Monkey See, Monkey Do

Posted on February 1, 2022 by thewineraconteur

That is an expression that I used to hear when I was child. I came to me, this past month, where all of a sudden people were espousing “Dry January.”  What is with that?  So many businesses have been hurt if not ruined in the last couple of years, and now we have a wave of people that want to put more people out of work. I don’t want to see distilleries, breweries or wineries suffer and not to mention distributors and retailers, because all of a sudden, some new trend appears on social media and everybody thinks that they have to be “cool.” I do everything in moderation, I certainly don’t over drink, and if it wasn’t for the last two years, I hardly ever drank at home, unless we had company.  For a while, we couldn’t even go out, unless we were possibly a governor or a big politician and then they were contrite, only because they were caught.

We have not had a “Dry January” as we do most things in moderation.  We have some changes coming up, so we have been continuing with dining in. I mean the wines are much more affordable and most have been curated at Casa Raconteur.  One night from the cellar we had a bottle of Bel Lago Vineyard and Winery Tempesta Michigan 2013, the flagship of the winery, when we did a tasting there.  The winery was founded in 1992, and the winery’s name translates to Beautiful Lake, which is fitting, since Michigan is the Great Lakes State.  The winery is on thirty-seven acres and they grow about a hundred varieties from Cold Hearty to Vinifera.  The winery produces about twenty-thousand cases a year, and they enjoy experimenting with extended barrel aging.  The Tempesta is a blend of predominately Cabernet Franc with Merlot, Regent, Lemberger and Marquette.  Each wine in this blend was fermented on the skins for several weeks before pressing.  After selecting a few barrels of each wine, the wines are blended and returned to the barrels for thirty-two months in a mix of French and American Oak.  For a quiet and private dinner at home, this wine was excellent and the Cabernet Franc really came through.  A beautiful deep wine, with notes of black fruit, floral and spices, and on the palate, a perfectly blended with offerings of fruit, oak, balanced tannins and a medium length finish of terroir. A perfect example of what a Michigan wine can offer and we really didn’t buy enough of this wine when we were at the winery.

Another night in January, I came up from the cellar with a wine that truly made my Bride smile. It was hardly our most expensive wine, but it has a great spot in our heart and we have an assortment of vintages that I just like to keep to enjoy when the mood hits.  We had a bottle of Illuminati Riparosso Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 1994 from Azienda Aericolo Dino Illuminati and was founded in 1890 and they are famed for their wines.  The wine is pure Montepulciano, and this particular wine is from fruit harvested from one single hillside vineyard.  The wine is aged for eight months in Slavonia Oak and then is aged an additional two to three months in the bottle before release.  For years, this was one of our go-to wines, especially in our favorite restaurant back in the day.  When young the wine is big and fruit flavored and at twenty-eight years of age it offered the elegant charms of a mature wine with layers of complexity of fruit, tannins and terroir and we were both extremely pleased with this wine, as neither of us knew what to expect, as we had never had this wine that old, and it will be a joy to try some of the other vintages that we still have.  As you can see, our “Dry January” was celebrated with dry wines.     

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A Couple of Amarone Wines

Posted on January 30, 2022 by thewineraconteur

There I was tasting some wines and offering my lay opinions at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan, which sometimes seems to be my home away from home.  I was getting ready to leave and then a couple of Amarone wines were brought out for tasting.  You know that they really had to twist my arm and apply a lot of pressure to have me taste some wines.  I may not be the greatest wine blogger, but I have a good idea that anyone reading this, has an interest in wine. 

All Amarone wines are from the most famous red wine district in Italy’s Veneto wine region Valpolicella.  In the late Sixties, the region was granted DOC status and the region has experienced a see-saw growth in popularity and demand, and quality at times also experienced the same ups and downs.  Some wags have even gone as far as to call Valpolicella the Beaujolais of Italy, because of the trials and tribulations that the region has gone through in the thirty to forty years after the DOC status.  The wines were popular, because they were very easy drinking and, in the summer, they were enjoyed slightly chilled. The big surge in demand and respect came with the growth and acceptance of Amarone and Ripasso wines.  Amarone della Valpolicella is made from dried (passito)grapes. Originally the grapes were dried on straw mats, but modern technology has created special drying rooms and apparatus to achieve this goal now.  The dried grapes are gently pressed and this special must (juice) is fermented to a dry wine.  The high sugar content creates wines with a higher proof of 15 to 16.  Then the wine is aged in barrels for at least two years.  The creation of Amarone wines also created a secondary wine product called Valpolicella Ripasso, where the dried skins and wine go through a secondary fermentation and this has been given DOC status, in 2007 as well. 

The first wine was Fratelli Vogadori Amarone Della Valpolicella Classico DOCG 2016.  Their website seemed to stress hotel accommodations and little about the winery.  The grapes are hand harvested in boxes and allowed to naturally dry in a drying room.  The wine is a blend of Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella, Oseleta and Negrara.  The fermentation takes place in Stainless Steel and takes about fifty days. The wine is then aged in French Oak for twenty-four months and then an additional twelve months in the bottle before distribution.  The wine is a pretty dark ruby red with notes of raisins, cherries and spices, and a rich complex taste and I would describe it as velvety with a nice finish. The second wine that we had was Azienda Agricola Musella Amarone Della Valpolicella DOCG 2013.  This winery appears to be rather new and they mention that they have three vineyards and hotel accommodations.  The first year of production is 2006, and this wine is a blend of Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella and Oseleta.  The fruit is harvested from a vineyard of twenty-seven hectares of predominately iron red clay.  The fruit was dried in a special drying room and then a soft pressing and fermentation is done over a period of four days. The wine is aged for twelve months in French Oak in several assorted sized and after bottling remains another eight months before distribution.  This wine had a beautiful ruby color, with notes of raisins and spices, on the palate, it had more layers of complexity, that I attribute to the additional age and a beautiful lingering finish.  I very seldom encounter people that don’t appreciate an Amarone wine.    

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Stufato di Frutti di Mare

Posted on January 29, 2022 by thewineraconteur

One day in one of my enjoyable trips to my local wine shop The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan, I was just getting ready to leave and I got waylaid.  Now I realize that it sounds peculiar that I would have trouble leaving a wine shop.   A customer came in, and I figured that it would be the perfect time to leave, but he came in with a request for some popular priced wines to go with a dinner that he was going to make “Stufato di Frutti di Mare” or Seafood Stew, but the kicker was that it would be in a tomato base.   Immediately everyone thinks of white wines with seafood, but the tomato base threw a monkey wrench in the discussion. I normally wouldn’t chimed in, but when I was asked, I had to answer, but I try to demur to the professionals.  I thought of years ago when I used to attend a big Italian family Christmas Eve party that was only offering platters of seafood, a tradition.  I and the consultants thought of big and spicy red wines.  So, I was called in for a tasting, imagine that.

One of the first wines that I thought of was Primitivo, because my brain thinks of matching ethnic cuisine with like wines, but I thought Primitivo might be a bit heavy.  Then someone suggested Zinfandel, which is the American Primitivo, but I think with a bit more fruit and spice, made for the wine critics who like jammy wines.  We all tried some Peirano Estate Vineyards “The Heritage Collection” Old Vine Zinfandel Lodi 2018.  In 1879 Giacomo Peirano, a grape farmer from Genoa, Italy immigrated to San Francisco in hopes of becoming a gold miner, he realized that he was too late and moved to Lodi, home of many mining camps.  He opened up a shop to cater to the miners’ needs, he was successful, and went back to Italy to fetch his wife and brought back Italian Zinfandel cuttings as well.  He bought a three-hundred-acre farm and planted seventy-five acres of vines.  The family has been successful to this day with five generations.  This wine had a long growing season with low yield crops from over one-hundred-twenty-year-old Zinfandel vines.  The fruit was handpicked, lightly crushed in the tanks and fermented on the skins for dryness.  Then aged in a mix of French and American Oak, of which fifteen percent was new, for about eighteen months.  The deep burgundy colored wine offered notes of black fruits and on the palate, there was black cherries, plums, cocoa and spices with moderate tannins and good acidity; with a nice moderate finish beckoning for another glass.  I think we all agreed that this would be perfect with the planned dish.       

Then it was suggested to try a nice Mediterranean style wine as well, Bodegas Alto Moncayo Veraton Garnacha 2018 is a fine example of wine from Campo de Borja DO.  The town of Borja has a long history going back to 5 BC and thought to be from tribes of mixed Iberian and Celtic stock.  The Borgia family, that is famous in Italy, during the Renaissance, and produced two Popes, were of Borjan origin.  The winemaking goes back to the time of the Romans and the Cistercian monks.  Rain is scarce in the region, the low regions are of brown limestone, while the middle elevation offers soil of deposited stones and iron-rich clay, while the highest elevation in the Moncayo foothills offer stones, iron and lime.  I had to show two different views of the label, because the pretty part, doesn’t identify the wine, unless you already know the artwork.  This wine is made from vines that are thirty to fifty years of age.  The wine is barrel aged for sixteen months.  This wine had a nose of dark fruits, and those fruits follow through on the palate along with a touch of chocolate, nice tannins, balanced with a medium count finish with terroir. Another winner for the dish, and the customer wasn’t sure, so he decided to get six of each for the dinner party.                                   

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Up in the Balcony

Posted on January 27, 2022 by thewineraconteur

Some people may not even know what a balcony is, the multi-plex movie theaters don’t have them, and most local neighborhoods don’t have a movie house either.  When I was a kid, my local neighborhood had two on one block and there were another six or so within a couple of miles. We went to the Redford Theater for a double feature.  First, I have to explain that the Redford was built when movie houses were shrines to the cinematic arts, and now this theater is in an old community in Detroit and is managed and run by an all-volunteer staff; and they even make real popcorn and they have a pipe organ. We sat up in the balcony and watched two films made in 1932 when films were racy and eventually the Hayes Office developed teeth and scripts were censored, before the film was filmed.  Think of the problems that developed because of “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn” and the amount of cleavage that Jane Russell could show, because of the Hayes Office.

We started the evening off at John Cowley & Sons Pub in Farmington, Michigan as we both felt like having a burger, and we have frequented this establishment many times, they even have curated wine and food nights, which we have never tried, as it usually conflicts with other planned events.  As we started looking at the menu, my Bride decided that she wanted one of the special menu offerings for the night, a Walleye Dinner with Sweet Potato Fries and Broccoli. I stuck with my guns and had their Downtown Dublin Burger of a half-pound Angus burger with Corned Beef, Caramelized Onions and Thousand Island Dressing.  We also had a Hot Chocolate Lava Cake that we shared afterwards. 

Since my Bride had backed out of the burger, she told me that she was going to have a Spanish Coffee with her fish dinner, especially since it was so chilly outside.  I was undeterred and had a glass of Finca El Origen Reserva Malbec Valle de Uco, Mendoza 2019.  Finca El Origen is a relatively new winery as they were founded in 1996, but located in a great location as they are in the Valle de Uco, which is a defined region in the much larger Mendoza district of Argentina and Malbec is the King there. The winery is owned by Vigna Santa Carolina of Chile.  This wine is from a single vineyard Los Chacayes.  Fermentation was for two weeks and thirty percent of the juice was aged with French Oak contact for six months, and I must surmise that the balance was aged in Stainless Steel.  The wine had notes of red fruits and vanilla, but on the palate, it was more black fruits and spices with full tannins and a medium finish of terroir.  After dinner we were off to enjoy the two titillating films.       

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Club Selections – January 2022

Posted on January 24, 2022 by thewineraconteur

This is the time of the year that one wants to cocoon in the house with the cold and snow, but The Fine Wine Source has their monthly Club Selections and that is worth getting all bundled up and braving the elements.  Joining the Club was a no brainer, there was no up-front costs, they just bill the credit card once a month and I go and collect two bottles of wine, one representing the Old World and one representing the New World. 

Fattoria il Muro “Violato” Syrah Rosso di Toscana IGT 2016 represents the Old World for this club selection.  The estate of “il Muro” has been in the Pancaro family for over two centuries and has always been for wine cultivation.  The location is perfect as it is the heart of Tuscany with moderate temperate climate and soil of loose marl and limestone; and not far part of the Alpe of Poti, part of the classic bicycle Tour of Italy “Strade Bianchi” held every March.  The estate is sixty-five-hectares of mainly vineyards and olive groves.  Though they have been producing wine for over two hundred years, it was only in 2011 that they labeled their own wine. The name of the wine is for the deep purple of the Syrah wine and the label features splashes and stains of the wine.  The juice was fermented in Stainless Steel and then aged for six month is large chestnut barrels.  The wine is described as having notes of both red and black fruits along with black pepper and violets.  On the palate it is full bodied with silky tannins and a long finish of terroir; and recommended for big, hearty meals and tomato sauce dishes.

The New World is represented by Fess Parker Frontier Red Lot 211 Central Coast NV. Now, you have to understand that when I hear Fess Parker, I immediately think of Walt Disney’s Davy Crockett and later on as Daniel Boone.  He left Hollywood and went into real estate and did extremely well.  In 1988 he purchased the Foxen Canyon Ranch of seven-hundred-fourteen-acres and had originally planned on running cattle and a small vineyard with a potential winery for his children.  He was successful in all his endeavors and his children are both hands on with the winery.  This wine is a blend of thirty-two percent Syrah, twenty-three percent Grenache, sixteen percent Sangiovese, twelve percent Zinfandel, twelve percent Merlot and five percent Alvarelhao (Alvarello).  The wine carries the Central Coast AVA as the fruit is from the Santa Ynez Valley, Santa Barbara County, Paso Robles and Central Coast vineyards.  The wine is not listed by vintage, but the Lot Number does change, I guess after each bottling, and there was just under five-thousand bottles produced of Lot No. 211.  The wine is described as having big, rich fruit flavors and spice.   Notes of black plum, cedar, hickory and blackberry.  While on the palate flavors of red cherry, boysenberry, tobacco and grilled herbs with spicy, earthy tones.  The wine was described as the perfect “Tuesday Wine.”     

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Another Dinner at Chartreuse

Posted on January 23, 2022 by thewineraconteur

The Park Shelton is not normally convenient for us, but it is ideal when we are on the grounds of Mid-Town, where the museums, including the Detroit Institute of Arts where we had just left, and the campus of Wayne State University.  This was a hotel back in the day, famed for having Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo living there, when he was painting the masterpiece of a mural on the walls of the DIA glorifying the automobile and the assembly line. The hotel was opened in 1926 as the Wardell Hotel, named after Fred Wardell of the Eureka Vacuum Company. Later it became part of the Sheraton group, originally as the Wardell-Sheraton, then later as the Park-Sheraton. When it ceased to be part of the Sheraton group it became the Park Shelton and it went from a hotel to an apartment building and now condominiums. Some of the famous celebrities that frequented there were George Burns and Gracie Allen, and Bob Hope.  There is a charming bistro on the main floor of the hotel, named Chartreuse and they probably have the largest collection of Chartreuse in the state.

As we were seated, we were informed that we could only dine for ninety minutes, which seems to be the norm, since the draconian rules of dining out have been removed by our harridan.  Dinner at Chartreuse Kitchen and Cocktails is fun, as it is a tapas style restaurant and they tend to bring out dishes as they are finished, rather than a set order and the meals are designed for sharing.  I will relay the dishes as they appeared at the table.  The first dish that arrived was the Potato Pierogi, with Corned Beef, Brussels Sprout Salad, Beer Mustard and Sour Cream.  We had just finished this plate when three dishes arrived simultaneously.  We had a plate of Grilled Broccolini with Romesco Sauce, Scallions and Duck Skin.  Scallops with Chestnut, Blood Orange, Pomegranate, Apple and Oxalis.  Tortellini with Duck Confit, Sweet Potato, Parsnip, Leeks in a Cream Sauce.  So, we both asked for a side plate and created our own plates.  They had several fun desserts, but we decided to split one as we were quite full, so we had some coffee and the Lemon Pistachio creation of Lemon Curd, Mascarpone Mousse, Roasted White Chocolate, Blood Orange and Mint.  And it seems that we had time to have another traditional pose with the distinct background walls in chartreuse; and I take lousy selfies. 

Chartreuse Kitchen and Cocktails prides themselves on their selection of Chartreuse, unique cocktails and a tight and curated “organic” wine carte.  As I was studying the menu, I was trying to juggle different dishes for a wine, and then I just selected some bubbles.  I mean, how many people have told me that they enjoy bubbles with any dish.  We had a bottle of Jean-Francois Quenard Cuvee Entre Amis Cremant de Savoie Brut Zero NV.  Cremant de Savoie is the eighth region to get the Cremant designation in 2015, prior they had to be labeled Vin de Savoie Cremant.  In 2018, there was a total of fifty-seven hectares among a possible forty-four villages that can produce the wine.  In the region there are several Quenard families, so the first names are also listed on the labels. The family domaine of Jean-Pierre and Jean-Francois, has been handed down by family since 1644.  The family estate is seventeen hectares on a mix of clay and limestone grounds.  The wine is made of sixty percent Jacquere, twenty percent Pinot Noir and twenty percent Chardonnay; Jacquere is an indigenous grape and must make up sixty percent of the blend.  The initial fermentation and then the malolactic fermentation is done in Stainless Steel, then bottled and aged on slats for fifteen months with no additional dosage; though by law this wine can be made up to demi-sec depending on the market.  The wine was a pretty gold color with small bubbles.  Notes of cut grass and apples, with a delightful acidity with plenty of freshness, and a nice finish that just wanted you to have another taste.  A very pleasant wine with the assembled plates that we enjoyed.    

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Cars as Art with Wine in Detroit

Posted on January 21, 2022 by thewineraconteur

Detroit is surrounded by art, in more ways than you can imagine.  My Bride and I needed a date day, and the cinema didn’t do it.  We both enjoy museums and we have one of the leading art museums in the country, the Detroit Institute of Art; and they were having a special exhibit “Detroit Style: Car Design in the Motor City, 195-2020.”  How could we resist, plus all the classic art and sculpture, it was an easy decision.  I am glad that I went online to check the hours, as a leftover precaution from the state, we had to book a time slot to visit the museum on line, you can no longer just go there on a whim.  Even me, who is not that adept on the computer book our tickets, and then I called a restaurant across the street from the museum and got a reservation, so we had a big date all lined up. 

Oh, and if you go, the main entrance behind Rodin’s “Thinker” is only an exit now, and we had to walk around the block to a side entrance. We went to see, several of the galleries first, in fact, all of the galleries were open that day, except for the famed puppet gallery, which I always have found fascinating from my days of youth.  I noticed that a few choice pieces were out on loan to other museums around the world for special exhibits that they were hosting; some of the pieces are that amazing.

We finally got to the “Detroit Style” and they not only had some classic cars, there were also so very exotic prototype cars, that still look awesome.  The Fifties and the Sixties were spectacular times for Detroit cars, as the cars were sensational in appearance, and every brand was distinctive.  Another great aspect was the artwork on the walls, done by the artists and design people at the “Big Three.”  I am not a car geek, but I sure enjoy looking at a car that has style and pizzazz, even if my Bride complains that the car I had when we met was more like a yacht, but it was sure comfortable and classy; she complained that she couldn’t see what was in front of the car, or behind it, because the two deck lids were so long.  I was a clothier in Dearborn, and we had plenty of auto execs coming in to dress for business.  There on the walls were customers of mine, with their artwork in all of its glory.  So, maybe I was a bit geeked up.

After that exhibit, we decided to have a glass of wine, and to let my Bride relax a bit, as she is still using her “Moon Boot” until she gets the all clear from her physician.  We went to the Kresge Court for some refreshments, named after Sebastian Spering Kresge of S.S. Kresge’s 5 & 10¢ Stores, which later became Kmart’s.  When I was a kid and played hooky at times, the Kresge Court was actually open in the middle of the museum, but since those days it has been enclosed from the elements and for years, my Bride used to go to the Brunch with Bach sessions.  I do digress and get carried away.  While my Bride found us a table, I went to order the wine.  I was surprised as I was behind a very nice professional looking couple and when they got to the cashier, they each paid for their own orders (I guess dates have changed since my day).  I selected two different white wines for us, and when the lady saw what I was doing, she allowed me, after the first photo to get a photo without the plexiglass partition.  The first wine I had poured was Babich Wines White Label Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough 2020 and the winery is an historic wine estate based in Auckland, New Zealand.  It was established in 1916 by Josip Babich who arrived from Dalmatia (Croatia).  Babich owns properties in many of New Zealand’s major wine districts.  In 1987 they built a winery in Marlborough, where most of their present-day operations are done.  The fruit for this wine is harvested from various vineyards.  The juice was fermented in Stainless Steel tanks, and they use a mix of wild and inoculated yeast, and then the wine is blended together.  The wine offered the notes of grapefruit, mandarin and tropical floral.  The wine was fresh and bouncy with grapefruit, passion fruit and a touch of bell pepper with a soft finish.  My Bride chose this wine.  The other wine that we had was Storypoint Vineyards Chardonnay California 2018.  The fruit is harvested from Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake Counties.   Each lot was fermented separately in a mix of Stainless Steel and French Oak.  A nice gold color with notes of apple and white fruit, and just a classic California Chardonnay with butter, vanilla and caramel with a soft finish.  The perfect way to divide our museum visit.       

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Willie Newman and Tre Son Winery

Posted on January 19, 2022 by thewineraconteur

I remember the first time that I tasted Tre Son wines, was at my local wine shop The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan back in 2018 and I was told that it was an exclusive to the wine shop.  In August of 2021 was the next time that I tried the wine, and it was an impromptu tasting with the owner of the winery and the first time that I met Willie Newman.  There is something about tasting wine and chatting that just makes a moment special.  Now it is hard to believe, but it was actually in November of 2021 that he hosted a formal wine tasting at the shop.  Considering that I publish an article every other day, it sounds amazing that I am just getting to these wines and tasting. 

All of the Tre Son wines come from the 4 Hearts Vineyard.  We started with the Tre Son Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles 2018.  The wine was aged for six months in a mix of new and neutral French Oak barrels. It was a full-bodied wine with notes of dark fruit and spice and a very balanced fruit and tannin mix, and then my notes scream terroir.  You know that I get excited about wines that show great terroir.  I don’t know if the terroir is more pronounced, because they use dry-farming techniques, but I was a happy camper.  This was followed by a tasting of his 4 Hearts Vineyard “Private Stash” Cabernet/Petite Sirah 2012 (twenty percent Petite Sirah).  This was not for sale, as he brought some bottles to let the tasters see how well his wines do in a cellar.  I really appreciate tasting older wines, and through the course of years, I have discovered that others do not, but this wine to me was very rich and multi-layered and the terroir had a very nice long count. 

Then we had a glass of Tre Son Zinfandel Paso Robles 2018, and the bulk of the vineyard is devoted to Zinfandel.  The wine is aged for twelve months in neutral French Oak to allow the grape to shine as opposed to the spices inherent in the oak.  This was a nice chewy wine offering notes of black fruit and pepper, and while delivering notes of black cherry and plums, it was not a fruit bomb that keeps me away from Zins to this day, but it really packed a nice finish of terroir.  Then Willie poured his 4 Hearts “Private Stash” Zinfandel 2014 and once again, this was not for sale, but to show how well his wines were cellaring.  The first commercial vintage was 2009, and the “Private Stash” appeared in 2010.  This wine was still offering all the notes of the 2018, but the wine had mellowed and was layered with textures and richness, plus that long finish of terroir.  Finally, once again, not for sale, but as a learning experience, we had the 4 Hearts (“Private Stash”) Zin 2010; as the bottle only had masking tape and a magic marker written label.  All of the Zinfandel wines were aged for twelve months in neutral French Oak and while I am no maven, especially on Zinfandel, this wine was totally mellow with the fruit mixing with the tannins and for very young vines, this wine made me perfectly happy.  It was indeed a special event at The Fine Wine Source and the crowds that gathered were all enjoying the moment. 

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Willie Newman and Some Wines

Posted on January 17, 2022 by thewineraconteur

I was attending a wine tasting at my local wine shop The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan.  I realize that is not that unusual, because I tend to write about tastings often when I am there. This was a special day, as Willie Newman was there representing not only his wine, but his neighbor and business partner’s wine as well.  I have actually met Willie, a couple of times at the wine shop, as he still lives in Michigan and has started a winery, in anticipation of his eventual retirement.  I say more power to him, in my retirement I am lucky to handle writing my blog, but I also think that I am older than Willie.  Some days I think that everyone is younger than I am. I had a chance to try a wine from Dunning Vineyards and several wines from Tre Son Winery.

Tre Son Winery is the label from 4 Hearts Vineyard in Paso Robles.  My wine shop helped designed the label and helped secure the proper paperwork in the Byzantine labyrinth that is how Michigan is able to sell wines.  The vineyard was bought in 2004, which at the time was a walnut ranch, and the first fifteen acres of thirty-seven were planted in 2007, of which ten acres were Zinfandel.  The vineyard is owned by the gentleman Willie Newman who hails from Ann Arbor, Michigan who now divides his time between Michigan with his current business and residing in Paso Robles which will eventually be his retirement home and business.  The 4 Hearts refer to his wife and his three daughters.  When one considers the tender young age of this vineyard, it is well respected by some other wineries that use their fruit.  Some of the wineries listed by the vineyard include some of their earliest purchasers like Dunning Vineyard, Saxum Vineyards and Venteux Vineyards and many others.

We started off with Dunning Vineyards Chardonnay Paso Robles/ Willow Creek District AVA 2018.  Bob and Jo-Ann Dunning are the winemakers and owners of this forty-acre estate which was established in 1991 on the west side of Paso Robles.  The winery produces about fifteen-hundred cases a year using several different varietals.  This Chardonnay wine is produced in the classic Burgundian style with full oak barrel fermentation and sur-lees aged for one year.  It was a delightful wine with notes of pear and citrus, nutmeg and vanilla.  The wine had a nice creamy taste with balance acidity and layers of flavor that opened up and finished with a nice medium finish of terroir.  I knew that I had to take some of this wine home for my Bride, who could not attend the tasting.  

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Blame it on the Pacific Supply Chain

Posted on January 15, 2022 by thewineraconteur

We went out to celebrate a birthday and we met another couple at a chain restaurant located in a very large shopping mall.  They were doing quite a bustling business, and that particular mall, I am sure has survived all that has been tossed at them for the last almost two years.  After we were seated and they handed us the menu and the wine list, I was telling them stories about how we were having difficulties at a restaurant getting some French wines, so I figured that I was going to stay with a domestic wine.  There was a Pinot Noir that we just picked up a six pack for the house from our wine shop, that I was very pleased with, and even in a restaurant the price was reasonable.  I asked our waitress what the asterisk after the wine designated and she said that it was one of the most popular wines in the chain and they always had the wine.  She returned rather sheepishly and said that they were out of the wine, Déjà vu?  I saw a California Merlot that I had heard about, and she went to get it, she came back and told us that the beverage manager was getting it, because it was way in the back.  She sheepishly came back again and told us the wine was not available and she had a different bottle and told me that the wine was a bit more expensive, but it was just like the wine that I asked for, and I told her that it was the same grape, but it was from a different state.  I told her to leave the bottle and have the manager stop by. 

We had a wine that was going to work.  We started by ordering some appetizers, they ordered a Mexico City Spinach Con Queso with tortilla chips and we ordered an Avocado Bomb with Hawaiian tuna, crab salad, avocado, unagi sauce and Sriracha mayonnaise with tortilla chips.  The other three ordered a Caesar Steak salad off of the special menu for the day.  I went with one of the specialties of the chain and got some Baby Back Ribs and the waitress told me, that they don’t have the ribs, so I ordered a Crispy Chicken Platter and I got breaded chicken tenders.  It was food. 

Eventually the Beverage Manager appeared with a “Sharpie” in his hand, and I asked him why they couldn’t either draw lines through the wines that they don’t have or just print a current wine list, and he informed me that “Corporate” would not allow either option.  He told me that there was a total bottle neck at the ports on the west coast and they couldn’t get their orders.  I was surprised to hear that California and Washington use cargo ships to ship wine domestically.  We had The Hogue Cellars “Genesis” Merlot Columbia Valley 2014.  The Hogue Cellars were founded in 1982 in the Columbia Valley of Washington State.  The wine carries the larger designation, as the fruit is harvested from Wahluke Slope, Horse Heaven Hills, and Yakima Valley, as well as Columbia Valley.  The grapes began fermentation in Stainless Steel and then aged for six to twelve months in American Oak, of which twenty-five percent was new.  The wine is basically Merlot, with some Syrah, Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon added to round it out.  The wine offered notes of red fruits with cinnamon and vanilla.  On the palate it was full and rounded with black cherry, vanilla and pepper; and a nice medium finish of oak.  Our company and the wine were the high point of the meal for me.      

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