Thanksgiving 2023 Part Two

Posted on December 3, 2023 by thewineraconteur

Since the earliest days when I first met my Bride, Thanksgiving was her holiday, plus whatever other holidays she could get, being one of five sisters.  She always thrived making dinner plans and she was prepared, as she had dishes for twenty-four before I even showed up.  I grew up, where holidays were already brokered among the family, the adults ate in the dining room and the kids ate in the kitchen.  It was kind of a rite-of-passage when we slowly joined the ranks in the dining room.  Of course, back in those days, the food took the prominent position, and we grew up with beer and cocktails as the beverage of choice.  I just remember that everyone thought that I had hollow legs, because I could eat, walk away from the table for a minute and then I was ready to start again.  Back then, all the food would be on platters in the middle of the two tables.  Now, we have all of the food and it is placed on an island and it is like a buffet line, and you hope the kids don’t spill their plates.  I kind of prefer the old way, because it didn’t seem like you were eating that much, and you could keep nibbling, because the food was there in front of you. 

Of course, it would not be Thanksgiving without a turkey.  Evidently this was not a good year for turkeys, because they were all anorexic and the largest turkey, my Bride could find was fourteen pounds, as we usually get one around twenty-four pounds, so she also bought a turkey breast as well.  Then there was a question about stuffing, so we ended up with two; one based on Ritz crackers and the other using bread.  We also had Armenian Pilaf, which was a basic requirement for me, but I think now, they would be an uproar if it was not part of the meal, not to mention that it is one of the hotly debated topics of who is taking the leftover Pilaf.  We started off with a Pinot Noir, as one of the guests, brought one, even though there are plenty downstairs.  We had a Samuel Robert Winery Pinot Noir Vineyard Reserve Willamette Valley, Oregon 2021.  Samuel Coelho was born in Modesto, California and moved to Oregon as a young boy with his family during the early growth years of the Oregon wine industry.  He grew up with hands-on knowledge and went to school for business management.  He helped his family grow Coelho by 400% in five years; during this same period, he began a negociant wine business named Plush Wine Company, and 99% of Plush’s production was sent to the emerging wine market of China.  In 2011 Samuel and his wife Bryn created Samuel Robert Winery, along the same lines as Plush, but by 2014, he realized that he had to purchase his own vineyard, because of the demand for wines of Willamette Valley.  In 2018, the growth was over 500% and he bought additional vineyards, and started another winery Conscious Wines highlighting environmental awareness.  A purple wine with dark pink accents that offered notes of red fruits and a touch of vanilla.  On the palate, a light Pinot Noir with tones of red cherry, strawberry, a hint of vanilla, very smooth with soft tannins and a dry finish. 

We also had Roast Tenderloin with a light marinade of lemon and garlic.  There was also many assorted sides of vegetables and salads.  After dinner we also had about eight cakes and pies for dessert, as we also celebrated three birthdays along with the Thanksgiving festivities.  I went down to the cellar to find something interesting and returned with a St. Supery Merlot Napa Valley 2001, this wine was still one of their main offerings, before they really got into the single vineyard wines.  St. Supery was one of the first wineries that we visited and they are located in Rutherford where they have an estate and they also own another much larger estate in Napa Valley as well.  The original proprietor Robert Skalli came to Napa Valley from Corsica, where his grandparents founded the winery, Terra Vecchi. In 1982, he purchased the Dollarhide estate, a 1500-acre cattle ranch in the northeast corner of Napa Valley. He also purchased 56 acres in Rutherford, where the winery was built and still stands today. The first vintage of wine was produced in 1989 and the wines began to gain acclaim.  The Skalli family sold the winery to the large fashion corporation Chanel in 2015; which makes me wonder if my “Lifetime Pass” will still be honored, but I haven’t thrown it away.  I am glad to report that this wine was far from being over the hill, it was very mellow and drank like a Grand Cru, so no complaints from my Bride or myself or anyone else that tried the wine.  I have always had a soft spot for Merlot from my student days.  This wine was a rich purple with tinges of red and no browning or foxing at all and it offered notes of dark fruits, tobacco, and a trace of anise.  For a twenty-two-year-old this wine was still bright and lively and not ready to roll over, with tones of black cherry, blueberry and still very supple tannins with a nice decent count finish of fruit and terroir. 

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Thanksgiving 2023 Part One

Posted on November 30, 2023 by thewineraconteur

Thanksgiving was originally created as a holiday in America by Abraham Lincoln to be celebrated on the last Thursday in the month of November, FDR attempted to change the date, but the populace created a backlash and the holiday went back to its original day of celebration.  I mention all of this, because the day before Wednesday is the artificial day that my Bride uses to mark the end of Christmas; not that we celebrate it for eleven months, but she shops eleven months.  The day before Christmas all presents are wrapped, and bundled by family, the Christmas and Chanukah cards are filled out, newsletters enclosed and posted, along with all cartons that are to be shipped to celebrants that we will not see for the season.  This worked great during my years in retailing, because if I had free time, it was not spent shopping, and that by the time Christmas Day occurred, all the bills for the holiday were paid off and we could plan on a well-earned vacation in January or February, depending on business; I might add that she was doing this prior to the Raconteur days, but I whole heartedly accepted her planning.  The house is prepped for the crowd of twenty-four this year, so that requires a table in the dining room, the living room, the breakfast nook, and a few little tables in the family room, because invariably there is a little football game that is historically played in Detroit on Thanksgiving Day, after the annual Thanksgiving Parade, traditions are maintained in Detroit.

There is a snide debate that my Bride and I have on Thanksgiving, during the craziness of food preparation.  She calls for appetizers for two and dinner at three; the debate is always about who the first guests would be and a what time, and when should we expect the last to arrive.  She starts the appetizers after the first guests arrive, and splits the appetizers in half, so that there is something new to pull out when the majority show up, usually just before the scheduled dinner, which we always plan on serving later.  The first bottle of wine that is opened is for my Bride and myself and she adores Sauvignon Blanc, and we tend to buy several brands in the handy-dandy economical multi-case packages.  I would venture to say that over the years, her favorite is from Famille Sichel and we have been buying it vintage after vintage.  This year it is Famile Sichel Sirius Bordeaux 2022.  Famille Sichel is a family owned negocient firm from 1883 in Bordeaux, as they were in the procurement process for their locations in Mainz, London, and New York.  In 1938 they even bought Chateau Palmer, which at the time had fallen on bad times and have since brought it back to all its glory.  The family does not believe in resting on their laurels as in 2001 they even built a completely new bottling and storage facility in the Bordeaux region.  This particular bottle of wine is a blend of the two leading white grapes of Bordeaux, namely Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc.  I don’t think that I would be remiss to opine that this wine was aged in Stainless Steel as there was plenty of fruit and very refreshing.  It starts off with a nose of citrus fruits and finishes with some terroir with a decent finish.  The wine is always fresh and needs a little time for the first glasses to breathe as they are very tight and still quite acidic.

Then as we got more of the crowd in for additional appetizers and there was demand for Chardonnay, I opened a bottle of Domaine Albert Bichot Bourgogne Vielles Vignes de Chardonnay 2020.  Domaine Albert Bichot is a major family-owned and run negociant house and estate owner in Burgundy, that began in 1831 and is now based in Beaune.  Their main focus is Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines and in their more southern holdings they also produce some Gamay in Beaujolais.  Alberic Bichot took over the reins in 1996 and is the sixth generation of family to run the holdings.  They own more than one-hundred hectares of sustainably farmed vineyards divided among six estates, and the majority are run organically.  The fruit is from the Cote de Beaune and the Haute Cote de Beaune and the vines are from twenty-five to thirty-five years of age hence “old vines.”  The majority of this wine has been aged for five to six weeks in mostly oak barrels.  A pale-golden colored wine that offered notes of pears, apples, and butter.  On the palate tones of white fruits, tinges of pineapple, honey, oak, and terroir with a soft finish of fruit.       

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Republica

Posted on November 27, 2023 by thewineraconteur

I have to admit that I enjoy eating ribs when dining out.  They may not be the healthiest choice, and neither am I.  I think back in the Old Country, ribs would not have been proper, because they are not listed as proper food in the Bible, and I think that being westernized brought about the other white meat in the diet.  I had discovered a great place to have ribs, courtesy of my dinner club, and over the years I have seen plenty of people that I know, that also don’t eat ribs at home, but enjoy them out.  I am also a pain in the arse, as you have already discovered by now, as I only want my ribs with light sauce and the meat should fall off the bone.  I want to eat my dinner with a knife and fork and not with my hands.  I was upset when my tried-and-true place closed, because of a kitchen fire. I sent out a plea among my friends on social media for a suggestion (not a chain).  Republica is the one that sounded the best and closest to my desires.  Though the restaurant became family owned in 2013, there was a unique display piece featuring businesses and services within the community from another era.

Little did I know, that my Bride decided to have a group dinner with some of her friends and suggested Republica, even though we had not eaten there yet, and we were going on my “say-so.”  One of the other spouses enjoys playing Devil’s Advocate and always finds ways to disagree with me, and frankly I had no desire to go, but the wrath of my Bride would be worse than someone at the other end of the table.  My Bride had the Lexi’s Loaded Caesar with avocado, Parmesan, bacon, tomato, croutons with a Lemony Caesar Dressing topped with Salmon.  I was there for the ribs and they were based on a famous “rib-house” back in the day, so I had the Mitch’s Famous Ribs with Fries and a side order of Onion Rings.  I mean go big or don’t go; but I did miss not having some creamy Cole Slaw.  I will definitely go back there again for the ribs, and my Bride enjoyed her non-classic salad. We were getting a bottle of wine, and we shared a glass with wife of the “advocate” and they had a glass of Bota Box Nighthawk Black Rich Red Wine California NV, the red house wine and owned by Delicato Family Vineyards.  It was a wine that came in a three-liter plastic bladder with a tap, nestled in cardboard box.  I could not find any information about the Rich Red Wine varietals.  Though the wine was written up by the winery on a page as “California-Rich aromas of raspberry, blackberry, caramel, and hints of vanilla.  Extending into lush flavors of fig jam, dark chocolate, toasted marshmallow, and baking spice, this smooth full-bodied wine culminates into a juicy, lingering finish.”

The restaurant had a limited wine carte, so I went with something very basic to go with my ribs, and my Bride could make it work with her salmon.  We ordered a bottle of Daou Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles 2022, with the intention of sharing the bottle, but we were the only ones enjoying the wine.  Daou Vineyards is famed for their Cabernet Sauvignon, and their Bordeaux-style blends; as well as Rhone styles and Burgundian style wines.  Their wine portfolio is divided into four tiers at different price points.  The top-level is their Estate Collection, which made from estate-grown fruit and “Soul of a Lion” is their flagship wine.  The estate was established in 2007 by brothers George and Daniel Daou, who previously had a successful IT business.  The initial purchase was for part of the Hoffman Mountain Ranch, and in 2012 they purchased the balance of the estate and now have two-hundred-twelve-acres of vineyards.  The Hoffman Ranch was the first modern commercial winery in Paso Robles after Prohibition.  It was established by Stanley Hoffman with the help of winemaker Andre Tchelischeff.  The wine is a blend of seventy-eight percent Cabernet Sauvignon, fifteen percent Petit Verdot, six percent Merlot, and one percent Cabernet Franc.  After the fermentation the wine was aged for eight months in French Oak, of which fifty percent was new.  A pretty ruby colored wine that offered notes of black fruits, sandalwood, tobacco, and spices.  On the palate tones of black fruits, figs, spices blended with light tannins and a medium count finish of fruit and vanilla.

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A Recent Dinner Club Adventure

Posted on November 24, 2023 by thewineraconteur

My dinner club that I write about on occasion recently had a “Dutch Treat” meeting, which is an old way of saying that everyone pays their share for the meeting.  Most of the meetings are hosted dinners, and once a year, myself and two other members are the host.  Our newly installed President for the year, tried to get us at a different restaurant, but their private room was taken.  The club is almost one-hundred-fifty years in age, and originally the meetings were held at a member’s home with dinner.  I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t have a formal dinner at my home for thirty plus men, years ago the founders were able to.  The club survived the Great Depression, but by then the meetings were held at a residential hotel’s banquet room in Detroit.  Finally, as the members were mostly living in the suburbs, the hosts began having their meetings at restaurants.  About twenty years ago, there was an upheaval and some of the members objected to paying for the drinks, because they didn’t drink, and nowadays the members pay for their own bar tab.  Of course, it was amazing that members that used to drink “single malt Scotch” now drink “well Scotch.”  I found a silver-lining in that if there was another member that enjoyed wine, we would just share a bottle of wine.

The restaurant that was chosen was what I would graciously call an Italian restaurant for Americans.  The entrée choices were Lasagna, Angel Hair Provençale, Chicken Milano, Fettucine Alfredo, Mama Pasta Boat, and Broiled Salmon with a Dill Sauce.  Instead of a salad, everyone got a cup of “Italian Wedding Soup” and for dessert we had a Hot Fudge Sundae.  There was some grumbling as there was not a steak offering, but since we all receive notification of the menu ahead of time; I made sure that I had a late lunch, as I didn’t expect much from the restaurant, and I almost have to go, as I have a quasi-officer role for the last thirty years.  I guess that I should mention that I have been a member for forty-three years and when I joined, I was definitely the youngest member, as we had a member then, who had joined in 1928. The funny thing is, that age wise, I am still one of the youngest members.  Though I do anticipate that there will be one other change soon, as we have a dress code that requires a coat and tie for dinner.  It has been relaxed for the summer meetings to “Country Club Chic” and I figure the dress code will be abolished soon.  

As for the beverage of choice for the meal, I was by myself as a wine drinker, but there wasn’t anything special of the few choices by the bottle, so I just had a glass of wine.  Alas, the wine hadn’t been poured probably for several days, and they only use the cork, and the wine had turned.  They did open a new bottle.  I was drinking Cantine Melini Borghi D’Elsa Chianti DOCG 2021 from Tuscany.  The estate began in 1705 in Pontassieve, east of Florence.  In 1860, Adolfo Laborel Melini began bottling the estate’s wines in the classic “fiascha” straw-wrapped bottles that eventually became synonymous with Chianti.  Near the end of the 20th Century the winery was purchased by Gruppo Italiano Vini and relocated to Gaggiano in the Chianti Classico region with modern facilities and four stories of production.  Borghi d’Elsa takes its name from the villages that line the Elsa River.  The soil of this region is a blend of albarese limestone, and marl.  The wine is created in a traditional Tuscan style, where the grapes are macerated for ten days with frequent punching down.  Aging take place over a period of six months in a combination of large oak casks and Stainless-Steel tanks.  The wine was a deep ruby in color and offered notes of red fruit, ripe grapes and violets.  On the palate a dry wine with tones of raspberry and cherry, soft tannins, and cloves.  Easy drinking and not made with the concept of cellaring.  It was one of the few Italian wines offered and more mellow compared to the homemade “Dago Red” of my youth.         

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An Araujo and Two from Musar

Posted on November 20, 2023 by thewineraconteur

It really is a joy when I walk into my local wine shop, The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan, as I never know what I may encounter.  Sometimes it can be very eclectic and from two totally distinct areas of the world.

The first wine of this tasting was an Eisele Vineyard “Araujo” Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2011.  Eisele Vineyard Estate went to Araujo Estate and then back again.  Eisele Vineyard is thirty-eight acres located on an old alluvial fan, near the northern end of Napa Valle, and east of Calistoga, and ground water is very deep underground, on this rocky soil that produces small berries on vines that have very deep roots.  The grounds were originally planted in the 1880s to Zinfandel and Riesling, and the first Cabernet Sauvignon vines were planted in 1964.  The modern history of this famed vineyard begins with the first vintage of Eisele Vineyards in 1971, by Milton and Barbara Eisele became the stewards of the land and winemakers in their retirement years.  The first vintage was overseen by Paul Draper of Ridge Vineyards and it was one of the original vineyard-designated wines in California and there are a few fortunate people that are still enjoying that initial vintage to this day, as it is considered a hallmark in Napa Valley.  The second vintage was produced by Conn Creek Winery in 1974 and continued to 1991 under the aegis of Joseph Phelps.  The 1991 vintage had two bottlings, the second being the first Estate Cabernet Sauvignon.  In 1990 Daphne and Bart Araujo bought the land and the start of the Araujo Estate years which lasted for twenty-three years and they were one of the first to embrace biodynamic farming.  They also constructed the first winery on site with temperature-controlled caves; a barn-like structure built into the hillside..  In 2013, the property was purchased by the Pinault family’s Groupe Artemis which has several prominent estates including Chateau Latour.  Grapes are sorted and transferred without pumping to stainless steel or concrete fermenters. Individual lots are aged in French oak barrels before the final blends are assembled.  This wine is ninety-eight percent Cabernet Sauvignon and two percent Cabernet Franc.  The harvesting by hand entailed several pickings to ensure total ripeness, and they still had secondary sorting of this vintage which required the hiring of an additional fifty trained workers picking cluster by cluster. Fermentation in small tanks, and then the wine was aged in new French Oak for nineteen months.  The Eisel Vineyard pedigree was apparent, but the work of the Araujo family was also acknowledged.  This deep garnet wine offered notes of big black fruit, vanilla, and purple florals.  On the palate tones of rich and elegant black fruit melting and blending beautifully with luscious tannins that were just hitting their stride at the age of twelve, and a long lingering finish of fruit and terroir.  This wine is still so big and rich, that I think easily another ten or more years and it still would not hit its height. 

The following two wines that we had were from Chateau Musar, the first being Chateau Musar “Musar Jeune” Red Bekaa Valley, Lebanon 2021.  The Bekaa Valley (Beqaa Valley) is the center of the wine trade, as it accounts for ninety percent and it is also the center for Arak, the lovely, but potentially lethal anise flavored liquor that is the favored drink in the country.  The oldest winery there is Chateau Ksara, which was established by the Jesuits in 1857 with plants brought over from the French colony of Algeria.  Chateau Musar was founded in 1930 by Gaston Hochar and may be the most famous Lebanese winery on the international scene.  Gaston Hochar developed his winery after traveling in Bordeaux.  In 1959, Hochar’s son Serge took control of the vineyards, having returned from Bordeaux where he was studying enology.  The vineyard suffered during the Lebanese Civil War (two vintages were lost or damaged), and Hochar began to look beyond the domestic market.  The wine began to gain recognition after Michael Broadbent MW wrote about them in Decanter magazine in 1979 and by the time the war ended in 1990, just a tiny fraction of Chateau Musar was sold locally.  Musar Jeune is their entry level range and offered as red, white and a rosé.  This wine was first produced in 2007, unoaked, full of fruit, using youthful vines, to meet the demand for “current drinking.” The wine is a blend of fifty percent Cinsault, thirty-five percent Syrah and fifteen percent Cabernet Sauvignon; from vines planted since 2000 at around 1,000m above sea level.  The wine is fermented in cement-lined bats and bottle a year after harvest and released one year later.  A dark inky-black/purple wine that offers notes of red fruits and plums.  On the palate a silky currant, raspberry and cherry jam flavor with soft tannins and a finish offering some spices.

The second wine from this producer was their Chateau Musar Bekaa Valley, Lebanon 2017 continues to be made in their traditional manner, which requires seven years before it sees the light of day in a retail environment. The wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignan and Cinsault (and this particular vintage the blend was equal for all three varietals) from vines planted from 1930 and later, on gravel soil over limestone, with the average age of the vines around forty years.  The different juices undergo a long fermentation with Initial Fermentation using natural yeasts, followed by Malolactic Fermentation in cement vats for about six months after the harvest. The individual juices are then transferred to French Oak for one year of aging.  After about two years from harvest, the individual juices are then blended and placed in cement tanks for another twelve months.  The wine is then bottled and stored in their deep, dark stone cellars on their sides for four years.  The wine is bottled unfiltered and unfined for maximum flavor.  The winery recommends standing the wine up, the night before serving, to allow the wine to settle.  They also recommend the use of prongs for opening bottles older than fifteen years of age and have even created a YouTube page for their instructions. This was a beautiful drinking wine with a nice ruby color and the Cabernet Sauvignon was the prominent wine of note with cherry, mulberry, and plums, and plenty of spices with cloves, cinnamon, vanilla, tea, and licorice.  With the extended years of production, the tannins were softened and fully integrated; the wine had a very nice long count in the finish with fruit and spices.  Totally drinkable now, or wait another ten or more years and I think the flavors will be totally layered.

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A Great Threesome

Posted on November 18, 2023 by thewineraconteur

I was at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan picking up my monthly club selections and I was invited to try three wines proffered by a wine salesman who was trying to sell the wines to either the store, their restaurant or both.  Three Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon wines, a great way to start the day.   

The first wine was Brilliant Mistake Cabernet Sauvignon Napa 2021 in a black bottle that comes from Italy.  John and Stacy Reinert are the founders and proprietors of Brilliant Mistake who came from different backgrounds, but came up with a wine that became a hit in 2014 with fifty-five cases of wine.  They have as their winemaker Maayan Koschitzky, who worked at other cult wineries like Screaming Eagle and Dalle Valle.  There are no production notes, as everything I guess is proprietary.  The 2021 vintage provided them with small yields of high-quality pure Cabernet Sauvignon from their sourced vineyards in Rutherford and Oakville.  The vines took advantage of longer hang times and thinner canopies. A deep garnet/ purple colored wine that offered notes of black fruits, cassis, spices, lead pencil shavings and florals.  On the palate tones of black cherry, cassis, vanilla, and fine-grained tannins finishing with a long finish of fruit and terroir.  This was a big and chewy powerhouse, a truly elegant wine that just stunned me with its majesty and unfortunately, it was the first wine that I tasted, so the other wines didn’t have a chance.  I don’t usually talk prices, but from my conversations, this wine is totally underpriced for the category that it is in, and in blind tastings, this wine would could keep the professionals guessing.  This wine was amazing, as it was jostled in a winemaker’s satchel and poured with a Coravin system, right from the bottle.  With some cellar time, short or extended, and then decanted everyone tasting it, would be in heaven.

The second wine that I had courtesy of the wine salesman was Castiel Estate Cabernet Sauvignon Howell Mountain 2019.  Dave and Kathleen DiCesaris are the owners of Castiel Estate and the eighty-eight acres on Howell Mountain overlooking St. Helena.  While there is no “Howell Mountain” it is named after a small township and it was the first Napa Valley sub-region to get its AVA in 1984.  To be part of appellation, the vineyards must be planted from 1,400 feet to 2,200 feet above sea level.  The first vintage was in 2014 and all harvesting is done manually and requiring several passes to get the fruit at full maturity.  The soil is pumice ash flow and andesite rock.  At the winery, clusters are destemmed, and berries are chosen both by manual and optical sorting methods.  They use four clones of Cabernet Sauvignon that are planted in their own plots.  During fermentation, the wine is left on the skins until complete and then pressed and transferred to French Oak barrels of which sixty-five percent is new.  Each clone was fermented separately and kept apart for the first twelve months.  The wines were then blended and returned to the barrels for an additional eight month.  The wine was then bottled without fining or filtering and five-hundred-twenty cases were produced.  A deep garnet colored wine that offers notes of currants, black cherry, sage, and cloves.  On the palate there were tones of dark fruit and spices, blended with satiny tannins and a nice long finish of black cherry and terroir.

The third wine that I enjoyed from the salesman’s satchel was Purlieu Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2019.  Purlieu in the literal sense means “the edge of the forest” or “an outlying area.” Symbolically, for the winery it means to explore the outskirts and to navigate the boundaries of what is a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.  They have contracts with seven different vineyards.  The Teucer Vineyard in Coombsville which is the coolest and longest growing season with its two different soils; one being colluvium deposits and the other being flaky volcanic ash.  To Kalon Vineyard, which some feel should be named a “Grand Cru” is in Oakville with its mostly clay loam.  The Georges III Vineyard in Rutherford.  The Missouri Hopper Vineyard in Oakville, goes back to the 19th Century.  Sugarloaf Vineyard on the rocky slopes of southeaster Napa on dense volcanic rock.  Martinez Vineyard is atop of Pritchard Hill in the Vaca Mountains on soil of iron, red clay, and boulders.  Platt Vineyard on the ridgeline above the Sonoma Coast fog line known for its Goldenridge loam soils from an ancient sea floor.  I couldn’t find any production notes, but there were one-thousand-one-hundred-fifty-four cases of wine produced.  The dark garnet wine offered notes of blueberry, blackberry, and purple florals.  On the palate tones of big blue and red fruits, espresso, vanilla, with soft tannins and a nice medium count finish of berries and a touch of caramel.      

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Fine Wine Source Club Selections for November 2023

Posted on November 15, 2023 by thewineraconteur

I went into The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan to pick up the November wine club selections.  I always look forward to the choices, because with the myriad of wines that are on the market, I have to trust my local merchant to find something interesting.  Each wine is curated by the owner and his staff, in fact that is the only way a bottle appears on his shelves.  He has no interest in the common wines that are found in gas stations, party stores, drug stores and grocery stores.  In fact, there were two wine salesmen in the shop at the same time along with customers and me.  As the store settled down a bit, a glass was handed to me, to try some of the wines proffered either for his shop, the restaurant or perhaps both establishments.  I gave my two cents on the wines, and it seemed to agree with the others.  More about them at another time.

When the club selections are chosen, there is always one from the Old World and one from the New World, and there could be a red and a white, but not necessarily so.  The first wine representing the Old World was Vite Colte “Villata” Roero Arneis DOCG 2023, which is owned by Terre da Vino in the heart of the Piedmont.  Depending on the market this wine can be found either as Vite Colte or as Terre da Vino.  Roero DOCG is a small district in the hills of the Piedmont, known for its refreshing whites made from Arneis, and for their bold red reds made from Nebbiolo. The district is named after the Roero family, who were powerful bankers in the Middle Ages.  The classic Roero Bianco must be at least ninety-five percent Arneis, the other five percent can be any other local white varietal.  They tend to grow the vines on the northern slopes of the hills, while Nebbiolo grows on the southern side on loose soils with a strong presence of silica.  For a while, the grape almost became extinct, as all the interest was in the red wines.  The grape can be difficult to grow and was often grown alongside the Nebbiolo, because its fruit was sweeter and the birds would feed on the white grapes and leave the red grapes alone.  Traditionally a dash of Arneis was added to the Nebbiolo to soften the tannins, similar to how Viognier is used in parts of the Rhone. This wine was made from hand harvested grapes and it undergoes cold maceration and spends ten days on the lees in Stainless Steel.  The wine is a pretty straw color, and the nose offered pears, lime zest, and white florals.  The wine on the palate is very crisp and fresh with the notes of white fruit, a burst of tangerine and a tinge of hazelnut with a touch of minerals, peaches, and honey in the finish.

The wine representing the New World is Firesteed Cellars Pinot Noir Oregon 2021.  Oregon appeared on the wine scene in the Sixties and with Pinot Noir has become a great pair.  Firesteed Cellars was founded in 1992 and opened an official tasting room for the winery in 2002 in Rickreall, Oregon. They specialize in Pinot Noir, but they also are known for their Pinot Gris and Riesling; and have begun a series of AVA specific Pinot Noirs as well.  This wine is their basic Pinot Noir with the fruit harvested from different parts of the state.  The 2021 vintage was considered a banner year for Oregon Pinot Noir wines; a cool spring, a hot summer, and then a long cool fall.  The fruit was fermented in deferential treatment to this finicky varietal.  Aging was done in a combination of small French Oak barrels, of which fifteen percent was new and in larger Stainless-Steel tanks.  The wine is describes as being a light ruby red and offering notes of cherry, raspberry, lavender and rose petals.  On the palate tones of “jammy” fruits and soft silky tannins leading to a lingering finish of spice, vanilla, and French Oak.   

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Le Garenne Cremant de Loire

Posted on November 12, 2023 by thewineraconteur

Most people probably think that wine writers are bombarded with samples of wines, that wineries and distributors throw at our feet for a few ounces of ink.  Some writers may solicit wines with promises of rave reviews, I give people every opportunity not to send me wine.  On my front page, I have my statement and belief about getting and reviewing “samples” and I even direct the people to it, to read. Occasionally I encounter a bad bottle of wine, and it could be for a myriad of reasons.  The wine could have been stored improperly (very common years ago), there could be cork issues (occasionally) or it could be a grape or a wine style that I had no appreciation for, or that I wasn’t aware of.  I tend to not write about the wine, because the conceit of my writing is of the moment and how wine enhances that moment.  By complaining or griping about a wine, isn’t really for me, my usual complaint is that I couldn’t find a better wine, because of where we were.  I went through my spiel and Le Garenne Cremant de Loire still decided to send me a bottle and I do think that I need to be up front about it. 

Also in the shipping carton was a box of Les Roses du Moulin de la Ferme Biscuits au Champagne.  In the village of Herpont, in the Marne, back in 1986 Pascal Cotton-Haller took over the family farm and by 1990 he was an advocate of sustainable agriculture, and by 1994, he reduced the use of chemical treatments and fertilizers.  In 2008, he bought his first stone mill, and in 2010 began marketing his first products.  In 2019 he was totally committed to organic farming and in 2021 his son began raising hens on the farm and they now had organic eggs for the production of their biscuits.  In 2023, they began producing shortbread and gingerbread biscuits.  Les Roses, a revival of the pink biscuits of Reims, with a touch of Champagne for a touch of the district.  Very good with the Cremant, crisp, and not too sweet.   

As for the sparkling wine, a bottle of Le Garenne Cremant de Loire NV.  Cremant de Loire is the appellation for sparkling wines from Anjou, Saumur and Touraine, the heartland of the Loire Valley and Chenin Blanc is the principal grape.  They also allow Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Pineaus d’Aunis, Grolleau Noir, and Cabernet Sauvignon, but not Sauvignon Blanc.  The appellation was introduced in 1975, as an alternative to the wines of Champagne, around the same time the appellations for Cremant de Bourgogne and Cremant d’Alsace were also introduced.  The wine is produced using Methode Traditionelle as opposed to the bulk or tank methods.  The Maison was founded 1859 and is crafted by Meredith Feschotte of the Loire Valley.  Initial Fermentation is done in Stainless Steel using natural yeasts, the wine then spends another nine months in the bottle aging after the second Fermentation.  The wine is a blend of seventy percent Chenin Blanc, twenty percent Chardonnay, and ten percent Cabernet Franc all from plots in Vaudelnay, on the south bank of the Loire, one hundred meters above sea level on Jurassic soil, combining flint and iron oxide. The soft golden wine with good small bubbles offers notes of stone fruit, white florals, honey, and almonds.  On the palate tones of white fruit, citrus, a tinge of honey, and almonds and slightly acidic. 

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Taste Kitchen

Posted on November 9, 2023 by thewineraconteur

My Bride and I go to Ann Arbor, Michigan often for dinner, but we always are in the same part of the city; as neither of us attended school there.  When we were hunting for a restaurant near the State Theatre, the great search engine along with all of the food sites that can list “Subway” as fine dining showed us restaurants about twenty miles away.  Since, we had an early dinner, because of this, we decided to take a leisurely drive, find a parking spot near the cinema house, and then hopefully find a location to have a Spanish Coffee, the evening drink of choice for my Bride.  Her thinking was that we in a college town, there should be a plethora of watering holes.  There was an abundance of coffee shops, but she couldn’t find someplace for a drink; I guess we are of a different generation, because in our day, we went out for dinner and drinks and if possible, some dancing.  She couldn’t find anything, and she was going to settle for an expensive chain coffee that to me, always tastes bitter.  I told her that she walked by an establishment, and she said, what if they don’t have a bar, and I said that we will worry about that if it occurs.  They had a bar, and they could make a Decaf Spanish Coffee, she was in heaven and that is how we discovered Taste Kitchen.

That night they had a Lemon-ginger Crème Brulee that not only sounded delicious, it was and we shared an order; nowadays I really don’t need a full dessert order to make my horizons broader than they are, already.  The Spanish Coffee was so great, that my Bride made the poor bartender get us the name of the coffee and the coffee liqueur that was used in the drink, and both were local brands to Ann Arbor.  Hyperion Coffee Company is located in Ann Arbor and in Ypsilanti, and they do there own roasting and blending.  The other ingredient that the bartender shared with us, was the Barrel Reserve Spaulding’s Coffee Liqueur made from scratch by Ann Arbor Distilling Co., founded in 2014. The liqueur is made from cold-brewed coffee and sugar cane and delivered a taste of roasted coffee, almonds, and creamy vanilla.  I know that in one of our future treks to Ann Arbor, we will be dining at Taste Kitchen, after we buy some fresh roasted coffee and some Spaulding’s.

While my Bride was enjoying her Decaf Spanish Coffee with the Lemon-ginger Crème Brulee I had a glass of The Rare Wine Co. Historic Series Madeira New York Malmsey Special Reserve Madeira Malvasia, Portugal NV, produced by Barbeito; and they have the longest brand name known to man or woman. The Rare Wine Co. was founded in 1989 with an emphasis on iconic and traditional producers.  Madeira Malvasia or Malmsey is a fortified wine made from Malvasia family of grapes under Portugal’s Madeira DOC.  It is the sweetest, richest form of Madeira and had twice the residual sugar found in other Madeira styles.  The grape originally came from the Mediterranean, and is thought to be from Monemvasia, a famed Greek port of the old trade routes and the sweet wine was associated with the port.  The name Malmsey is considered to have been a garbled corruptions of Monemvasia which later was known as Malvasia by the British Mariners in the 18th Century.  Malmsey is a varietal expression of Malvasia which undergoes a form of heating to duplicate what the barrels suffered through in storage and in shipping, and it is oxidized after fermentation.  It is one of the longest-lived wines produced in the world. A very deep colored wine offering notes of oxidized aromas, with nuts, sweet tobacco, and chocolate.  On the palate, a rich opulent mouthful with tones of sweetness, tempered with oranges and spices adding to the acidity, lemon peel and perhaps the finest Christmas fruit cake, one will ever encounter with a long finish of the glace fruits.  

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We Went to See “Aurora’s Sunrise”

Posted on November 6, 2023 by thewineraconteur

It is amazing, for years I never saw an Armenian film, and now twice in one year.  I use to have to find a way, to make a film Armenian, maybe an actor, a screenwriter, or a director.  “Aurora’s Sunrise” is Armenia’s Official Entry to the 95th Academy Awards and nominated for nineteen different awards and has so far, won some of them.  We made a date, my Bride and I, and made a special day of it.  We drove out to Birmingham, Michigan to our daily walk, as we also had to do some shopping for both of us, as well as picking up some alterations.  I did a “Google” search to see if we could have dinner in Ann Arbor, prior to seeing the movie, and of course we were directed to restaurants twenty miles away.  I guess I am cheap, or shall we say economical, but I dislike having to pay constantly to pay to park my car, so we parked and paid only twice, in stead of three times.

After we did all of our errands in Birmingham, and our shopping endeavors were successful, we decided to have an early dinner in Birmingham, before driving to Ann Arbor.  My Bride had been thinking about the cheeseburger and fries that I had at the Townhouse the last time we were there.  Sometimes, the simpler, the better.  Then there was the wine to choose, and we thought something fun and different on an autumn day.  We had a bottle from Domaine Passot Pere et Fils their Maison Passot Les Rampaux Regnie 2020. Domaine Passot is a family estate of fifteen hectares offering four Beaujolais Cru wines, a Burgundy Gamay, a Rosé wine, and two distinct sparkling wines.  They have recently begun the sixth generation of winegrowers.  Regnie was originally part of the appellation for red wines made from Gamay under the designation of Beaujolais Villages, but in 1988, it became the tenth Beaujolais Cru.  It is adjacent to Crus of Morgon and Brouilly.  Regnie is one of the highest altitudes in the hills of Beaujolais and noted for the pink granite soils.  The region is named after a Gallic-Roman nobleman Reginus who grew vines in the region some two-thousand years ago, and they have been growing there ever since.  This is one of the old-style Beaujolais wines that is made with the Black Gamay, but with the addition of some white juice.  The Cru Les Rampaux is planted with vines that average about forty years of age.  The fruit is hand-harvested and Initial Fermentation is for seven to ten days.  This wine is aged in Stainless Steel or epoxy-coated cement vats for nine to twelve months.  A pretty deep ruby colored wine that offered notes of red and black fruits.  On the palate delightful tones of red fruits, with a hint of prunes, soft tannins and a light finish of fruit and soft terroir of minerality.

We decided to take a very leisurely drive on the back roads from Birmingham to Ann Arbor, since we were not under time constraints and we didn’t need to battle with the road warriors on the freeways.  We arrived at the State Theatre, which is stunning in its own rights, as it still has a huge well-lit marquee evoking another era.  While the exterior is classic, the interior has been cobbled together and is no longer one large theater with a balcony, but several smaller screens, a quaint lobby, and a small bar.  “Aurora’s Sunrise” is based on the Zoryan Institute’s Oral History Archives of Aurora Mardiganian’s odyssey.  A genocide survivor, who originally has her story serialized, about her losing her family, escaping slavery and enduring what most people could not.  From her serialized story, and consequent book that was published, she was raising money for Armenian “Near East Relief” and she eventually went to Hollywood and starred in her story in a silent film, and her additional tales of enduring the greed of Hollywood as she continues to tell the world of the Armenian Genocide.  The film she made was “Auction of Souls” (1919) and for the millions of dollars that the film grossed, amazingly there is not a copy of the film that survived.  After the death of Aurora Mardiganian, some twenty-four minutes of the film was discovered (2009) and along with known stills and title cards, which was interwoven with clips of Aurora as she was recording her memories for the archives, and these snippets were then woven into a dramatic animated film.  A few minutes of watching and the novelty of animation isn’t even noticed.   Beyond wine, I also have as one of my many other hobbies, and is collecting ephemera from this time, and when there were mentions of my grandmother’s village.  The film touched me several times, realizing that it was the background of my own family and the survivors never really spoke of the atrocity and horrors that they lived through as children and young adults.  The film covers a “survivor’s journey from bloodshed to the red carpet” as aptly stated as a press release.  You may not see the film in a theatrical release like we did, but I do hope that you get a chance to see the film “streaming” on the small screen.   

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