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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A Walk to Mission Point

Posted on June 26, 2022 by thewineraconteur

There is so much to see and enjoy on Mackinac Island, especially if it is your first time there.  We have been there many times and I think that we have stopped at every shop and tourist attraction on the island.  We have been to the Butterfly House, the museums and even the churches that line the main street.  We have been up to the fort to observe the tattoo.  We have had carriage rides out in the middle of the island and have seen the airport and the golf course.  We have stayed at both ends of the island and at several spots in between.  I have even seen the motor vehicles on the island, that are used by the local municipality.  We have even seen the summer home of the governor, as it is a perk of the office, paid for and maintained by the taxpayers.

All this leads me to our latest walk, as we were parched and needed some of the nectars of the Gods.  There used to be a wine bar in the center of the town, but it and the restaurant that it was affiliated with has changed hands; nothing on the island has the endurance of the fudge emporiums.  We walked by the marina, but none of the cruise ships that ply the Great Lakes were moored at the moment, but definitely a great spot for a boat load of tourists.  It was Sunday, so there was no barge out in the marina holding a UPS truck, the truck is towed on the barge and then the driver has to unload the truck onto a horse-drawn lorry and then he can deliver his good.  When one is walking around away from the commercial part of the island, once can appreciate the beautiful homes and bed and breakfasts establishments as well.   Our walk ended up at the grounds of the miniature golf course looking out on the lake, at night the golf course changes to a night course.  We didn’t golf, but by then our thirst was excellent.

My Bride given a choice for a thirst quencher will always go to a Pinot Grigio, and she had Castello Sternati Pinot Grigio Friuli (-).  Well, it finally happened that I have encountered a current wine offering that even the search engines cannot find.  Friuli is a part of the large area known as Friuli-Venezia Giulia located between the Alps and the Adriatic Sea.  It is known as Friuli Grave gets its name, just like the Commune of Graves in Bordeaux, because of the gravely, alluvial soil and has been a wine production site going back to the days of the Romans. The region has a strong reputation for producing quality wines make of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio and Friuli.  The wine had a nice pale straw color with a floral nose.  It was very crisp and I will venture to say with no hesitation thaCot it was produced in Stainless Steel, and it had a very short finish, but on a sunny day, it was fine.   I had a glass of Famille Quiot Domaine Houchart Rosé Cotes de Provence 2020.   Famille Quiot has numerous estates in southern France, originally with their Domaine du Vieux Lazaret at Chateauneuf-du-Pape in 1748.  Domaine Houchart was acquired in 1890, a sixty-hectare estate.   The soil is clay and limestone that has decomposed from the mountain side. The wine is made of a blend of Cinsault, Grenache Noir, Syrah and Tibouren.  The grapes are harvested in September, with cold fermentation of twelve to twenty-four days after destemming and direct pressing. The winery bottles the wine by December and the winery is known for using concrete vats and large oak foudres. The wine had a pretty coppery-salmon pink color.  The wine offers notes of red fruit and Herbs de Provence. This was a nice crisp-dry wine with tones of strawberry and cherry, herbs and a nice finish of terroir.  The perfect way to prepare for dinner.

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I Never Tire of Mackinac Island

Posted on June 24, 2022 by thewineraconteur

One of the true treasures for the State of Michigan is Mackinac Island.  Only a couple of times of the year, does the manure of the politicians exceed the manure of the horses.  You see, there are no motorized vehicles on the island, save for a couple of government emergency cars, ambulances and trucks.  A couple of years ago, they experimented with allowing motorized bicycles, but I think that will be terminated, because of the rash of accidents.  So, the main modes of transportation are by horse, manual bicycles and foot traffic.  There is a small airport on the island, just in case the people that are anti-fossil fuel need to get on the island to complain about the excessive use of fossil fuel, or they can moor their yachts.  Otherwise, mere mortals must use the commuter boat services from the two peninsulas of Michigan to Mackinac Island and they have facilities to park your car on the mainland for however long you are going to stay on the island.  If you are a true romantic, the film “Somewhere in Time” was filmed there and most of the structures on the island didn’t need any alterations.  

There are two main hotels at the opposite ends of the main street in the downtown district.  Add that the multiple smaller hotels, bed and breakfasts, boarding houses and that doesn’t include the former dormitories for all of the employees that live on the island during the peak season; there are only a handful of hardy souls that reside on the island, year-round.  It is amazing the number of places one can eat on the island, from coffee shops, delis, pizzerias and other family-oriented eateries. Then there is enough fudge and popcorn emporiums, that have a made a name for themselves that they can be found in most of the tourism communities throughout the state.  There are also establishments that cater to adults and to some that should learn how to be adults. 

Finally, there are wonderful locations that have selections of wines, both with casual sides or full-service white table clothed establishments that further enhance the reason to go to a resort setting.  Only a few places feel the need to request proper attire, and there are plenty of locations that don’t.  I think that the fine dining is such a bonus on the island, and considering the logistics of getting the food, and the beverages, it is one of the greatest places to visit at least once.  We were going to the Upper Peninsula and because of the car rental requirements, we had to leave a day early and made the most of it, and having a casual afternoon and then some excellent fine dining for one day, before going back to the real world.  

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A Retirement Party on the River

Posted on June 22, 2022 by thewineraconteur

Not for me, I have been retired and in fact, we never even recorded the day or anything, it just kind of happened.  My younger brother retired and his wife had a surprise retirement party for him.  She did a great job with all of the planning, because everyone was kind of a co-conspirator.  All he knew was that he was going to a wine tasting that evening, he had even tried to get some of his pals to go golfing that morning, but they all had prior commitments.  So, I am sure that he was looking forward to having some wine and relaxing with some friends that were also going to the party.  My Bride was asked if she would take some photos and she is pretty sure that she took photos of everyone there, she even printed up a photo album and a complete disc of all the photos as well, she is very organized and likes doing things like that.

It was good that we had to get there early, because I and most of the others could not find this catering hall, and some navigation systems on some of the phones could not locate it either.  It was kind of funny, that everyone was saying the same thing, unless they actually had prior knowledge of the facility.  Most of us ended up gathering out on the rear verandah or patio of the facility, overlooking the river, and actually we could basically see his house on the island, not far from the bridge that connected the island to the mainland and the park setting. We were all kind of told to get into the main hall and to be quiet, as the Man of the Hour was coming, and we could all see his new gift to himself for retirement cruising on the island, the car is very distinct.  The surprise worked and he was broken up emotionally from the moment. 

The facility is a catering hall, and they did quite a decent job duplicating some Armenian dishes, because naturally everyone at our table and the adjoining table were all eating basically the same choices from the large array offered at the buffet.  By the way the bar was opened early for all the revelers, and they also had some appetizers arranged for everyone to munch on, until the main event. Most of the guests were enjoying beers and mixed drinks, but my Bride and I stayed true to form and had some wine; and I am sure that no one would be surprised by that tidbit of news.  All the wines were from Cupcake Vineyards and it was established in 2008 by The Wine Group.  The concept of Cupcake Vineyards is to offer value-priced wines from different regions like Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, Chardonnay from the Central Coast, Malbec from Mendoza, Riesling from the Mosel Valley, etc., etc., etc.  The wines are bulk produced, but a step up from jug-wines of yore. We started with the Cupcake Vineyards Pinot Grigio Delle Venezie DOC 2020.  This wine had notes of citrus fruits and melons.  On the palate a crisp wine of apple and pineapple that had a finish of honey and lemon zest; it was a bit too sweet for both of us. With dinner we had Cupcake Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon California 2019.  This wine had notes of dark fruits, and on the palate, I noticed mostly plum with a little blackberry and it finished with some spices.  The wines were better compared to other wines we have had from catering facilities, but hardly up to the caliber of the food that they served.  All in all, a delightful evening and the surprise worked.     

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