The Earle in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Posted on November 11, 2012 by thewineraconteur

I think the first time we went to The Earle in Ann Arbor was after wandering around one of the Ann Arbor Art Fairs.  The Earle is located on a side street off the main drag and is located in the basement of a building.  It is bit of an institution in Ann Arbor and a fun place to go to.

 

The restaurant specializes in French and Italian Country dishes and every thing smelled wonderful.  The first time we were both there we sat in the bar area and just ordered several appetizers to nibble on, while we enjoyed a bottle of wine, while we rested our feet after a day of looking at assorted arts and handicrafts.

 

 

The Earle will be revisited here at another time, when I discuss one of the dinners we enjoyed there, and there will be another time when I will discuss the short lived, but much loved by us, at least The Earle Uptown that was located in the Bell Tower Hotel just off the campus.  As you can see, we have spent several wonderful evenings in this establishment.

 

This night after the Art Fair with an all appetizer dinner, we enjoyed an Italian Merlot wine from Piave by Della Scala.  It was a good bottle to enjoy as we were just enjoying a day of togetherness with nothing else on the schedule.  This Merlot wine had a slightly different interpretation of the grape from the French or the Americans, so it was a nice change of pace, and of course another great memory with my Bride.

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Win Schuler’s and a Piesporter

Posted on November 10, 2012 by thewineraconteur

Win Schuler’s is a popular restaurant in Michigan with several locations.  For people that have never ate there they may still know the name by the crocks of bar cheese that are found in all of the supermarkets, it is an orange whipped cheese with horseradish that can be addicting when you start noshing on it.  The restaurant was at that time more of a family style operation and they were very good at it.

 

We were part of a large group that was celebrating a friend’s birthday at the Ann Arbor location one time.  It was a group of partiers who were more interested in the party, than in the dinner.  I don’t remember much of the dinner, other than having chicken, but it was served family style for the group, and there were assorted starters and sides.  I understood that the restaurant is noted for their Prime Rib dinners, but I went with the flow, and who am I to make waves, especially at a party.

 

The guest of honor was partial to white slightly sweet wines and that is what we were drinking that evening.  We were drinking John Klauss Piesporter Michelsberg Qualitatswein 2001 from the Mosel-Saar-Ruwer area of Germany.  Piesporter Michelsberg is one of the regional wines of the district, not the name of a specific vineyard as it would appear.  The grapes can come from a multitude of vineyards within a certain delineated area and blended for this designation.  The wines of this nature while agreeable will never be up to the standards that some of the important vineyards for Piesport.  For a large group this was a good choice that everyone could enjoy without a large outlay of cash.

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La Bistecca Revisited

Posted on November 9, 2012 by thewineraconteur

Last night we met some friends that we have not seen in ages and we met again at La Bistecca.  We have had some wonderful evenings of dinner and wine with them at several venues, even once out in San Jose, California; they were coming to the wine country and we were just leaving, if we were there at the same time for the period, it would have been a spectacular trip.  Please forgive me that I am digressing a bit, in my discussion of wine and food.

 

 

We met again at La Bistecca in Plymouth, Michigan and started off with cocktails to catch up with what has been going on with each other’s life.  A glass of Hendricks, a couple of Negronis and my usual Vermouth Cocktail, which always causes the waiter or waitress to return with a question, how is this drink made.  It is a very simple drink of half Sweet Vermouth, half Dry Vermouth and a dash of Angostura Bitters.  I enjoy this appareritif as I find it to get the taste buds ready for a great dinner.

 

 

One of the ladies had a Pork Chop Special set on Butternut Squash Risotto, while my Bride had a Scaloppini of Provimi Veal with garlic, wild mushrooms and Marsala wine.  As for the two men, we both ordered Beef Short Ribs with a Reduction Sauce and Saffron Risotto (what can I say I am a creature of habit).  For dessert we ordered an order of Spumoni with was served in three scoops, each scoop enveloped in a hard crust of chocolate and a Limon cello Mascarpone cake with four new spoons and forks so that everyone could sample.

 

For a wine, I selected a Cesari Amarone Classico Della Valpolicella 2008.  The richness of the wine seemed too paired wonderfully with the assorted entrees.  I have discussed the unique way that Amarone is made in a prior article and we discussed this as well at the table.  Our guests also said that they have had Amarone wines before and have a couple of bottles resting at their new home.   All in all that is what wine and food is best for, to bring good friends together for an evening of fun and happiness.

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Dancing and Wine

Posted on November 8, 2012 by thewineraconteur

When my Bride and I were still dating we took dance lessons and were always looking for a place to practice.  Not far from where we bought our home, as we were getting close to the nuptials there was a restaurant that used to have a combo a couple nights a week that played the old standards.  It was called Bobby’s Country House and was located in a building on one of the public golf courses where we lived.  We would invite other friends to join us, as normally we were the youngest couple on the dance floor, which was fine, as it was a pleasure to watch some couples dance that had been dancing together for decades.  Even after our nuptials we would continue to frequent this venue until they closed, which we lamented, because of all the fun we would have.

 

 

We did not go to the restaurant mainly for the food, but they gave an honest count for the money.  We would have steaks or ribs or fish, which were all fine, nothing fancy, but we were really there for the chance to go dancing.  With an appetizer, salad, entrée, dessert that we would split along with a bottle of wine, we could be by for usually less than fifty dollars, which was a wonderful night out.  It was also a place that our friends would not grumble that everything was so expensive, as some of the other places that we would venture to could become.

 

The restaurant would did not have an extensive wine list and it might change monthly, but since it was the fun that we were looking for, we overlooked this fact.  As a matter of fact I could always find something that added to the evening no matter what we decided to dine on.   One of my notated wine labels from one of our nights of dining and dancing was a Cabernet Sauvignon from Guenoc in the Lake Country designation with a vintage year of 1994.  This wine was enjoyed by us, perhaps by the ambience of the evening.  As I have stated in the past and will again, the wine need not be a famous wine to add to the enjoyment of the evening and the dinner.  When you are having a good time, the wine fuels the energy of the evening even more so.  What more can you ask of any wine.

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San Chez, Tapas and Rioja in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Posted on November 7, 2012 by thewineraconteur

Our first time discovering the pleasures of a tapas restaurant was at San Chez in Grand Rapids.   We had heard of this type of restaurant, but had not had the pleasure of trying the concept.  While we hadn’t thought of Grand Rapids as a Mecca for this type of cuisine, we were there and decided to try it.  If you have not tried a tapas restaurant, go ahead and experiment.  The bigger the group you are with the better, since with just the two of us the selection of dishes we can order to savor diminishes.

 

Tapas are wonderful, full flavored small plates of food.  It is like ordering many appetizers and sharing, and when there are only two to share, how many dishes can you try?  When you are with more people the chances to taste different items grows exponentially.  It is an unstructured fun way to spend an evening and you can throw caution into the wind, as each dish is not that expensive, so you can try something that you may not wish to order as an entrée at a regular restaurant.  Since my Bride and I like to sample each other’s dishes any ways, this was a fun way to try some items that were more exotic.

 

We also enjoyed a bottle of Albor by Campo Viejo Rioja 1991, and as readers may have noticed, I am always game for trying any Rioja wine.  I still think they are one of the best kept secrets in the world of wines.  The majority of Rioja wines are blended wines from grapes grown in the several areas of the Rioja region, hence there are no great “chateau” type wines.  In fact the wines are made more like the Bordeaux wines, because when the phylloxera blight hit France, many wine maker families moved south of the Pyrenees and started anew, using their tried and true methods.   One example is the longer vatting of the grapes and must (the fermenting juice), which results in such a deep color that is associated with Rioja wines.   Barrel aging is also much longer in Rioja than in other wine growing areas, which gives the wines more maturity when they are bottled.  I think that both of these reasons are subconscious reasons that I enjoy these wines, plus I just enjoy the taste.

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The Topper in Dearborn, Michigan

Posted on November 6, 2012 by thewineraconteur

Most people that know me can always spot me in a crowd, because I am always wearing a hat, it is a trademark for me I guess.  So The Topper was a natural for me.  Everywhere you looked there were framed photographs of the famous and near famous wearing headwear.   There were pictures of Charlie Chaplin and Winston Churchill in bowlers, Humphrey Bogart and Frank Sinatra in fedoras, John Wayne and Randolph Scott in Stetsons (I think you get the picture).  The owner was a gregarious man who loved golf and was usually seen in a bucket hat.

 

 

Not only did The Topper laud headwear, they also had great food.  It was nearly impossible for me to order anything else but the Braised Short Ribs, the best in the area, and I tried them all over and kept coming back for more.  My Bride was more into the seafood and fish dishes, but she would always have some of my dish (to be truthful we always taste and share each other’s choice of entrees).

 

The bar at The Topper was always a lively place as well and there was always the chance of having one of the locals as guest bartender to keep it even livelier.   During the annual Homecoming that Dearborn always had, trying to get to the bar was the hardest ticket in town.  On some nights there would be live musical entertainment to compete with the entertainment at the bar.   There would be combos and singers and a small dance floor which just added to the ambience of the place.

 

 

The wine selection was always ample, but they were not after the “four star” crowd.  There would several Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and other wines.  They would all be in the mid range in price, as that is where they wanted to do the business, and it was a good business plan.  As you looked around at the tables there would always be bottles of wine being served.  Good honest food and good honest wine, is what brought the regulars back time and time again.  It was always fun to try a different wine, mostly which would pair well with Braised Short Ribs.   One wine that I had a notation from The Topper was a bottle of Preston Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 1989 from the Dry Creek Valley of Sonoma County.  This is not a wine that one encounters often, but I must have enjoyed it, since I had made a special notation on the back of the label.  I tend to do things like that.   All of a sudden I feel like putting on my coat and hat and go somewhere for some wine and maybe some dinner, and as Francis Albert would croon “excuse me, while I disappear.”

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House Wines

Posted on November 5, 2012 by thewineraconteur

When I mention House Wines here, I am not referring to those non-descript bulk wines that some eateries furnish in carafes, so that they can claim to carry wines (some of these wines are so bad that unfortunately that may turn off a potential wine drinker from ever trying a wine again).  I am talking about wines that chain restaurants go into a pseudo partnership with a winery or distributor and have their name attached to the wine label.

                                

    

 

 

These may not be great wines, but so far, I have found them to be drinkable without making a face or cringing about.  There have been times that a wine touted by an establishment is a safer bet, when you are with a group that does not have the same fondness for wines or the predilection to spend a lot of money for a wine, but would like to have a glass or two of wine with dinner.  Other times, the wine can be very good, and that is what one hopes, because the reputation of the restaurant may hinge on the wine.  There are times when I figure that the wine may either be a loss leader or a great profit margin maker for the restaurant and that can not be determined ahead of time.

 

     

 

In a similar vein then there are establishments that name themselves after great wines, and I have found the restaurants have delivered quality food befitting their namesake.  Here in the metropolitan area of Detroit, we had two restaurants that were named after great wines.  Both restaurants were also from the same family of restraunteurs and both delivered great cuisine; The Chambertin and Opus One.  Then there was another restaurant in San Francisco named PlumpJack and I am not sure which came first, the winery or the eatery, but both have an excellent reputation.

    

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It’s the Pits

Posted on November 4, 2012 by thewineraconteur

Another one of our murder mystery nights, that was based in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley.  We furnished the game and the wine, but the dinner was held at one of our dear friend’s home.  She and one her girl friends love to cook gourmet dinners and this was one another great dinner.

 

   

All of the characters in the mystery have “tag” names.  My character was Hamilton Mactorr, whose nickname was Ham.  My Bride was Anne T. Ickwitee and our hostess for the evening was Terra Sunder.  There were a total of eight possible suspects as the murderer for the evening.  Each guest was given a brief biography and costume suggestions.  For instance my character was suggested to be in dramatic attire with top hat.  When we decide on a new mystery and the guest list is drawn up, we look at the roles and the costumes to figure out who can be each character without having them go and buy special clothes or props, if possible.

 

Our hostess and her friend created a sumptuous meal starting off with hot and cold appetizers, salad, a couple of entrée choices and a couple of desserts.   Knowing that our hostess loves Chardonnay wines, that was an easy choice and we brought bottles of Kendall-Jackson 2002.  For the choice of red wine, we had brought some bottles of Chateau Haut La Grace Dieu 2000, a Saint Emilion Grand Cru.  We had bought a case of this wine when it first came out and I was very curious.  Like a kid in a candy store, there is only so long before I want to try some.  I am happy to say that the food and the wines were wonderful and paired together easily.  We finished the evening with Spanish Coffee, a favorite nightcap of our hostess.

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A Wedding at the Skyline Club

Posted on November 3, 2012 by thewineraconteur

Here and there around the Metro Detroit Area are private clubs that most people are not even aware of.  Most of these clubs are supported by businessmen who want to impress clients and wine and dine them away from some of the regular corporate restaurants.  The Skyline Club is one these venues.  It is located in a multi-high rise complex in Southfield, Michigan.  They even had a special elevator to take people directly to their floor.

 

A good friend of my Bride was getting married, and the Groom’s Best Man was a member of the Skyline Club (as it turns out, the Best Man was a mutual friend of mine, as we had attended college together).   The Bride that evening looked wonderful as all brides do, and the appointments and the dinner were all first class, as would be expected from a venue of this nature.  It was all very elegant, and befitted the guests as well as the happy couple.

 

Most of the evening people were drinking cocktails, because it was a bar that served all quality pours.  There were no “well” drinks that evening, and most people were taking advantage of this fact, as people will do.  My Bride and I drank red wine for the evening, but I can not remember what brand we were drinking, so I shall surmise that it was good and that I was enjoying myself.   I do remember the Champagne for the toast and then having some more as the evening went on.  The Champagne was Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Brut (non-vintage) from Reims, France.  This I remember as I commandeered an empty bottle to take home.  I tend to do this where ever I go, as I have no shame, and it is a great way to save a label.

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Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay

Posted on November 2, 2012 by thewineraconteur

I have been writing this blog daily for at least four months, and I am still sorting wine labels, matchbooks, restaurant menus and other keepsakes that allow me to remember stories.   As I was sorting a box of labels that I had soaked off of empty bottles, I discovered a certain trend.

 

    

We have enjoyed a lot of Kendall-Jackson Chardonnay wines through the years.  We keep some in the house for our friends that enjoy this wine, and it has always been a “go-to” wine in restaurants that have a limited selection of wines on their list.   The late Jess Jackson started the winery in 1974 and his first vintage was in 1982.  I once heard a statement that I will paraphrase that “people tend to talk about dry wines, but that they prefer some sweetness.”  From what I have read his first vintage under his own label was not a true dry Chardonnay, so he labeled it a “vintner’s reserve” and it took off from there.  He was an attorney, but he was a marketing genius.

    

I have copied one paragraph from the Kendall-Jackson site which goes on to list all of the other brands that under the Kendall-Jackson umbrella.  “Among the wines made in the Jackson Family collection are Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates, Cambria, Stonestreet, Edmeades, La Crema, Cardinale, Lokoya, Hartford Family Winery, Vérité, Carmel Road, Murphy-Goode, La Jota, Freemark Abbey, Byron Estates, Arrowood in the United States; Chateau Lassegue in France; Tenuta di Arceno in Italy; Yangarra in Australia; and Calina in Chile. Jackson Family Wines is one of California’s few remaining family-owned winery groups, with family members working full-time in a variety of positions.”  We have tried some other wines as well, and as I go along down the road some of them will be discussed.

    

I am showing the labels that I have loose and unmounted; I did not try to go looking behind all of the racks in my cellar for other years.  As I have mentioned in a past article I used a lot of labels as wallpaper in my cellar.  I am only showing Chardonnay labels and most of them are “vintner’s reserve” though there are a couple of other grades as well.  I also discovered two different labels for the same year.

    

    

    

         

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