been running Ottella for four generation, and it has been attested that the Montresor family was the only ones to produce Lugana in the province of Verona in 1905.  In 1964 the family began delineating the lands and they began working to get a DOC designation.  This wine is pure Turbiana (Trebbiano di Lugana) and from the vineyard owned by Le Creete, twelve hectares on the southern end of Lake Garda on limestone and clay soils.  The fruit is hand-harvested using small crates.  The majority of the fruit is pressed whole cluster and a small amount with light destemming.  Slow fermentation and then aging for about eight months on fine lees in Stainless-Steel tanks.  A soft yellow-golden wine that offers notes of pineapple, guava, lemons, and white florals.  On the palate tart tones of passion fruit, pineapple, lemon zest in a crisp, well-balanced wine that ends  with a good medium count of fruit and chalk (limestone).  

As the countdown for the show was getting closer, we decided to share a Coconut Rice Pudding with coconut-orange cake, toasted coconut, coconut sorbet, and pineapple-rum caramel.  It may sound excessively sweet, but it was actually very subtle and delightful.  She told the waiter that she wanted to make sure that the beverage manager made her Spanish Coffee, while I just had a coffee…and a glass of Vin de Liqueur by R. Navarre Pineau des Charentes Cuvee de Renclos Rosé NV.  Vin de Liqueur, also known in France as Mistelle, is a term for an alcoholic beverage produced by adding a high proof spirit, in this case Cognac, to an unfermented or slightly fermented fruit juice. It is made by adding the last year’s Cognac to fresh grape must of the current vintage, and last year’s Cognac must still be in a barrel.  Red and Rosé Pineau need only spend eight months in oak barrels and leave the winery after twelve months.  The Navarre estate, which is located entirely within the Grande Champagne district of Cognac was founded in 1811, and they are family owned.  They have eleven hectares, and one hectare is reserved exclusively for the production of Pineau des Charentes.  They have a 10hl Copper still to produce this special wine.  The AVA was established in 1945.  The grapes grown on the estate and used for this wine are: Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Ugni Blanc, Colombard, Folle Blanche, Jurancon Blanc, and Montils (aka Aucarot and Chalosse).  The amber colored wine offers notes of red cherries, apricots, and nuts.  On the palate there were tones of red fruits, toasted and honeyed nuts, and ending with a nice medium count finish of marzipan, spices, and terroir. 

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Fine Wine Source Club Selections – November 2024

Posted on November 22, 2024 by thewineraconteur

We were on our way to pick up the wine club selections from the Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan.  We were also going to pick up two bottles of Rogers + Roberts Louer Family Cabernet Sauvignon Port Napa Valley NV for The Caller, as he was intrigued about this wine while I was describing it to him over our lunch at Ciao Amici.  While we were driving from the restaurant to the shop, The Caller called us and asked if we could pick up three bottles of Celani Family Vineyards Robusto Proprietary Red Blend Napa Valley, that we had just had with lunch.  So, now we were on a real mission.  I also was curious as to how the new room was progressing.   

The first wine representing the Old World is Bovin Winery Pinot Noir Tikvesh Wine Region Macedonia 2022.  Macedonia is an area that has been in the crossroads of the region since the days of Alexander, and is interwoven with the history of Byzantine, Slavic, and Turkish influences.  The Tikvesh region has been recorded in the annals of man as being in wine production from at least 4th Century AD.  Bovin Winery is the first privately built winery in Macedonia and was established in 1998.  The Tikvesh Wine Region is at similar latitudes as Bordeaux in France, and the winery is in the center of the region.  This Pinot Noir is described as a dry red wine and offering notes of red berries, strawberries, violets and sous-bois.  On the palate  a dry, soft and fruity; rich with soft tannins. 

The wine representing the New World is Tomé  “Short Grass” Sauvignon Blanc Royal Slope AVA/Columbia Valley Washington State 2022.  Robert Tomé is the founder and CEO of Tomebrands. Robert was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada; his father was an immigrant from Friuli Venezia Giulia home of some of his favorite vineyards, and his mother is a third-generation Canadian of Scottish descent, from where he learned to love golf. His earliest memories of wine are the wines made in his family’s garage by his father and uncles.  Years later he found himself working at a golf club, where he developed a passion for the game, as well as the hospitality industry, where he eventually received a full scholarship and then a degree in hospitality and tourism.  By the nineties he was working full time in the wine industry, and in 2004 he launched his own wine importing agency in Canada.  In 2017, he sold his interest in the agency and fulfilled his dream and created Tomé Group of Brands, making wines from Washington State and in Italy.  As with his other wines, they are named after golfing terms, and “short grass” is always a great position to be in.  This wine is pure Sauvignon Blanc and went through fermentation and aging in Stainless Steel tanks for an estimated three months; with six-thousand-cases produced.  The wine is described as pale yellow and offering notes of elevated citrus, tropical fruits, and .herbs.  On the palate the wine has tones of passion fruit, melon, ruby grapefruit, and ending with a fresh and crisp finish of minerality

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Catching Up with The Caller at Ciao Amici

Posted on November 19, 2024 by thewineraconteur

My Bride and I were meeting The Caller and his wife at Ciao Amici in Brighton, which is about the halfway point between our two houses.  We left early, and because of construction and traffic backups, because of the construction, we took the leisurely drive on the old stage coach road from Detroit to Lansing; and even with traffic lights, we probably made it there in the same amount of time.  While everyone else had a cocktail I had a glass of Cleto Chiarli Centenario Lambrusco di Modena DOC Amabile NV.  Cleto Chiarli Tenuta Agricole, the winery and company was founded in 1860 in Emilia-Romagna with over one hundred hectares of vineyards.  The label Cleto Chiarli was founded in 2000 with a modern facility and technology, while still honoring the traditions of the company.The wine is made from the Lambrusco grape and undergoes a thirty-six hour long maceration for Initial Fermentation followed by a Second Fermentation using a “cuvee close” method or “tank method” or Charmat Method; for bulk production.   A dark red wine with slight frothiness at the rim offered notes of fresh fruit.  On the palate this was a semi-sweet wine of raspberry and strawberry tones and a very short finish.  

There was an assortment of classic Italian dishes, but we all seemed to end up ordering from the dinner menu, which was fine.  The reason is that most of the plates ordered from the lunch menu were listed as appetizers, and the dinner portions just sounded better.  As I looked at the wine carte, a wine that my Bride and I order all the time was listed at a very reasonable price.  I took the liberty of ordering a bottle of Celani Family Vineyards Robusto Proprietary Red Wine Napa Valley 2018.    Tom Celani is lauded in the Detroit area for his largesse for charitable organizations that he helps in a grand manner.  He and his father ended up creating one of the largest Miller distribution companies in the United States along with other beers and wines.  Tom Celani fell in love with wines, first as a drinker and a collector and finally acquiring a Tuscan-style estate with seventeen acres of grapes and one-hundred-twenty olive trees in the foot hills of the Vaca Mountain range in Napa Valley.  The winery was established in 2005.  As the proprietor of the Celani Family Vineyards he has chosen to bottle wine without costs becoming a consideration, to him wine is about quality and not quantity.  This is truly a Proprietary Red Blend, as there is no information even on the trade notes, but the winery grows Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc and they are partial to new French Oak.   Though in talks with Tom at a couple of tastings, he told me that this vintage was pure Merlot.  When our waitress uncorked the wine, The Caller immediately made mention of the nose and he was all in on the wine.  This deep garnet wine offered notes of black plums, black cherries, and blackberries, along with notes of vanilla, tobacco, and chocolate.  On the palate, this is a rather full bodied wine for being affordable and the tones of the dark fruits, blended well with the softer tannins offering a fruit-forward, but not jammy wine that was easy to drink with the food, and ending with a good medium-count finish of fruit and spices.

For dessert, The Caller and his wife shared a Spumoni Bombe, while my Bride had a dish of raspberry sorbet.  I was decadent and hedonistic and had a glass of Dow’s 20-Year-Old Tawny Port NV.  Dow’s is a family-owned Port house with a history of over two hundred years.  Originally founded in 1798 by Bruno da Silva, a Portuguese wine merchant who moved to London, ended up with a Letter of Marque.  His grandson wanting to expand the business, merged with another Port house, Dow and Co.; the new company became Dow’s.  Since 1961, Dow’s has been owned by the Symington family, who have had historical ties with the Port Industry.  There are more than forty indigenous grapes allowed in a Port blend, and some have probably been lost to mankind over the years.  The five main ones are: Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz (Tempranillo), Tinta Barroca, and Tinta Cao.  Aged Tawny Port is a long and complex barrel-aging process, where older wines are replenished with younger wines; with considerable evaporation and concentration, and the skill of a Master Blender.  The original wine for a Twenty-year-old through evaporation is about 35% from the start.  A dark orange amber to brown amber wine offering notes of honeysuckle and butterscotch.  On the palate there were tones of red fruit, mellow tannins, tobacco, and spice, with butterscotch toying with the taste buds, and ending with some elegant dry tones and terroir (actually hard for me to put into words, but very enjoyable and elegant.

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“Lee” and Lindeman’s

Posted on November 16, 2024 by thewineraconteur

After our dinner we walked over to the Michigan Theater to see a film called “Lee.” My Bride knew of this film, and this was her second “bio-pic” that she has enjoyed, the first was Reagan, and she not only saw it with me, but she went and saw it three other times with friends and relative.  I was afraid that this might have been a case of déjà vu, but the story is a bit more gripping.  The movie is about Lee Miller, who began as a model and “muse” during the years after World War I in Paris, she became a photographer after she realized that glamor only lasts for so long. She ended up in London and became a war photographer, and she was only one of four female photographers accredited as war correspondents.  She was the first to photograph the camps after their liberation and how the war took its toll on her, and the people she knew.  She also took a famous photograph of herself in Adolf Hitler’s bathtub in Berlin, before going back to London.   She would have probably sat on the photos, but her publishers at Vogue found a way.

We had been to the sister theater the Senate, which is just around the corner, but this is truly a Grande Dame for cinema viewing.  Originally built and owned; then his heirs leased both theaters to the Butterfield Theatre chain.  Now they are managed by the non-profit Marquee Arts and they are maintaining the tradition of offering vaudeville, independent and commercial cinema, touring productions, and live concerts.  Audiences have been entertained by the likes of Jack Benny, Bing Crosby, Paul Robeson, and Ethel Barrymore.  I would say that it is probably still the finest theater in Ann Arbor.  I still would have liked to have seen the film from the balcony, but it was cordoned off, so we sat in what I would term as the “loge” of the auditorium, in the front row of the section with a very wide aisle, so that even if someone insisted on wearing a large hat, it would not have hindered the view.   The loge area was surrounded by beautiful wooden paneled walls, the seats were a mix of wooden arms and back trim, with blue seat and back upholstery with gold M in a crest embroidered on each seat.

It was a tough internal debate, since we had just had a wonderful dinner, so we all refrained from having some real hot-buttered theater popcorn, and it really had a great aroma.  We could hear the Barton Theater Pipe organ already being played and making the guests feel at home.  There was also a small collection of libations behind the candy counter and I knew that our throats perchance might get a bit parched, so we each had a glass of (Dr. Henry John) Lindeman’s Bin 95 Sauvignon Blanc South Eastern Australia 2023.  Lindeman’s is a large Australian wine producer based in Hunter Valley, encompassing all types of wines.  Dr. Henty Lindeman was born in England, fell in love with wine in Europe and settled in Australia to make wine.  In 1843 he planted vines on his three-hundred-thirty-hectare property in Hunter Valley.  In 1850, an arsonist burned down his winery and cellar, and he was forced to be a doctor again to regain his funds, and the first Lindeman wines were exported to England in 1858.  The company has grown and added several vineyards in Australia.  The Bin Series is their largest and most recognizable range at a reasonable price.  Lindeman’s is now part of Treasury Wine Estates and their extensive range of wine brands.  I was not anticipating anything but a bulk wine, but it was fine for drinking in the theater watching the movie.  A soft-yellow golden wine that offered notes of grass, tropical fruit, and asparagus.  On the palate, it was a crisp white wine with tones of grass and grapefruit, with a very short finish that was crisp and clean. 

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An Albarin, a Chablis, and a Sherry

Posted on November 13, 2024 by thewineraconteur

In case you never noticed my Bride can be impulsive, or as Micheleen Flynn would say “impetuous.” While we were making our reservations for seeing Bernadette Peters, she saw a movie poster for a film, that I had not heard of, but she had, she immediately called one of her girlfriends, and Ann Arbor is a halfway point for her and us, and she agreed to meet us for dinner and for a movie.  We had enough time to buy movie tickets and then we went back to Taste Kitchen to make a second dinner reservation, but this time for three.  

We basically all arrived at the same parking structure at the same time and walked around a bit, and then went to the restaurants.  The ladies started the meal with Butternut Squash Soup with a fried carrot, coconut milk, apple, red curry, and ginger.  I went with Smoked Salmon Rillettes with shallot, dill, aioli, trout roe, and crostini.  We started with Vinedos y Bodega Pardevalles Estate Albarin Blanco Leon 2023.  Leon is an historical wine producing area at the intersection of two major pilgrim routes to Santiago.  The district Leon, until 2019 was known as Tierra de Leon and is a recently new DO status; though viticulture has been recorded there, going back to the Tenth Century.  The area did suffer from phylloxera in the late 1800s, and slowly recovered, but during the Franco dictatorship, the area was concerned with quantity over quality.  Pardevalles Estate was founded in 1949 by Rafael Alonso, who came from a long heritage of grape farmers and winemakers, and his children and his grandchildren are now operating the estate.  The estate has thirty-eight-hectares planted to Prieto Picudo and Albarin Blanco on quaternary soils with a large number of rounded stones, which absorb the heat of the day, and keeping the soil warm during the nightfall.  The wines are stored in a subterranean cave that has been used for the area for the last three hundred years, and the estate has 125 barrels there made of French and American Oak. This wine is pure Albarin Blanco, mechanically harvested.  It undergoes maceration for two days, and then resting another two days, before Initial Fermentation in Stainless Steel tanks.  The straw-yellow wine offers notes of white stone fruits, citrus, white florals, and herbs.  On the palate a well-balance wine with good acidity and tones of jammy tropical fruits and florals; ending with a short crisp finish of terroir.  

The ladies were having a good time and they both had the Seared Diver Scallops with Shiitake, apple, fennel, arugula, Miso-butternut Squash Purée, and coconut curry.  I always have to be the odd one, and I had the Halibut with a vegetable Escabeche, marinated mussels, sunchoke purée, and chive oil.  We then had Marcel et Blanche Fevre-Fevre Chablis 2022.  This fifty-hectare estate is considered by some to be a benchmark independent winery.  Gilles Fevre and his wife Nathalie, have been recently joined by their daughter Julie to become a fourth-generation winery.  This is a proper family-owned domaine and not part of one of the large cooperatives.  Thirty-three-hectares of the property is Village Chablis all on the classic Kimmeridgian limestone that the area is noted for; and no oak is used.  This soft golden-yellow wine offered notes of citrus, stone fruit, tree fruit, sous-bois, spices, smoke, and minerals.  On the palate, a very crisp wine with ample layers and tones of stone fruit, tree fruit, citrus and citrus zests, followed by tinges of earth, honey, mouth-watering salinity then finally ends with a good medium-count finish of a mineral-rich terroir.

Then we settled for a three-way sharing of “Pawpaw Crème Brulee” with charred lemon curd and Maple Tuilé.   As you can figure out, the Gold-dust Twins had the legendary Spanish Coffees that my Bride is such a fan of.  I enjoyed a glass of El Maestro Sierra Jerez 1830 Pedro Ximenez Jerez de la Frontera NV.  El Maestro Sierra is known for having one of the oldest soleras in the region, getting close to one-hundred-years.  The bodega was established in 1830 by José Antonio Sierra, a master cooper for some of the other Sherry houses.  For years, the production was sold to the larger Sherry houses, as they had sold their vineyards in the 1930s and 1940s; and then in 1992 when they had an inaugural bottling for export under their own brand.  To this day, they still use an artisanal approach, and they even maintain their own in-house cooper.  One of the key assets of the bodega is that it sits on the top of a bluff with full exposure to the winds from the Atlantic Ocean, which promotes a vigorous flor growth, flor is a crucial part of biological ageing of Sherry wines, and flor is a special blanket of yeast that lives on the top of a cask of sherry that feeds off of oxygen, basically a natural vacuum seal for the wine beneath it; which allows the wine to age almost forever in the solera system.  Aged Sherry has a unique taste all its own, and this dark-amber colored wine offered notes of prunes, candied orange, candied cherry, nougat, and sweet spices.  On the palate this slightly viscous wine offered tones of raisins, orange marmalade with a long-count finish of rich dried fruits and chocolate.               

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Bernadette Peters and Vin Santo

Posted on November 10, 2024 by thewineraconteur

My Bride needs to gets plenty of support and praise from me, because I am, and will always be a pain in the arse about certain things.  While I know that she carries a torch for Jimmy Stewart and for Sam Elliot, she has put up with my crush for Sophia Loren and for Bernadette Peters.  Sophia came understandably from the years of going to “art films” with my parents as a child, and Sophia was a star, already by then; and for my 62nd birthday she took me to see a live session with Sophia, after a dinner downtown.  Now for Bernadette, in another life, I was sitting at a private table for two with my elbow that could rest on the main theater stage at the Riviera Casino and Hotel, to see the star Rich Little (from Windsor, Ontario, Canada) and his opening act was Bernadette, and there was a small set of stairs from the stage to the theater floor, and she came down those steps and leaned over my table and was singing only to me (at least that is how it felt at the moment); the second crush began that moment.  All of this is to set the stage, because we were having dinner at a restaurant that had changed hands, and while my Bride was away, I was checking on social media, and there was an ad for a one night only performance in Ann Arbor with Bernadette Peters.  I guess I have been a good boy, because we tried calling to get tickets, because the online process was rather convoluted, and we were told that if we got to the theater, before they closed that evening, we should be able to get the tickets.  It also gave us the reason to go have a wonderful after dinner drink that was not available, where we were at.

So, Nick and Nora, left after dinner and drove to Ann Arbor to go to the Michigan Theater, and our date night was getting more interesting and fun.  The Michigan Theater was designed by Detroit architect, Maurice Finkel, originally designed to show silent movies in 1928.  It has a fully operational stage, orchestra pit and a Barton Theater Pipe organ and can comfortably seat seventeen-hundred ticket holders.  It also makes me smile, as it has a sweeping staircase for seating in the balcony, shades of my youth.  The organ was built in 1927 and is almost played daily, preceding most events that are held there.  The theater was restored in 1979 and has been named an Outstanding Historic Theater in North America by the League of Historic Theaters.  And they have a movie marquee like I remember, and it was a pleasure watching one of the employees changing the wording, one letter at a time.  The presentation of films is very eclectic, from silents, to nights of classic cartoons, classic films, and even modern films and documentaries.  The theater also has a small selection of drinks, including wines, and for some of you who can appreciate it, a real movie-house popcorn maker, as compared to the pre-popped popcorn that is heated up, that is found in most cineplexes these days.

Now that we had a future date, we had to book dinner, and just about seven doors down is Taste Kitchen, which we found one night by accident, and gets my Bride glowing over the thought of sitting at the bar and having one of their versions of a Spanish Coffee, she didn’t even think of having anything else.  The restaurant has a nicely curated wine carte, including some after-dinner selections.  I think that as I have mellowed and matured (?) I have developed more of an appreciation for this type of wine as well.  So, while Nora had her hot drink, Nick had a chilled glass of Badia a Coltibuono Vin Santo del Chianti Classico DOC 2014.  Vin Santo (Holy Wine) has been made since the Middle Ages, and was recognized by the DOC in 1997, prior it was Vini da Tavola.  Badia a Coltibuono is a wine estate located in the (Gaiole) Chianti Classico zone.  It was founded in 1051 by an offshoot of the Benedictine order, however under Napoleonic rule, the monks were forced to leave in 1810, and by a lottery it was purchased by Guido Giuntini and is still managed by his direct descendants the Stucchi Prinetti family.  The estate is seventy-four-hectares of organically farmed vineyards on clay and limestone soil.  The wine is made from a blend of Trebbiano (Ugni Blanc) and Malvasia, hand harvested and then carefully selected and left to dry on straw mats in well-ventilated rooms during the winter, up to about six months.  The dried grapes are then pressed and the must is placed in small oak casks and they use indigenous yeasts for fermentation; after fermentation is complete the casks are sealed and placed in the attic for seven years of aging.  A deep amber colored wine that offers notes of honey, dried fruits, and toasted almonds.  On the palate a very rich and sweet wine, totally balanced by bright acidity, with tones of apricots, orange blossoms, dried figs; followed by caramel, nuts, raisins and ending with a very long count of honey and cream.  

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