Two Very Quiet Dinners

Posted on January 8, 2021 by thewineraconteur

This past year as I presume most have notice has been a very strange one in the annals of mankind.  The lockdowns have culminated into family holidays with no family.  I think that is what the warden here was hoping for and alas it has worked.  I mean from strange rules like only one person in a car, masks while swimming, to only boats that have no motors and the list goes on.  Families have become splintered, because it has been demonized as a great way to get sick.  I have seen memes that offered invitations for catered dinners honoring the death of a family’s pet turkey, to family get-togethers in a certain aisle at a Wal-Mart.  At least we still have maintained our gallows-humor about us.

Christmas Day was a very quiet day and I briefly mentioned it, but normally my article would have been about all the people, the food and the wines.  Not this year, as we were all splintered off, which I am sure would make our termagant delighted.  My Bride wanted to makes us a dish that she has enjoyed and now she also enjoys making the dish Coquilles St. Jacques al crème de Xeres, or sea scallops sautéed with mushrooms and garlic, pan-sauced with Sherry and cream with rice.  A beautiful meal, just a shame that only the two of us had the good fortune to enjoy it.  We had a delightful bottle of Cave de Genouilly Bourgogne Aligoté 2018, the almost forgotten white wine of Burgundy, but it has its own appellation.  The Cave Des Vignerons de Genouilly was founded in 1932 as a co-operative of family growers in the Cote Chalonnaise region of Southern Burgundy.  Today it includes ninety growers with one-hundred-eighty acres based around Genouilly, Fley, Bissy-sur-Fley, Saint-Martin-du-Tatre and Saint-Clement-sur-Guye.  Bourgogne Aligoté is an appellation in Burgundy for white wines made from the Aligoté grape and the appellation was awarded in 1937.  The grape has been in Burgundy since the 17th Century, but only represent about six percent of the vineyards there, but is grown in about three hundred parishes in Burgundy, basically for the vignerons themselves.  The wines are generally made in Stainless Steel to allow the freshness and the crispness of the grape, if anything, some people are surprised at the high acidity and the resulting tartness that can occur, but that is part of the charm that I just recently discovered about this grape.  By all rights this wine should be much dearer in cost, but since it is hidden under the large shadow cast by Chardonnay in the entire Burgundy region, it is unknown and hence most people don’t take a chance, but believe me, I will tout it often and to anyone that I get a chance to.

Which brings me to New Years and another disaster of a holiday that I won’t even get into, but I pray that it never happens again.  It was definitely not one for the books, and my Bride and I, relaxed and watched a movie and had cheese and crackers and an early turn in, as we didn’t even wait to hear the firecrackers, as I am sure that no one was shooting rifles with the high cost of ammunition that I keep reading about. We had a bottle of Marilyn Monroe Wines “Blonde de Noirs” Cuvee Three North Coast Sparkling Wine 2004.  I feel rather vindicated nowadays as I have been an advocate of the wines made and distributed by Nova Wines of Napa Valley from the first bottle that I had, when everyone chided me for trying a throw-away wine, and now they are actually getting respect for being a fine wine and totally respectful of the memory of Marilyn Monroe.  We are talking about one of the earliest garagiste of St. Helena starting back in 1981 for friends and finally christened as Marilyn Merlot in 1981.  Beyond the flagship Merlot offering, they have released other brands featuring different varietals and always featuring a different photo of the legendary movie star.  One of the most curious features of this winery, is that the wines are always released on June 1, in celebration of Marilyn Monroe’s birthday. This particular wine is made in the Methode Champenoise or in the traditional way that is done from the Champagne region and the wine is a blend of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.  There was still a bit of the brioche and notes of red berries, and a very easy wine to drink and not totally bone dry.  I definitely will try another one, when I get a chance. The best thing is that we did get a chance to chat with our children and grandchildren during these days.

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Winter Dining in Michigan

Posted on January 6, 2021 by thewineraconteur

We recently went out to eat with friends at a restaurant, now before you say that one cannot eat in a restaurant in Michigan, our harridan has allowed outside dining, and the dining area can be enclosed, but it must be outside.  I understand that it sounds like double-talk from a Marx Brothers’ film, but it is true.  The state just closed a restaurant in the Upper Peninsula, but had to use a court in the Lower Peninsula that was in favor of making a woman stop earning a living for her children and couldn’t get the response that they were looking for up north, so they had to “court shop.” If you think this is strange, it also happens in California, and the governor there could not tell that he was breaking his own mandate eating with a group of friends at the French Laundry, and he claimed that he thought he was eating outside, even though they were clearly indoors.  All of this reminds me of dialogue from Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22” that I will present at the end of this article.

We were going to a Coney Island restaurant that is located on a semi-private par-three golf course in a residential subdivision.  For the uninitiated a Coney Island restaurant can be a small singular storefront that historically sells Detroit style Coney-Dogs, which is a hot dog or loose hamburger placed in a hot dog bun covered with bean-less chili, onions and yellow mustard, a Detroit tradition with plenty of arguments to go around of who has the best Coney Islands.  I have my favorite and have made it point even to take my grandchildren there, if they are in town, but I am digressing.  The majority of Coney Island Restaurants have evolved into multi-page restaurants with most meals served at any time of day, including breakfast choices.  We sat outside of the restaurant, as the real restaurant was only being used for carry-out orders which are legal. The back patio of the restaurant overlooking part of the golf course was surrounded by thick plastic sheeting, with corner flaps left dangling open for fresh and cold air.  Inside the patio area were these big propane space heaters in a couple of different designs, but all cranking up the heat.  It was quite toasty, as they were a multitude of hardware store backyard thermometers placed all around the plastic enclosed dining area, and they were showing temperatures of eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit, in fact I had to take off my suede coat as I was getting hot.  There was an assortment of different dishes orders and the food was so plentiful that everyone took food containers home with them, and also the rice pudding that was part of the entrées that no one had room left to enjoy a dessert. 

I had wine with my meal and the waitress could recite the brands of wine; Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Riesling etc.  I decided to play it safe and order a Pinot Grigio and of course I requested to see the bottle, which was brought out for me.  I had a full glass of Salmon Creek California Pinot Grigio 2018 which came in the handy magnum size that is popular with catering companies and some restaurants.  Under the Salmon Creek label there are at least twenty-five different varietals and blends offered, and the label is considered one of the least expensive wines from California, and this winery/label is a division of Bronco Wine Company.  Bronco Wine Company is one of the largest wine producers and vineyard owners in the United States of America.  They are located in Ceres, California and they have ownership of about sixty different labels, including perhaps there most famous brand Charles Shaw (Two Buck Chuck).  They also own facilities in eleven other countries.  The company was founded in 1973 by Fred, Joseph and John Franzia after the sale of the Franzia Winery.  By the way it was not a terrible wine, perhaps a bit sweeter than I expected, but I find that the case with most bulk wines.

Maj. Major Major Major: Sergeant, from now on, I don’t want anyone to come in and see me while I’m in my office.  Is that clear?

First Sgt. Towser: Yes, sir.  What do I say to people who want to come in and see you while you’re in your office?  

Major: Tell them I’m in and ask them to wait.

Towser: For how long?

Major: Until I’ve left

Towser: And then what do I do with them?

Major: I don’t care.

Towser: May I send people in to see you after you’ve left?

Major: Yes

Towser: You won’t be here then, will you?

Major: No.

Towser: I see, sir.  Will that be all?

Major: Also, Sergeant, I don’t want you coming in while I’m in my office asking me if there’s anything you can do for me.  Is that clear?

Towser: Yes, sir.  When should I come in your office and ask if there’s anything, I can do for you?

Major: When I’m not there.

Towser: What do I do then?

Major: Whatever has to be done.

Towser: Yes, sir.

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El Ixsir Cuvée X’eme Anniversaire Red NV

Posted on January 4, 2021 by thewineraconteur

It was Christmas Day 2020 and it was just like the rest of the year, following the longest “15 Day Lockdown” known to man.  My Bride had lectored at her church as usual, at the 9:00 AM mass, but it was not to the usual hordes of worshippers, as the governor had mandated rules for those that thought that they still wanted to congregate, other than at a Wal-Mart.  She came home after the service, as we were going to have a quiet Christmas Day, after seeing everyone the night before.  It was the oddest Christmas that I have ever witnessed in my sixty-six years, but then I have had the good fortune to have never spent Christmas in prison, an extended lockdown is bad enough. 

We saved our presents to open for Christmas Day, and I had the bulk of the presents to unwrap, only because my Bride as I have mentioned a few times here, went on a weight-reduction regimen and was very successful and she has had to buy a completely new wardrobe, as even working from home, she needed a professional air about her on the many Zoom sessions and other similar type of sessions that she has been doing since she began her constant work schedule from her home office.  I on the other hand have had a much more casual daily attire as I had retired, just before all this nonsense began.  So, she was having fun surprising me with packages to open up.  She likes to pamper me.

The last box that I had to open was not even wrapped and it was a wine that we had tasted at our wine shop The Fine Wine Source.  It was a box of EL Ixsir Cuvee X’eme Anniversaire Red Non-Vintage.  It was number sixteen of an issue of one-thousand, and the box held three bottles of this special edition wine as well as a beautiful “coffee-table” book The Wines of Ixsir.  Ixsir Winery was founded in 2009 in the northern part of Lebanon in Batroun which is a coastal area.  They are a mountain winery, and one of the highest in elevation for the Northern Hemisphere.  The name Ixsir derives from the Arabic word “Iksir” the original Arabic word for “elixir.” History has recorded that man has searched for the perfect elixir for eternal youth and for love.  The winery is very progressive and has been named one of the greenest buildings in the world.  The winery owns one-hundred-twenty hectares in the Batroun with several different vineyards capitalizing on the terroir.  The winery grows Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Tempranillo, Caladoc, Cinsault, Merlot, Obeidy, Viognier, Muscat, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Semillon.  Quite impressive for a young company, as far as I am concerned.  The EL Ixsir Cuvee X’eme Anniversaire Red Non-Vintage is a special bottling of three very recent vintages of their EL, which is their top cuvee and a blend of fifty-five percent Syrah, thirty-five percent Cabernet Sauvignon and ten percent Merlot.  Each of the wines had aged for twenty-four months and then had been blended and aged in French Oak, of which half were new barrels. The concept of having the three bottles in the case was that the first bottle should be tasted in five years, and then at least ten years for the second bottle and the last should be held even longer.  As a reference point, this wine was issued 30 April 2019 and the Wine Advocate awarded it a score of 93 Points and a suggest “Drink Date” of 2022-2040.  When we tasted the wine, we were told that the 2014 vintage which was the real powerhouse of EL was leading this wine and it was big and inky and really overpowering; it was way too young and feisty to be properly enjoyed and there was real merit in cellaring this wine.  So, this is a gift that will be giving joy in the years to come.                                                  

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Christmas Eve Dinner

Posted on January 2, 2021 by thewineraconteur

By the time that you read this, we will all be safely past the hectic moments of the Christmas and New Year’s.  We will still have lots of other craziness, but that is life I guess, especially when government intrudes, remember Prohibition?  There were still debates about having a family get-together and how to do it.  I am all for it, and I think that the more we avoid interaction, the longer it will take for our bodies to adapt.  Otherwise, I think that there would be millions of homeless street people that would be littering the streets with carcasses, because I strongly doubt that they are practicing all the rules that we are being lectured to, by those that don’t follow their rules for us.  It has been decided that families will be seated at separate tables with their families, but all under the same roof.  Masks are personal preference, but I find eating and drinking just as difficult, as when we were first told to wear a mask swimming.  I also abide to the rule that once you are sitting at a table, you are safe from any germ, it is supposedly walking to and from the table that is lethal.

We all met at another sister’s home that is more centrally located, as we are all scattered about, and we would also have a Zoom session later on, after dinner.  My Bride made some of her specialties that everyone wanted.  Our host was making the main dishes and using outdoor cooking equipment for some of the meat dishes, and the kitchen appliances for some of the side dishes.  He had everything plotted on Excel for starting and completion times, and he was making a turkey and prime rib.  There were plenty of appetizers and munchies, sides and of course, there were plenty of desserts.  Interspersed with all of this, was the opening of gifts, and bundling up gifts for people that were A.W.O.L. (for any of several reasons) and of course the Zoom session on multiple laptops and cellular phones, so we had plenty of dissonance from the multiple speakers, and we also figured out that those nosy contraptions from Amazon also added to the squeaking as they had to be turned off as well, at least my in-laws won’t be bombarded by tons of unnecessary advertisements that the little spies report on, but we did get rid of the echo feedback.

It was actually a good wine day and we went through four bottles of wine and I will mention two of them, as they are not wines that can be found everywhere.  One of the white wines that we started the day was Laurentide Winery on the 45’th Parallel.   As I quote from their web site about their name.  “Welcome to Laurentide, named in honor of the last great ice sheet that receded 10,000 years ago from the upper tier of the North American continent. With the completion of this great geologic event, the Great Lakes and surrounding lands assumed their present forms. The Leelanau peninsula was exposed and the rocks and fossils from a 350-million-year-old ancient sea floor started to formulate the soil that sustains our vines today contributing to the unique terroir of the region.”  William and Susan Braymer have a classic, almost romantic history leading up to their ultimate decision to becoming winemakers.  In 2006 they bought a cherry farm and began planting some grapevines.  They now have six varietals planted on ten acres, and we opened up a bottle of Laurentide Emergence 2016, which when we went to the winery, this wine was listed under the heading of “Standard Sweets” as they were really touting this wine, and we agreed to a tasting.  We are truly fans of dessert wines, but normally sweet wines we tend to avoid.  Here was a wine that was a blend of Pinot Gris, Riesling and Chardonnay and it was not a sweet wine, especially compared to the old sweet wines that at one time Michigan was known for.  The few years in the cellar added to the wine it was more complex with some floral and fruit notes, but the acidity was very balanced and totally an easy wine to drink with socializing and noshes.  Then on the other end of the spectrum and perfect for the prime rib was Boete Winery Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Grown Saunders Vineyard, Carmel Valley 2007. In the early ‘80’s John Saunders made wine at this Soledad Ranch in the Santa Lucia Highlands as a hobby.  He was so encouraged by his friends that he and his wife traded their two-hundred-fifty-acre citrus orchard in Soledad for fifteen acres in Carmel Valley that had gone uncultivated, because of a lack of water.  The first well he drilled, was sufficient to irrigate his vineyard forever, and he is only growing on seven acres at the moment, so the wine is still a labor of love.  By reading between the lines, I would venture to say that this is aged for about sixteen months in French Oak and probably produced about two-hundred cases of wine. Thirteen years later, this was still a big wine, but the tannins had mellowed along with the dark fruit and I had a second helping of prime rib to enjoy a second glass of this wine. Now if only Santa could figure out how to make the cellar bigger. 

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2021

Posted on December 31, 2020 by thewineraconteur

We wish everyone a Happy New Year and a blessed 2021.  I am not a gushing type of guy, and I am not really acerbic, maybe somewhere in the middle.  I think of two pieces of art, one we tried to buy and another that we did and it is hanging in our living room.  I think the first shows that man, and excuse me, but I use it in the collective sense from another era, always tries to be positive and thinks that somethings should never change, even though they do.  That is the thought we try to overcome every New Year’s Eve, that life will get better and after 2020, even if Barbara Walters didn’t herald that New Year in.  That young artist in the first print early in his career announced “Yondah, lies da castle of my foddder’s dreams.”

The other piece of art, reflects perhaps the world-weary, but forever happy-go-lucky spirit of another age.  Even in the midst of a Great Depression, one could still find strands of happiness and that is what we strive for.  To try to shrug off the nonsense that may come our way, and to try to find our own brand of sanity.  I guess we have always been from another era, and remember the great advice from the man in the tails with a Nina in his white tie and in his corsage and it may hold the secret to the coming year “The important thing is the rhythm. Always have rhythm in your shaking. Now a Manhattan you shake to fox-trot time, a Bronx to two-step time, a dry martini you always shake to waltz time.”

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Gaja Barbaresco 1982

Posted on December 29, 2020 by thewineraconteur

That is the wine we took to share with The Wine Raconteur Jr. and his family for a Christmas meal.  He actually created his own moniker when he was a guest writer for a couple of articles for me, and I guess the name is apt.  I was there at the beginning when he was hired to work at the store that I did everything but sew and own, and he was in college, looking to make some extra money.  Now he has a family, has a profession and because I guess he has too much free time, he decided to get into local government and ran as an Independent, as he didn’t want to beholden to any strings for a campaign allocation.  He is always in high gear, especially when he decides to learn and/or do something; as he never does half measures.  He also helped his charming wife get into a business, and so he gets to wear another hat; and by the way, he is known to wear hats.  I have such respect for him and what he is doing, I wore a ceremonial mask from the car to his house, because it was daylight when we got there and I didn’t want his neighbors to get into an uproar, if they are busy-bodies.  I know, I should, but I treat a house, like a restaurant, as soon as I sit down at a table, the mask can come off; I am told that it is science.

We sat down in the living room and had appetizers to get into the mood.  He makes his own spiced cashews, an olive tapenade and a bruschetta topping as well for some flat bread crackers.  He also had a Lemon Curd Ricotta Cheese that I could have single-handedly devoured, but I did show restraint.  He also was pouring his own version of a Christmas Champagne Cocktail with cranberries in the glass and topped with a micro-sprig of rosemary and it was very tasty and he used a Rose Champagne.  For dinner, he went all out and made a classic interpretation of Braised Short Ribs with his own rub and spices, and served with fresh pasta dusted with cheese, and once again I could have eaten the entire pot of meat, of course I have strong affinity for that dish.  For dessert we sampled some of all of his home-baked cookies, a huge selection and we got a big bag of cookies to take home as well. 

I guess I have strung you along with my little asides of the evening, as you were sure that I probably made a typo for the title of this memory.  It was a bottle of Gaja Barbaresco DOCG  1982 and as soon as we got situated, and before we started on the noshes, I opened up the bottle and for a thirty-eight-year-old bottle of wine there was no ullage, the wine was still filled to the top, with bubbling of the foil capsule, it was still brand new, except for the dust that had settled on it, in my cellar.  In fact, when I cut off the foil cap, I was amazed to find that there was a second foil capsule that I had to cut away, to get to the cork; and since is the first classic bottle of Gaja that I have ever opened, I don’t know if that is the norm.  For a wine of this age, I used my Durand combination corkscrew and Ah-so, and the cork still cracked on me, but I got the cork out in two pieces.  I then started to decant the wine, using a torch and my eye, but I ended up using a funnel and a coffee filter, as there was a lot of sediment on the bottle and in the wine as well.  I had anticipated a wine with brown tones, foolish me, the wine had a glowing and bright cherry color to it and still had fruit aromas wafting up as it was decanted and it was probably opened about ninety minutes prior to dinner.  1982 was a stellar year for Bordeaux and Champagne, Spain and all of Italy, there are only a few years that I really get excited about, as I have always been told that a great winemaker, makes great wines.  Gaja is one of the best-known winemakers in Italy and still is based in Barbaresco, though with their additional productions and vineyards, they now produce more Nebbiolo wines in Tuscany, than in Piedmont. It began in 1859 with two hectares by Giovanni Gaja and each generation has seen expansion, though it is Angelo Gaja that has really elevated the company’s reputation and success.  This wine is pure Nebbiolo and is only sourced from their vineyards in their fourteen vineyards in Barbaresco and Treiso, as they had stopped sourcing from other vineyards in 1961 to have total control of the product.  The juice from each single vineyard undergoes its own maceration and aging in oak for twelve months, then all the wines are blended together and aged in oak for an additional twelve months.  The nose still had some black cherry, but after all of the years of maturation, the tannins were softly blended into this sublime wine with a beautiful long finish, but the taste was totally singular and beyond the realm of my expertise in aged Italian wines.  The good news is that I still have one more bottle left.

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One Italian, One Canadian

Posted on December 27, 2020 by thewineraconteur

One of my favorite things to do, especially this year is to stop at my local wine shop The Fine Wine Source and pick up the monthly wine club selections.  The wines are always picked for being interesting and not run of the mill.  It gives the club members a chance to try some wines that might not be picked up otherwise.  Most people like to play it safe when selecting wines for the house and unless they are touted to try a wine, they will inevitably go with something tried and true; it is just human nature.  They were rather busy when I got there, between customers and wine representatives, so I just bided my time and kept busy.  I must say that they were still very upbeat, especially considering that they also own an upscale restaurant that is completely shuttered, because of the lockdown, in Downtown Detroit.  While I was there, they were packing up wine orders, either to be shipped, locally delivered or curbside pickup.  I have always enjoyed observing the moxie of an independent business man, who doesn’t cry and roll over and die, but figures out a way to survive even when the local government is trying to keep him from making a living.  Thankfully, he has a loyal clientele and a large wine club group.  

The first wine of the month represents the Old World with a winery that does not represent the status quo in Tuscany.  The Bibi Graetz Casamatta Rosso 2018 is a wine that I have encountered before, in fact I have a 2015 resting in the cellar. Bibi Graetz was an artist first and finally fell in love with his family’s vineyard that originally only produced wine for the family and in the mid 1990’s he began making changes and with his family estate and another twenty small organically farmed plots, he now manages seventy-five-acres to produce his wines.  Casamatta is considered his house wine, and like some of his other wines, it has a unique name as it means “Crazy House.”  The winery is probably his very own “Crazy House” as it his not only his home for his family and children, his studio and art gallery, but a dedicated winery as well.  In the midst of what appears to be chaos to the outsider, is home to Bibi Graetz.  Without any formal training, he began making wines in 2000 and started of with five-acre hillside plot and has grown, using the medieval castle that his parents acquired some sixty years ago, as he looks out onto the city of Florence.  Casamatta is pure Sangiovese and uses the youngest fruit grown from his estates around Florence and Sienna.  The fermentation is less than a week in Stainless Steel and then all the juice was the different plots are then blended together and aged for six months in Stainless Steel to maintain the freshness of the fruit.  It is described as a fun wine with cherries and raspberries with balanced acidity and medium tannins and one of the reasons that he has become a “cult” winemaker as it is a very different glass of Sangiovese and better with lighter dishes instead of big heavy Italian dishes, actually great to start the dinner off, in my book and would get the taste buds requesting more.

The New World offering I found very intriguing as it was not from an area that one normally encounters in the shop.  The owner was ecstatic that he was visited by representatives of the Canadian Wine Industry and he had a private wine tasting with them, as they were looking for new venues in the States for their wines.  Henry of Pelham Baco Noir Ontario VQA 2019 was the first wine to be introduced from the shop.  I told them that I know the area where the winery is from, Saint Catherines, since I was a child going there with my family to visit relatives on holidays.  Three sons ages nine, fourteen and sixteen were the creators of the original vineyard that they planted shovel by shovel in 1984, while their parents were back in Toronto.  The first harvest was in 1988 and they didn’t even have barrels initially for the first harvest.  The wine was successful and they were one of the early wineries for the area.  This fruit is grown in the Short Hills Bench of the Niagara Peninsula.  Baco Noir is a Cold-Hardy hybrid that was developed for North America, especially in the North-eastern parts of the United State and Canada, but it is also found in Michigan and Ohio that I know of for sure. The grape is a blend of the French Folle Blanche and the local Grande Glabre.  It is a popular grape for Northern climes as the grape matures quickly on the vine, with high acidity and the winegrowers try to extend the growing season as long as possible to tame the acidity. These grapes are grown on the original vineyard site of Henry of Pelham, and was one of the earliest known planting of grapes for Canada in 1842. The wine went through full maceration and fermentation in Stainless Steel and then aged for six to eight months in American Oak, of which twenty-four percent was new. The wine is described as a deep, dark red wine with flavors of currants and blueberries, spices and a toasted oak finish. 

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Merry Christmas 2020

Posted on December 25, 2020 by thewineraconteur

A short note wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, after this trying year. The agony of not seeing family has been difficult here and everywhere else. May you have love, luck, health and happiness.

Go and enjoy your Christmas or the holiday of your choice and I pray that you get to enjoy the same satisfactions that you always have. If a commercial jet plane can be full of strangers, a home should be full of loving family.

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Mimosas Are for Sunday

Posted on December 23, 2020 by thewineraconteur

 I think it was about twenty years ago, that we were told that we were going into a fifteen-day lockdown mode and it has been a roller-coaster ride ever since, my recollection of the time span may be off, but it sure feels like it.  I miss going to restaurants, just like everyone else, but we have been told that science has proved that one can get the Chinese disease shopping in a small neighborhood store or in a restaurant, but not a Wal-Mart or a Target.  I am glad that I am retired, because for the bulk of my career, I worked in small independent companies and I guess they are the carriers or the spreaders of this disease.  We always liked to go out for brunch after church, in all honestly, my Bride goes to church faithfully, until it was discovered that it was also a spreader of the disease.  We have been trying to recreate our brunch days ever since.  It is funny to know that my Bride also has made an appearance on her church’s Sunday video that plays on demand through the computer, as she has been a lector there for years.   So, our Sunday begins with our 3K walk in the subdivision, she watches church on a monitor along with one of her girlfriends and we have brunch.  

Brunch is a fancy word that is a mash-up of breakfast and lunch and years ago, it was a popular item for fine dining establishments and country-clubs.  I can remember when the Big Three (which means the automotive corporations in Detroit) decided on trying “Casual Fridays” the memo to the employees stated, the attire one would wear for brunch.  The executives understood it, but the majority of the work force, needed some clarification.  I only mention this, because back in the Dark Ages, I was a clothier and I helped plenty of people with this new concept.  Brunch to me meant a much fancier breakfast, maybe not as elegant as Breakfast at Brennan’s, but beyond bacon and eggs. I am spoiled, if I could get it on a daily basis, I would have Eggs Benedict, but I am still married and have survived the lockdown this far, but we do have great brunches on Sunday. 

Brunches require Mimosas, well maybe Bloody Mary cocktails as well, but we are in the realm of The Wine Raconteur.  Not only have we been going through the wine cellar and finding wines that were forgotten, we are also kind of cleaning up the selection of bubbly that is down there.  Mimosas do not require the top end of Champagne and it would be a sin, especially on a Sunday to mix orange juice and Dom Perignon.  In reality, we have more sparkling wine, than we should have or need and thankfully, most of it is in the popular price range and that is fair game.  We ended up with several bottles of splits of Champagne Duval-Leroy Brut NV.  Champagne Duval-Leroy is a Champagne house in the Cote des Blancs region and was founded in 1859 by Edouard Leroy and Jules Duval and is now in its sixth generation of family ownership.  They were one of the original houses to be environmental in their approach and the first to produce a certified organic Brut Champagne. They have about five-hundred acres of vineyards and forty percent of their property is Premier and Grand Cru vineyards.  While this wine is not at the top of the heap for the house, it is their “meat and potatoes” and what they produce year in and year out, trying to maintain the same taste and it is a classic Champagne blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.  This might have been overkill for a Mimosa, but they were excellent especially with just a tincture of orange juice, just for color and Vitamin C.  Another bubbly that we have been enjoying is the Scharffenberger Cellars Brut Sparkling Wine Mendocino County NV.  John Scharffenberger founded his winery in 1981 in the heart of Anderson Valley.  The wine is a blend of fruits from both the estate’s one-hundred-twenty acres and select contract vineyards.  The wine is made in the classic Methode Traditionelle process.  The wine is a blend of sixty percent Chardonnay and forty percent Pinot Noir.  After two years on the lees, the wine gets the finishing touches to be set out into the world.  Once again this is a wine that could be enjoyed on its merits, but the trace of orange juice just finishes the process and it is officially a Mimosa.  I pray that within my lifetime that restaurants will be legal again, you may be aware that marijuana is (in this state).  Afterall, a meal without wine is just breakfast.    

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Saber Brut Rosé Single Vineyard

Posted on December 21, 2020 by thewineraconteur

“Where is my Surete-Scotland-Yard-type mackintosh?” as I ponder the last bottle from my shipment from A Taste of Monterey.  This bottle has perhaps driven me to drink as there were plenty of MacGuffins along the way.  In case you haven’t noticed, I try to go beyond the advertising blurbs to find interesting tidbits, at least they are interesting to me.  Back in the dark ages I took a course in Journalism, which I do not adhere to, because back then, one was taught to telegraph the important points immediately and follow with probes and answers to the probes.  I don’t feel too bad that I don’t write that way, but then again, I think that the “journalists” of today wouldn’t go beyond whatever information that they are given, they don’t even check for accuracy or truth.

There was plenty of discoveries along the way, as I began my search about Saber Brut Rosé Single Vineyard NV.  I have always understood that wineries prefer making sparkling wine that is non-vintage, as a way to maintain a consistent taste year after year.  Here was a sparkling wine made from the Mesa del Rio Vineyard and I do believe that this is the first sparkling wine that I have had from Monterey, as one doesn’t think of bubbles from that region, right, wrong or indifferent.  What was interesting is that the wine was produced by Saber in Lodi, California.  I finally found their “website” which was more puff and not full of wine information.  The wine is produced using “Metodo Italiano” which is a fancy way of saying that it is made like a Prosecco, and the bulk of them are made by the Charmat Method, as the better ones say that they are made like French Champagne.  I finally discovered that the wine is one of the brands of Al Scheid that I have written about in the past, and a couple of his brands.  The story of Al Scheid is interesting.  He first purchased property in Monterey County in early 1972, and the area was in its infancy for wine, and it was originally known as Monterey Farming Corporation and was a limited partnership that was originally conceived to take advantage of the tax shelter laws. For the first fifteen years he sold his grapes to other concerns for their winemaking.  As he slowly brought in his family the farm became an estate vineyard and winery and he also bought more in the Salinas Valley to expand the winemaking.  In the Monterey estate he bought out his partners and even bought another vineyard of Pinot Noir.  They built a state-of-the-art crusher for the bulk jobs and created a small winery in Monterey for their craft production.  

There was more discussion about the use of a saber for opening, which they try to downplay, perhaps for insurance purposes.  I have never done it, as I think it is a bit pretentious, though there is plenty in the wine world that I find that is, and doesn’t make me happy, but that is me.  The wine is ninety-eight percent Chardonnay and two percent Dolcetto.  The wine was aged for six months in Stainless Steel using the Charmat Method.  The wine is described as a light salmon/orange color with larger bubbles, with a nose of tropical fruits.  A medium mousse on the palate and a short finish.  I have read that the wine is rather “brut” in finish straight from the refrigerator, but then tends to sweeten a bit after it warms up.  A rather unique description of the wine and when I actually have the wine, I will give my opinion.  The other curious fact about the wine is that it had no foil around the bottle and wire and cap seal.  I shall finish with another quote by the famed Inspector of the Surete, and I will understand if you are too young.  After stepping on and breaking a violin “Oh well, if you’ve seen one Stradivarius, you’ve seen them all.”

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