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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Hockey and Wine

Posted on August 24, 2012 by thewineraconteur

Sporting events and venues do not immediately evoke the thought of wine; beer is the first beverage to come to mind.  When I first met my Bride she worked for a company where the principals were sports enthusiasts.  Back in the early days of hockey in Detroit when the games were played at Olympia, they were proud to say that they had the first “box” at the arena.  At that time a box had folding chairs in a cordoned section and an ice chest to hold beverages.  When the Detroit Red Wings moved to the Joe Louis Arena her company not only had center ice seats at the glass, but they had a suite that was center ice as well.

 

Before the games, there were times when we would meet at the Olympia Club for dinner and drinks and then on to the suite to watch the game.  Other times it was straight to the suite and an array of food and drinks were set up for the clientele and employees as well as family and friends.   The wines that were ordered were good popular wines that most people recognized and felt comfortable.  Nothing exotic in name, but dependable choices of wines, as everyone was really there for the game and not for fine dining.

 

    

As most people that enjoy wines, as an adjunct to our wine collection, we have acquired many wine bottle stoppers, from very prosaic to very elaborate.  Included in this collection is a beautiful crystal wine stopper with an etched emblem of the Detroit Red Wings.

 

As wine has progressed in popularity, so have the players embraced this beverage.   We have an empty bottle that was autographed by Dominik Hasek of the Detroit Red Wings from a charity event.   Another famous hockey player from Brantford, Ontario, Canada; Wayne Gretzky has the Wayne Gretzky Estates with the proceeds going to his foundation to help children.  So hockey and wine do go together.

    

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MK (Michael Kornick) Chicago

Posted on August 23, 2012 by thewineraconteur

Through the course of years I attended trade shows at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago.  I finally started staying at the Hotel Nikko just off the river and a couple block walk to the Mart.  I found this hotel to be advantageous because I could fly into Midway Airport, which was always less hectic, and take the El to the loop and walk the two blocks to the hotel.  It made life simple, because it was easy in and easy out.  The hotel was built originally to cater to the influx of Japanese business men, and was later acquired and known as the Westin River North.

 

Most of the time I would arrive the night before the show would begin, and that way I could enjoy two quality meals while in Chicago.   Through my vendors I heard of a new restaurant that was getting rave reviews called MK.  The initials stood for the chef and owner Michael Kornick and one must be very proud and sure of one’s work to let everyone know who the top dog was.  I made a reservation, knowing that it was Market time, plus it is in Chicago and the urbanites enjoy dining out.   After a short walk from the hotel we arrived and had a cocktail, as the restaurant was just preparing to open for dinner.   I already saw a group of vendors and mid-west merchants that I knew, so the fame of this new restaurant was already in-vogue.

 

We started with an appetizer of scallops and a plate of yellow fin tuna Tartare.  My Bride was delighted to order a salmon dish with an Oriental Fusion influence.  I was amazed to see on this menu side by side with some exotic dishes liver and onions.  I opined that the dish must be great to be featured in a restaurant of this quality, and that is what I ordered.  All the dishes were excellent, but I must admit that it was the finest presentation and the finest dish of liver and onions that I had ever had, and possibly ever will.  The texture was superb and perfectly prepared, even my Bride was surprised by the quality, as she was surprised that I would order a dish like this.

 

The wine list was large, but manageable and very well presented.  On the first page of “Cabernet Sauvignon, Proprietary Wines, Merlot & Cabernet Franc” was a wine that I had heard of, but had not had the pleasure of meeting.  There were three different vintages of Far Niente from Napa Valley (1992, 1994, and 1997) and I chose the 1997 vintage.   I really was sorry when we finished the last sip of that wine; it was so enjoyable from the first taste.   I could understand why I had heard so many recommendations from customers and friends that I must try the wine.

 

 

Needless to say that what the first of many visits to MK, and we have enjoyed to fruits of Far Niente as well.

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Emily’s

Posted on August 22, 2012 by thewineraconteur

There was a wonderful restaurant just outside of downtown Northville (a suburb of Detroit) that was in a home that had been converted into a white table clothed restaurant.  As I look back over the menu, I realize that this may have been the first restaurant that gave “credits” to different “farms” for the source of some of the meats offered; which is something that is seen more often on menus.  There were several plates designed for vegetarians, which was also a new touch at the time.   It may also have been the first non-smoking restaurant that I had ever been to, because at that time people smoked especially after a fine meal.  Hence there were no matchbooks to retrieve as a souvenir.

 

We started with Prosciutto Wrapped Prawns on white beans and olive oil; and a French “Rougie” Foie Gras sautéed and served with red and white wine poached quince, quince butter and the poaching syrup with toasted fig brioche.  For the salad course my Bride enjoyed an Arugula salad, and opted for a Torchon of Foie Gras chilled with balsamic roasted pear, red endive, Bibb lettuce and pear-vanilla vinaigrette.  For dinner my Bride had Chilean Sea Bass served with lobster ravioli, sweet corn, chanterelle mushrooms and steamed shucked mussels; while I somehow declined the Balsamic Roasted Duck and chose the New Zealand venison, crusted with with hazelnuts with chevre-potato puree and red wine poached quince.

 

 

After a little soul-searching and discussion because of my Bride’s Chilean Sea Bass and my venison dish I chose a wine not often seen.  I was a little concerned that the “terroir” of the wine might be overpowering, but my Bride prefers a red white especially with firmer, flavorful fish.  The wine I selected a Cote-Rotie “Brune et Blonde” de Guigal 1996 is known for a strong taste where the soil permeates the flavor (I feel that Cote-Rotie wines have the most pronounced taste of soil that one will encounter).  I might add that it was a great choice with the venison, but the Sea Bass held its own with the wine, as I did sample some, just to make sure that my Bride was not being stoic.

 

For dessert we had a chocolate tasting of a Marjolaine torte with pistachio meringue and Balsamic butter cream, a white chocolate-fig terrine and the house “s’mores.”  Coffee and I must confess to also having a Gould Campbell Port Vintage 1985.  A wonderful meal and wine to satisfy all that dined there.   I am sorry to say, that the restaurant is now shuttered, perhaps waiting for someone to resurrect it into another memorable dining experience.

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