Bernardus Sierra Mar Chardonnay SLH

Posted on December 19, 2020 by thewineraconteur

There is no doubt that I have the avid curiosity of a kid when we get our quarterly box of three wines from A Taste of Monterey.  It sometimes feels like an archeologist getting ready to discover an undiscovered room.  Everyone gets giddy, I guess when there is a surprise, especially if they are anticipating something very special.  You may look at the title and perhaps stifle a yawn, and think to yourself; yes, he has been to Bernardus and has had their wines before, he has had wines from Sierra Mar Vineyard and he has had plenty of wines from Santa Lucia Highlands, and yes, he has definitely had his share of Chardonnay wines is fifty years.  You would be right on all counts, but there is always great anticipation of enjoying a well-crafted wine and I have discovered that some of the wines that I thought were over the hill surprised me, because of the quality behind the bottle.  I have tried to stay optimistic.

 Bernardus Winery and Vineyards was founded by Ben Marinus Pon about twenty-five years ago with the intention of creating premier wines in the Carmel Valley.  His intent was to produce single vineyard designated wines and a Bordeaux blended wine.  Bernardus has three estate vineyards: Marinus planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec; Featherbow planted with Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon; and Ingrid’s Vineyard planted with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  All fifty-four acres of estate vineyards are in the Carmel Valley AVA.  To compliment the estate vineyards Bernardus also has contracts with vineyards the Arroyo Seco, Santa Lucia Highlands and others in the Monterey County. I am sorry to say, that Mr. Pon passed away in September of 2019 and his vision will be continued by Robert van der Wallen the current owner, who also understand the passion that Mr. Pon had for his winery.

Bernardus Winery Sierra Mar Vineyard Chardonnay Santa Lucia Highlands 2018 is one of the single vineyard designated wines that Mr. Pon envisaged and his version of a white wine to compete with Burgundy.  Sierra Mar Vineyard was planted by Gary Franscioni on a hilltop at the southern end of the Santa Lucia Highlands.  Bernardus Winery has the good fortune to be able to get both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir fruit that has been harvested from this respected vineyard. There are several clones that have been planted there like the Wente clone and the Dijon clone 96, and all the fruit is hand harvested and hand sorted.  This Chardonnay wine emulates the best of the white Burgundy wines, in that it has gentle whole-cluster pressing and special selected yeast for the fermentation and a complete malolactic fermentation.  Each barrel is hand stirred every two weeks until just before the final blending and bottling.  The wine is aged in French Oak, of which forty percent is new for about eleven months.  The tasting notes suggest a nose of ripe peach and apricot along with caramel and honey suckle.  The taste offers candied white fruits, spice and toasted oak, with rich tones, crisp acidity and a very long finish, and an aging potential of six to eight years.  There is nothing shabby about this wine and I am sure one can understand my excitement about this wine.

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Wrath Wines KW Ranch Syrah

Posted on December 17, 2020 by thewineraconteur

A December surprise is always what will be in the shipment from A Taste of Monterey from their “Private Reserve Club.” We have been members of this club for ages and it gives us a chance to enjoy some wines that otherwise may not get to Michigan for a myriad of reasons, and after we found out that they could legally ship to us, back when we were still a “felony state,” it was a no-brainer.  We were staying in Carmel-by-the-Sea and had made a side trip to Monterey, because I was a pain in the rear, and some things never change, and I had wanted to dine at the legendary Sardine Factory in the historic Cannery Row district.  We ate, drank, bought wine, joined a club and bought a major piece of art, all in part of a day.  We still have the art work, and we are still getting wine from our wine club, though, off-hand, I am not sure if we still have any wine in the cellar from that trip still, though it is possible.

The first wine that I pulled out of the carton was a Wrath Estate Wines KW Ranch Syrah Santa Lucia Highlands 2016.  Over the years we have received and enjoyed many wines from Wrath.  Wrath Estate Winery is located in Soledad, California and they are a winery where production is limited, but not the quality, and since we have been there, they have opened a satellite tasting room in downtown Carmel.  The winery produces Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Syrah, Falanghina and Sauvignon Blanc from their estate vineyard and some very respected private vineyards in the Santa Lucia Highlands.  Wrath Wines has contracts with McIntyre Vineyard, which was planted in 1973 and has the oldest Pinot Noir vines in the Santa Lucia Highlands.  The Doctor’s Vineyards also in the Santa Lucia Highlands grows eleven different clones of Pinot Noir on one-hundred-ninety-three acres, forty-five acres of five different clones of Syrah and almost five acres of Malbec.  The Tondre Grapefield started in 1997 with six and a half acres in the heart of the Santa Lucia Highlands and is now one-hundred acres dedicated to Pinot Noir.  The KW Ranch is also in the Santa Lucia Highlands and was planted in 2000 and dedicated to Pinot Noir and Syrah.  The Alta Loma Vineyard was planted in 2000 and is two-hundred-forty-six acres of biodynamically certified Merlot, Pinot Noir, Syrah and Grenache.  The last of the private vineyards that Wrath Wines contracts with is the Boekenoogen Vineyard, which went from a fifth-generation cattle ranch to becoming a vineyard in 1998 and growing Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah. 

The KW Ranch is located in the center of the Santa Lucia Highlands with the Pinot Noir and Syrah vines planted by Kirk Williams and is located only six miles from the winery.  Historically the wines from this vineyard are known to be intense and highly aromatic.  The grapes are hand harvested and sorted, with twenty percent of this wine utilized whole cluster fermentation and an oak regimen. Even after the bottling, the wines were cellared for an additional twelve months in the bottle before they were released.  According to the tasting notes the wine offers “flashes” of black pepper, smoked meat, blackberries, leather and cassis.  The tannins are described as bold, but elegant and approachable.  The suggested cellaring potential is for eight to ten years and there were only one-hundred-fifty-eight cases produced and I did check their website and they do not have any representation here in Michigan, especially with the small production like this wine had.

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Two From Prum

Posted on December 15, 2020 by thewineraconteur

I had the chance to taste two different wines from the same winery, same vineyard, same vintage, but two different levels of ripeness while I was at The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan.  I guess as a “Street Somm” I have some knowledge, but I am still in awe of how little I know after fifty years of enjoying wines.  Over the years I have tried to have wines from many different regions and at many different price points and tasting wines is a lot of fun.  The Prum family have had a presence in the winemaking in Wehlen for over four-hundred years, and the estate as is now known was established in 1911 by Johann Josef Prum and it was under the guidance of his son Sebastian and later his sons and onto the fourth generation that have maintained the quality level that is respected world-wide.  They have fourteen hectares of holdings in five Grosse Lages or First Growth Vineyards and they only grow and produce Riesling wines.  Directly across from their base of operations is the legendary Sonnenuhr (Sundial) Vineyard in Wehlen, which is a very long and steep vineyard that runs along the Mosel River and the soil is noted for its blue shale and there are about twenty wineries that have vines in Sonnenuhr, but the Joh. Jos. Prum winery is the largest and most known.

German wines are also known for their unique harvesting methods.  The towns and the wineries decide on a date of when to begin harvesting.  Then there is the concept of Pradikat in the Qualitatswein or when I started out it was Qualitatswein mit Pradikat (MP) which denoted the best of the best in German wines.  There are six official Pradikats and I will only mention the first three, otherwise I would be in the first pages of a doctoral thesis to do it properly.  Kabinet is the lightest style and is from the official first pickings of harvest and the wines tend to be dry or medium-dry in style.  Spatlese which means “late harvest” can be anywhere from a week or more in the harvesting of grapes from the initial harvest date and the wines tend to be richer, more concentrated in flavor and sweeter compared to the Kabinet.  Auslese means “selected harvest” and is made from grapes that have some appearances of botrytis or “the noble rot” and this harvesting can begin at the same time as the harvest for Spatlese, as the pickers use a basket that has a smaller compartment to put Auslese grapes in, and this harvesting can be done over several days of repeated picking and this wine is even fuller and sweeter compared to the Spatlese.  Also, as we go up the ladder, the wines actually need longer times in the cellar to be fully appreciated. 

The first wine that I tried was the Joh. Jos. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese 2017.  The label gives the name of the winery, the village, the vineyard, the grape and the harvest information along with the vintage.  Finding the production notes was beyond my research capabilities.  A great nose offering minerals and fruit secondary, with the taste being of tropical citrus fruits, salt and a nice finish with terroir and an excellent example of what a Mosel wine should be.  The Joh. Jos. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese 2017 was extremely impressive, especially following the Spatlese.  The nose was more decisive showcasing the blue shale and mangos and bananas, while the suppleness on the palette was lush, and complex and very tight and finished with a nice long count.  This wine even to an amateur like me, when it comes to German wines, let me know that it was way to young to be fully appreciated, and it was truly night and day different and I really didn’t want the finish to end. In twenty years, it would be awesome and a night of memories.

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An Elbling and a Riesling

Posted on December 13, 2020 by thewineraconteur

An Elbling and a Riesling

Sometimes as I walk around my local wine shop The Fine Wine Source, I see wines that I haven’t noticed before.  If it happens when I am there alone, nothing much happens, perhaps a little discussion and then we move onto other subjects.  It happens that one particular day, I had my Bride with me, who is also the Lord High Exchequer of Funds and known throughout the realm.  What caught my eye was a couple of older German wines and the next thing I know, we are doing an impromptu tasting, and I had to make my own notes, but that is fine, over the years I have been able to accomplish this minor task without much ado.

Weingut Matthias Hild Elbling Trocken Mosel 2017 is from Weingut Frieden-Berg GbR .  While this wine is from the Mosel, it is actually from the Upper Mosel, instead of slate, the region is limestone.  At the small town of Wincheringen, Matthias Hild farms about six hectares of mostly terraced vineyards on the hillside.  For this wine, he uses the old and ancient Elbling grape that use to cover basically all of Germany and Liechtenstein.  Elbling is still grown where Riesling cannot mature and grow, Elbling is high acidic in nature and very low in sugar, so the wine can be bracingly sharp to the taste and is often used for sparkling wines.  The vines on this estate are basically thirty to sixty years of age, but some of the vines were actually planted before World War II, and they are manually harvested, because of the terraced lands.  The winery has been referred to as romantic, because it is more a labor of love, with the intent of saving a winery that in today’s profit guided world, just doesn’t make sense, except for the true believers and followers.  The juice is fermented and goes through Malolactic fermentation in Stainless Steel.  This wine is definitely dry (trocken) with a low proof of normally less than 10% and is bracingly dry in a refreshing way.  I think that I would serve this wine before dinner with cheese and crackers and other light appetizers. 

Weingut Pfluger Riesling Buntsanstein Trocken 2018 is a beautiful dry white wine from the Pfalz or when I was growing up, it was the Rheinpfalz.  The region is one of the largest producers of both quality wines and table wines in both red and white offerings. Alexander Pfluger is the second generation at the helm of Weingut Pfluger, which is an organic and biodynamic estate, one of the first so designated in Germany.  While they are not part of the Verband Deutscher Pradikatsweinguter (VDP) elite group of the premier wine producers of Germany, he is in the VDP Academy and is considered one of the up-and-coming winemakers to watch and perhaps to start following.  The Pfluger vineyards are in the area around Bad Durkheim in the Pfalz.  Alexander Pfluger is convinced that the quality and the balance achieved in his wines is from his commitment of his biodynamic work in the fields. This very pale-yellow wine offered green apples and citrus with fresh acidity and a decent finish with terroir to balance out the wine. 

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Two from the Right Bank

Posted on December 11, 2020 by thewineraconteur

For ages the wines from the Medoc and Graves were the center of the world in Bordeaux.  I recently had a chance to get some wines from the Fine Wine Source as one can now book a private tasting time from the region across the river in what is historically known as Saint-Emilion and Pomerol, but both have become well respected on the own.  Saint-Emilion probably produces the same amount of wine as the entire Medoc region of Bordeaux and Pomerol probably produces about fifteen percent of Saint-Emilion.  These were two districts that I immediately gravitated towards in my youth, because they were so affordable compared to the Medoc, and they were more supple and matured somewhat earlier.  These two districts were referred to as the feminine side of Bordeaux, because the wines were softer and they tended to rely more on Merlot and Cabernet Franc, instead of Cabernet Sauvignon.  They were some of my first loves and even back then, I was not ashamed to state that, though nowadays, I think that stigma has long been forgotten, as the prices commanded can be just as dear as the classified Medoc listings.

Couvent (Convent) des Jacobins Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2010 is a delightful wine that took me back to my youth, with its full flavor and of course excellent pricing.  The Convent has been celebrating seven centuries of winemaking, famed terroir and since 2020 they have been certified “organic farming.”  A blend of eighty-five percent Merlot and fifteen percent Cabernet Franc from vines that are ten to fifty years old. The wine had twelve months of aging in a mix of forty-five percent new oak barrels and a production of about twenty-two-hundred cases. There was plenty of black fruit, some vanilla and silky tannins and probably another good ten to twenty years for cellaring.  Just a charming wine.  The Grand Cru designation began in 1954 and has been updated a couple of times.  I have heard some people remark that there is more Grand Cru wine, then there is basic Saint-Emilion wine, but I have never seen it in print.

Chateau Les Cruzelles Lalande de Pomerol 2016 is owned by Denis Durantou who rebuilt Chateau L’Eglise-Clinet in Pomerol and his is a firm believer that terroir is a guiding influence in creating fine wine. Since taking over Chateau L’Eglise-Clinet he has also acquired another piece of property further up the “Right Bank” in Lalande de Pomerol and he calls it the “golden triangle” and he can actually see his original chateau from Chateau Les Cruzelles.  This wine is ninety percent Merlot and ten percent Cabernet Franc and aged in oak, of which forty-five percent is new.  I will estimate that the wine was aged for about a year, I can not find an actual report, but I have read that he thought the wine needed at least another month in the barrel, and he thought that it needed at least a couple of years in the bottle.  I was clearly impressed with the wine and I wrote in my quick hieroglyphic notes “Cabernet Franc,” “licorice,” and “wonderful.”  I was actually surprised to discover later that it only had ten percent Cabernet Franc, as it really caught my attention, even after tasting several other wines that day.   It had all the black cherry and other black fruits one could wish for and the tannins were still feisty a couple years later after bottling.  I was totally impressed with this wine and realize that it may be at its peak around 2030, which I think is remarkable as Lalande de Pomerol is not held as in high esteem as Pomerol, but it certainly passed my test. 

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The Annual Ladies Christmas Party 2020

Posted on December 9, 2020 by thewineraconteur

My Bride has had a Christmas Party for her lady friend’s way before I was on the scene and it is a given.  Before she even does the Christmas Card list and Newsletter, she is planning the party.  She had to get the scrap book out, so that she would have hopes and aspirations of the attendees from last year, and it there are some who may have missed a year or two, she would even have it from the last time that they attended.  There is a gift exchange, where everyone brings a wrapped present and it is assigned a number, and when the guests arrive, they pick a number for another bowl.  Come Hell or high water, the party must go on, after all it is a tradition.  The party was also going to be part of a Zoom session, with presents that had been purchased ahead of time for the Zoom attendees, and they were also assigned a number, and they could watch as someone would unwrap their present while being filmed.   

Of course, this is 2020 and the world has been jostled and some people are more paranoid compared to others, but the ones that wanted to continue the tradition showed up.  I on the other hand, go up to my office and hide, there is way too much estrogen present and they need to let their hair down.  Normally, is that still a word?  Normally, the dinner would be a pot luck, but that was tossed out the window.  She went to a local Lebanese restaurant and ordered trays of food, and she was going to be the only one in the kitchen and she was going to plate everyone’s dinner, so that there would only be one food handler and she went so far as to even don a pair of gloves while she was doing it.  There was a house salad with a couple of different dressings, hummus, pita bread, rice pilaf, chicken kebab and lamb sauteed with mushrooms.  For dessert she had assorted macaroons and individual ramekins of Crème Brulee.   You should have seen the fun earlier, as we were trying to load Butane into the new kitchen torch that she had bought, because she was not sure where the old torch was and every kitchen should have at least two torches, anyways.

The wine selection for the evening was going to feature our two latest go-to wines as selected by my Bride.  The white wine was not a bone-dry wine and everyone that had it, was enjoying the selection.  Famille Sichel Bordeaux Blanc 2017 was the wine that was poured.  Famille Sichel is a family owned negocient firm from 1883 in Bordeaux, as they were in the procurement process for their locations in Mainz, London and New York.  In 1938 they even bought Chateau Palmer, which at the time had fallen on bad times and have since brought it back to all of its glory.  The family does not believe in resting on their laurels as in 2001 they even built a completely new bottling and storage facility in the Bordeaux region.  This particular bottle of wine is a blend of the two leading white grapes of Bordeaux, namely Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc.  I don’t think that I would be amiss to opine that this wine was aged in Stainless Steel as there was plenty of fruit and very refreshing.  It starts off with a nose of citrus fruits and finishes with some terroir with a decent finish.  The red wine was also chosen for its fruit and suppleness.  Gran Passione Rosso Veneto IGT 2019 is a limited production wine made by Cantine Bertoldi.  Cantine Bertoldi is known for their Valpolicella and Amarone wines.  They were founded in 1932 and have gone through several generations of the Bertoldi family and they are now in possession of fifty acres of hand cared varietals of Corvina, Rondinella, Molinara, Garganega, Trebbiano and Cortese, while also adding into the mix they have Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.  The grapes selected for their passito wines are sun dried and fermented in Stainless Steel.  The Gran Passione is made from some of these passito grapes and is made from a “rare red blend” which is a way to describe a mixture that either the winery wants to keep secret, or they just are not sure of their proprietary blend and then there are some years when this wine is not made.  While the wine is not as rich and full bodied as an Amarone de Valpolicella, it is a delightful wine.  In case there are some Gladys Kravitz individuals out there, the guest count will not be revealed, all went well and there was no need for a quarantine period for anyone afterwards.  I pray that next year, the party will not be as clandestine and Victor Lazlo’s work will be done.

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A Red and a Dry Riesling from Black Star Farms

Posted on December 7, 2020 by thewineraconteur

Black Star Farms is rather unique in that it has vineyards and tasting room facilities on both peninsulas, so that they are kind of surrounding Traverse City which is kind of the focal point for all of the wineries in the area.  In 1998 Black Star Farms purchased Sport Valley Farm which was a one-hundred-twenty-acre equestrian facility, and the stylized black star was part of the architectural décor in the main house.  In their Twentieth year, they were honored to receive the 19’th Annual Canberra International Riesling Challenge (CIRC) -Best Wine of the 2018 Challenge and only the second time an American wine came out on top.  There were 567 Rieslings from six countries (Australian, New Zealand, USA, Germany, France and the Czech Republic).  The Black Star Farms Arcturos Dry Riesling 2017 scored 98 points, in addition to taking home Best Dry Riesling and Best American Riesling.  In fact, all six of the Riesling wines that Black Star Farms submitted took home medals, showing a consistency across vintages and styles.  The fruit is sourced from both of the proprietor’s vineyards and from local grower partners in both the Old Mission Peninsula and Leelanau Peninsula.  The winery has three series; the premium Arcturos, A Capella and the Leorie Vineyard labels for sparkling and fruit wines.

We just received our December Wine Club shipment from Black Star Farms and there was a short newsletter from Lee Lutes, the Winemaker and Manager.  He reminded us all that the year 2020 was not a great year, and I do believe that everyone is aware of it and he was still wishing everyone a good holiday season and a happy new year.  If there is good news from 2020, Mother Nature was good to Michigan for the growing season, the early ripening grapes were harvested without a problem and the longer to ripen varietals also had a full season to mature; and it even kind of spaced itself out for the pickers, so there was little stress and a smooth harvest.  The crops had a better year, and the winery is in the midst of dealing with 2019 wines. 

The first selection for this shipment was the Black Star Farms Vintners Select Red Table Wine Michigan NV.  This wine is a blend of different vintages, and they describe it as each vintage yields small lots with unique characteristics, and this bottling is a blend of these special selections.  The wine is a blend of fifty percent Cabernet Franc, thirty-four percent Merlot, four percent Pinot Noir and a blend of red hybrids.  The wine was aged in newer French, European and American Oak barrels and seven-hundred-sixty-one cases of this wine was produced.  It has been described as a full-bodied, dry red with rich dark fruit flavors that are complimented by hints of cocoa and spice.  It is ready to be enjoyed or to be cellared for three to five more years.  The second selection is their Black Star Farms Arcturos Dry Riesling Michigan 2019 and all of their ensuing Dry Riesling offerings will have to compete with their legendary 2017.  They describe this wine as being aromatic and full of flavor, but not sweet.  They produced seven-hundred cases of this wine and tout that it is vibrant, fresh citrus and stone fruit favors followed by a crisp finish.  They suggest a potential five to ten years of cellaring if one wishes.  We were very impressed the last time we had their wines at a resort with dinner, that we had to stop at the winery, bought more wine and joined their wine club.  Michigan wines are just getting better year after year, and this is from someone that started learning when the world was only focused on the Old World.

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Trius Red Shale Cabernet Franc

Posted on December 5, 2020 by thewineraconteur

“#CabFrancDay” is upon us.  I have many reasons to enjoy this national wine day, but I guess the most important reason is that I have liked the varietal, even before I knew that it was Cabernet Franc, and it is not a new grape, actually in the pecking order of grapes, it is the father of the Cabernet Sauvignon grape.  The purpose of the “day” is to remind people that this grape is great on its own and I have always thought that it is the best grape to feature the terroir; and enhances other wines when it is blended.  I also enjoy this day, because I watched how it slowly evolved during my early days of writing this blog, when my writing was even more simplistic and juvenile compared to today.  When people ask me what I am going to be drinking for a party, I usually don’t have an idea, until I am in my cellar or at a restaurant and I have studied the wine carte. I actually thought about the wine that I was selecting for this day, but I didn’t reveal it, during any wine discussions on Social Media, until this moment.

My Bride puts up with me, and my craziness at times, especially since I told her it was Cabernet Franc Day.  Then she liked the idea, even though during the week, since she is considered an essential worker, she has less time to spend in the kitchen, and I can probably dirty every pot and pan, and all the dishes, if I start to cook, it is just my nature.  We had lamb chops and we had a couple of filets.  She decided to marinate the chops for the next day and we would have the filets with the opening of the bottle, and then finish the bottle the next day with the chops.  At home, even great wine, usually lasts two days.  She made some simple sides of garlic mashed potatoes and steamed carrots.

I kept the wine a secret, until I brought it upstairs and then my Bride relived the second time, we visited Hillebrand and of course Trius Winery and their restaurant.  We were taken to a private tasting room in a loft setting, just to taste the special Trius wines and their Showcase collection, and we were having such a great time tasting and buying, that our concierge had to contact their restaurant in the same structure that we were running late for our reservation.  We got a chance to remember that passed moment as we had a bottle of Trius Showcase Red Shale Cabernet Franc, Clark Farm Vineyards Four Mile Creek VQA 2012.  A little history is needed for this wine from the Niagara-on-the-Lake winery and NOTL reminds me of the Traverse City region of Michigan, as I had family in Saint Catherines, Ontario (basically next door) and both regions were originally cherry orchards and now both regions are great wine regions.  The original Hillebrand Winery about a quarter of a century ago, created their Trius Red Wine, and it took the country by storm that they were making a Bordeaux Blend that was acclaimed and brought new interest to the region.  Eventually, there were more Trius wines being created instead of the Hillebrand and in 2012, Trius Winery was created.  Four Mile Creek VQA is the largest sub-region of the Niagara-on-the-Lake VQA and Clark Farm Vineyards is famed for their red shale soil, which adds to the terroir of the land.  The extra long name for this particular wine is that the “Showcase” collection only features single vineyard wines, similar to the concept of a “cru.” After aging for eighteen months, the best barrels were saved for this wine and four-hundred-seventy-five cases were, and the balance of the barrels were used for blending in other wines at the winery.  It was a beautiful deep wine with a nose that opened up as I was pouring it into the glasses, the aroma of dark stone fruit was competing with the filets as they were cooking.  Black cherry, black raisins and blackberry were the initial tastes, the tannins were still elegant and offered some notes of vanilla and spices at the long finish emphasizing the terroir, which is always my favorite part of a wine.  There is something special that Cabernet Franc does for the “dirt” as it mellows in aging.  Here was the first Trius Cabernet Franc wine and at eight years of age, it was still so youthful, and a very special way to enjoy a middle of the week meal and a celebration.

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One Spanish, One French

Posted on December 3, 2020 by thewineraconteur

The joys of wine are that there is always something new to discover, you don’t have to go to the market and keep buying the same wine every week.  At my local wine shop and wine club The Fine Wine Source in Livonia, I know that I am not going to get a run of the mill bottle of wine, found in every gas station, grocery store, drug store and party store; and even some of the big names make wines for this niche as well.  I am not trying to be a snob, but I think that I may as well try another wine, that is how we find our “house wines” and they can change when something new is discovered. 

Bodegas Vina Hermenia Rioja Crianza DOCa 2016 was an excellent find.  Vina Hermenia was established in 1949.  The winery was named as an homage to the memory of his wife.  The winery is located in the largest sub region of Rioja and is now named Rioja Orientale (Eastern Rioja) since 2018, since the region was historically known as Rioja Baja, but not in lower of quality, but because Rioja Alta is on an elevated altitude.  The wine is a blend of eighty-five percent Tempranillo and fifteen percent Grenache.  It is aged in a mix of American and French Oak casks for twelve months and then another six months in the bottle before it is released.  It has a garnet color with red fruit for the nose with a touch of vanilla.  The taste offered cherries and nuts, with a nice finish, just a well-balanced Rioja from the old school and my erudite scribbled note says “tasty.”

Chateau d’Alix Pessac-Leognan Rouge 2016 and Pessac-Leognan is an appellation for red wines of Bordeaux that was carved out of the Graves district in 1987, including some of the chateaus there were listed in the Graves Classification of 1959.  Chateau d’Alix is a joint venture of Muriel Belloc, a third generation wine-grower and her husband Jean Noel who is also a wine grower.  In 2008, they began with a clean slate of sixty hectares, of which twenty-one hectares were planted in the AOC delineation.  In 2012 they had their first vintage in a brand-new cellar.  The average age of the vines are five years, so it is a young tasting and fresh wine and an equal blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.  The fruit is harvested both mechanically and manually.  Fermentation and maceration are done in Stainless Steel for about a month and then the juice is aged in oak for twelve months. The wine offers red fruits in both the nose and the taste with some nice gravelly terroir in a medium finish. I think the winery will definitely show promise for the future, if this young wine is an indication.

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Thanksgiving 2020

Posted on December 1, 2020 by thewineraconteur

Christmas cards and newsletters mailed.  Christmas gifts wrapped and shipped for the out of towners.  Christmas gifts for the locals wrapped and bundled by family.  All of these accomplishments are achieved by my Bride the day before Thanksgiving.  For the last twenty-five years we have been having the families congregate here for dinner and drinks. We even made plans to have four families sit in four different rooms in case we were invaded by hobnail booted Gestapos, because of snitches.  The concern was for my ninety-four-year-old Mother-in-Law, who has lived through plenty of unique situations, but not a lockdown.  In her youth, a house was quarantined if a member of the family had an infectious and deadly disease, now the whole state is penalized and her family continues to see her and make sure that she is good.  Alas, the propaganda machine was so fierce this time, that slowly every family canceled, so instead of four families dining on one turkey, multiple turkeys had to be bought and prepared, so more people could venture out to be with other potentially ill people at the grocery stores.

We actually had decided to have just a very fancy dinner for the two of us, but then another sister invited us to join her family of five, so that only seven would be in the house and even Gladys Kravitz could not scream for Abner.  So, my Bride switched gears again and made Armenian Pilaf, Stuffing and her Caesar Salad to take to her sister’s house, and we made a side trip to drop off allotments of those three dishes to her Mother’s house and to leave some for one of her other sisters, who was bringing an apple pie, that we were going to take to the sister that we were going to dine with.  Confused yet?  Don’t worry, then we found out that the sister and her husband that basically live with my Mother-in-Law had not planned on a Thanksgiving dinner, so besides the sides, my Bride stopped and got an order of turkey and a slab of ribs to take to her Mother’s house.   While this was going on, the sister that we were going to join decided that she wanted enough food to also send to her Mother, so they made a turkey, a standing rib roast and a glazed ham, plus more sides.  The day began with some wonderful cheeses; cranberry and amaretto and a mango and apricot paired with some delightful artisan crackers and we could have made a whole meal from that.  Finally, besides the mentioned apple pie, our host made a pumpkin/cheese cake pie and my Bride made for the first time a Lemon Meringue pie and all the desserts were great.

My Brother-in-Law besides manning the helm on the turkey and the standing rib roast opened up the first bottle of wine.  A new wine to me, but the concept I tend to see more often and I have read both pros and cons towards it, but if it brings new wine drinkers into the fold, I think it is all for the best.  We had Cask & Barrel “French Connection Chardonnay Central Coast 2017.  The wine is produced under the umbrella company of American Vintners offering forty-five wines.  They source wines from Napa Valley, Paso Robles, Lodi, Monterey and Russian River as well as from Italy, France and Spain.  The production is based in Monterey County, California and the Sales and Marketing offices are in Rochester, Michigan. This particular wine was aged in French Cognac barrels for three months, and offered a nose of pineapple, coconut with some vanilla and had a nice finish of oak and spice.  The first wine that I opened for the evening was one that we had discovered on our last trip to Petoskey.  We had an estate produced and bottled Mackinaw Trail Winery, Inc. Unrestricted As-cen=sion 2017.  The winery was founded in 2004 and they now have a second generation working as a winemaker.  The winery owns thirty acres, but presently grows on fifteen acres.   The Unrestricted As-cen-sion 2017 was an interesting little blend of thirty-four percent Sauvignon Blanc, twenty-five percent Chardonnay, twenty-two percent Riesling and nineteen percent Pinot Blanc.  This had a sweeter nose and was a nice balanced wine and it was an easy drinking wine for the all to enjoy.  The second bottle that I opened and it is becoming kind of a tradition for me was a bottle of Syrah, and I really like Syrah with turkey, maybe it helps that I like the dark meat and I also like it with beef.  The Marilyn Remark Syrah, Arroyo Loma Vineyard Monterey County 2005.  I have very little information about the winery as my early paperwork, has, I guess been filed permanently away.  After a trip to the Rhone Valley, the Marilyn Remark Winery has begun producing Rhone style wines since 2003, but alas the owner retired and sold in 2016.  This wine was delightful and still had a nice deep color and a nose, and finish that betrayed its age. It was a pleasure having a wine that was so well made.  Here is hoping that Thanksgiving 2021 will be more joyous and families and friends will be able to gather again in peace.   

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