A Return to Boyne Mountain

Posted on July 16, 2022 by thewineraconteur

As my Bride was getting ready to turn over the reins to retire, we still had one more business trip to attend at Boyne Mountain.  Boyne Mountain is a ski resort in the winter, and they offer other activities in the summer months; for those of you who know, that is Non-Construction and Construction.  According to her HR department, she has to lease a vehicle, and it was the first time, we had to drive in a foreign car.  I had always stressed that because she was dealing with municipalities that may have been hurt over the years by the cyclical trends of the automotive industry, that she should always drive an American car, like a Ford or a Chevy (and never anything flashy).  There was only one cigar lighter slot, so we had to use it for cell phones for navigation, and the car refrigerator that we travel with, had to use ice packs.  I had to drive, because the driver’s seat had no up or down adjustments, and she couldn’t see the road, and leave it to me to complain that there was no armrest for the driver, as I had to use her purse as an arm rest.  Then when we got to our room, you had to place one of those computer coded door keys into a slot next to the first light switch, which enabled the air conditioner to be set.  The room was a sauna, maybe great to go with the hot tub spa, in the main room, but not conducive for enjoyment.  We survived. 

The first night was a cocktail reception, with lots of appetizers and finger foods.  There were three different tables to visit and try.  Try as I might, I just have always felt awkward with carrying plates of food, whether an affair of this nature, or a buffet offering at a wedding.  When I was young, I think that I was embarrassed because of my appetite, and the amount of food to keep hollow legs nourished.  I continued this attitude with me to this day.  I guess I just like a sit-down dinner.  The good news is that a few of our usual group were going to go to a pub, after the reception and I was game, and so was my Bride, 

It turns out that there was about twelve or fourteen of us, that decided to go out and have some more nourishment, so maybe it isn’t just me.  We ended up at a pub on the grounds of the resort, and I am sure that during the ski season, this pub probably really rocks.  It was classic bar food, a little on the salty side (to make you drink more) and the vegetarians in the group were able to get a few choices.  My Bride went with their version of a Caesar Salad with a slice of Salmon.  I went with a classic: a Cheeseburger with Sweet-Potato Fries (for my Bride).  Now some of you, may shake your head, but we enjoyed a white wine, as it was still very hot and sunny even into the evening.  We enjoyed Le Coeur de la Reine Touraine Sauvignon 2020, by Domaine Jacky Marteau of the Loire Valley.  The estate is in its fourth generation of family winemakers and is twenty-nine hectares of which twenty hectares of Sauvignon Blanc and four-and-a-half hectares of Gamay all on clay-silica based soil.  Touraine is in the very heart of the Loire Valley, the city of Tours is half way between Sancerre and Nantes.  Touraine is a regional appellation of about five-thousand hectares and almost sixty percent is white, but it also produces red, rosé and sparkling (in all three colors).  They use pneumatic pressing and cold fermentation for seven days in Stainless Steel.  The wine is a light yellow with notes of notes of citrus and a touch of cassis.  On the palate, tones of citrus and bit of spice, with some great acidity that ends with a nice medium count finish accenting spice and terroir. 

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Walloon Lake Inn

Posted on July 14, 2022 by thewineraconteur

We were on our last business trip and we were going to the northern part of the lower peninsula, and we were going a day early to have some “us” time as well, so that we could be refreshed for the board meeting.  We also took a slight right turn and went back to Mackinaw City, where my Bride saw a piece of lawn art and she had been thinking about it since she saw it, on our last trip.  I was not thinking of lawn art, but I always like to ask and research an area to find someplace, hopefully new to us and worth our effort.  We went to the Walloon Lake Inn for dinner on our first night up and it was an excellent excursion.  The building itself was built in 1891as the Fern Cottage an inn on the lake for travelers.  It was renamed the Walloon Lake Inn in 1981 and totally renovated in 1981. 

We were seated at a table overlooking the Walloon Lake and you really couldn’t have asked for a better table.  I even have to mention that one of the walls in the Men’s Room kind of made me homesick for my cellar; I later found out that the Lady’s Room did not have such décor.  We started off with two appetizers.  My Bride had the Ahi Tuna Tartar with Organic Mixed Baby Greens, Mango, Avocado, Pickled Red Onion, Peanuts, Cracker Ring, Honey Lime Vinaigrette and Blood Orange Aioli.  I had the Gnocchi with Wild Mushrooms, Roasted Garlic and Sherry Cream.  We started off with a bottle of Marc Bredif Vouvray Classic 2020 one of the many labels that are part of Domaine de Ladoucette. The original estate dates back to 1787, when the Comte Lafond bought the estate from the illegitimate daughter of Louis XV and, to this day, the estate is owned by his descendants.  Marc Bredif created sparkling Vouvray in the early Twentieth Century.  The cellar goes back to the Tenth Century with vintages back to 1874.  Baron de Ladoucette purchased Marc Bredif in 1980.  The wines are now made at the Chateau du Nozet of Ladoucette.  The “Classic” means the traditional interpretation of Chenin Blanc Vouvray.  The soils are mostly chalk clay, but some are flint clay, and most of the vines are twenty-five to thirty years of age.  The grapes are hand-picked, and undergo pneumatic pressing, and only the free running juice is used for this wine and the juice is left to clarify for almost two days.  Two months of temperature-controlled fermentation, followed by nine months on the lees in Stainless Steel vats.  The pale-yellow wine offers notes of peach and pear, along with citrus.  On the palate, the tones of pineapple and citrus, some lemon zest in a big full wine with a nice medium count finish of exotic fruits and terroir.

My Bride had the Seafood Risotto which was a Vegetable Risotto with Scallops, Shrimp in an Herb-Butter Wine Sauce.  I enjoyed a Citrus and Chile Braised Short Ribs with Whipped Potatoes, Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Baby Carrots in a reduction sauce of including Cilantro-Parsley Chimichurri.  Afterwards, we shared a Lemon Tart with Toasted Merengue and Raspberry Coulis.  While my Bride continued with the Marc Bredif, I went with the Gibb Dusty Red Napa Valley 2019. This is a third generation of a wine growing family that started in the 1950’s along with walnuts and dates.  In 2000 they began experimenting with winemaking and in 2013 they introduced Gibbs, with some vines that go back sixty years. The wine is a blend of forty-eight percent Cabernet Sauvignon, twenty-two percent Merlot, thirteen percent Malbec, ten percent Petit Verdot and seven percent Cabernet Franc.  Each varietal was individually fermented and then blended prior to bottling.  The wine was aged for twenty-two months in French Oak and only eight-hundred-twenty-four-cases were produced.  This was a very pretty deep Bordeaux style wine with notes of cherries and spices.  On the palate there was a comingling of black and red cherries, very velvety with a nice finish of spices.  A real pretty wine with food, that wasn’t the typical California, in your face blend, but more Continental and plusher. 

        

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A Great Dinner to Finish What van Gogh Started

Posted on July 12, 2022 by thewineraconteur

It was a such a pleasant day that we had with our son and his wife, first the Immersive van Gogh exhibit, then off to a street side wine bar at The Royce and finally dinner at Vertical Detroit.  Vertical Detroit opened in 2015.  It is located in a rehabbed former residential hotel, in the perfect part of the new Downtown Detroit, where everything is happening.  They were also the first high-end, wine-centric restaurant and wine bar in the city.

We started off by insisting that they had to have the Grapes as an appetizer, I know it sounds odd, but Grapes rolled in Brie, coated with grated Pistachio and drizzled with a Gastrique; we had to have a couple orders of it.  We also shared the Smoked Trout Toast with Radishes, Pickled Onions, Mustard Seeds and Dill. The women then had Pork Belly with Black Bean Puree, Pineapple Salsa and Micro Cilantro; Vertical Caesar with Romaine, Focaccia Crouton, Parmesan and Scallops and an order of Wild Mushroom Risotto with Caramelized Onion, Parmesan and Chives.  The wine was Domaine Daulny Sancerre Le Clos de Chaudenay 2020 and Etienne Daulny owns fifteen hectares of vines divided into about fifty different plots within Sancerre and none of these wines see Malolactic fermentation.  Les Clos de Chaudenay is a single vineyard cuvee of Sauvignon Blanc, right next to the winery.  Most of the aging occurs in Stainless Steel, but about twenty percent is aged in well used six-hundred-liter “puncheons” and then the wines are blended at the end.  A nice straw-colored wine that had notes of grapefruit, lemon and herbs.  On the palate, tones of a classic Sancerre, a bit racy, well balanced with a nice long crisp finish with terroir.   

The men’s choices were a bit heavier with our son having a Double Bone Pork Chop with Grits, Greens and Red Eye Gravy.  I had an order of Soy Glazed Beef Short Ribs with Sticky Rice, Charred Broccolini and an Herb Salad.  A red wine was called for and Domaine Monthelie-Douhairet Porcheret Monthelie “Clos du Meix Garnier” Monopole 2017 from the Cote de Beaune region of Burgundy.  The Domaine was created over three hundred years ago, and they still use the original vaulted cellars.  The estate covers thirteen hectares of vineyards in Monthelie, Pommard, Volnay and Meursault.  Monthelie is a subregion that has its own appellation since 1937 and there are fifteen Premier Cru climats in the area, and a village of only two-hundred count population. The Meix is an early Middle Ages collection of buildings from a large-scale farming operation.  It is their Monopoly of this vineyard of 1.36 hectares with vines that average about sixty years. The fruit is hand-harvested in small crates to avoid compressing the crops and all the grapes are de-stemmed.  The wines are aged for eighteen months in classic Burgundian barrels and ten percent are always new to the mix.  The wine is a beautiful ruby red with notes of red and black cherries.  On the palate, the tones of cherries are blended with herbs and spices and finished off with a nice long count of terroir.  A delightful wine and a wonderful meal, until the next time we get there.        

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Immersive Van Gogh and Wines

Posted on July 10, 2022 by thewineraconteur

Believe it or not, there was actually an Immersive Van Gogh exhibit that finally appeared in Detroit.  It began with teasers on social media sites, then they began selling tickets to the exhibit without telling anyone where it would be staged, then finally they announced a venue and then we bought tickets.  It appeared and then it disappeared just like everything else in 2020, and was there even a 2020 or was it cancelled by the science that was talked about, but never revealed.  Even Van Gogh himself would have had to die, because he wouldn’t have been able to wear the mask that our harridan demanded.  Then gradually there were teasers again that the exhibit was going to be running again, but the next venue fell through and even the newspapers (yes, I am old enough that I still admit to reading the paper) were questioning if it was truly legit. Yes, it happened, and we received our tickets that we had paid for, over a year ago and to make it up to us, we are supposed to be issued tickets to their next Immersive Klimt.  The venue was at the old Harmonie Club, classic beaux-arts designed building that somehow survived the wrecking ball in Detroit, as it was built in 1895 and when I was in high school the area was known as Harmonie Park. I guess it is hard to express the exhibit, it was kind of fun and different as you seemed to be in several different paintings, and your vertigo at times was even challenged as the paintings rolled up and down the walls while you were surrounded by different parts of the art.

After the exhibit, we were going to go to another gem that had been restored in Detroit, called Cliff Bells which was famous from probably the Forties on, until it lost its luster like most of Downtown Detroit and by the time, I was in high school it catered to working girls and their clients.  Alas, we were too early, so we walked around the corner and went to The Royce, a wine bar that we had been to a little while ago.  It was a pleasant day and we sat out on the sidewalk patio to have some wine. My Bride enjoyed a glass of Azienda Agricol Benito Ferrara Terra D’Uva Greco di Tufo DOCG 2020.  Benito Ferrara began in the early 1900’s and they now have eight hectares of vineyards.  Terra D’Uva translates to Land of the grapes.  Greco di Tufo DOCG was granted in 2003 and is the most famed white wine of the Campania region.  Tufo not only refers to the village, but also describes the limestone tufa. The grape varietal is also known as Greco, very predominate in Campania, as is believed to have been introduced to the region by one of the ancient tribal groups of Greece from Thessaly.  This particular wine is pure Greco di Tufo, but the classification only requires eighty-five percent. After harvest the grapes are soft pressed, the wine matures in Stainless Steel for about six months on the lees.  The soft golden hued wine offered notes of lemons, pears and almonds.  A very crisp wine with tones of pears and a nice lingering finish of terroir.   

I decided to have a glass of Paltrinieri Radice Lambrusco di Sorbara DOC Emilia-Romagna Vino Frizzante Secco 2020.  The winery was begun in 1926 and there are seventeen hectares of vineyards in Cristo di Sorbara, in the province of Modena.  Lambrusco di Sorbara is regarded as the finest of the various specified Lambrusco clones and is planted on sandy, alluvial soil. The DOC rules for this wine allows for sixty percent Lambrusco di Sorbara, but this wine is pure.  The regulations also allow for either Traditional Method or Charmat Method and this wine is Traditional.  While the winery refers to this wine as a light ruby red, I would call it more of a salmon-orange in color, and the glass didn’t allow the fine bubbles to appear.  The wine offered notes of grapefruit, strawberry, yeast and violets.  On the palate, tones of pomegranate, a light mousse feel, very dry and with good acidity.       

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She Did It

Posted on July 8, 2022 by thewineraconteur

No, she didn’t divorce me, but she is retiring, at least that is what her company has now decided.  For the longest time, she thought that no one was remembering that she was actually going to retire, as she was a fixture there.  They were making plans for the monthly meeting with the Account Execs across the state and she was going to turn over the reins to her heir apparent.  She was a bit frazzled, as she was told that where she thought that they would have the lunch afterwards, could not handle the group, but she blamed it on the problem that all the restaurants are having trouble getting help.  Then she was told that another place had been found, so she relaxed a little bit, and then when she was told to invite me and our son and family here in town, she was elated that they remembered that she was retiring and they were giving her a party.

The party was at a restaurant called Mex, not far from her office and it was going to be a Taco Party.  I decided to get there early, to see if I could be of any assistance, or if I was just going to be considered a hindrance to the planners.  When people starting saying “where is she?” I joked that she is probably checking her emails and messages, before she came to the party; and I was right.  There were some elaborate posters made, including one that had candy bars as part of the good luck message, and there was a carry-out pizza box that had dollar bills fanned out and the edges rolled like a crust, with a generous number of quarters representing pepperoni.  The box was evening lined with scratch-off instant lottery tickets (I guess as insulation to keep the pizza warm). There were her Account Execs, other members of the team that get a lot of the grunt work done, plenty of former coworkers from across the state came to celebrate as well as some of our family.  Her client and his staff, also made a great showing to wish her off, even though they knew that they would see her about a week later at the Board Meeting.  She was on the verge of crying several times, because of all the attention that she was receiving.

I also figured that I would show up early and have something cold, because everyone else would be still on the clock and the company has a zero-tolerance for drinking during business hours, but I don’t count, plus I thought it would make for a great article and another wine memory.  Normally with Mexican food I would have a Margarita, but this place is more Mexican food for Americans, so I had a glass of Chasing Venus Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough, New Zealand 2021 by the Matchbook Wine Company.  Matchbook Wine Company is a five-generation family-owned winery in Northern California’s Dunnigan Hills. Sauvignon Blanc is basically the wine of Marlborough and hence New Zealand, as eighty percent of Marlborough is Sauvignon Blanc and it is very successful; the wine is noted for its relative lack of subtlety, its intense flavors of green pepper and gooseberry, and a character that has been famously described as “cat’s pee on a gooseberry bush.”  The soft golden colored wine offered the classic notes of grapefruit, gooseberry and herbs: on the palate tones of citrus with bright acidity and a short finish of citrus.  

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N’awleans in Marquette

Posted on July 6, 2022 by thewineraconteur

On one of my first trips to Marquette with my Bride, while she was working and I was practicing for retirement, I discovered by accident Lagniappe, a Cajun-Creole restaurant.  It is just me, always asking about restaurants and this restaurant opened in 2006.  It has been a few years since we have been to New Orleans, but she still has apron and her recipes from a culinary class that she attended one year. She tried to meet one of her contacts for dinner, as this would be her last professional tour of the Upper Peninsula and they declined, but we still went.  Lagniappe loosely translates to a small requested gift from a merchant after a purchase, and first recorded for the world by Mark Twain in Life on the Mississippi in 1883.

My Bride can only find the restaurant by the “alley” entrance off of a municipal parking lot and when we went in, I was admiring some of the ceiling tiles over the bar area, that were decorated with some of the watering holes in The French Quarter and we had only visited a couple that were depicted.  My Bride had the Atchafalaya Jambalaya; the famous one dish meal of chicken, ham, Andouille sausage, vegetables, seasonings and rice.  I went for something a bit more exotic that I can’t readily find around home and that is Crawfish Etouffee; a spicy dish of crawfish tail meat smothered in a roux-based sauce of minced caramelized vegetables with seasonings over rice. We enjoyed Clos du Bois Chardonnay California 2019.  Clos du Bois was originally a producer in Sonoma County founded in 1974 by Frank Woods and he started with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  He was also the first to introduce a Bordeaux-style red in Sonoma. One of the first to promote sustainable and green vineyard practices, including solar panels.  Frank Woods sold the winery in 1988 and it eventually became part of Constellation Brands Inc.  They in turn just sold this winery and some other wineries to Gallo in 2021.  This is a good basic wine that is produced in bulk found in plenty of restaurants, grocery stores and wine shops.  This is their basic and classic Chardonnay that I am sure is done in Stainless Steel with the addition of wood chips.  This wine is always safe to order as it offers a soft gold color with notes of apple, pear and toasted oak.  On the palate there is citrus, white fruits, butter and oak with a short finish of fruit.

As we were getting ready to go back to the hotel, we ended up meeting her contact person at another place that she was excited to have me visit.  We ended up at the Courtyards and it was an eclectic mix of food and drinks and there was a food truck parked in a bay of the Courtyards offering Cajun-Creole food.  My Bride discovered the Courtyards on her last trip, which was without me, but she called me to tell me about it, and the group that she was with. We didn’t have any food, as we were stuffed from our meal, but there was always room for something liquid.  We had a couple of splits of Cantine Vedova “Casa Farive” Prosecco DOC Extra Dry NV.  The Vedova family is one of the largest and well-known wineries in Valdobbiadene.  They began in the 1950’s.  The Casa Farive brand covers all the different parameters found in the production of Prosecco from the Charmat Method and they also produce some vintage wines as well.  This wine was a light straw color with notes of white fruit and florals.  On the palate some citrus and some apple in a dry wine with a finish of fruit afterwards.  This was just a nice drinking wine with friends and the perfect way to end the trip.   

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Zephyr Wine Bar and Tap Room

Posted on July 4, 2022 by thewineraconteur

While we up in Marquette, we tried to make the most of it, even to a wine bar.  I wish we had more wine bars back home.  It is fun to go to places that are not cookie-cutter chains that blur one’s memory of one city with another.  “Given my druthers” I would prefer the quirkiness and charm of a community instead of a McDonalds; otherwise, why bother going some place new?  That is even true with retail establishments, I have always enjoyed going into a real store and hopefully encounter real professionals and hopefully not little “Mr. Dress-ups” by virtue of family or marriage, but people that really have heart in the business.

We found this wine bar that had both indoor and outdoor sitting and it was pure enjoyment.  Zephyr Wine Bar and Tap Room is actually owned by a wine retail establishment in Marquette and now they also have a weekend restaurant called the Cellar Restaurant that offers a four-course, prix fixe menu that changes weekly to feature seasonal foods and “highlight whatever our chefs are excited about.” They offer wine pairings by their in-house sommeliers or from the extensive wine list that we encountered when we sat down to enjoy the ambience of the wine bar.

We decided to enjoy Domaine Lupin Roussette de Savoie Frangy 2018, because during the lost year of 2020 we discovered a bottle of from this region that had been lost or misplaced and by the time we discovered it, it had passed its prime and only the sink could enjoy it.  Bruno Lupin is considered by some to be the “rockstar” of Savoie.  His grandfather started the business, and Bruno after his studies made a side trip and became the winemaker for a large cooperative, but eventually he decided to return home and go for quality over quantity.  Frangy is one of four named Crus in Savoie and considered the best of the four.  The wines from Frangy are made using the Roussette grape or Altesse, as opposed to the Jacquere grape used in the other three, and those wines are considered more quaffable. While most of Savoie has limestone soil, Frangy is distinct, because it is more remote and has a mixture of glacial molasse with a covering of limestone and clay.  Roussette or Altesse is now considered an indigenous grape of the region and is also known as Anet, Fusette, Prin Blanc and Marestel.  Some of the vines are seventy years in age, grown organically with a hands-off with minimal intervention outlook.  The crops are hand-harvested and only indigenous yeasts are used.  After initial fermentation, only a partial Malolactic fermentation is allowed.  A pretty golden color the wine offers notes of florals and almonds.  On the palate, a unique blend of pear, honey, bergamot and almonds with a good mixture of acidity and a wonderful finish of terroir.  A very distinctive and interesting wine that is not often seen.        

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Dinner in Marquette at The Vierling

Posted on July 2, 2022 by thewineraconteur

Our next destination was to Marquette, Michigan during our trip in the Upper Peninsula.  In the Spring time, it is not that unusual to still see ice on the lake or on the shoreline.  It may be the most bustling city in the Upper Peninsula with a large hospital and a university.  There are plenty of hotels and restaurants and even purveyors of cannabis and sometimes it seems like they are located across the street from each other, now that it is legal, as I am sure that it wasn’t sold there before it was legal.  If you are into architecture, it is a wonderful city to visit and to walk around, but be prepared as there are some pretty steep hills.

Our first night we ate at The Vierling, I think I ate there first on one of our trips, as I had lunch there, while my Bride was conducting business, this was her final hurrah for a business trip.  For over one hundred years there has been a restaurant open that was established by Martin Vierling, it has had different owners, but the name has carried on. The Vierling also was home to Marquette Harbor Brewery, but as you can surmise, I was not there to sample beer.  The interior is very eclectic with plenty of old-time leaded glass and interesting posters and art.  My Bride had Whitefish, as she claims that she cannot get enough of it, when she is up north.  I had Shrimp Scampi and it was a better version compared to some dishes that I have had over the years by that same name. 

While The Vierling touted the Marquette Harbor Brewery, they had a rather eclectic and terse wine carte and I did find something interesting. We had a bottle of Broglia “La Meirana” Gavi DOCG del Commune di Gavi 2020.  La Meirana is a thousand-year-old estate with sixty-five hectares of vineyards by Broglia, who were in and still are, also in the textile industry and is managed by the third generation of the family.  The estate was bought in 1972 and a new winery was built in 1983. In 1988, the DOCG was granted for this pure Cortese di Gavi wine which has a history going back to the 1600’s, and the famed white wine of the Piedmont.  After fermentation the wine is left to mature for six months on the lees in Stainless-Steel. The wine is a light straw color with greenish tints.  The wine offered notes of green apples and florals, and on the palate, a bone-dry crisp fresh and fruity wine, with nice acidity and a good medium length finish of terroir and almonds.  A perfect wine for our dishes.

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Dinner in Sault Ste. Marie

Posted on June 30, 2022 by thewineraconteur

After leaving Mackinac Island we arrived at Mackinaw City, and we did a bit of wandering in the city, before the next leg of our drive.  We had to cross the “Mighty Mac” or the “Big Mac” or the Mackinac Bridge, the longest suspension bridge between anchorages in the Wester Hemisphere and just shy of five miles long.  It is so scary to some, that there are drivers that will drive your vehicle for you across from Mackinaw City to St. Ignace or the opposite direction.  Originally envisioned in the 1880’s, it was completed in 1957.  We were on our way to Sault Ste. Marie, the home of another engineering feat the St. Marys’ Falls Canal or The Sault Locks (known regionally as the Soo Locks). They enable ships to travel the Great Lakes and they average about ten thousand ships in the nine months that they are open, because of ice.  The original was built in 1855 and transferred to the U.S. Army in 1881 and the Corps of Engineers are in the midst of more work.  You used to be able to just walk around the locks, but now you have to walk through metal detectors and checkpoints.

We stayed over night at the Hotel Ojibway, which is where we have always stayed, a nice stately hotel overlooking the locks.  Unfortunately, the Corps of Engineers have commandeered the dining facilities at the hotel for additional offices, so we missed a fine dinner at the hotel.  We ate at the Lockview Restaurant about two blocks from the hotel, and on the second floor, one could watch the shipping traffic. The restaurant began in 1945 and the original owner and the dishwasher according to legend used to go to the locks after breakfast to catch fish for the lunch and dinner and business.  My Bride had the Lake Superior Whitefish Dinner, which they offer six different ways and she had it broiled, she is a traditionalist.  I had the Fish and Chips; the fish was Whitefish and I substituted the chips for Onion Rings.  I mean, if I am going to have fried food, I may as well go all the way.

Since we were going with Whitefish, the finest white wine they had was an R Mond Chardonnay from California.  I was intrigued, as I had never heard of the brand, and I thought I had encountered most of the popular priced California wine brands between restaurants and catering companies.  We had a bottle of Robert Mondavi Winery Private Selection Buttery Chardonnay California 2019, and if I had put my thinking cap on, I could have deduced R Mond for what it was.  Robert Mondavi Winery is one of the most famous names and wine producers in Napa Valley. It was founded in 1966 after splitting from his family’s business, Charles Krug. They make from “cult wine” status to popular priced wines in his Woodbridge collection.  The Private Selection is listed as having wines from the Central Coast, but this wine carried a California AVA.  I couldn’t find any winemaker notes, but I will venture to say that the wine was probably done in large Stainless-Steel vats with oak chips added, this is a much affordable method of creating “buttery” wines without the major expense of oak barrels.  The wine had a nice golden color and offered notes of a buttery Chardonnay, and on the palate, one got the same tones.  The next day we were on the road again.      

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Carriage House at Hotel Iroquois

Posted on June 28, 2022 by thewineraconteur

As we wandered around Mackinac Island, it dawned on us that something was different this time on the island, compared to all of the other times.  We were there on the weekend, and we have never been there except during the week and the island was overrun by rude and impertinent people; we made a vocal decision to never return on the weekend and only go during the week.  The Hotel Iroquois is a charming three plus story structure, that could have been a home at one time, or it could have been a boarding home, but it is a reminder of another era.  We arrived for dinner before five for our reservation, the restaurant was not opened yet, but we were led to the bar for something refreshing. 

As we were looking over the menu and the wine carte, the bartender was excellent, as he kept us entertained with this wonderful banter and his knowledge.  We couldn’t decide between two bottles of wine, and he poured a tasting of the two, and my Bride decided that her original choice didn’t compare to what I thought we should have, and that is not a boast on my part; “a happy wife, a happy life.” The wine that did not make the cut was Trig Point “Signpost” Chardonnay Russian River Valley 2018, and from all indications from the label, it would have been perfect.  A nice pale golden wine that offered notes of pear and melon.  On the palate, the wine reminded me more of a Chablis, with the fresh fruit, crisp acidity and a creamy texture, not oak induced with a nice medium finish of terroir courtesy of the Russian River Valley. This could have been the one.

We were taken to our table with a beautiful view of the Straits of Mackinac and were able to watch the boats.  We started off by sharing an order of Smoked Whitefish Cakes with a Mustard Vinaigrette, yes, we now share appetizers.  My Bride had the Pan Seared Diver Scallops with Lemongrass Ginger Aioli, Frizzled Leeks and Wild Mushroom Risotto.  I had the Berkshire Tomahawk Pork Chop with Wild Rice.  The bottle of wine that we decided on was Fournier Pere & Fils Sancerre Grand Cuvée La Chaudouillonne 2017.  Paul Fournier began with one hectare of land in 1950 and now has sixty hectares.  In 2015, the winery was acquired by Joost van der Does de Willebois and his de Villebois company.  This Sauvignon Blanc wine from the Loire Valley from the village of Verdigny in Sancerre, and La Chaudouillonne comes selected vineyards of the famed terroir Caillottes of Verdigny. The wine is cold fermented in small tanks, and each tank is aged on fine lees for about eighty months.  This pretty pale straw-colored wine offered passionfruit and lemon peel and a mature nose not often encountered.  On the palate, it offered candied citrus, a complexity of layers of tanginess, herbal acidity and ending with a nice long finish of terroir.  It was delicious and I think that we both raved about the wine, all throughout the meal. Now, you have to give us a break and cut us some slack as we share our desserts, just like we share our appetizers.  We had the Crème Brulee and we also shared a glass of dessert wine.  We shared a glass of Frost Bitten Wines “Ice Wine” Riesling Yakima Valley 2019 produced by Once Bitten Wines of Mosel, Germany and JZ Wine Company of Richland, Washington. The Riesling grapes had been frozen post-harvest, creating concentrated press juice of twenty-three percent residual sugar at harvest and once fermented the wine came out at 18.5 residual sugar.  A nice golden color that wine offered notes of apricot jam, orange marmalade and ripe peaches.  On the palate there was stone fruit, pineapple and honeysuckle without being syrupy or cloying and finished with bright acidity at the finish.  We actually liked the wine over the Creme Brulee.    

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