“My story is much too sad to be told, but then practically everything leaves me totally cold…”
Actually, I don’t know the entire story, in fact I know very little about the actual story, but when I saw this bottle, I and probably everyone else probably cried. Here is one of the most famous wines internationally acclaimed and now it is just a curio, a bottle that will never be opened and this particular bottle that should have been truly worthy of being the nectar of the Gods, is probably the most expensive bottle of red-wine-vinegar known to man. This may be the worst example of ullage I have ever seen. Ullage is the Anglicized version of the French word ouillage and it has a couple of meanings, both kind of similar in the big picture with wine. To put it in easy-to-understand layman’s terms, it is the amount of air space between the wine in the bottle and the cork that I am going to discuss, the other meaning is for the evaporation of wine in a barrel while it is aging, before bottling and normally the winery “tops” the barrels with additional wine to keep the barrels full, to prevent oxidation.
If you look at a normal bottle of wine, especially in the older bottles, there was a lead capsule that was applied over the cork and bottle, to further hinder the evaporation of wine if the cork became porous. On an average bottle of wine, the wine actually is filled up to the bottom of the capsule, if not above that line. This particular bottle is called a Jeroboam and is equivalent to six standard bottles of wine, just compare it to the normal wine bottle at its side. I would venture to say that this bottle may have lost the equivalent of a bottle of wine, as the wine is down to actual slope of the shoulder of this bottle and a Burgundian bottle has more of a graceful sloping shoulder compared to a Bordeaux style bottle that most people immediately think of, as the classic wine bottle profile.
The Societe Civil du Domaine de la Romanee-Conti, or DRC is Burgundy’s best-known and most collectible wine producer. DRC is based in the village of Vosne-Romanee and the domaine sells wines from eight different Grand Cru vineyards the span the length of the Cote d’Or. While saying that, there are a total of twenty-eight hectares almost entirely Pinot Noir, except for three white (Chardonnay) Grand Cru vineyards. The Society was created to save the vineyards by skirting the dreaded Napoleonic inheritance laws at that time, and has basically stayed within the realm of one family. Richebourg is one of six Grand Cru vineyards in the village of Vosne-Romanee. The wines are noted to be the most opulent with dense fruit and very long cellar life. Unfortunately, I am sure that this bottle will just enjoy the rest of its days as a decoration in a wine cellar.
I have never understood Mother-in-Law jokes as I had a tremendous one. My Bride was going back and forth about choosing her retirement date. Her client would have loved to have seen her continue, until he retired. She had earmarked a date for retirement to make all the ducks get in a row, but in the end, she decided on another date. As she has repeatedly said, God had told her to retire, because right after she retired, her mother got ill and was hospitalized and they got her back to a stable condition. She was 96, and the last of eleven siblings, and a widow since 2006; mother of five, grandmother of thirteen and great-grandmother of ten. So, she gathered her five daughters and basically announced that she had lived long enough, and really didn’t want to prolong her life, in that she was tired. She first attempted palliative care, and when they wanted to put her back in the hospital for more tests, she talked it over with the five daughters again and she decided on hospice care.
This was the reason that my Bride was sure that God had wanted her to retire. Of the five daughters, one was out of town, two were still working and three of the daughters took turns to make sure that there was round the clock monitoring of their mother, as hospice delivered a hospital bed to her house, along with portable oxygen (when it was required) as well as medicines and other medical equipment. They also put a twin bed in the same room, for the sister that was doing the monitoring. The monitors were enjoying these days, as best as they could, they played cards with her, they cooked and cleaned for her. My Bride even decided to start recording some questions and answers sessions with some of the daughters and the grandchildren. While hospice care is a great service, they should provide even a pamphlet to hand out to the survivors, at least giving to prepare them for the last days. Eventually, even with great meals, oxygen when required, the body was shutting down and morphine became the saving grace. Thankfully, the family had a physician to rely on, and also a grandchild that was a fourth-year medical student doing his classes in the immediate area. I saw less and less of my Bride, as she wasn’t even concerned with the rotation schedule that they had carefully worked out for the initial two-month period. I went a couple of times, but I have never been able to really handle seeing family members as they were leaving this world, ever since I had witnessed my mother in a coma, just before she died when I was fifteen. All five of the daughters were there in the house that they had grown up in, of course it seemed more crowded now. I was home when the phone call came.
They had some lead time, to start make preparations, the funeral home and church was easy. The regime here must have declared war on Canada, as the Canadian mourners complained that it took them about an hour and half to cross the bridge. The luncheon venue was just as difficult. One of her favorite restaurants that she had enjoyed going to once a month with all the female cousins, would only accommodate fifty, sixty perhaps, because they were still have trouble getting people to work, and he seemed rather indifferent to the request even for steady customers. The restaurant may have survived the governor’s edicts, but the owner will destroy it. The daughters found a steak house that could handle the crowd. They created a menu of either Chicken Marsala or Grilled Salmon. Everyone also got a Caesar Salad, which in the evening, can be done tableside. Originally it was going to be one drink for a toast, but then that changed and I went and chose a couple of bottes of wine to open. I figured on two easy to drink wines. The first was Barone Fini Pinot Grigio Valdadige DOC 2021 part of the Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits. The Bonmartini-Fini family began making wine in 1497 when the two noble families merged in a wedding up in Northern Italy. It is still family owned. This wine is their flagship showcasing the grapes of the Valdadige DOC. The fruit is hand-harvested and I will go out on a limb, though not a long limb and presume that the wine was fermented and aged in Stainless Steel, though it is not revealed by the winery. The wine has a nice soft yellow color and offers notes of citrus and lemon. While on the palate tones of melon and apples in a balanced acidity with a touch of mineral terroir at the finish. The second wine I chose for the dinner was Meiomi Pinot Noir California is a very easy wine, even for non-wine drinkers. Meiomi Wines is a California winery that was founded in 2007 by Joe Wagner, the son of Chuck Wagner of Caymus Vineyards. The winery started with Pinot Noir, then a Chardonnay and finally a Rosé. Meiomi means “coast” in the language of the Wappo and Yuki tribes of the region. The Pinot Noir is a blend of three coastal regions; Sonoma County, Monterey County and Santa Barbara County and hence the California AVA. Their first vintage of the Pinot Noir was in 2007 and they produced ninety-thousand cases and quickly became one of the most requested wine labels for restaurants. In 2015, Joe Wagner sold Meiomi Wines to Constellation Brands for $315,000,000, and he stayed on as a consultant for the 2016 and 2017 vintages. The wine is aged for six months in French Oak. The wine has a deep red color and offers notes of perfumed fruit jams, mocha and oak. One the palate, you can tell this was made for the California wine critics as it is a big fruit bomb of ripe strawberries, black cherries, mocha and vanilla, balanced and a lingering finish of fruit. I think that this wine is getting “jammier” with each vintage.
There we were, my Bride was with me, for a wine tasting at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan, but we were tempted with a couple of other wines as well. As I have stated, I think my Bride is truly the star when she enters the shop. The hardest thing is to get her to try new wines, sometimes she gets settled with a wine and this has happened over and over, when she finds a new “go-to” wine and I usually have to try to find a wine that is affordable, as she thinks that I am too capricious. I mean, have you ever heard of a wine lover as being capricious? Then there are other times that I just enjoy looking at her when she tastes something stellar. She was tempted with two stellar wines back-to-back, and it was fun watching her response.
The first wine was interesting as Rioja is a wine region that my Bride will tend to look for on a wine carte, especially is she is with her girlfriends as she enjoys the wines from this region. It was great to watch her enjoy R. Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia Reserva Rioja DOCa 2010. This winery is considered by many to be one of the world’s great wine estates. It was founded in 1877 and the Tondonia Vineyard is so famed, that it is now part of the winery’s name. The vineyard is over one-hundred hectares and provides the fruit for the winery’s top red and white wines. The vineyard is along the Ebro River and the soil is a mix of alluvial clay with a high limestone content. The winery is in La Rioja Alta and near Haro, and is one of the oldest in the entire region. The winery only uses fruit from their own vineyards and they have acquired a respected special guaranty. The wine is seventy-five percent Tempranillo, fifteen percent Grenache and ten percent Mazuelo. Since this wine is a Reserva, it is aged for six years in oak, and the wine is racked twice a year and fined with fresh egg whites, then it is bottled and stored for another six months minimum before being released. This was a pretty red color and offered noted of dried berries and vanilla. On the palate a very rich wine of red and black fruit mellowed with firm tannins, good balance with a nice long finish of terroir.
The other wine made my Bride gush enthusiastically the entire time while were tasting San Giovenale Agricola “Habemus” Red Wine Cabernet Franc Lazio IGT 2018. The estate was established in 2006 in Alto Lazio near the village of Blera. Lazio IGT is the most widely used of the six IGT designations for the region and encompasses all types of wines. The vineyard is clay with stones, one hectare in size and all twelve-year-old Cabernet Franc vines and organic certified. The fruit is hand-harvested in small boxes, destemmed and soft pressed within an hour of harvest. The wine is fermented for fifteen days in Stainless Steel using indigenous yeast. Then aged for thirty months in new French Oak, followed by six months in bottle, before release; there were one-thousand bottles produced. This beautiful garnet red wine offered notes of cherry and dried plum, vanilla and other spices. The wine was just full of fruit, vibrant, elegant, balanced and structured. The finish just went on and on, very long, and I have always felt that Cabernet Franc displays great offerings of terroir. My Bride was over the top, she was totally gushing about the wine, but she looked at me, and said don’t even think about it, as she was retired. Though I did hear about this wine during the rest of the tastings and even on the way home and into the evening.
I actually was able to get my Bride to accompany me to our local wine shop, The Fine Wine Source, for a tasting. Needless to say, my Bride is the celebrity and all the attention is geared towards her, which is fine. She is the exchequer, at least she enjoys that position and since everything is fine, I don’t care, it is one less thing to worry about. Beyond her appreciation of wines, she also has a fascination with gadgets. She could have been Bob the Builder, and it may be from all the times that she would assist her father, who was a plumber by trade. I remember when we had the front foliage removed at the house, she probably wished that we had more, because she had to even call me to share watching the grinding of the stumps, she was enthralled. Yes, we have gadgets, especially in the kitchen.
We were treated to a tasting of Champagne Andre Clouet “Chalky” Brut NV. Champagne Andre Clouet is a grower Champagne in the Grand Cru village of Bouzy and its wines are made exclusively from Pinot Noir on their eight-hectare estate on the famous chalk soils of Champagne. Jean-Francois Clouet, a Bouzy native with a family history in the region before the Seventeenth Century. 1741 is the year that the foundation of house was built by Andre. I was a little surprised, because this wine was pure Chardonnay, from vineyard sources of one third of the southern slopes of Montagne de Reims and two thirds on the Cote de Blancs. The fruit was handpicked, and immediately soft pressed and initial fermentation was done in small Stainless-Steel vats and then aged in the bottle for seven years on the yeasts until ready for the secondary fermentation. All the fruit was from the 2013 vintage which was considered outstanding. This very pretty soft-golden-colored wine with plenty of tiny bubbles offered notes of stone fruit and minerals. On the palate a perfectly balance of acidity and salinity with minerals throughout, including a very nice long finish. I am not a real sparkling wine fan, but this wine, really made me rethink my feelings, it was delicious.
After enjoying this lovely wine, they went and resealed the bottle with the new Coravin Sparkling System. My Bride’s eyes lit up, when she saw this system being used. It will keep the wine and its crisp flavor and effervescence for up to four weeks after opening. After the wine was poured, they took the Stopper’s locking handle all the way to the unlocked position and pressed it firmly into the top of the bottle. They then aligned the CO2 Capsule Charger on top of the Stopper and pressed down firmly. There was a pressure indicator that went from red (for ready) to green when the bottle is fully charged. The bottle of wine that we had tasted from had already been prior sealed with the Coravin Sparkling System and it was truly fresh as a newly opened bottle. It made quite an impression on the Gadget Queen.
It is hard to think that my Bride and I have almost been together from Day One back in 1993, and now we are going to start a new chapter with new adventures…eventually. As one old saying goes “Mann Tracht, Un Gott Lacht” and if you don’t know Yiddish it means “Man Plans, and God Laughs.” Robert Burns also understood this when he started his poem “The best laid plans of mice and men…” Lest, you get concerned, all is well, the new chapter is just not starting off as we had envisioned as we started taking these steps. My Bride feels that God had a reason for her to retire when she did and we are still young and we have lived through inflation periods and Bear Market recessions before.
One of her girlfriends from way back took us out for dinner, actually she was taking my Bride out to celebrate her retirement and I was collateral damage (actually I was invited from the get-go, it just sounds funnier). She had taken us to Rocky’s of Northville and we all actually remember it as Northville Charlie’s. Only nowadays, we were having dinner at the Early Bird Menu and the restaurant was packed, so thank God for reservations. Even during the “science” when our governor was trying to kill all the restaurants, the parking lot at Rocky’s was still packed, with people picking up orders to go. We started by sharing an order of Whitefish Pate. Then there were two orders of Broiled Whitefish and one order of Sirloin Tips.
Now these two have been going round and round for years, about whose turn it is, about buying gifts and all the crazy things that friends end up having discussions about. My Bride started another discussion that will go on for a bit, as she made us get there early, not only to get a table, but to order a bottle of wine, since her girlfriend may drink a glass of wine, when they get together. We had a bottle of Piper Sonoma Brut NV, which was founded in Sonoma County in 1980 by the Marquis d’Aulan, whose family has been linked for generations with Champagne and Premium wines. The sparkling wines are made in the classic technique Methode Traditionelle, just like the wines from Champagne. Each vineyard lot is hand-harvested, fermented and aged separately. Primary Fermentation occurs in tanks and barrels, then bottled waiting for the Secondary Fermentation. The fruit is sourced from across Sonoma County and produced in Healdsburg. This wine is a blend of seventy percent Chardonnay, twenty percent Pinot Noir, three percent Pinot Blanc and seven percent “Aged Reserve Blend.” The wine was a pretty pale golden color with petite bubbles with note of citrus and brioche. On the palate crisp citrus with tinges of green apples and brioche, a nice creamy texture, fresh acidity and a nice finish. Here’s to the next chapter and whatever surprises that come our way.
My dinner club that has been around since the late 1800’s has had many changes over the years. If you look at the founders of the club, you will notice that they were business titans, politicians and from families that still have streets named in the honor in Detroit. At Detroit 300, the club was recognized as one of the oldest societies still functioning in Detroit. Membership has always been limited to forty-four members and originally the meetings were held twice a month; and a member was the host at his home for dinner and drinks; then he enjoyed the hospitality of the other member’s homes during the rest of the course of meetings. It changed venues during the Depression when people stopped having dining rooms large enough for the group; the meetings were held at different residential hotels that had dining facilities or at some of the private clubs in the city. Eventually with members moving to the suburbs, the meetings were held at restaurants and three members were the hosts for the meeting. That is how it was when I joined in 1989.
Nowadays, the hardest thing to find is a restaurant that has a private room, that has become passe. We started our “Summer Attire” rules, which is no neckwear and sport coats and blazers are optional. We were meeting at one of our tried-and-true restaurants Rocky’s of Northville, which began life as Northville Charlie’s. The restaurant as per our tradition offered three choices of an entrée; Broiled Salmon, Chicken Piccata or a New York Strip Steak. All the meals began with a Rocky’s Salad with dried cherries and a Maple Vinaigrette and some great fresh baked dinner rolls (which was one of the hallmarks of the old Charlie Muer restaurants). The meetings always end with a Chocolate Sundae, though here we have Hot Fudge.
Another change in the club, besides the recently installed “Summer Attire” is that drinks are Dutch Treat, whereas for years it was the host’s responsibility. The only good thing is that I no longer have to drink “well drinks” or “wine by the glass.” Usually, another member and I will just buy a bottle, which is two good pours each and much better compared to what is offered by the glass. We were glad to see that Celani Family Vineyards Robusto Proprietary Red Wine Napa Valley 2019 was back on the wine list. Tom Celani is famed for his philanthropic donations in the Detroit area, before he moved to Napa Valley and bought an Italian villa, though he still maintains his Detroit ties and still raises money for charities. While the wine is listed as Proprietary, Tom explained at a tasting that it is pure Merlot, and the winery is very partial to new French Oak. The wine has a nice rich color with notes of red fruits. On the palate the fruit is forward, but not jammy and it is excellent to drink young, very chewy, soft tannins and a nice lingering finish. As soon as the entrées were served, the restaurant lost all its power, as well as the neighboring areas of the city. We had no desserts, and the poor waitress, had to write out every bill on paper receipts and she was hoping that everyone was paying in cash. The dinner was delicious as ever, just very abbreviated, but it was still good to see all the members.
We went to an exhibit “Heroes & Villains: The Art of the Disney Costume” at The Henry Ford. The Henry Ford is the modern way of referring to The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan and possibly the top tourist attraction in the area. As a kid, I can remember riding our bicycles there and touring one of the venues each Saturday, back when a kid could pay for it, out of his allowance. Every day we have our daily 5K walk to start the day and then we work toward a goal of ten-thousand steps, because I guess that has been decreed as the Holy Grail of steps. Actually, we went and walked The Village and then we were going to go and have lunch, but the one area was mobbed, so we went to the exhibit at The Museum first.
I was expecting to see some of the great costumes from the Disney vaults and we did, but they were basically from the recent years, after we had raised our children and kind of even after the grandchildren. So, I was kind of lost, but my Bride could identify the costumes, and she was even surprised that some of the television shows were Disney. I recognized one costume from my youth, and then one costume of a swishy-swashbuckling pirate who has been making more news from his personal life, compared to his cinematic life. Though it was all in all, very interesting and because we have year-round passes, it is a great venue for walking, and we will be back, because I think that my Bride didn’t want to compete with the young Princesses there, but they had a virtual booth, where you could see yourself in some of the costumes.
It was still time for lunch, and the crowds had dissipated. The newest venue at The Henry Ford is a restaurant operated by Plum Market, a specialty grocery chain in the Detroit area. It is set up, so that you can buy pre-boxed meals and beverages or stand in line and get something freshly prepared. My Bride had a Chicken Caesar Salad and a bowl of Chicken Soup. I had Short Rib Tacos and Garlic-Grilled Broccolini. My Bride decided to have a special coffee and I had a glass of Terrazas de los Andes “Altos del Plata” Malbec Mendoza 2020. Chandon Argentina of Moet & Chandon began the Terrazas de los Andes project to find the best sites Argentine wines and based their estate at an historic 1898 Spanish-style winery in the heart of Mendoza. The fruit for this wine is from Lujan de Cuyo and Uco Valley, which are both sub-regions of Mendoza. This wine was aged for eight months in Stainless Steel. This dark inky-purple wine offered notes of cherry and plum. On the palate there was more red cherry and a bit lighter and easier drinking and I attribute it to the aging in Stainless Steel.
After getting over the surprise retirement party, and as we were getting ready to pack up, which was unique, as normally we are the last to leave, as we are there to the end cleaning and straightening. My Bride had all of her gifts to pack up in the car, not to mention, we had Ms. Yoga as well. A total surprise for my Bride and they were talking almost to the time of party, sometimes we have to be sneaky. My Bride had a lot going on with her family, that is still going on, and she couldn’t understand why a schedule that she and three of her sisters worked on, was being upended for the weekend. I guess when she saw that Ms. Yoga was staying at Casa Raconteur, it dawned on her.
Now Ms. Yoga, by rights should have been Castilian, as one would think that the concept of tapas was created by her. She enjoys noshing and would rather have plenty of appetizers instead of one entrée. I knew about it and I really couldn’t give my Bride a heads up about what foods should be forthcoming, before the “tiki” party; just like I couldn’t get the guest bedroom ready ahead of time. I mean there would be no logical reason for me to put fresh linens on a bed, that isn’t being used, nor could I pull out a luggage stand and set it up in the room. Though I could get a stock of Chardonnay wines chilling in the back refrigerator, without causing any eyebrows to go up. One of the wines we had was Bernardus Winery Chardonnay Santa Lucia Highlands, Soberanes Vineyard 2019. Bernardus Winery is one of our favorites from Monterey County and it was at their restaurant that I actually received a glass of Screaming Eagle for a special night and memory. Bernardus Winery and Vineyards was founded by Ben Marinus Pon about twenty-seven years ago with the intention of creating premier wines in the Carmel Valley. His intent was to produce single vineyard designated wines and a Bordeaux blended wine. Soberanes Vineyard is a joint venture of two famed growers Gary Pisoni and Gary Franscioni in the Santa Lucia Highlands. This wine is made in the “Burgundian tradition” and it is almost twelve months between harvest and bottling. The wine is aged in French Oak, of which forty-three percent is new. This pretty soft golden colored wine offered notes of baked apples with crème and spices. On the palate layers of white fruits, buttery oak and a nice long finish.
In the two nights that we had Ms. Yoga, we had a chance to enjoy several wines, I know that I was not surprised and several dishes of food, in an eclectic manner. I know that you wouldn’t be surprised that I was regaling Ms. Yoga about the wines along with side stories. One other wine that I will mention is made from a man that was originally from the Detroit area and still maintains ties to Detroit, especially philanthropically. Another party that he still holds in Detroit is a big cigar night and through the course of years I have met several of the men that are part of this party, but my Bride is happy that I retired from that habit; not to mention that I always enjoyed a panatela with an English market wrapper and that size seems to have disappeared, which I guess is alright with me. We did get to enjoy a Celani Family Vineyards Estate Chardonnay Napa Valley 2020 from the Oak Knoll District. The Chardonnay was whole-cluster pressed and fermented on its lees using forty percent new French Oak and sixty percent in self-stirring egg-shaped concrete fermenters. To maintain the natural acidity of the Chardonnay, malolactic fermentation was inhibited. The nose on this wine was excellent with notes of apple, pear, tropical flowers and brioche and some soft notes of spices and jasmine. The taste was a crisp balance of fruit and floral flavors with a very decent length finish of oak and roasted nuts. Until the next return of Ms. Yoga.
Jim Phelps would have been impressed, especially when there were several times that I thought the cat had been let out of the bag. As I walked up along side of her with two bags of wine, I knew that she wasn’t absorbing the scenario. As Nick Charles was thinking about the wine, I had to watch Nora as she was still in a daze. She first saw a coworker and friend for decades, and because she wasn’t supposed to be at the pool party, even the “surprise!!” was taking time to absorb. Then right behind her, was Ms. Yoga who came in from North Carolina, and then The Wine Raconteur, Jr. and his family followed. After that, the family members that she expected, along with family members that she didn’t expect to see that day. It was wonderful to observe.
The first bottle of wine that I opened evaporated, and the second one of the same almost did as well. I do think that the wine helped her get over the shock and then she was working the “room” in all of her glory. She didn’t even think of noshes or nibbling, but she was laughing and just totally letting loose, as she really didn’t expect this. I then opened up Black Star Farms Arcturos Sur Lie Chardonnay Michigan 2020. There is no explanation of where the fruit was harvested, and it could actually be from two of their own vineyards which are located in different AVA designations, but it is not stated. This is a non-oaked style wine, which I presume to mean that it is Stainless Steel. The wine had a beautiful soft-gold color with lush floral notes. On the palate tones of citrus, apple and pear in a medium bodied wine with a short finish with a subtle mineral tinge.
Finally, she was back to herself, and relaxing. Even though she retired, she had been quite intense with other affairs, so this was a great day for her. The amazing thing and the common theme of all three of her parties was that there was a taco station at each one and I had brought Margaritas, as the host had a frozen drink maker, and on a summer day, for those that needed it, a Frozen Margarita could really hit the spot, especially if you weren’t using the pool. While I was doing beef, I am sure that my Bride was doing chicken in her tacos, and we were both enjoying the Guacamole, and all of the other stuff. I didn’t know the menu, so the wine I brought for the main course was over kill, but what the hell. We were enjoying Blason D’Issan Margaux 2015 from Chateau D’Issan, one of the Third Growths from the legendary Classification of the Medoc in 1855. Blason is a French word for “coat of arms” and I guess that is a nice way for them to list their second label. Chateau D’Issan is from the commune of Margaux and it is one of the districts that I totally enjoy, encountered the most and probably drank the most or it may be tied with Pauillac. The Chateaux is rather legendary and has been recorded in history as the wine served in 1152 at the marriage between Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II of England. The best word in my mind to describe the great wines of Margaux is silky, I know it is a rather ethereal word, but it just seems like the perfect word when describing certain beverages. The major difference between the first and second label, since all the fruit is from the same estate, is that the fruit harvest for Blason is from the younger vines, and since they started making this wine in 1995, as an alternative wine that is more fruit forward and drinkable much earlier. One hears of some of the leading Margaux wines still being in their prime from the earliest years of the last century. This wine is sixty percent Cabernet Sauvignon and the balance is Merlot. The Blason is aged for fourteen to sixteen months in oak, of which a third is new, the blending and the aging is slightly different compared to the first label. She fell in love with this wine from the first sip, so she made sure that we had a six-pack before we left that tasting. The party was a success, and all the while as I drove home, Nora Charles was upset that she had missed some of the obvious blunders and some of the minor ones as well from people concerning this party.
My Bride had retired and was honored at her work and by her client, but she thought that there should have been a party among the family. There was a lot going on that whole last month along with some problems that were not foreseeable, So, she left her party, more on the back burner. She can be a take-charge individual, and there were plans afoot, that I had to try at my end to keep her from deciding on doing something herself. Originally, there was going to be a Tiki pool party for all the July birthday celebrants, and then one celebrant, didn’t want to be part of the big group, and then the Louisville family was coming up, for an airshow at Selfridge Airforce Base, so we had a time schedule, so she knew that we couldn’t get to the house for the party until two in the afternoon, otherwise she would have wanted to get to the party at eleven or so in the morning to help with the food preparation and cleaning and what have you.
The day arrived and my Bride was tired, and since she was only going to a pool party, she didn’t want to do her makeup or get all dressed up, though I told her that she could use a little color. She wanted me to drive, normally she drives as she is always in a hurry, and I have told her repeatedly that she must relax and start calming down. As we were driving to the pool party, we got a call asking if we could pick up a bag of ice, and of course I was trying to make every red light on the way, and she was getting upset with my driving and the traffic. When I got to the street, I saw that there was a lot of cars parked up ahead and I saw a tent up on a front yard, so I parked several car lengths away and we unpacked the car. She wanted to know why I brought so much wine this time, and I told her, that the last time, she made go light and I was embarrassed, because I had a thirst still. As we started to get on the sidewalk to walk to our destination, she was a bit flustered as we had to get back on the street, because someone was power washing their motorized tricycle. She didn’t even look up, as she has a tendency to look down at her feet, because of some prior tripping accidents.
“Surprise!!!!” I immediately went and opened up a bottle of wine and got a couple of glasses. I knew that she would want a drink, and I figured that she would be totally mad at me for not wanting her to get all dressed up, when she thought, she was going to a pool party. It didn’t even dawn on her at first, that the party was in her honor. She got teary eyed and couldn’t immediately focus and she saw a couple of faces that didn’t belong at the family get-together. I gave her a glass of Gazela Vinho Verde DOC Minho 2019 from Portugal and owned by Sogrape Vinhos; as this has become one of her go-to wines at the house. Sogrape Vinhos began in the wartime environment of World War Two and was started in 1942 by a group of friends and the vision of one man to promote Portugal into an international wine making country. Fernando van Zeller Guedes led the group and the first global brand that they developed was Mateus Rosé which is now sold in over one-hundred-twenty countries and was a total success. They began as a negocient buying barrels of wine from small producers in the Douro and bottling in a rented facility. Through wise investments and careful development, they now own over eight-hundred-thirty hectares of vineyards in all the key Portuguese wine regions. In 1982, they acquired Solar and Quinta de Azevedo in the Vinho Verde region and created their brand of Gazela in 1984. Vinho Verde DOC in the Minho region is famous for their straw-colored light, tangy youthful wine, in fact the wine is so youthful, that is how it got the Vinho Verde name, which means “green wine” and it is also used for the small amount of red (tinto) wine from the district as well. The wine is so “green” that there is a natural petulance or effervescent finish, not enough to be considered a sparkling wine, but distinct from a still wine. This wine is pure Loureiro for a varietal, which is a light skinned grape famed in Minho, it tends to be blended with Albarino, which is thought to be a relative, but the jury is still out. There are references to Loureiro going back the late 18th Century in Minho of this grape. The party was a success and more to come, and she didn’t kill me.
The Wine Raconteur 