I Wish We Had a Portkey

Posted on October 20, 2020 by thewineraconteur

Way back in January of this year that has lasted for seven years already, we booked a trip that would land between our two birthdays and an anniversary, and that is convenient.  Though this anniversary is actually considered a milestone, we put off a major trip until we are both retired and don’t have to worry about telephones.  Of course, between January and October, the world changed and not for the better. We actually monitored the trip at least weekly, seeing if we would have to cancel and try to get a refund.  The trip was not cancelled, though the airlines changed our time of departure to an earlier flight, so we kind of lost a day of our three-day-package, but we survived and since we averaged about thirteen-hundred steps a day according to something called Fitbit, I guess we were still alright for the four days.  Now we go back to the old days when one could drink and smoke and dine even on short flights, not anymore; and in fact, we even had to get another gold card just for the airline, to save paying for luggage fees.  Instead of trying to encourage travelers, the new concept is to nickel and dime them to death.  They also don’t serve drinks, soft or hard, on the flights, but now give you a sealed bag, with a couple of biscuits/cookies, chips and a small bottle of water.  They also give you a little sealed bag with a sanitizing wipe, similar to the “wet-cloth” you used to get with barbecued ribs in restaurants to get the grease off of your fingers, if you were one to pick up the bones to eat.   The purpose of this packet of sanitizer was so that you could clean your “area” and especially the built-in monitor, mounted in the chair in front of you.  I was also surprised to see that the social distancing that keeps one from attending funerals, was not evident on the plane, as every row seemed to be utilized, but unless it was a family, only two of the three seats were used.  It was all a new adventure.

All of the new wizardry that we had to endure was unique.  With the new gold card came another crisis of trying to get the mileage applied to the proper numbered account, so we also arrived almost an extra hour early in anticipation of potential problems.  We did get our checked luggage correctly taken care of, but for some odd reason, since the terrorist attack on 911, my Bride has had more than her quota of being pulled aside for a more thorough check of her carryon luggage with chemical wipes and she also gets the added enjoyment of special wand checks and almost gropes by female TSA agents, for some odd reason, especially around ten years ago, gray-haired Caucasian grandmothers were the choice of TSA to show that they were not using any profile measures to look for terrorists, they also figure, I am sure, that this group is the least vocal to object of an other group.  We had to find a restaurant with a bar, so that we could enjoy an hour or so without the encumbrance of masks, I wanted to use a Zorro mask, but it wasn’t approved, neither were some special vented masks that my Bride had special ordered just for this trip, and she also bought these washable soft rubber things that you could put the mask over on your face, so that you wouldn’t be inhaling the mask into your mouth, but it still caused steaming of the glasses.  The other thing that I couldn’t understand with all the fuss about masks, was the fact that men with bushy beards like a lumberjack cannot get a good seal, so I have to wonder about the effectiveness of the masks.  In seven months, I really haven’t been out that much to notice things like before.  The wine bar at the airport terminal was closed and so were many of the other restaurants, but we found a cobbled restaurant that that was a merger of two different food companies; Zingerman’s Deli of Ann Arbor and Plum Market of West Bloomfield and other locations.  We got ourselves a couple of platters of Tuna Fish salad and a couple of Braised Short Ribs Tacos and there was enough to hold us over for the flight. 

We decided to have a couple of glasses of wine that was rather overkill for the Tuna Fish, but excellent with the Tacos, so we had some Meiomi Pinot Noir California 2018.  There was a dearth of seats in the restaurant and the only chairs, instead of stools were located at the bar, and in the cramped location, I passed on taking a new photo of Meiomi Pinot Noir in a Plum Market crystal goblet, which was a nice touch.  Meiomi Wines is a California winery that was founded in 2007 by Joe Wagner, the son of Chuck Wagner of Caymus Vineyards.  The winery started with Pinot Noir, then a Chardonnay and finally a Rosé.  Meiomi means “coast” in the language of the Wappo and Yuki tribes of the region.  The Pinot Noir is a blend of three coastal regions; Sonoma County, Monterey County and Santa Barbara County and hence the California AVA.  Their first vintage of the Pinot Noir was in 2007 and they produced ninety-thousand cases and quickly became one of the most requested wine labels for restaurants.  In 2015, Joe Wagner sold Meiomi Wines to Constellation Brands for $315,000,000, and he stayed on as a consultant for the 2016 and 2017 vintages.  This was the first vintage not overseen by Joe Wagner and the wine was a classic California wine that was jammy and velvety with a good nose and nice finish, and as we kind of nursed the drinks until it was close enough to go for early boarding on the plane.  We were heading to Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida to stay on the grounds, because while I may watch the films, my better-half has read all of the books and is a die-hard fan and she was in heaven with this trip.

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

Two Splits

Posted on October 18, 2020 by thewineraconteur

Splits, I am sure is a colloquial expression for a half-bottle of wine, and not a bowling term or a gymnastic pose that I am going to discuss.  The half-bottles were much more prevalent years ago and I very seldom see them today on a wine carte and I really use to enjoy having a split or maybe two different splits during a nice dinner.  I think that perhaps in Michigan, it has fallen out of favor, because now one doesn’t have to drink the entire bottle of wine at the restaurant, one can now take the balance home after it has been resealed, which I am sure has cut down on people getting drunk and getting behind the wheel of an automobile.  There was a time when we were able to buy quite a few different splits and then, as I said they became passe, and most shops don’t carry them except for some dessert wines.  The smart money has always been that splits do not last as long, and since I have rediscovered my cache of splits that were hidden in a corner, I have grabbed a couple of them to see how they are, since I have more of each of them resting. 

The first split that we had one night with a casual dinner was an E. Guigal Cote du Rhone 1996.  E. Guigal is one of the more popular and important producers in the Rhone Valley.  Etienne Guigal founded the company in 1946 in town of Ampuis near the fabled slopes of Cote Rotie.  The main focus has been on wines featuring Grenache, Mourvedre, Viognier, Roussanne and Syrah.  The company has holdings in Saint-Joseph, Hermitage, Gigondas, Condrieu, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, as well as a couple of Cote du Rhone wines.  The company also has four notable wines from Cote Rotie, the latest acquisition being Chateau d’Ampuis in 1995.  While the bottle of wine did not list the varietals, I don’t think that I would be going out much on a limb to say that it is the classic GSM blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre; the classic trio of the Southern Rhone wines.   I am happy to say that the color, nose and taste would have reminded one of perhaps a five-year-old and not a twenty-four-year-old, so the others are still safe and totally drinkable.

The second split was Chateau Jacques Blanc “Cuvee du Maître” Saint Emilion Grand Cru 1999.  The Blanc family has been part of the Saint Emilion annals since the completion of the Battle of Castillon in 1453.  The estate changed hands in the end of the 18th Century and totally rebuilt and recognized as one of the leading producers in Saint Emilion.  Since 1930 the Castle and estate changed hands several times and the property is now at twenty-one hectares.  There are new owners that took over in 2012 and they have already increased the property by another six hectares.  The Saint Emilion Grand Cru classification began in 1955 and the latest version of it was done in 2012 and there are plenty of rules and there have been plenty of opinions about the rules and politics of the region from all that I have gathered.  The wine is a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc and probably close to a three to one ratio, and aged for about year in oak.   This was another excellent version of a Saint Emilion wine and a region that has been close to my heart since I was a teenager and this wine drank exceedingly well, with no signs of age at all, which is also good, because there are more still in the cellar.  Two very interesting tests and with good results.   

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

A Vertical of Cain Cuvee

Posted on October 16, 2020 by thewineraconteur

The dinner was being served and the wine was all poured and allotted so that all six would enjoy Cain Cuvée wine equally.  It was a bittersweet dinner, because Cain lost their structures and two years of wine due to a fire.  Fires have been plaguing the northern wine country for several years, but for some odd reason I cannot fathom why a forest management plan has not been instituted.  I have read that the ecosystem is required for certain insects that live on the ground, or at least that was the reason for past fires.  I hope something is figured out, before the next fire, or will PlumpJack have to burn down, before there are any positive measures?  I am cynical and upset that such a beautiful and secluded winery has to start anew for something that could have been planned for.  Do we have to lose the Redwoods?  The Cain organization, bless their souls set up an internet fund raiser for some families that lost their homes during the fire.  I am glad that no one lost their life, and through short interactions with Cain, I have learned that they still have wine and library wines to sell that were housed in another facility, that was not damaged and my Bride and I will take some of our retirement allowances to help them raise funds through additional sales. 

It was very festive up until the time we learned of the destruction, but the dinner plans were going to continue and to let our friends get to experience some wine that is not often found here in Michigan.  Our only regrets are that we didn’t have enough matching crystal wine goblets to serve the wine properly, as we used commercial style wine glasses, but the wine was still superb.  I had thought of making paper placemats with circles drawn to place the three different glasses of wine, but in the end, we decided to use dry-erasable ceramic pieces for either table settings or names of dishes on multiple chafing dishes.   The three vintages were written on the ceramic piece, each in a different color and then a circle was placed on the base of a glass with the vintage in matching ink, to make it easier to identify and to go back to each wine and to taste each one with the different foods being served.   

Over the years I have called Cain Cuvée, Cain-Lite because it is made with the same loving attention, and with the same five grapes, but from two vineyards and much more affordable.  I still have in the cellar some of the original Cain Cuvée wines that have an actual vintage year.  I mention this because now the wine is a blend of two vintages and the date on the label refers to the year of the blending.  I think that it is a rather clever play on the term NV, as most of the time I use NV to mean Non-Vintage, some may think of Napa Valley and in some sort of texting language is can be read as eN-Vy or envy.  A great way to create interest, especially the first year that they did it.  Each blending year is a different blend and the wines are not a cookie-cutter duplicate of the year before and neither is the taste of wine, as compared to the Champagne houses that strive to have every batch of Non-Vintage taste like the last year for continuity and market appeal.  The labels are now a diamond shape and the back label now reads “harvested, vinified and blended for freshness, lightness, complexity and balance.” The wines also carry a Napa Valley designation as the fruit can be from their Spring Mountain estate and from their Benchland vineyards.  The labels are also written different.  NV12 Cain Cuvee Napa Valley is a blend of fifty percent Merlot, thirty-two percent Cabernet Sauvignon, ten percent Cabernet Franc, four percent Petit Verdot and four percent Malbec.  NV13 Cain Cuvee Napa Valley is fifty-one percent Merlot, twenty-eight percent Cabernet Sauvignon, nineteen percent Cabernet Franc and two percent Petit Verdot.   NV14 Cain Cuvee Napa Valley is forty-eight percent Merlot, thirty-one percent Cabernet Sauvignon, thirteen percent Cabernet Franc and eight percent Petit Verdot.  During the dinner, I read the blend of a different wine and everyone could try that wine compared to the last, and you will notice that Merlot is the leading grape for this group.  The three wines were all wonderful and there were minute differences, but each was what a fine Bordeaux Blend should be, the nose, color and finish were all quite similar and if you think that they are all related, it is easy to see that. After dinner and waiting for our dessert, there was some discussion and in order of appreciation it was NV13, NV14 and then NV12 and it was opined by a couple of people that Cabernet Franc added to the complexity of the wines tasted, and I have always been a firm believer that Cabernet Franc is best for offering terroir to the experience.  As in all good times, the affair ended and I think everyone there has a better feel for Cain and are praying that they can return as quickly as possible to what they do best, and I know that my Bride and I will have to discuss what else we would like to order from their library of wines being offered. 

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

Dinner for the Vertical

Posted on October 14, 2020 by thewineraconteur

We had never had a vertical tasting at the house and we were not really sure how to proceed.  Most of the time when we had a chance to taste a vertical run, it was just tasting the wines with perhaps crackers and cheese, but we were planning on having something special.  We had discussions about three different courses with the three different wines, but there were a couple of problems with that scenario; first my Bride would be in the kitchen the entire time and we just have a typical home with one stove, a large toaster oven and a microwave, so having multiple dishes at different times was just not going to happen.  Then there was the small matter of deciding on a menu, after we had decided on the appetizers, which were the easy part of the equation.  Of course, I think big and grandiose, and it is easy when I am not the one that is really doing the cooking.  Eventually everything fell into place and my Bride is to be commended royally. 

We had side plates set up between the couples for fresh baguette slices and a whole clove of roasted garlic, to be plucked and spread on the bread.  Next, we had the Caesar Salad that I have been bragging about, ever since she learned the recipe, while we were on our honeymoon, and that is now quite a few years ago, but who is counting.  Then we experimented with a new recipe that she has tweaked a bit, but it was the first appearance for others, before we were the guinea pigs.  The Coquilles St. Jacques al crème de Xeres, or sea scallops sautéed with mushrooms and garlic, pan-sauced with Sherry and cream with rice was a dish that we have had several times out for dinner and she was itching to try making it, though I was concerned if the red wines might over power the dish. The second entrée that she wanted and that she loves with red wine is a slab of Bourbon Salmon, which has become one of her signature dishes during the holidays.  The third entrée was also a dish that we like to get, and usually as a take-out order, because the serving is so large, we can both share one order, is a dish that we call Lamb Sautee with Mushrooms.  She also made two sides for the dinner, one was Armenian Pilaf which I can eat, with another side of Armenian Pilaf.  It is rice that is made with butter, chicken broth and garlic and served, once all of the liquids are absorbed by the rice.  The other side was Brussels Sprouts with Bacon as we needed something green on the table.  Everything was done family style, with no concern about plating the different dishes.  Dessert was a tried and true dish of Bananas Foster from a recipe that she learned on one of our trips to New Orleans, and created originally at Brennan’s.  My Bride was upset that she over-cooked the Bourbon Salmon as it was a bit on the dry side, and part of the problem was trying to accommodate too many different dishes including the appetizers that were all trying to be cooked concurrently; and she felt that there was not enough bacon with the Brussels Sprouts.

We actually used two different wines in the preparation of the dishes, not to mention the liquor and liqueur used for the dessert.  The first thing I had to get was some Sherry, and I wanted the real stuff, not the corner market “Sherry,” and I asked my local wine shop, the Fine Wine Source if he had any, and it is not something that he normally carries, as there is really no demand.  I am happy to say that he got me a bottle from one of his suppliers in just a couple of days, and it was a bottle of Emilio Lustau “Solera Reserva” Fino Jarana Very Dry Jerez-Xeres-Sherry NV; the word Sherry is the Anglicized version of Jerez or Xeres.  Bodegas Lustau is probably the most famous fortified wine producer in the world.  Founded in 1896 by Jose Ruiz-Bordejo as an almacenista, a business where they bought young wines (Ruiz made his own) and matured them in their own soleras, before selling them to larger houses, who then blended the wines with other wines in their soleras.  In the 1950’s Emilio Lustau Ortega (the son-in-law of Ruiz) began bottling and exporting his own wines.   Lustau is based in Jerez, but is the only winery that has sites in all three of cities of the Sherry Triangle; Jerez de la Frontera, El Puerto de Santa Maria and Sanlu car de Barrameda.  While owning two vineyards he also has contracts with other vineyards as well.  Palomino is the grape variety used to make Sherry, it is rather neutral in flavor, with low acidity and potential alcohol, perfect for the fortification system to make Sherry.  Fino is the lightest and driest style of Sherry wines and is a culmination of many years of pouring wines from one barrel to another barrel and maintaining a certain consistent taste, all because of a natural yeast that creates a “flor” that feeds on alcohol and oxygen, and it is possible for the flor to live for ten years.  I am painting a very simplistic painting of all the work involved, but the final product is a very light and delicate wine with a nutty flavor that works well with some foods.  The other wine that was used in the production of the Lamb Sautee was a wine that I privately tasted and enjoyed when I was picking up the bottle of Sherry.  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 for ten dollars a bottle and it was perfect for using with the lamb. 

Posted in Dining, Wine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

An Old and a Young White Burgundy

Posted on October 12, 2020 by thewineraconteur

It was the day of the Vertical Wine Tasting Dinner and we were as prepared as we were going to be.  The house was clean and orderly, the dishes were all set and so were the glasses.  We decided to have appetizers in the living room and I even though I was almost conked on the head with a frying pan, I was not threatened with divorce, though I kept adding ideas to the list for the appetizers.  We finally decided on two classic Armenian appetizers and we did not make them in house.  I have to admit that my Grandmother made some of the greatest dishes known to man, especially if you like your meals savory and spicy.  She was also an accomplished baker, and many a time, I can remember my Mother and the lady next door coming over to start rolling the sheets of paper-thin dough to make Paklavah using broom sticks, and they would start at about five in the morning. Thank God that there is an Armenian caterer in the Detroit area, and I could swear that he learned from my Grandmother, but I know that is not the case, but I will no longer buy these dishes from the Church Bazaar anymore, because they are poor relatives to what I went and bought. 

Thankfully this caterer, who is located out in the boondocks, far from any major Armenian enclaves that I know about, has survived what so many other food-oriented businesses have not, in our state.  It was rather unique, in that I had to call ahead of time and order the dishes, and they would give me a pick-up time.  I could not enter the shop, and I had to tell them what type of car I would be driving.  It was a unique experience, as it was the first time I had been out in that community, and I did get there early, but since there was no other customers slated at the time, I was allowed to pick up my order earlier.  The first was Cheese Beoreg and the best way to describe it in laymen’s terms is that it is a Phyllo half-round pastry filled with White Brick Cheese, that you bake for ten minutes on the high rack of the oven, and then ten minutes on the lower rack of the oven, and the trick that was not included in the instructions is to give them an egg wash before baking.  The other dish is Lahmajoon, which is best described as Armenian personalized pizzas, to make the vision easy.  Part of the secret of making this dish, is the dough, and so many cooks cheat on this crucial step, then I remember my Grandmother using triple ground lamb sauteed with finely chopped onions, garlic and parsley mixed with a tomato paste which is smeared on the dough circles and then they are baked two at a time laying topping to topping.  Afterwards all they need is a little sprinkle of Cayenne and some crushed red pepper flakes.  There was enough for a fast nosh for me the next day, so I guess they were a big hit. 

Now what to serve during the appetizers?  I thought that I would let them try an older white Burgundy, the stuff I have been writing about for awhile as I am reorganizing the wine cellar.  I had a bottle of Domaine Larue Saint-Aubin En Remilly Premier Cru 1997 and I can’t believe it slipped through the cracks.  The Larue family domain is forty-two acres, based in Saint-Aubin but extending into Chassagne-Montrachet, Puligny-Montrachet and Aloxe-Corton.  They actually offer nine different bottlings from Saint-Aubin.  Saint-Aubin is located in a valley that cuts through the Cote d’Or and En Remilly is just above the valley floor on the south-facing slope, directly across from the Chassagne-Montrachet Premier Cru vineyards.  The wines of Saint-Aubin are made from Chardonnay, but are noted for their floral and mineral notes.  Alas, this twenty-three-year-old had lost the floral nose and the mineral terroir finish and was drinkable, but with no sparkle or excitement.  The second wine during the appetizers was 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.  This charming wine saved the early part of the meal, as it is just a wonderful drinking wine and very refreshing.  If you can find this grape, by all means it is worth the purchase price and it is not that dear, because no one knows about it. 

Posted in Dining, Wine | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Chateau Duhart-Milon 1998

Posted on October 10, 2020 by thewineraconteur

Having a special wine dinner for six is enough of a challenge, without all of the craziness that occurs here naturally.  We had the good fortune of getting a mixed vertical case from one of our favorite wineries and when I wrote about it, one of my cast of characters offered to duplicate the dinner from the 1996 film Big Night, while my Bride was talking to another cast mate about the mixed case as well.  So, putting as much energy as Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney, we decided to put on a show, or at least as fancy of a dinner as we could do.  We were going to share the wines with The Wine Raconteur Jr. and The Caller and their spouses, and the four of them had never met before, but we thought this was the perfect time to get everyone together. 

Of course, my Bride is married to a real pain in the arse and rather opinionated about a lot of things, including food and the preparation of said foods, even though I am probably best at staying out of the kitchen.  I guess by osmosis, I have learned a few things about food, pairing, preparations and how a dish should be done or taste.  I guess I also drove her crazy by adding more and more ideas of what should go into the menu.  We also debated on stuff like what china service we should use, as we have at least five different place settings to choose from, then discussions on the flatware, the tablecloth and napkins and stemware.  We did not have twenty-four matching crystal wine goblets, but we did have twice that many matching commercial stemware, so we searched to see if we had three sets of six wine bracelets to identify the wines, we didn’t; we ended up putting six place setting easels with erasable writing to identify the three wines for dinner and then we used circles that we placed on the base of each glass to identify the vintage.  We also had to do some math, so that we knew how much wine to pour into each glass ahead of time.  A lot of prep work was involved and by the time we had dinner the night before the event we were tired and my Bride wanted to make something quick and easy, so we had New York Strip Steaks and Armenian Pilaf, that was left over from another meal and that worked. 

We had also finally finished off all of the opened bottles of wine, since we were trying to unclutter the house for the party, so I went down to the cellar and decided to get a split, which I figured would be ample for the two of us with dinner.  I found a bottle that I thought would be perfect to get us in the mood for drinking some great wine the next day, and I wanted to see how some of the other splits were holding up, just like I have been opening up a lot of the older white wines that have been in the cellar.  Chateau Duhart-Milon Pauillac 1998 is a “Fourth Growth” from the 1855 Classification of the Medoc and at one time it was known as Duhart-Milon-Rothschild.  The winery shares vineyard management and winemaking teams with its illustrious owner and neighbor.  The property has a storied history and is named from the pirate Duhart who sailed in the service of Louis XV and retired to the Medoc.  After the classification the winery had a slow decline and was purchased in 1962 by Baron Eric de Rothschild and eventually the entire vineyard was replanted.  The estate is a one-hundred-eighty acre of fine gravel and sand on limestone, similar to Lafite-Rothschild and it is planted two-thirds Cabernet Sauvignon and the balance to Merlot; though year to year that may not be the mix that makes the final cut.  The vat rooms and cellars are located in the city of Pauillac.  The vinification process is in vats for specific vineyard plots and the grand vin is aged for up to eighteen months in oak, they also produce a second wine called Moulin de Duhart and sometimes they also produce Baron de Milon.  If I had poured you this wine, without you seeing that it was from a split, you would have sworn that it was from a full bottle, as it was still young with plenty of fruit and tannins to make any fan of Pauillac happy. The color was still vivid and the nose belied its age.  The only problem was that it was the last bottle and it was totally delicious and should have been paired with a filet, but I digress.  We were going to relax for the evening and devote our whole next day to the party.   

Posted in Dining, Wine | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Low Cost Leeder Electric Wine Opener

Posted on October 8, 2020 by thewineraconteur

I guess that I will never be a “wine influencer,” because I seem to go out of my way to avoid asking for goods.  Some of the new wine bloggers seem to have started their blogs in anticipation of getting free wine, free accessories and free what-ever.  I know on my mast head, I have an entry tab for “Samples” and I go out of my way to let you know, if I am getting anything for free, because that is not the goal of all of my writing.  I have been writing these articles since May 2012 and it was several years later that I had to write the tab for “Samples.” I think I have a phobia about asking, ever since I was probably about five or six and it was a real scorcher of a summer day and I was with a couple of kids that I grew up with and I saw a distant relative that was a barber in the neighborhood and I like a big operator, asked him, if he would buy us a couple of popsicles from the corner ice cream shop, they were a nickel apiece and between the three kids we didn’t have one nickel, let alone three.  Later that day, with the childish honesty of the times, I relayed what happened earlier that day to my Father, he not only gave me a boot in the arse for such behavior, but dragged me down to the barbershop to let the barber know that if I ever did a stunt like that again, he had my Father’s permission to beat me with the leather strop that use to dangle on the side of every barber chair to hone the straight razor.  Moral of the story is; don’t ask.

With the start of my blog, I began advertising the articles on Facebook, then on Twitter and finally in March 2017, I started advertising on Instagram.  I started rehashing my articles from May 2012 and by steady progress I am now up to September 2017 with the goal of having all the advertising sites on the same page.  I was recently approached by a gentleman, if I would kindly accept his kind and generous offer of an electric wine opener that he was marketing.  I gallantly tried to maneuver the conversation away from his offer and I really thought I was ready to close the conversation with the thought that the offer to do a review had been forgotten about.  I tried, but the gentleman was persistent, and I think he realized that I was not a kid and that I really did not need to do this, but I finally relented and the package was perfectly wrapped and bundled the atomic bomb would not have detonated if it was shipped like this wine opener.

The Electric Wine Opener came prepacked with the opener, and a foil cutter that nestled at the bottom of the “tube” of the cylinder, a tulip wine aerator and pourer, a manual vacuum pump with two rubber stoppers, an electric charging cable and an instruction sheet.  The mechanism is charged using a USB cable that one plugs into a cube and it takes about twelve hours to charge and it should open up about sixty bottles before requiring to be recharged again and works on both natural and synthetic corks.  I would venture to say that almost everyone has a cube that was not included, because everyone these days have a cellular phone, even I do, but I still maintain a land-line as well.  Most people when purchasing a corkscrew look at its appearance, I guess I am a nerd as I look at the coil of the screw as I have over the years bought corkscrews that looked cool, only to watch them tear up and destroy a cork.  When the unit arrived, we had several bottles in various stages of emptiness, so I had to wait, before I started opening up anymore wine, probably to the chagrin of the gentleman, who probably now realizes that I work at one speed, and that is slow; I don’t rush for anyone. We had a dinner party and I opened up four bottles of wine with each one requiring about ten seconds and not enough time or effort to work up a sweat.  I can barely load photographs on my blog, so don’t expect me to try to make a video production, I am a child of the last century.  I am keeping this corkscrew on the side table in my dining room with my other wine accoutrements, as it is so convenient.  For pricing and shipping information please go to www.lowcostleeder.com or lowcostleeder on Instagram. 

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

More Raids on the Cellar

Posted on October 6, 2020 by thewineraconteur

It may be still awhile before we can start going out for dinner, like we used to, but I do hope that pleasurable activity returns.  It may be some time before there is full confidence, but until then I am still enjoying my Bride’s culinary skills in the kitchen.  I only growl and tease and make fun with the people I enjoy; if I am just enduring someone’s presence I stick to small talk, and if the person ends up being someone I dislike, I just ignore them altogether, as that has been my wont forever.  So, my Bride knows that she is safe and so do all that I bandy with, and that is an old term and some may have to look it up.  These days with my Bride working exclusively remote and from home, she is trying very hard to make some interesting dinners, but sometimes there are time constraints, as I have said, I really think she ends up working longer hours without a commute, then when she was commuting. 

I am slowly, but surely getting all of the wines in the cellar, somewhat organized and at least trying to figure out what I have down there, and I am selecting some of the odd wines and some of the wines that I am not sure how they have matured.  The first wine that I will discuss that was recently opened was one that I was not too concerned about, as I have had the pleasure of drinking old vintages from the Rioja region for years, though in the old days there was kind of a feeling of a wink-wink, nod-nod about the vintage year printed on the label; whereas today it is all above board, but the good thing is, that in reality I have never had a terrible wine from Rioja.  The wine I grabbed is from a house that I have had over the years without any problems and this was a Martin Codex “Ergo” Tempranillo Rioja 2006.  What I guess I never realized was that Martin Codax is a co-operative of growers in the Rias Baixas in Spain.  It was formed in 1986 and is named for a famous troubadour from the 13th Century of old romantic Spain.  The winemaker and one of the original founders of Martin Codax is Luciano Amoedo, who was also one of the most vocal in getting a Denominacion de Origen (DO) for Rias Baixas in 1988 and the main varietal for the co-operative is Albarino, but since their creation they have expanded and now source grapes from about fourteen-hundred small growers in northern Spain.  This was just an opening grade of Rioja wine with no additional designations and while it was not a young wine, it still tasted like a young wine as there was still a lot of fruit in both the nose and the taste.  The color was good, the only thing that I thought was lacking was a good finish and it probably has more to do with its status then with its age.

The other wine offered more trepidation, because it fell between the cracks probably from forgetfulness then anything else.  I chilled it and hoped for the best, because I have recently had some happy results from some older Sauvignon Blanc wines, so when I found a Duckhorn Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc Napa Valley 1998, I decided to give it a go and put it into the refrigerator and chill it.  Now I have been a fan of Duckhorn Vineyards even before I went and we had a great tour and tasting by one of the sons.  This bottle of wine is definitely when the Duckhorn family was in charge of the winery, long before they sold out, in fact at this time, every one of the labels were using fruit from Napa Valley, before they started expanding.  You will notice that the color is more amber or gold instead of the soft straw color that the wine usually has, and that is a common occurrence since white wine tends to darken with age and red wines will lighten with age.  The nose was basically non-existent, and there was no fruit, especially the typical notes of grapefruit.  It was another wine that we could not come up with words to express the taste, it had not gone bad, as it was easy to drink, but it was not like drinking alcohol either.  I can’t call it a winner or a loser, but I will put it in the plus account as it wasn’t poured down the drain, and I guess I can attribute it to the dedication of the winemaker, and it wasn’t even a Merlot.                                                                                                                 

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

With the Family

Posted on October 4, 2020 by thewineraconteur

I would venture to say that anyone that has a family, in the past six months has probably been a scofflaw, especially here in Michigan.  I was not designed to spend my time hiding in the basement and most people that I know were not either.  There were times when we had to defy the law and visit relatives, especially if no one was ill or showed symptoms, though I am sure that a hangnail may have been on one or two of the lists.  After surviving at home for three or more quarantines in a row, I think everyone was getting antsy and suffering from being “stir-crazy.”  I mean there was a time, when it was illegal to have two people in the same car.  We were defiant and broke the law at times, sometimes even my squeaky-clean and above the board Bride got together to do water-aerobics several times at her sister’s house, because she has an inground pool.  She was even joined with other sisters and cousins; and I don’t think that any of them wore a mask in the pool, they were as guilty as Dr. Faucci attending a baseball game with friends and not socially distancing or wearing masks.   There was even a couple of times when after the aerobics, an ad-hoc party would evolve.  With ordering of pizzas and salads and other noshes of that caliber.  There were times that I would drive over after the exercises and bring beverages for everyone to enjoy, because those that were in the pool earlier had worked up an appetite.

The first wine that I opened up for us to enjoy was Thierry Delauney “La Vignette” Rosé Touraine 2019 is from an estate that is twenty-one hectares situated in Pouille above the banks of the Cher, the very center of the appellation. The vineyards have been cultivated and tended by five generations of the same family and the first wines that were bottled at the Domaine was in 1971.  Through the years they have worked to increase the quality and the reputation of the winery and in the process have also entered into the négociant trade.  A Rosé wine from the Loire Valley, which is a major wine producing area that lives in the shadow of some of the other wine regions.  One of the main reasons that this area is over shadowed, because all of the wines are more nuanced and delicate, instead of big in-your-face reds that so many of the wine critics prefer these days.  The wine is made using Gamay, Cabernet Franc and Malbec (Cot).  The fruit is harvested from across the Touraine and the wine is aged on fine lees in Stainless Steel.  This wine had a pretty pink/salmon tint and the nose was red fruits, especially strawberries and very refreshing.  The wine was well balanced with nice acidity and luscious finish that beckoned for another drink.  

I also brought a red wine, because I knew that we would be having some good old-fashioned meat-lover’s traditional pizza pies, because of me.   Chateau Juvenal “Les Ribes du Vallat” Ventoux 2017 is so named because the plots are distributed on the hillsides (the “ribes” in Provencal) which border the ditch (the “Vallat” in Provencal) which crosses the domain.  In the spring, painters are known to set up their easels and paint different perspectives of the grounds, hence the artist and his easel on the label.  Chateau Juvenal is a residence formed by a Provencal country house and an old farmhouse completely renovated and is called The Castle.  The estate has five bedrooms and three lodgings with a classified 4-star tourist accommodation rating and also offers a swimming pool, a wellness center and a wine estate as well as producing olive oil in an ancestral method.   In 2001, Bernard and Anne-Marie Forestier bought the Provencal castle in order to restore the vineyard and open up a gite; a gite (so that I will keep your from looking it up, is a specific type of holiday accommodation, a home available for rent and they are usually fully furnished and equipped for self-catering.  Chateau Juvenal is located in Ventoux and until 2009 it was known as Cotes de Ventoux when the appellation was completed for the harvest of 1973. It is in the far southeast of the Southern Rhone and abuts Provence.   Bernard and Anne-Marie Forestier teamed up with the Alban family, wine makers for three generations to build the wine cellar and to offer new wines.  They have gone the organic route to create the wines.  The wine is a blend of seventy percent Grenache and thirty percent Syrah from plots located at the foot of the hillside (ribes), on the edge of the ditch (vallat).  The wine immediately shows the fruit forward sweetness of the Grenache and it is balanced with the peppery notes of the Syrah.  It may have been a bit overpowering for the commercial pizzas, but what the hell, it was good.                                                                                                                                               

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

A Soft Opening

Posted on October 2, 2020 by thewineraconteur

We were invited to a “soft opening” of a new restaurant location for one of the chains.  Our nephew got a job there and he had invited his parents for the “friends and family” offer of free dinners, and they invited us to join them, as they figured that I might be able to offer some suggestions about his wine service techniques.   We had to drive for almost an hour to get to the location and his parents only live about three miles away; naturally we got there first.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, as I am not partial to this chain, but my Bride doesn’t mind them and she is much more allowing compared to me.  She thought that our nephew needed a curmudgeon to keep him on his toes.  While we were waiting for his parents to arrive, I was amazed at the number of people that were trying to get into the restaurant that evening, since they obviously didn’t pay attention to the signs posted that there were not open yet for the public.  Add to that, that the staff that was guarding the front doors were all masked, as restaurants here are still only partially open, so I give the company kudos for opening a brand-new building in this environment.  The greeters or guards also told us the rules, before we went in, that all of the dishes that we ordered were complimentary as well as soft drinks.  If we wanted alcoholic beverages, we would have to pay for that, but all the proceeds of the hard drinks were being donated to a local charity.   So, we put on our masks to be led to our table, so that we could take the masks off after we were seated.

We were actually kind of goaded to order appetizers, under the guise that the kitchen needed to experience in the trench battlefield operations.  We ended up with the four of us, splitting an order of Toasted Ravioli and an order of Classic Shrimp Scampi Fritta.  Then out came salads or soups and bread.  I was appalled when I heard that there were groups that were taking advantage of the “friends and family” and were ordering two entrée orders per person, I guess when it is free, some people become gluttons.  My Bride ordered the Herb-Grilled Salmon and I went with the Shrimp Scampi.  We were told to order desserts and we had those boxed up, as we were going to the other couple’s home afterwards and desserts would not go bad there. The food was much better than I had anticipated, and that is important; and a fun evening.

This was the same young man that I had given a lesson of using a Waiter’s Cork Screw on a Zoom session and he was still nervous.  Though he did come by as our waiter and offer us a glass of complimentary wine, and it was so good, that we ordered a bottle for the table, but the wine had a screw cap, so we had to order a second bottle and we found a bottle that had a cork, and one of the bartenders was giving him a “hands on” lesson on using the cork screw.  Then I gave him a quick lesson in wine service about the cork and finding out who will do the taste of the newly opened wine; with a screw cap there is way less pomp and circumstance.  The wine with the cork was Chateau Ste. Michelle Chardonnay Columbia Valley 2018.  Chateau Ste. Michelle is the oldest and one of the most prestigious wineries in the State of Washington.  They are known for their Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay, but are famed for their Riesling.  It was founded as the American Wine Growers in 1954 by the merger of two that companies that followed the repeal of Prohibition; the National Wine Company and the Pomerelle Wine Company.  The National Wine Company had planted Vitis vinifera grapes in the Columbia Valley, and under the consultation of Andre Tchelistcheff they planted even higher quality grapes in 1967.  These were under the name of Ste. Michelle Vintners and the first wines released were Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, Semillon and Grenache.  In 1974 in a blind tasting their Riesling came in first place over Germany and California.  In 1976, they changed the name to Chateau Ste. Michelle.  The wine is aged Sur Lie for six months in a mix of French and American Oak, with ten percent new, and then blended with Chardonnay that was aged in tanks, so that there is a blend of crisp and oaky wine combined.  This is always a charming bottle of wine and I think it is very food friendly.  The wine that had a screw cap, that I was unaware of, and the wine that we were offered a free sample of was Meiomi Pinot Noir California 2018.  Later that evening, our nephew mentioned that the wine was the most expensive wine on the carte and he thought we would like it.  Meiomi Wines is a California winery that was founded in 2007 by Joe Wagner, the son of Chuck Wagner of Caymus Vineyards.  The winery started with Pinot Noir, then a Chardonnay and finally a Rosé.  Meiomi means “coast” in the language of the Wappo and Yuki tribes of the region.  The Pinot Noir is a blend of three coastal regions; Sonoma County, Monterey County and Santa Barbara County and hence the California AVA.  Their first vintage of the Pinot Noir was in 2007 and they produced ninety-thousand cases and quickly became one of the most requested wine labels for restaurants.  In 2015, Joe Wagner sold Meiomi Wines to Constellation Brands for $315,000,000, and he stayed on as a consultant for the 2016 and 2017 vintages.  This was the first vintage not overseen by Joe Wagner and the wine was a classic California wine that was jammy and velvety with a good nose and nice finish, that even appealed to our in-laws that are not really red wine drinkers.   Afterwards we helped our nephew with getting the wine bottles into specially designed self-sealing bags, as Michigan several years back started allowing unfinished bottles of wine to go home with the patrons, just like left overs in “doggy bags.”  Though one of the bartenders came by and redid our handiwork, as there was supposed to be a copy of the restaurant receipt in the bag as well, and the bartender realized that the none of the staff, especially the new trainees were taught this, so we helped out again.  We tipped our waiter for a job well done, left with all the leftover food and desserts and went to his parent’s house to play some four-handed cribbage.                                                                                                                                                            

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