Darioush Cabernet Sauvignon

Posted on September 3, 2012 by thewineraconteur

If you are looking for stellar Italian food that is not your typical big bowl restaurant you must try Bacco Ristorante.  One night my Bride and I were at Bacco with her sister and her husband.  This couple is from Louisville, who we visit or we see here and always enjoy some great food and some great wine, in what ever state we are in.  I have mentioned Bacco Ristorante in passing in another article, while discussing his Pizzeria Biga.  Tonight we shall talk about a couple of dishes that are stellar and have to be tried.

 

I have to have the Beef Carpaccio as an appetizer when I am there, sometimes they have a more exotic offering of this classic dish, but then I just request the classic version and they have always honored my request.  The meat is so thinly sliced, along with the Reggiano de Parma and a wonderful Truffle Oil, that I could wax poetic for hours on end on this dish alone.  The other dish that I want to mention tonight is the Veal Chop which is always perfectly prepared.  It is so well executed and properly cooked that I have stopped ordering a Veal Chop anywhere else.  After all why settle for second best, when you can the best.  A little side note on more exotic cuts of meat, when the order is being taken and the question arises, about how you would like it cooked, I always reply that however the chef likes his done.  This always seems to get me perfectly cooked meat every time.

 

Now about the wine that evening that the four of us enjoyed.   Bacco Ristorante has one of the largest selections of Italian wines, one could ever find.  The selection goes the gamut from the basic wines to very esoteric choices, and in a large range of price points to make everyone happy.  This particular evening we saw a wine from a new winery in Napa Valley called Darioush, which is the Persian spelling of Darius, which is the name of one of our children.  My Bride was not going to miss trying this wine (she might have, if it had been in the upper stratosphere of pricing, but it was not).    This wine was a finely crafted Cabernet Sauvignon with a taste of the Old World, as compared to a lot of the California Cabernet Sauvignon wines.  It was strong, and deep, tannic and had an “in your face” type of defiance, and everybody enjoyed this wine.  In fact we enjoyed the second bottle of the Darioush Cabernet Sauvignon even more than the first bottle.

 

I later found out how much my Bride enjoyed this wine, because that Christmas my Bride spoiled me with a six-pack of this wine; and she also bought me a bottle of the Darioush Chardonnay, but that is another story.

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Dinner on the Patio

Posted on September 2, 2012 by thewineraconteur

One of my Bride’s friends invited us over to her house to have dinner with her and her friend.  We graciously accepted and looked forward to the dinner, as her girlfriend attends many cooking classes around town.  My Bride told me the night before, that the menu was changed because of my peccadilloes about foods, but that it was nothing serious.  My Bride was making the dessert and I grabbed a couple of bottles of wine for the dinner.

 

 

A most enjoyable dinner it was.  For an appetizer she found one major crescent shell that she filled with whole Brie and some preserves and baked it to a golden brown.  After wards her friend made his version of Seared Ahi Tuna with a special drizzle.   Then she prepared individual salads with heirloom tomatoes and mixed greens and an aged Balsamic dressing.   The main entrée was roasted pork with wild rice and mushrooms.  For dessert we had a fresh baked chocolate pie.

 

I brought two different wines for the evening.   I started off with a Sola Chardonnay 2008 which was a blend of Napa Valley and Carneros region grapes.   The back label said that it was a medium to heavy bodied creamy chardonnay.  I found it to be crisper, rather then creamy with the smell of melons and citrus fruits.  It paired very well with the Brie and with the Ahi Tuna.

 

The other bottle was a 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon from the Carmel Valley.  It was from the Boete Winery and made entirely from the Saunders Vineyard (John Saunders being the grandson of the founders of Boete Winery).   This was a very full robust Cabernet wine which reminded me of a Napa Cabernet then a Carmel Cabernet.  We were all pleasantly surprised at the rich taste and “chewiness” of the wine.  It was too much wine for the roasted pork, but it was so flavorful that its strength was forgiven.

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Taxes and Wine

Posted on September 1, 2012 by thewineraconteur

Wine is one of those items listed as “sin taxes.”  Governments have been taxing ideas, property and things for centuries.  This country formed over an unfair tax, but we have been taxing ever since.   There have been taxes imposed on wig powder, wall paper, photographs, cigars, snuff and all types of tobacco, narcotics, fertilizer, bees, liquor, beer and wine and almost any else they can.   Not to mention real estate and sales tax.  This is a chance for me to talk a little bit about another hobby of mine.  I collect esoteric tax stamps, because I find some of the subjects intriguing.

 

    

Most states had at one time, state run stores that one had to purchase their alcoholic beverages.  There was tax stamps applied to the bottles like a decal, there were strips that covered the caps, which required them to be torn during the opening of the bottle.  There were tax stamps applied to cartons and cases and even barrels.

    

 

I am showing a bottle of 1928 Calvet Chablis from Beaune with a six cent banderole (the stamp requiring the ripping of it to open the bottle).  The other bottle is a Mirafiore Chianti Classico in a straw fiasco wrapper with a three and one quarter cent tax banderole (the straw wrapped bottles are normally found to hold less than the 750 ml of a standard bottle, the Chianti is actually only a pint bottle).  These were given to me as curios for my cellar, as I have to intention of ever trying even a sip of either wine.

 

 

Nowadays, most states have eliminated the actual stamp, as a cost cutting method, but the taxes are still collected; only now they are hidden in the price of the bottle, plus a sales tax as well.  It is the way of the world.

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A Board Meeting Dinner

Posted on August 31, 2012 by thewineraconteur

Periodically, my Bride attends some board meetings either for her client or for a professional organization.  On occasion and when my calendar agrees with hers, I get the good fortune to attend as her guest.  On one of the trips, I was asked to help with the wine selection for the dinner to which I graciously accepted.   This can be a double edged sword, because when you are spending someone else’s money (even if it is an organization’s) you can be viewed as an opportunist or worse yet a “pig.”  On the times that I have been asked to either pick or assist in picking, I use the philosophy and what would I choose if it was coming out of my wallet.  I try to be fiscally responsible, and yet I have the onus of making everyone as happy (or as happy as they can be) with the wines and to give them something that will be memorable.

 

We were at one of the newer casinos that are changing the horizon of parts of Michigan.  They wanted to dazzle us with their culinary artistry, though the dishes that were ordered were rather straight forward.  The choices of entrees for the guests that evening were filet mignon with prawns, potato encrusted whitefish, or chicken Marsala.  Good choices for a crowd without creating any derision or problems.

 

I studied the wine list, which was quite a good list, and showed that someone had done their homework.  I eliminated the bottom and the top of the lists.  The bottom choices are always good money makers for the establishment without any true justification for the price and the top grouping (even though usually the mark-up is not as generous for the house) so as not to look like I am a spend-thrift.   I settled on two wines, both from the same winery, one white and one red.  These two wines I felt would give a boost to the diners and still be considered quality crafted wines.  The winery was Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars of Napa, California.  There was a Chardonnay and a Cabernet Sauvignon.  Both of the wines delivered excellence.  The Chardonnay was “oakey and buttery” and the Cabernet had just enough fruit to balance the tannins.

 

 

Everyone was happy, I felt like a good “host,” and have repeated these duties a couple of times since.  To paraphrase the old adage “You are only as good, as the last wine you recommended.”

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Pazzo

Posted on August 30, 2012 by thewineraconteur

I feel like I am “pazzo,” because for the life of me, I can not remember where we had this wine.  I was just intrigued by the name of the wine, for in Italian, and I am not sure if it is proper language or an idiom, the word means “crazy.”  It is something you say to one of your paisons when you are questioning their sanity or logic.  “Hey pazzo” is a fun greeting, and one that can be used in mixed and nice company.

 

 

I know that it was not a wine that was bought for the cellar, though if I had seen it, I may have purchased it out of curiosity.   I am sure that it must have been found in a chain restaurant or a pizzeria.  Since match books are not politically correct any more, there are fewer items to jog the memory.

 

Pazzo wine is a proprietary red wine from the Bacio Divino Cellars of Napa, California, which by itself is a great name for a winery (if my rudimentary knowledge of Italian is true, there name translates into “divine kiss.”  The wine is a blend of Sangiovese grapes and Cabernet Sauvignon with a touch of a couple other varietals blended in for a unique taste.  I remember enjoying this wine immensely from the first taste and realized that the wine was made for immediate consumption and not for long term storage, though with those two grapes it could age, in my estimation for a couple of years without damage.  This is a wine to be enjoyed with Italian “comfort” food, nothing pretentious, just well made.  I think it would also be great with cold cuts and cheese for a relaxing afternoon nibble.

 

 

I guess you can say that I am pazzo about Pazzo.

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A Trip to Minneapolis

Posted on August 29, 2012 by thewineraconteur

On occasion I have had the good fortune to travel with my Bride on some of her business trips, if I can get my work schedule to coincide.   Prior to her current position, she had a position that required some out of state traveling.  One of the trips entailed a journey to Minneapolis, Minnesota.

After checking into the hotel and availing ourselves to the facilities of the adjoining health club, we had a brunch at The Women’s Club of Minneapolis where some business was conducted without my concern.   Afterwards we made a side trip to the Mall of America, which is a Mecca of shopping that was calling my Bride from the time we landed at the airport.

 

That evening we met some more people for a dinner at Yvette’s which was located in the Theater District in the downtown area.  If you have never been to downtown Minneapolis, the first time you may be in for a surprise.  There are “tunnels” on the second floor of a lot of the buildings that inter-connect other buildings, which makes it convenient for visiting different locations downtown without having to brave the elements.  I admired the concept, thought it was very ingenious idea, especially with the winters that they are famous for.

 

I wandered a bit, from my train of thought and that was about having dinner at Yvette’s.  It was a wonderful French/American restaurant with wonderfully prepared dinners.  Everyone was very happy with the venue.  We were seated at one of tables that were located near the front windows, and half way through our meal we were entertained with a “conga-line” that emptied out onto the street for a little bit from the dinner theater across the street where “Tony and Tina’s Wedding” was being performed.

 

The wine for dinner that evening was a Merlot from Clos Pegase from Napa Valley.  Merlot wines sometimes get maligned as a wimpy choice, as the fads in wine change.  I am not into the fads, as I tend to choose wines that I think will work best with several different entrees, and sometimes that can be quite a challenge.  The Clos Pegase wine has all of the qualities that I admire from the Saint-Emilion district of Bordeaux, and it is a wine that makes most people very happy when they are trying it for the first time.  This is especially true from people that tell me that they do not like a Merlot wine, but I always presume (right or wrong) that the only times that they have had it, is from generic house wines.

 

Our trip was a whirl-wind affair, packed with a lot of activity for a long “day trip” as we flew back the following day.

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A Liesurely Barbeque

Posted on August 28, 2012 by thewineraconteur

My Bride recently got together with two other young ladies that she had gone from elementary through high school with.  One of the ladies with her husband has a nice vacation cabin on one of the lagoons off of Portage Lake.  During the day we also went out on their pontoon boat twice to see the lake and the area.

 

We also had a delightful dinner that was basically prepared on a barbeque.  There were two salads, a cucumber salad and a Caesar Salad.  There was a squash and nutmeg dish that was barbequed, along with barbequed rings of pineapples, corn on the cob prepared in their husks, and fresh caught salmon that was grilled.  For dessert there was peaches grilled and served with mascarpone cheese and a balsamic vinegar drizzle.

 

My Bride had me “choose” three wines, but she actually picked out the wines.  Since we would be outside for the day, she wanted two different hot weather choices.  We started with a Pinot Gris from Joel Gott in Oregon.   There are some people that side step a wine marked Pinot Gris, because they prefer Pinot Grigio.  They are the same grape, the Pinot Grigio is the name most know from the Old World, and in the New World it is listed as Pinot Gris.  This is not always held to, as you will see the different wine varietal used from all locations.   I like this wine well chilled, as I feel that the flavor is enhanced in this manner, especially when one is out in the sun.

 

My Bride also insisted that we take a couple of the wines that we recently discovered from our last trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake.  The other two wines were from Peller Estates.  The Rose was also well chilled and was refreshing on this sunny day.  My only thought was should I have started with the Rose and then onto the Pinot Gris; I am still mentally debating this order of wines with no sure conclusion.   The last wine that we had was the Peller Estates Cabernet Franc that has been a sure fire hit with everyone that we have shared this wine with.  I am sure that we did not buy enough of this wine on the trip, and will eventually hear lamentations about our initial order.  Some people might question having a red wine with the grilled salmon, but I find that the salmon is such a meaty fish and having it grilled that it can be pair very successfully with a red wine.  Perhaps my readers should try it themselves, if they haven’t, I would be interested in hearing their conclusions on this pairing.

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Denver Buffalo Company

Posted on August 27, 2012 by thewineraconteur

Periodically I have to tell people that my Bride left me.  Not in the bad way, but she leaves me a bachelor on my own devices, while she goes away on a business trip.  Some times I am fortunate to be able to travel with her, other times I am not so lucky.  Once when she left me, she ended up in Denver, Colorado.  One evening she found herself with others at the Denver Buffalo Company.

 

Usually a restaurant stays in my mind either because the service, food and wine list were enjoyable or the opposite is true.  This restaurant stays in my mind; because I was called twice that evening about how much she enjoyed the dinner, and that she even tried a buffalo (bison) steak and went on to let me know what a fine dinner I missed.   Thank you my dear.   She also enjoyed a bottle of Cakebread Cabernet Sauvignon and told me, that we have to get some, because she also enjoyed the wine.  The also lamented that it was one of the wineries that we never got to, when we were in Napa.

 

She informed me that she had brought the “dead soldier” with her, a macabre, but loving term of endearment I use to refer to the empty wine bottle that I leave with from a restaurant, so that I make soak off the label.  What she did not inform of, until she got home, was that she was so enamored with the buffalo meat, that she ordered some steak, and ground meat to be shipped home, so that I could enjoy the meat as well.   What a woman.   That is a side business to the restaurant, and I would venture to say it is a very lucrative part of their business, as well.

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The Pump Room

Posted on August 26, 2012 by thewineraconteur

In the history of fine dining and fine wines, there are a few restaurants that are instantly known.  The Pump Room achieved that notoriety.  In the Ambassador East Hotel sat one of the most acclaimed restaurants in the country.  As you walked around and looked at the collection of framed photographs, you would smile to yourself and feel like you had arrived.  Bogart and Bacall, Sinatra, Judy Garland with her children and the list would go on and on. Here was a restaurant for Presidents, Governors, Senators, Heads of States, Titans of Industries and me (as I laugh to myself).  I pride myself on being able to recognize most movie stars from the late twenties and on, but some were too esoteric for me, but I was in awe.  I think everyone had to be in awe the first time they entered The Pump Room.

 

The service was excellent; the food was perfect, not fussy, but divine.  Requests from diners were honored.  I remember the first time I had the pleasure to dine there.  I felt like I was a rube from the farm coming to the city for the first time.  The staff made me feel at home, and what a feeling that was, especially for a young kid (and I was the first time there).  I remember that they had a venison dinner, but it was offered with a courant sauce, and at that time I was too “macho” (read immature) to go out of my comfort zone with food.  I asked if there was a way to have the venison prepared with garlic or similar spices.  The waiter returned after a trip to the kitchen and told me that the chef had replied to the fact, which is how he preferred his own venison.  When my entrée was served it was accompanied by a large tureen of garlic sauce, I felt like I was a king.

 

It was also the first time I enjoyed a bottle of wine from the Societe Civile du Domaine de la Romanee-Conti.  A legendary Grand Cru from the village of Flagey-Eschezeaux known as Grands-Eschezeaux.  This village has two wines attributed to it, and both have Grand Cru status.  This may have been one of the first Burgundy wines I ever had, and I am sorry to say I have never had another Grands-Eschezeaux.  In fact I would venture to say that there are many people who enjoy wines that may not have had this wine. This many years later, I can not describe the taste of this wine, but I do know that between the dinner and wine, I was in heaven or as close to it, as I wanted to be and still be alive.

 

Since that time we had a couple more dinners there, and then there were plenty of times when we would have dinner elsewhere, walk to the hotel and have dessert, coffee and port wine.  We also looked forward to having a few dances there as we listened to the musicians entertain.  Alas, it was of another time and era and it is now gone, and I understand more and more these days the feeling Ashley Wilkes had for a plantation that will never be again.

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Purple Angel by Montes 2006

Posted on August 25, 2012 by thewineraconteur

Please bear with me on this article as I am writing from a third party point of view, and I am thinking about this wine before I rearrange part of the cellar to accommodate it and another case of wine.  I tend to procrastinate about placing new wine in the cellar, because invariably I have to start from one end to the other, for it to make any sense, as I try to keep the wines grouped by category.

 

 

My Bride went to visit her sister and family down in Louisville and she took our son and his two children for a vacation.   As is our custom, when going there for a visit we take wines that we think everyone will enjoy and they do the same from their cellar.   I could tell that my Bride really likes her sister as she took some of the new Canadian wines from our last trip, including some of the Peller Cabernet Franc.

 

 

With all of the cousins together, dinners were basically barbeques each night and the sisters would take turns on the preparations.  From fancy hamburgers to lamb and to steaks; all barbequed to perfection and of course a chance to sample new wines with the dinners.  One night, while they were having steaks, my Bride calls me to tell me of this great wine she just had.  She asked me if I had heard of it, called Purple Angel.  I told her that I did not know it and I asked some questions about the wine.   She was still raving about the fullness of the wine and its big robust taste.  She was trying to pronounce Carmenere (the grape varietal), which I repeated back to her and said that they were having a Chilean wine.  She agreed and continued to tell me how great the wine was, and it was a shame that I did not have any.  You can imagine how elated I felt and later on that evening as her wont, she called me again, still going on about the Purple Angel.

At the end of the week, when she finally came home, she was unpacking her suitcases and she came into our office and said here is your souvenir from the trip.  She said that they were eating and drinking so much, that when she went out to buy some more groceries, she stopped at the wine shop that her sister frequents to buy them another bottle of the wine, and she bought one for me as well.  So now I am waiting for the right evening and the right friends to open this bottle, so that my Bride may relive the pleasure of this wine, and I can enjoy the wine as well.

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