A Virtual OTBN

Posted on March 1, 2021 by thewineraconteur

I accepted an open invitation on Social Media for a virtual “Open That Bottle Night.”  It has become a much-lauded evening among wine drinkers and especially those that write blogs. Actually, this isn’t the first time that I have ventured into this “holiday.” The concept was created by Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher who were wine columnists for the Wall Street Journal and they picked out a night in February, one of the darker and colder months, to go into one’s wine cellar and open up a bottle that one has been holding onto, just for the right moment. A very worthwhile idea, because we are all guilty of saving some bottles of wine for a special moment, that just never seems to occur. I think the main reason that I don’t always participate in it, is that I tend to be rather unorganized when it comes to such things. We tend to have a couple of bottles of wine open in the house most days, but they are our “go-to” basic wines that don’t require a lot of fan-fare or hoopla, but somehow, I even joked at the end of the gathering that 2020 was actually an OTBN every night, especially for people like my Bride and I that sometimes think that a bottle is too good, and sometimes we just totally loose track of the wines.

Some days, I guess that I come out as brash especially compared to the evening’s host, but a true gentleman and a scholar as we used to say, is Anatoli Levine, who has basically followed me since almost day one of my writing, and I may say vice-versa, as well as beyond our blogs.  Anatoli writes a wonderful blog talk-a-vino.com with the ease and poise of a gentleman of the old school, and with a wonderful knowledge of wines. He always seems to find some of the most unique and interesting wines to make all the other wine writers drool after he announces these discoveries. He decided to have a Zoom session for OTBN and there must have been about fifteen participants, and it was like an adult version of “Show and Tell” when I was in primary school.  Of course, my Bride actually has been identified and actually has a name.  May I say, that he was a gracious host and made it a point to introduce everyone to everyone else, though my Bride and I were really the new kids on the block, as most of the participants knew each other from other blogger events.  He gave everyone a bit of a background about myself and remembered several facts and then he had me relate my story about having Screaming Eagle.  There were several very unique wines being “shared” and then there were several lively conversations, some wine and some not wine chats as well. 

Now to get to the wine of the moment.  I was looking at several options for the evening: Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1964, Chateau Lafite Rothschild 1973, Chateau Cheval Blanc 1992, Caymus Special Select 1995, Duckhorn Merlot Howell Mountain 1991, Opus One 1991 and Gaja Barbaresco 1982.  Now as the old expression goes “a happy wife, a happy life” my Bride thought that we should have our Cain Five 1992 that we bought from our tour at Cain Vineyard and Winery years ago.  Cain Five is definitely my Bride’s favorite wine, perhaps followed by the much more reasonable Cain Cuvee.  This particular wine was a blend of fifty-three percent Cabernet Sauvignon, thirty-four percent Merlot, nine percent Malbec, three percent Cabernet Franc, and one percent Petit Verdot.  The wine was perfect, everything was just totally balanced and we finished the bottle during the two-hour session. 

Posted in Wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Chateau Siran and Napanook

Posted on February 27, 2021 by thewineraconteur

I guess I was really blessed when I ventured into the Fine Wine Source when they were tasting and selecting some wines for the shop and for their restaurant Vertical, if and when dining capacity is at least raised to fifty percent.  They are professionals and I am that Street Somm that takes photos and does some tasting when it is offered.  I never interrupt when they are doing business, in that case, I make my planned purchase and leave. Though I am always surprised at what they may end up pouring for me, and they were not even worried about using a Coravin device, so I was in Seventh Heaven. 

Chateau Siran Margaux 2018 was a charming wine that I was tasting and when I looked at my tattered “bible” The Signet Book of Wine by Alexis Bespaloff (1971) that I have been citing and using since high school rated this wine as a Crus Bourgeois worth watching for.  The estate goes back to a land grant from the church to Guilhem de Siran in 1428.  By the end of the 17th Century, they were producing wine and during the next century they were developing a strong reputation. The Miailhe family has owned the property since 1859 and in 2007, the estate is run by the seventh generation of the same family.  The estate has twenty-five hectares of vineyards in Margaux planted with Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc.  Also on the property is nine hectares that produce a wine for them as a Bordeaux Superior, another two hectares that is Haute-Medoc, and they even produce a second estate wine that carries the Margaux appellation.  The average age of the vines are thirty-years of age, but there is one parcel of land that was planted in the 1920’s.  The fruit is all hand picked, de-stemmed and sorted a couple of times. Initial fermentation is done in Stainless Steel, and the maceration and malolactic fermentation takes eighteen to twenty-four days in oak; then the wine is aged for twelve months in French Oak, of which thirty-five percent is new.  Even though the estate is planted with more Merlot, this wine is forty-five percent Cabernet Sauvignon, forty-four percent Merlot and eleven percent Petit Verdot.  The winery feels that this wine will be at its apex in twenty to thirty years.  Now of all the Communes in Bordeaux, I have probably drunk more Margaux wines over the years, and this was just a classic and elegant example, even in its youth.  It was a beautiful wine.

Dominus Estate Napanook Yountville 2016 by Christian Moueix of Chateau Petrus; and I once wrote that I never wanted to stop admiring the nose on a Dominus Estate wine. Christian Moueix has had part ownership since 1982 and ran the estate concurrently with his family business in Bordeaux until 2008. The estate is based on the Napanook vineyard, which was one of the first sites planted in grapes in Napa Valley.  George Yount (Yountville) began the vineyard in 1838 and the fifty-hectare site has had many owners and steward of the land.  Moueix went into partnership in 1982 and in 1995 became the sole owner; Dominus is Latin for Lord of the Estate.  Dominus Estate is the flagship of the winery, Napanook is the mid-level wine and the entry-level wine is Othello.  The vineyard is dry-farmed, both to conserve water and to control the yields and hence the quality of the fruit, the same practice that was started in the 1970’s at Petrus.  The wine is eighty-four percent Cabernet Sauvignon, nine percent Petit Verdot and seven percent Cabernet Franc. The wine was aged for ten months in oak, of which twenty percent was new, and then the wine rested in bottles for another eight months before being released.   The nose offered some lavender and cedar, while dark fruits mingled with big tannins and a nice long finish of terroir which always makes me happy.  Another delightful wine, and a wonderful way to fill part of an afternoon. 

Posted in Wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

February 2021 Wine Club Selections

Posted on February 25, 2021 by thewineraconteur

The monthly email that I receive from the Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan is like a call from my Siren, without the fatal consequences. It may seem that I spend my entire life there, but that is not the case, it is because I usually only write about two wines at a time, and there are days that I have had the good fortune to taste several excellent wines, and then I must figure out how to weave the stories around other stories, as I am not an employee or a paid reviewer, but I do enjoy my visits.  The joining of the wine club was very simple, once a month they bill you for two wines, which you go and pick up, they are usually interesting wines; one Old World and one New World.  As a club member you also get to enjoy case pricing, even if you only run in to pick up a quick bottle of wine. 

The Old-World selection for the month is Chateau Calhou Belair Bordeaux 2018.  In the 13th Century Eleonore de Provence, wife of Henry III Plantagenet, King of England and Duke of Aquitaine, founded the bastide of Monsegur.  The area was known for their gastronomy, and this spurred additional interest in the development of viticulture. The Great Depression of 1929 was felt in France, as it was a global crisis and it created the need for the small wineries to restructure and have a new outlook to survive.  In 1935, in Monsegur, a handful of winemakers met and decided to work together, the following year fifteen winemakers created the Monsegur Cooperative and had their first harvest.  Through the years they kept improving especially in technical improvements and investment. Originally, they produced wine in bulk to sell to Bordeaux merchants and in 2009 decided to start bottling their own product.  Which required more capital investments for this goal. Today they have one-hundred-seventy winemaker members, which accounts for eighty-thousand hectares of vines, encompassing Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon and they produce under two appellations: Bordeaux and Entre-Deux-Mers.  This wine is a blend of fifty-five percent Merlot, thirty-five percent Cabernet Sauvignon and ten percent Cabernet Franc.  The wine is described as offering ripe dark fruits both in the nose and on the palette with a jammy touch, layers of cherries and leather, grainy tannins and finishing with a little heat.

The New-World selection is Donati Family Vineyards Cabernet Franc Paicines AVA 2016.  The Donati family started arriving in the Paicines region of the Central Coast in 1998, when they purchased the land that would become the family estate and vineyard.  Since then, they have planted the vineyards and built a state-of-the-art winery.  Paicines is the southernmost AVA in the San Benito County and in the 1980’s and 1990’s the area was associated with the production of bulk wines, but a few wineries are attempting to correct that image.  To this day, much of the fruit is grown and then sent to wineries in other parts of California.  It is still home to the five-hundred-acre Vista Verde Vineyard that was previously owned by Almaden Vineyards, before the company was sold and split up in the 1980’s.  The sandy soils of gravel and limestone have forced the vines to develop deep root systems, because of the good drainage and has strengthened the vines.  This wine is ninety-eight percent Cabernet Franc and two percent Cabernet Sauvignon.  The fermentation began in Stainless Steel and then the juice was aged for twenty-eight months in oak, of which thirty-four percent was new French Oak and twenty-one percent was new American Oak.  This was an impressive wine offering a nose of blueberry, vanilla and pepper, a big chewy wine of rich fruit and balanced tannins and a nice mid-length finish of more fruit.  This wine I actually tried in the shop and all I could think of, is that I am glad that my Bride was not there, because I have no idea where I would put the additional cases of her favorite grape.  I may have to act fast, as there were only six-hundred-sixty-four cases produce.

Posted in Wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Covides Gran Gesta Brut Reserva Cava

Posted on February 23, 2021 by thewineraconteur

Sunday has become a true day of rest, unless Mother Nature decides to bring more of that white stuff around here.  I am getting worn out, even with the use of a snow blower keeping the sidewalks and driveway clean, and I wish some of the others in our neighborhood would be as diligent.  Yesterday there was a strange alien yellow glow in the sky and we were so distracted by it, that we decided to try to do our daily walk that has been relegated to a treadmill.  It was rather frustrating and we only did about half of our usual circuit, because neither of us are spring chickens and with all of the snow and ice, not to mention extra vehicles in driveways made trying to walk on the sidewalks very treacherous.  One of my other Winter pet peeves is that people will get lazy and make a path maybe using their snow blower twice, when they should actually do a third lap.  There were some sidewalks that were not wide enough for us to walk side by side and hand in hand.

That was yesterday and this is today and we are planning our usual Sunday routine.  My Bride makes an excellent breakfast for us to enjoy, and then she basically attends mass for shut-ins, since the whole state is still in lockdown mode.  The Chinese virus is more lethal in a church or cathedral compared to a Walmart Superstore according to the unattested and unseen science that our satrap dictates from.  She watches mass on one of the “smart” televisions, while on the phone with one of her girlfriends; and she is a real girlfriend, because she allows my Bride to sing with gusto during the service.  My Bride liked the bubbles that we had for breakfast and changed the dinner selection to Center Cut Pork Chops with Onions and the last of the Armenian Cheese Boregs.  I didn’t complain at all. 

The bubbles that we had for our brunch that she decided that we would have for dinner as well was Covides Gran Gesta Brut Reserva NV from Catalonia, Spain.  Covides Vinedos-Bodegas was founded in 1963 as a unification of more than six-hundred farmers to make wine from their own grapes.  It was also the introduction of mechanization.  They built two wineries to focus on the uniqueness of wines, instead of bulk wine production.  In the early 1980’s they began the production and sales of Cava.  In 2005, Covides expanded and built a new cava with the capacity of seven-and-a-half-million bottles.  This wine is a blend of fifty-five percent Xarel-lo, thirty-five percent Macabeo and twenty percent Parellado.  It was made in the Methode Traditionelle, or the classic production methods used in the Champagne region of France and the wine spent sixteen months of aging.  The wine had nice smaller bubbles and offered up pears and apples for a subtle flavor, but offered a short finish.  We enjoyed the wine through dinner and through the Zoom session as well.

Posted in Dining, Wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Chateau Tour Leognan

Posted on February 21, 2021 by thewineraconteur

Doing wine tastings is something that I never turn down, especially when I am at my local wine shop the Fine Wine Source.  When I see the term Grand Vin de Graves, my immediate thought is that it is a little ballyhoo “grand wine of Graves,” but Graves was one of the first areas of Bordeaux that I really had some great wines when I was still a student, because they were affordable and some were excellent.  When I looked at the label and read Chateau Tour Leognan Pessac-Leognan 2018, nothing immediately rang any bells, but then I read a little further and saw Famille Perrin and Chateau Carbonnieux.  If I had unlimited funds, I am not sure if wines would be as exciting, because I always try to find a winner in an affordable range, especially now in my retirement. 

Chateau Carbonnieux is a wine producer in Pessac-Leognan region of Graves, and they produce red and white wines and I discovered that they also produce wines on the estate on a couple of different tiers.  The Carbonnieux estate goes back to the early days of Bordeaux in the 13th Century and has a varied history, until it was purchased by the Perrin family in the last century.  They renovated the property with a new cellar and winery; they also increased the vineyards from forty-five to ninety-five hectares.  In the Grand Cru Classe de Graves in 1959, both the red and white wines were classified for Chateau Carbonnieux.  They grow Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon and the average age of the vines would be around thirty years of age.  The white and red wines, both start fermentation in Stainless Steel and then are place in barrels where the malolactic fermentation takes place.  The grand vin blanc spends ten months in the barrel, while the grand vin rouge spends eighteen months in oak, then the wines are fined and spend some time in bottles before release.  The winery also has a second label La Croix de Carbonnieux for both red and white.  The fruit is harvested from younger vines, gets the same treatment and attention, though the time in the barrel is reduced, to produce a younger and more fruit forward wine to early enjoyment.  

Chateau Tour Leognan Pessac-Leognan 2018 is their third label, and it is also offered as white, but I am talking about the red wine.  Chateau Carbonnieux replants at least one or two plots of vines each year.  The juice that is used for this wine is basically from their twelve-year-old vines.  The wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and still getting the same initial treatment as Cru Classe wines, but the wine is aged for twelve months in oak.  They recommend five years in the cellar to allow the wine to reach its maximum of layering of tastes.  This wine, while young was representative of a nice wine from Graves, offering some red and dark fruit and a decent finish with some terroir.   A nice offering from an affordable wine. 

Posted in Wine | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Valentine’s Day at Home

Posted on February 19, 2021 by thewineraconteur

Sundays for the last year have been quiet stay at home days, of course for the last almost a year, every day has been a stay-at-home day.  Sundays have become rather structured, regardless if it is a holiday or not and I guess that maintains a certain modicum of sanity in our life. We have a fancier and relaxed breakfast, and then a nice early dinner, because we have the weekly Zoom session and one never knows the size or the extent of the meeting.  I am sure, because of the lockdowns, I would venture to say that most people have done them either with family or for business.  I have seen where people liken them to watching Hollywood Squares or parts of a Muppets episode.  The sessions can either be very lively or sometimes very quiet, which is hard to believe, but it has happened.

My Bride started the day off with Eggs Benedict, which is one of my favorite breakfast treats, in fact it is probably the only time that I really get excited about a Hollandaise Sauce.  With Canada just south of the border for us, we both grew up with real Canadian bacon, which is called is referred to as Peameal Bacon, which is a wet-cured, unsmoked back bacon made from a trimmed pork loin that is rolled in corn, it was originally rolled in ground peas (hence the name) and the bacon is moist with a crispy crust.  Here in the States, Canadian bacon is a form of back bacon that is cured, smoked and fully cooked and then trimmed into a cylindrical shape to be served in round medallions.  Nowadays, the American version is mostly found in the States and what is usually encountered at most restaurants.  If you truly want the most decadent you must at least once have Breakfast at Brennan’s in the French Quarter.  As the old saying goes, a meal without wine is breakfast, but not if one has Mimosas.  Mimosas are designed to be made with a bulk-style bubbly, not with a lauded vintage cru, and over the years we have discovered that a tincture of orange juice is all that is necessary for the drink.  Though we actually went big-time and had Korbel California Champagne, which is produced in the time-honored way of “Methode Champenoise” and it is a blend of Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, French Colombard and Pinot Noir.  A perfect way to start the day, and Korbel is one of those houses that have been grandfathered in using the term “California Champagne.” Korbel Champagne Cellars was established in 1882 in Sonoma by three Korbel brothers, who came from Bohemia.  The winery was bought by Adolph Heck in 1954 and is now under the ownership of his son Gary and production has grown that they are now the twelfth largest producer in the United State of America.  It has been served at six different presidential inaugurations and they are also known for their Korbel Brandy.

With an early dinner my Bride made her Breaded Chicken Breasts with a gravy that evolves from her making of the dish.  She also made Green Beans and Garlic Mashed Potatoes for a good old “comfort” dinner.  She also made Lemon Pudding for dessert, which she knows is a favorite of mine, because I have to always mention that my Mother until her untimely death, made the greatest Lemon Meringue Pies known to man. I could have gone with a bigger wine for the dinner, but since I knew that we were going to be enjoying the wine during the Zoom session, I went with something lighter, and it was a bottle that we were touted to get at our local wine shop as they were one bottle short of another wine that I was buying a case of.  I opened up a bottle of Broadbent Selection, Inc. Vinho Verde Minho NV.  Bartholomew Broadbent is a lively, witty and informative wine lecturer and one of the foremost authorities on Port and Madeira.  “He is credited for being responsible for the growth of Port consumption in North America during the mid-1980’s and was responsible for the reintroduction of Madeira to America in 1989” and this was taken directly from his website.  He owns several wine labels and is the importer to the United States of several notable wineries.  Broadbent Selections, Inc. was founded in 1996.  Broadbent Vinho Verde in Portugal was founded in 2004, using contract wine growers and the grounds are basically acid-rich and granite based with areas of schist or slate and clay.  The wine is a blend of fifty percent Loureiro, forty percent Trajadura and ten percent Pederna (Arinto).  The wine is made by suppressing the malolactic fermentation and injecting some carbon dioxide at bottling, which gives the wine its characteristic spritz.  A very easy drinking and crisp light wine with notes of green apples, peaches and melon with a touch of lemon. When the Zoom session ended, so did the bottle.   

Posted in Dining, Wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Night Before St. Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 17, 2021 by thewineraconteur

Since St. Valentine’s Day was on a Sunday this year and we were both itching to go out somewhere.  I suggested a restaurant that we have been to several times before and my Bride decided to have our Son’s family join us, as she was sure that they were just as tired of being under lockdown mode as the rest of the state.  Logistically it was a good match for all of us, but then we had to see if they were open yet, as some restaurants have not opened with only twenty-five percent capacity.  They were open, but they would not accept reservations, it would be first come, first serve, and I could understand that, so our Son and his family had to have an “old people’s” dinner at four o’clock in the afternoon, but I didn’t want to take a chance waiting for a table, especially if people decided to lollygag.  We went to Gravity in Milford and right after we got there, the restaurant started to fill up, so others had the same idea.

The menu was a bit tighter in scope and that is also understandable, as trying to reopen a second time with rules that are in flux can be a total learning experience again, though they did have a couple of specials that sounded interesting, we went off the internet-driven menu that was being offered for the evening. Believe it or not I decided to start the meal off with a house salad, while the others went with shared plates of Calamari and Roasted Cauliflower.  My Bride had an order of Cinnamon Dusted Sea Scallops with Sweet Potato Risotto, Maple Beurre Banc with Apple, Cranberry and Walnut Chutney and I might add that I had to try some of that, and it was delicious, in fact so good, that she did not need to have anything packed up for the return trip.  I had the Lobster Pasta with Spinach, Asparagus and Roasted Tomatoes with a Sherry Cream Sauce, and there was no need for a “doggie bag” either.  After dinner, a couple of desserts were split, but my Bride after a year on her new life-style and successful diet wanted to enjoy a house-made Cream Puff with Ice Cream and Hot Fudge, a true Detroit classic and since it has been a couple of days, I can tell you that the only binging that she is doing is on some television channel called Netflix, so she is good.

I saw a wine on the wine carte that caught my attention, as I think it is the first time that I have even seen it offered anywhere.  We started the dinner off with a split of Champagne Drappier Carte D’Or NV.  Champagne Drappier is a house located in the commune of Urville in the Aube, the southernmost region of Champagne.  The house was founded in 1808 and known for its Pinot Noir dominated wines. Their cellars were built by Cistercian monks from Clairvaux Abbey and are among the oldest in Champagne as they date back to 1152.  The estate owns fifty-three hectares of vineyards and farms another fifty hectares by contract with local farmers.  This wine is a blend of eighty percent Pinot Noir, fifteen percent Chardonnay and five percent Pinot Meunier harvested from limestone soil.  The wine offered stone fruit and spice with a medium long finish. 

We were going to get another split of a different wine, but we had to settle with the smaller individual drink size bottles of Jaume Serra Cristalino Brut Traditional Method Cava NV from J. Garcia Carrion.  J. Garcia Carrion is the largest winery and the second largest fruit juice producer in Europe.  They were founded in 1890 and produce wines in ten different DO regions of Spain, and also more wines and brandies outside of the DO regions.  Their major label is Don Simon was created in 1980 and one of the first box wines in Spain, the label is now used for their Sangria, juices and soft drinks.  Jaume Serra is made in the Traditional Method that is required for Cava and is a blend of Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel-lo. There is not much to go glean from the company, but the wine was very refreshing and very tasty.    

Posted in Dining, Wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Two Merlot Based Bordeaux Wines

Posted on February 15, 2021 by thewineraconteur

I just had the good fortune to stop by at the Fine Wine Source when they were revisiting some wines either for the wine shop or for their restaurant Vertical, once the forced mandate of 25% occupancy is raised to 50% or more, or for both.  They were asking my opinion, which made me feel wonderful, but they could easily make the decisions without my input, but as I say, I did feel honored.  The restaurant and the wine shop pride themselves on having interesting wines, as opposed to what every “safe” wine list will carry.  The “unicorn” wines are probably the easiest wines to select, because they are name driven and if one has the income or the expense account, they are extremely easy to sell.  The average person, I would venture to say, doesn’t want to many choices; the wine lover wants to find something new and interesting, to give himself a reason to buy something. After all, not every wine has to be expensive, sometimes it is the affordable ones that we miss. 

Chateau Larrivaux Haut-Medoc 2018 was one such wine.  In 1581, seventy-five hectares were virgin land and a major project was initially planned with a castle worthy of “fairy tales.” In the end two buildings were erected, and both are still standing, one became the family home and the other became a haystack and barn and later a barrel cellar in 1821, Since 1580, because the husband was an “inveterate gambler” the wife took over, and it has been this way ever since. Today there are three generations of women attending to the estate, in a continuous series of females, and they manage nine hectares of vineyards with the majority in Merlot, followed by Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc.  The estate is in Cissac, which is part of the Haut-Medoc, and the three planted vineyards are on different grounds, two are on gravelly soil with deep clay and one is of clay and limestone.  The property is adjacent to Saint-Estephe, but because of the terroir, Merlot was the better choice to grow there and the 2018 was sixty-four percent Merlot, twenty-six percent Cabernet Sauvignon, seven percent Petit Verdot and three percent Cabernet Franc with about twelve months in oak.  It was very approachable immediately and the feminine charm of the women produced a nice silky “feminine” Haut-Medoc without overpowering tannins that need some years to mellow.  Since most wines are consumed in their youth, this wine is a winner.

Chateau de Roques Puisseguin-Saint-Emilion 2018 was another wine that I tried at the same time. Puysseguin (Puisseguin)-Saint-Emilion is another of the satellite titles that may append Saint-Emilion to their name; the others are Saint-Georges, Montagne and Lussac.  The appellation is only allowed for red wines and can only be wines made from Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Carmenere.  The grounds are known for their clay, limestone and gravel soils. This appellation has the strictest laws pertaining to the production of wine, in regard to density of the vines, residual sugar and final proof measurement. Chateau de Roques has been in the Sublett family for over two-hundred years, and today it is both a winery and a hotel.  The fruit is both manually and mechanically harvested from thirty-year-old vines  and in the course of wine production they use vats, barrels, Concrete and Stainless Steel.  The wine is a blend of seventy percent Merlot, twenty-five percent Cabernet Sauvignon and five percent Cabernet Franc.  The wine is bottles eighteen months after harvest and it spends at least twelve months in a mix of oak vats and oak barrels.  The wine was a nice garnet color, with floral notes and red fruits, softer tannins and a medium finish.  This wine can be enjoyed immediately.  It is always interesting to me, as an amateur to see how similar wines can be so different.     

Posted in Wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

National Pizza Day

Posted on February 13, 2021 by thewineraconteur

I am not sure, if it was National Pizza Day or International Pizza Day, as I was getting bombarded with photos of some great pizzas on February Ninth.  Now when I was growing up, pizza was still a novelty, believe it or not.  In my old neighborhood in Detroit, we had a sit-down pizzeria, and then there was a pizza carry-out place that used to hand you the pie over the top half of a screen door, and eventually they bought all the buildings on the corner and eventually the neighborhood had another sit-down pizzeria, and there was a carryout joint across the street from my Uncle’s gas station and unfortunately only the latter is still in business.  Now Detroit is actually famed for their” Detroit Style Pizza” and I have been spoiled, and Detroit created two blockbuster international chains that are going strong.  I mention all of this, because there was a fourth pizzeria, that was not actually in the City of Detroit, but was in the suburbs, but it was across the street from “our park” and became part of the neighborhood.  The restaurant was Roman Village and they are still in existence.  I mention all of this, because my Bride had a problem with her car, we took it into the dealership and eventually found out that the catalytic converter was failing, and thankfully it was still under warranty. 

I dropped my Bride off at the dealership and told her to drive over to an Italian restaurant just down the road from where she was and that we would have a pizza, and I think that hit the right note with her.  We went to Antonio’s Piccolo Cucina Italiana and that is the name that the son of Roman Village calls his other locations, though only this place has the Piccolo, because the building is much smaller compare to the other locations, and yes, the original location is still open and extremely busy.  The business is located in a building that used to be another Italian restaurant that my Bride and I have gone to, where the waiters would sing opera in between waiting on tables.  I was a cheap date as we split an Antipasto Salad and an Antonio’s Special Pizza which was loaded, just the way I like a pizza, and we only substituted Anchovies for Italian Sausage.  By happen chance, we (I) ended up chatting with the owner’s Mother who was checking up on us, and we had a great chat about Roman Village, and later on, we found that we had been comped by her for our desserts. 

I got to the restaurant first and got us a table, at 25% occupancy, all of the booths were already occupied.  There was also a sheet of paper on the table that has been mandated, that we have to give our information, in case the restaurant that evening becomes the center of a virus outburst and I am always tempted to write down the name of the governor’s husband, because she does not use his last name and to write down the phone number of the governor’s office.  I know that I am such a bad boy, but I couldn’t wait to remove my mask and order a glass of wine.  I had a glass of The Hess Collection Winery Chardonnay Shirtail Ranches Monterey County 2018.  We have enjoyed The Hess Collection since our visit to Napa Valley years ago.  They planted in 1978 and 1982 was there first vintage and then they were noted for Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, but the land was actually recorded as being used in wine production since the late 19th Century.  The Hess Collection Winery now has wineries and facilities in Argentina and South Africa, as well as other parts of California.  The Shirtail (Creek) Ranches of Monterey County is a three-hundred-fifty-two-acre estate and all the fruit is used for a label that is used exclusively for the restaurant trade.  Only five percent of this wine undergoes malolactic fermentation in new oak, while the balance is done Sur Lie for about six months in Stainless Steel tanks.  A medium bodied wine with notes of green apples, I found this wine to be a bit sweeter than I had anticipated, but it probably works for their target market.  My Bride tried a taste of my wine and wanted something else, so she ended up with Stella Pinot Grigio Italia 2019, though the website says that this wine is made in Sicily.  Stella Wines is a producer aiming for quantity and this particular wine is offered in traditional bottles, magnums and three-liter boxes.  I do not think that I will do much of a stretch to opine that this was made in Stainless Steel tanks.  For what it was, the wine was definitely easy drinking and crisp and it tasted like Pinot Grigio.  We ordered a couple of glasses of Celani Family Vineyards Robusto Proprietary Red Wine Napa Valley 2018 to go with the pizza.  We have gone to Celani Family Vineyards wine tastings and we have some wines resting in our cellar from those events.  Tom Celani is lauded in the Detroit area for his largesse for charitable organizations that he helps in a grand manner.  He and his father ended up creating one of the largest Miller distribution companies in the United States along with other beers and wines.  Tom Celani fell in love with wines, first as a drinker and a collector and finally acquiring a Tuscan-style estate with seventeen acres of grapes and one-hundred-twenty olive trees in the foot hills of the Vaca Mountain range in Napa Valley.  As the proprietor of the Celani Family Vineyards he has chosen to bottle wine without costs becoming a consideration, to him wine is about quality and not quantity.  This is truly a Proprietary Red Blend, as there is no information even on the trade notes, but the winery grows Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc and they are partial to new French Oak.  This wine has been made to be enjoyed young and it truly is, with a fruit forward taste, but not a jammy Napa Cab, and softer tannins.  We were literally chewing this wine to get all the flavor and the finish was excellent, the perfect wine with our pizza.

Posted in Dining, Wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

One from Montagne and One from Saint-Georges

Posted on February 11, 2021 by thewineraconteur

My ears always perk up when I hear Saint-Emilion, especially when I am in a wine shop like the Fine Wine Source.  I really fell in love with the wines from Saint-Emilion during my high school years, because they were such a bargain compared to the Medoc and its Communes.  They were also easier to drink at a younger age, because they were so silky.  When I was young and the world was not “politically correct,” Saint-Emilion wines were referred to as feminine, because they were supple and enticing.  Actually, I think that those were technical terms about wines, when I was learning about wines.   The appellation requires that Saint-Emilion wines be red, white wines from this region are covered at Bordeaux Blanc.  The wines are made predominately from Merlot and Cabernet Franc, though Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, Petit Verdot and Malbec are also permitted. Saint-Emilion also has four satellite regions that are allowed to append their name to Saint Emilion; Lussac, Saint-Georges, Puisseguin and Montagne.   Montagne is the largest satellite and Saint-Georges is the smallest, and a quirk in the appellation laws allows a winery in Saint-Georges-Saint-Emilion to use Montagne-Saint-Emilion.

Chateau Clos de Bouard “Dame de Bouard” Montagne-Saint-Emilion 2018 was a charming wine.  Clos de Bouard is the new project for Coralie de Bouard along with her husband Loic Maillet.  Her husband is a negociant at LA Vintage, while she owns another property La Fleur de Bouard in Lalande de Pomerol and her father is Hubert de Bouard of Chateau Angelus.  Clos de Bouard was known prior as Tour Musset and was purchased in 2016.  “Dame de Bouard” is the second label of the winery.  The estate is thirty hectares of clay and limestone soil with a southern exposure.  The average age of the vines are forty years of age, but some are estimated to be over one-hundred years or older.  The fruit is hand harvest, with a maceration period of three to five weeks.  The fruit from the individual plots are vinified separately until the time of blending.  The wine is aged from ten to fourteen months, with thirty percent new barrels.  This vintage is a blend of sixty percent Merlot, thirty percent Cabernet Franc and ten percent Cabernet Sauvignon.  I have read from a couple of sources that this wine should be cellared for a couple of years, and I can appreciate that as I thought that it was quite fruit forward and young.  Ripe fruit and sweet spices with soft tannins was my thoughts on drinking this wine young, and I think that it will mellow and mature into something much more elegant in a couple of years and since it is reasonably priced, I think it is a safe bet

Chateau Tour du Pas Saint-Georges-Saint-Emilion 2010 and is owned by Delbeck Vignobles et Developpements.  This wine is being produced by Pascal Delbeck who for twenty years was at Chateau Ausone.  The property is fourteen hectares of clay and limestone slopes with a southern exposure.  The wine is a blend of sixty percent Merlot, thirty-five percent Cabernet Franc and five percent Cabernet Sauvignon with an average of twenty-five-year-old vines.  The fruit is hand harvested, with maceration done in concrete and inox vats.  The juice is then matured for fifteen months in French oak, of which thirty percent is new.  The wine was a nice deep color with offerings of dark fruit and spice, mellow tannins and a nice lingering finish of terroir.  A few years ago, I had the good fortune to have had the 2010 vintage and it had mellowed and aged very well, and I believe that this wine will best served with a couple of years in the cellar as well.

Posted in Wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment