Prohibido Wines, Loica and Bodegas Alconde

Posted on November 11, 2022 by thewineraconteur

I have to admit that most of the fun at the Las Vegas Food & Wine Festival was actually getting a chance to try the foods, and many were from touted Chef restaurants on The Strip that we don’t get to anymore.  Since we stay in Summerlin to visit our children, it is easier to stay there, then to drive the twenty minutes and get into rush hour traffic, no matter the hour on The Strip and then parking is another issue, but since we are into walking, we can handle the hikes. 

We had a chance to try two wines from Prohibido Wines and it was great, because they have limited production and they do not ship to Michigan; shades of the old days.  As you can decipher, Prohibido means forbidden and the name harkens back to the days of Prohibition, when politicians thought they could legislate what was best for the people; it didn’t work then and it really doesn’t work now, for thinking people. The first wine that we had was Prohibido Wines Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2016 and this was their first issue and vintage.  The wine was aged for thirty months in oak barrels and they produced two-hundred cases.  It was getting dark, but the wine was a pretty dark red with notes of black fruit, spices and leather.  On the palate black cherry, blackberry and some vanilla, with a full-bodied wine with good tannins and a medium count finish of more fruit than terroir. While I had the 2016, my Bride had the Prohibido Wines Cabernet Sauvignon, made with Organic grapes from Yountville (Napa Valley) 2019.  There was no discussion of production of this wine, but it could conceivably have seen thirty months of oak aging as well, though there were only fifty cases produced of this wine.  For a young wine it showed remarkably well and offered a similar tasting profile to the 2016.  The 2016 was drinking perfectly, and after tasting the 2019, I would venture to say that there will probably be some great secondary and tertiary notes and tones if this wine is cellared for a few years.

There were also two wines, one from Chile and one from Spain, that we really enjoyed, but I could only find sparse information especially on the wine from Chile, except for brief almost nothing one sentence descriptions like from a poorly written wine carte.  The first was Loica Andes Series Exotic Blend Cachapoal Valley, Chile 2014. I can only opine about this wine, as Cachapoal Valley is between the Maipo and Colchagua valleys.  The two main varieties are Cabernet Sauvignon and Carmenere.  This wine had a deep color, and reminded me of an aged Medoc.  The second wine was Bodegas Alconde “Magicae” Reserva Navarra 2013.  This wine was a blend of Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.  Navarra has been a wine making region, with the earliest mention in 1356.  Bodegas Alconde is a cooperative that began in 1956.  This wine was aged in oak for eighteen months.  The wine was a garnet red with notes of red fruit, spices and toast.  On the palate the red cherry and raspberry was complimented by full-rounded tannins and a medium count finish with fruit and some terroir.           

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Tenjaku Whisky

Posted on November 9, 2022 by thewineraconteur

While we were at the Las Vegas Food & Wine Festival at Tivoli Village we got slightly astray from drinking wines.  If that is possible, but I saw a vendor table offering Japanese Whisky and I have never had any.  My Bride enjoys Dewar’s Scotch Whisky, even though I thought I would get her a treat of a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue Label, she still prefers her Dewar’s.  I on the other hand I guess I still have my heritage and enjoy Crown Royal Deluxe Canadian Whisky, especially for medicinal purposes; though I have to admit that I have several assorted bottles of Booker’s Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey for sipping out of a snifter in the evening.

Tenjaku Whisky (and they also make a Gin) is created in the city of Fuefuki, in the eastern part of the Yamanashi Prefecture. It is known as the most fertile area for peach and grape production, hot springs and crystal-clear streams.  The water used has been filtered through volcanic rock.  Japan, just like Scotch, Irish and Canadian uses the Anglican spelling of whisky, whereas in the States, it is spelled as whiskey.  The “40” is a blended whisky, that was probably one of the easiest and smoothest whiskies, I have ever tried, very mellow and enjoyable, even from the thimble shots that they were pouring.

The Tenjaku Whisky Pure Malt “43” is a newer product developed by their Master Distiller Kenji Watanabe and uses all pure aged malt whiskies and stylistically is similar to a classic Scotch whisky.  After using the double pot distillation and blending processes, the pure Malt Whisky is aged in used Bourbon barrels for up to six years to allow flavor maturation.  I could see this bottle in my liquor cabinet as it offered notes of smoke, tones of green apples, herbs and vanilla with a wood finish.     

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Voskevaz and a Barolo

Posted on November 7, 2022 by thewineraconteur

As we were still wondering around the Las Vegas Food & Wine Festival at Tivoli Village, we were still grazing on all the food that was being offered.  There was a private catering company that we fell in love with their offering, as I think we must have stopped there several times that evening.  They were serving Braised Short Ribs, and just before serving, they were flash frying the meat to give it a bit of crunchiness; it was totally addicting for both of us.   One of the wine booths that we had stopped by earlier, the lead vendor remembered me as a wine guy and he thought he would stump me, by showing me a wine.  I surprised him, with a photo of the same wine that I had, just a couple of weeks earlier, that I haven’t wrote about, until I could find out if it was going to be available in Detroit.

The wine was a bottle of Voskevaz Winery Karasi Collection Vielle Vignes Haghtanak Aragatsotn, Armenia 2016 from Storica Wines.  Voskevaz Winery was established in 1932, but it really transformed when David Hovhannisyan purchased the winery in 1997.  Voskevaz in Armenian means “golden bunch” and grapes have had a long history for Armenia and with the church, with the Annual Blessing of the Grapes. Aragatsotn is located in the Ararat Valley, adjacent to Mount Ararat where Noah’s Ark landed, but you will need an older map, because the mountain is no longer in Armenia (the valley is) and the Mountain has been renamed.  The land is about 1,000m above sea level and the soil is clay and stone.  During the Soviet Era, the winery made Brandy.  The Karasi Collection focuses on wines made in the historic winemaking tradition of the region, using large Karas (clay amphorae), the oldest karases were found in a cave in Areni over 6,100 years ago, at the oldest winery to date.  Haghtanak is an ancient indigenous grape to Armenia and the vines used are 60-80 years of age, and the ungrafted vines are estimated to be about 130 years of age.  The grapes are hand-harvested and the juice is fermented in karases and then the wine is then aged in Armenian Oak barrels for eighteen months and is bottled unfiltered.  The deep ruby-red wine offers notes of plums, blackberry, cedar and vanilla.  On the palate tones of blackberry, smoke, cedar and spice in a big chewy wine with a nice medium count finish of fruit.  With the use of the karases, only three hundred cases of the wine are being produced each year.  A wonderful wine for lamb, both grilled or roasted, or beef if you don’t want to go full tilt Armenian.

The vendor than produced a second wine that he had on reserve in chests away from prying eyes was Daniele Conterno “Panarole” Barolo DOCG 2017.  Daniele Conterno is the fourth generation to work his family’s estate, which began with eighteen hectares in the heart of the Langhe region. While he considers himself a traditionalist, he is modern enough to become certified organic.  Barolo is so respected and revered in Italy, that it immediately received a DOCG designation in 1980.  This is a single vineyard wine from the Panarole Cru and is a blend of two clones Nebbiolo Michet and Nebbiolo Lampia.  The wine starts with a maceration and fermentation period in wood vat for thirty days, and then ages for thirty months in large Slavonian Oak casks.  A deep ruby-red wine that offered notes of black cherry, plums, hazelnuts and menthol.  On the palate tones of rich black cherry and plums with secondary flavors of tobacco and truffles with sweet tannins and nice longer finish of terroir.  It was drinking perfectly now or if you have patience, I am sure that more secondary and tertiary tones will evolve in five to ten years.           

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AIX and Ethel M

Posted on November 5, 2022 by thewineraconteur

 As we continued to graze and taste at the Las Vegas Food & Wine Festival at Tivoli Village, we were just having fun.  We were talking about wine and food and comparing notes with total strangers, but that was part of the charm of the evening and the event.  Almost all of the food tables we sampled, and if I didn’t, my Bride did; as she is much adventurous than I am about food (I guess I had a sheltered childhood). 

One of the booths was for Ethel M., a fixture in Las Vegas, but you will have to excuse me, even though I love their candies I always think of Lucy Arnaz and Ethel Mertz at a conveyer belt in a chocolate factory, and how they attempted to keep pace with production.  The Ethel M. that I am talking about is Ethel Mars and her candy kitchen that dates back to 1910.  Her son Forrest Mars Sr. created the company in his mother’s honor and you can actually visit and tour the factory on the outskirts of Las Vegas and discover this oasis of chocolate bliss.  All small batches of candy, with no mass production to this day, they still grind the nuts and make the caramel with no chemical preservatives.  With our glasses in hand, we tried a few delightful confections and then we were guided to another table to where they were offering chocolate and wine pairing suggestions.  Who could resist?

After having our sweet tooth sated, we continued on our quest to discover more wines.  We had a couple of glasses of a wine that I have read about and seen, but have never tried; we had Maison Saint Aix Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence “AIX” Rosé 2021.  The region was originally known as Coteaux du Roy René and was granted a VDQS in 1956 and became Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence AOC in 1985.  The district is considered a key appellation of Provence. The region produces rosé, red and white, but it is the rosé that is the major wine of the district.  The region is referred to as Mediterranean, as the vines are not farther than twenty miles from the sea, with long dry summers that usually ensure great harvests.  The soil for the region is of limestone, either as clay or as stones and the region is considered the birthplace of rosé.  Maison Saint Aix is one of the largest domaines in the region and they also enjoy one of the highest elevations in the region.  The wine is a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Cinsault, which is considered the classic blend for the region; and the Grenache vines are fifty to sixty years of age.  The domaine has been actively in the past ten years acquiring state-of-the-art equipment as in new harvesting machinery, temperature controlled Stainless Steel tanks and pneumatic presses.  The wine is a lovely salmon-pink color and offers notes of red fruits, peaches and florals.  On the palate lush citrus fruit tones with crisp and delicate acidity, that calls for the next sip and the wine finishes with a medium count of fresh fruit and terroir.  This was a wine that we found to take to the kids for a dinner at their house, my Bride was totally excited about it.                   

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Two From Daou Vineyards

Posted on November 3, 2022 by thewineraconteur

Wandering around the Las Vegas Food & Wine Festival at Tivoli Village was a great time, especially since we could walk back to our casino hotel.  I know that I have mentioned the wines so far, but there was plenty of food to graze on, as well.  Several restaurants represented some of the talented chefs were very visible and offering quick bites and some were so excellent, that I had to go back for seconds and thirds. 

We found another table pouring wines and my Bride had a glass of Daou Vineyards “Bodyguard” Chardonnay Paso Robles 2020.  George and Daniel Daou, two brothers who were originally in the IT industry purchased part of the Hoffman Mountain Ranch in 2007 and in 2012 purchased the other part of the ranch and they now had two-hundred-twelve acres.  Stanley Hoffman with help from Andre Tchelistcheff created the first modern commercial winery in Paso Robles after Prohibition.  The winery has four tiers or collections and the amount of aging in new French Oak is determined by the collection.  The “Bodyguard” which is offered in a red and a white is from their Expressions Collection.  All the estate fruit is hand-harvested and Daou Vineyards are certified sustainable by SIP (Sustainability in Practice).  This wine is pure Chardonnay and underwent cold fermentation.  The wine was aged for ten months in a mix of thirty percent new French Oak, thirty percent new American Oak and forty percent neutral French Oak.  This was a nice example of a classic California Chardonnay with a soft gold color.  There were notes of apples and pears, spices and a floral bouquet.  On the palate tones of ripe fruit, including secondary tones of tropical fruits, spices and honeysuckle in a buttery feeling with fresh minerality and a nice finish of terroir, curd and a touch of pineapple.  A very refreshing wine on a beautiful Autumn evening.

While I had their Daou Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles 2021 from their Discovery Collection which is bought-in fruit.  The fruit for this wine is from the Daou Family Estates, which is family owned and operated and all hand-harvested.  The goal is to craft Bordeaux style wines that combine Old World tradition and New World techniques.  The wine is a blend of 80.4% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11.5 Petit Verdot, 7.8% Merlot and 0.3% Cabernet Franc.  After fermentation the wine is aged for ten months in half new French Oak and half neutral oak.  The deep purple wine offered notes of black fruit, sandalwood, tobacco and some eucalyptus.  On the palate there were tones of black cherry, raspberry, pomegranate, soft tannins and a medium count finish of red fruit and graphite (terroir).  A very nice wine for early consumption, it struck me as a wine not for the cellar, but quickly to the table.       

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Honey Bubbles Sparkling Moscato NV

Posted on November 1, 2022 by thewineraconteur

We were walking around at the Las Vegas Food & Wine Festival with our empty wine glasses, but at a festival like this, the glasses do not stay empty for long.  We came up to one of the booths that had one of those Kodak moments (at least that is the name that I can conjure up) with the logo of the company emblazoned all over the backdrop.  In fact, some of the photos for this series of articles came from the official house photographer, and my Bride and I happened to appear in a few of the photos. 

As we walked up to the tasting booth/ table/ Kodak moment background my Bride was leading the way.  The gentleman at the booth asked “Have you ever had an Italian Sparkling Moscato” and my Bride, kind of shrugged and replied that she doesn’t like Moscato wines.  Of course, by that time, I got there, and introduced myself and naturally began talking about wines.  Honey Bubbles Wine not only makes a wine, but they are donating proceeds to help combat “Colony Collapse Disorder” which is a malady affecting Honey Bee populations around the world, in fact in 2014 twenty-three percent of the American Honeybee Colonies died per the Huffington Post.  Bees are lauded as the cross pollinators of crops and their survival is crucial not only for viticulture, but for all plants.

Honey Bubbles Sparkling Moscato NV sources their fruit from Asti and Veneto in Italy, but during my research I discovered that originally the company was based in New Mexico, USA.  The wine is a blend of fifty percent Muscat Canelli (Muscat a Petit Grains) and fifty percent Muscat of Alexandria.  The sparkling wine is made using the Charmat Method which is very common in the region.  A prolonged tank fermentation results in less residual sugar (half of most Moscato wines) and a higher alcohol by volume (double of most Moscato wines) which makes Honey Bubbles a semi-sweet sparkling wine.  The soft-rose colored wine offered notes of citrus and tangerines and florals.  On the palate tones of a sparkling mousse body with some sweetness, excellent acidity and a rather nice long finish of peaches and orange zest.  I had to smile, because my Bride started gushing about the wine and how much she enjoyed it, and she made me look it up to see if we could buy some while we were in Vegas to share with the family, but every store that we found listing it, did not have it in stock.         

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Ragtag Wine Company Malbec

Posted on October 30, 2022 by thewineraconteur

Immediately after getting a VIP bracelet to allow us to wander around the Las Vegas Food & Wine Festival with our crystal wine glass in hand, looking very lonely and neglected, because it was empty, we found our first wine to sample.  The gentleman touting and pouring the wines, asked a very simple question “would you like to try a Bordeaux varietal made in Paso Robles?”  I must say even my Bride was intrigued.  Not to mention they had the perfect six-pack wine carrier, which was perfect for the “swag” that was offered at different tables, and we were off to a great start.

In 2016, a dream was born by a sister and her younger brother.  They even created a tasting room in Downtown San Luis Obispo.  Sarah Brewer is an entrepreneur and owner of multiple SLO based business and a self-proclaimed winery muse.  Jeff Huskey, began his career in the local SLO wine industry and graduated with a degree in Wine and Viticulture, with concentration in Enology. Together they had a dream, then a goal to create a winery, but in their words “something meaningful.”

We started the evening festivities with glasses of Ragtag Wine Company Malbec Margarita Vineyard Santa Margarita Ranch AVA Paso Robles 2018.  Santa Margarita Ranch AVA was established in 2014 as one of the designated sites within the much larger Paso Robles AVA.  The region basically is the valley floor from the Salinas River to the Santa Lucia Range, named after the historic Spanish mission outpost of Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa.  Margarita Ranch is the southernmost vineyard of the new AVA.  The fruit was harvested, destemmed and inoculated with a classic Bordeaux style yeast strain.  Upon completion of the malolactic fermentation the wine was aged for seventeen months; twenty percent new American Oak, twenty percent once used French Oak and sixty percent neutral barrels.  There were fifteen barrels produced, ten barrels bottled and two-hundred-forty-three cases made.  A nice deep color for a Malbec with notes of blueberry, currants, raisins and cloves.  On the palate it was a nice big wine with blueberries, currants and spices; a chewy wine with full tannins, nice acidity and a good medium count finish of terroir.  The evening was just getting started.             

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Las Vegas Food & Wine Festival

Posted on October 28, 2022 by thewineraconteur

It was quite happenstance or serendipity, but this vacation of ours was planned quite some time prior and only about a month or so prior to our leaving, did I find out about this event.  Through the wonders of social media, I have met some wonderful people and I have made some great discoveries.  Some people go out of their way to call themselves “influencers” and some don’t need to bother, and of the latter group is one of the gentlemen that I have met.  Earlier, I saw several teaser postings of the Festival and I immediately mentioned it to my Bride, that there was a festival being promoted at Tivoli Village, which is one of the areas that we always include in our morning walks.  Then, there was actual mentions of the festival, and even a mention of tickets, if one was interested.  Eventually, I put two and two together, and realized that we would be there, that Friday evening.  I inquired about tickets for my Bride and I and the next thing I knew we had two VIP tickets. 

Where we originally envisaged in our mind’s eye where the festival would be held, we were wrong, it was in the back half of the Village, and every morning during our walks, we kind of watched as the festival was taking shape.  The general admission for the festival was from 10:00PM to 11:30PM, while the VIP tickets got us in at 8:00PM and we were there as the doors or gates opened.  I had never met the individual that was our benefactor, though over the course of a couple of years, we had some conversations.  I recognized him immediately and went to introduce myself, while my Bride capture the moment, of course, she took the photo, before I got a chance to smile for the camera.  We then received a woven embossed lace bracelet that was put on our wrists, in case any of the guards thought that we were gate-crashers and we each also received a crystal wine glass to taste the wines.

The event reminded me of other culinary events that we have been too, of course those did not have the glamour of Las Vegas.  It was a great evening, and I am glad that our children and grandchildren allowed us a night of our own.  We immediately stopped and had our glasses filled at the first wine table, we encountered, as I mean, an empty wine glass at the Las Vegas Food & Wine Festival almost sounds like a sin.  Then we gave a once over of the grounds and watched as an official festival photographer was doing his job.  There will be plenty of articles as we had fun and notes and photos of the wines were taken. 

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Shopping and Wining in Summerlin

Posted on October 26, 2022 by thewineraconteur

This was the first time that both of us were retired and in Las Vegas, actually, it was the first trip as Senior Citizens, and we definitely ignored any retirement budget that we haven’t created.  We were still on Detroit time, and we were doing our 5K+ walk, basically getting out there before sunrise.  Even though it was warm, especially compared to Detroit, in the dessert before the sun comes up, it is chilly, but as long as we kept walking at a good pace, it was fine.  We kept talking about having breakfast at this one location, but they opened too late for us, but there was another one that just would be opening as we got there at seven in the morning.  Great coffee and we would split a huge breakfast, we will make great Seniors.

It seemed so odd, not to see my Bride checking in at the office several times a day.  We also had a few hours to kill, before we could do anything, as it was still too early for retail.   We had a big day planned as we were going to take our grandson who graduated from high school out for a special dinner later on; our fourth one and only four more to go.  We went to Downtown Summerlin to go shopping, which is probably about twenty square blocks of retail, entertainment and restaurants.  I think she may have finished the Christmas shopping, which is good.  We decided to stop at Grape Street Café, Wine Bar and Cellar.  One of our usual haunts.  My Bride surprised me by getting a Jameson Orange Cocktail and I have to admit, it was very tasty.  Jameson is the largest Irish blended whiskey manufacturer and the third-largest single-distillery whiskey produced in any country.  The company began in 1780 and by 1805 the Jameson family was in full control.  At its peak, the distillery covered two hectares and over three-hundred employees.  The standard blend is aged for a minimum of four years.  There have been a couple of mergers and now the parent company is owned by Pernod Ricard.    

As for me, I had a glass of wine, as if you are surprised. Domaine Vacheron Cuvee Belle Dame Sancerre Rouge 2018.  Domaine Vacheron is a highly regarded producer, now run by third generation winemaking cousins and considered one of the best in the region.  One of the few that produce both white and red wines.  The estate is almost fifty hectares on silex soils (clay and limestone based, topped off with flint). This wine is pure Pinot Noir and Sancerre overlooks the Loire Valley.  They adopted complete biodynamic practices in 2005, in fact the only fertilizer that they use is compost.  The fruit is hand-harvested and Stainless-Steel tanks are used for fermentation, and the winery uses a minimum amount of oak, though I have seen publicity photos of this Cuvee in French Oak barrels. This ruby-red colored wine offered notes of red fruit and smoke.  On the palate the wine had tones of red cherries and plums, full tannins, saltiness or salinity and a beautiful finish of terroir.  It was probably being served too young, but that is life.  An excellent red wine in a land of white wines.    

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The First Night Was at Grimaldi’s

Posted on October 24, 2022 by thewineraconteur

The logistics of getting us, our children and the grandchildren is an almost impossible task, in fact it was.  While we were on holidays, our children were working, and our grandchildren were students and part-time workers as well.  Our first night was the best as we only were missing one college student.  We all ended up at Grimaldi’s Coal Brick-Oven Pizzeria; after all, who doesn’t like pizza?  Grimaldi’s has become of our traditional spots for dinner, and one of the times that we were there, I took a great photo of real snow on the palm trees in the middle of the dessert.   It was funny, I was showing the group photo to my older cousin and he immediately zeroed in on the Old School pizzas and called them mouthwatering.  And, we could walk over there from our hotel. 

Grimaldi’s Coal Brick-Oven Pizzeria began with their first location under the Brooklyn Bridge over a hundred years ago.  The kids all got excited watching the pizza dough being tossed up in the air to stretch, as this is not a conveyer belt, hot lamp pizza franchise.  Since, there were so many of us, we ordered a couple of large Antipasto Salads, and a couple of Caesar Salads for the table.  We had a Margherita for the cheese lovers, and then a couple of extra-large Pies with an assortment of meats and veggies that we sent down to the end where all the kids were sitting.  And then one extra large Pie with pepperoni, mushrooms, green olives, ham and anchovies at my end with my Bride.  Everyone thought I had gone overboard on the ordering, but as I said “who doesn’t like pizza?” There was one little to go box of mixed salads, and I think three slices of pizza left for leftovers.

I had to try their new house wine Rocca delle Macie Mille Gradiº Rosso Toscana IGT Sangiovese 2019.  The Grimaldi’s Food and Beverage team returned to Italy to select a new vintage of their house wine. The name of the wine means “one-thousand degrees” in Italian as a complement to the brick-ovens in their pizzerias.  The wine was created at Rocca delle Macie estate in collaboration with the owner Sergio Zingarelli in Castellina in Chianti. The wine is pure Sangiovese.  Rocca delle Macie was founded by Italo Zingarelli, a television and film producer in 1973 when he purchased La Macie Estate and their two hectares.  La Macie Estate is still the heart of the company, but they now have several additional estates and forty-two hectares of vineyards. The wine is vinified the entire time in temperature control vats and is bottled in the Spring after harvest.  The ruby red wine offered notes of red fruits, and on the palate tones of red cherries and soft tannins with a moderate finish.  It was a very easy drinking red from Tuscany and perfect with the pies.

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