September Birthdays 2020

Posted on September 10, 2020 by thewineraconteur

I guess we were all scofflaws, but we attempted to have a birthday celebration, just like we used to do before genteel society ended and we were all in a form of solitary confinement, unless one was in confinement, and then there was the possibility that you got your freedom.  It is convoluted, but to some, it makes sense.   Back when the sun was shining over the earth and only bank robbers wore masks, once a month we would celebrate and have a party for the family members that were born in each month, and some months were quite huge with celebrants.  With a family that has five married daughters, children and some grandchildren; the house can get quite packed.  There are rules about having too many people together at one time, unless it is a politically sanctioned funeral with photo ops, that is why I say that we were scofflaws.  We were going to have the party at our house, but another sister, even though she and her husband were going to be out of town, offered their house as it might be the last time for everyone to use their inground pool for the year.  This is Michigan and not New Mexico, so pools don’t have as long of a period of use here.

We got to the house early, to help the setup and we were also bringing a lot of assorted dishes and appetizers.  My Bride has everyone’s dietary requirements by rote, so that there is hardly a dish that can’t be enjoyed by all.  To give you an idea, one member has an allergy that is quite severe to the spice paprika and it is found in a myriad of prepared foods, that you would not even think that it would be in, as in commercially made mayonnaise.  I would venture to say that the culinary star of the day was our son who smoked a brisket for twenty hours, and just about all of it disappeared.  The little ones got excited, as always to open up their presents and some of the presents had to be opened later that day, during a Zoom session to show the gift givers the moment when they unwrapped the gifts.  One of the older recipients stayed humble and low keyed for the event.  

There were hardly any wine drinkers there for the party, but I did see a great bottle of wine that was empty and I asked one of the sons about it, and he said that he and his fiancé had it one night, and they were very impressed.  I can understand that, and I wish I could get more of that wine, perhaps another vintage.  I did bring a couple of back up wines, but the one wine that I wanted for the party is the one that I opened first and it basically sufficed for the two wine drinkers at the party.  We enjoyed a wine that we received from out wine club “A Taste of Monterey” and it was a bottle of Dawn’s Dream Pinot Noir Rosé Santa Lucia Highlands 2018 and it has been voted as the “Best Rosé of Monterey County” for six years in a row.  With Clone 236 Pinot Noir grapes and growing in Santa Lucia Highlands, it should win hands down always.  In the old days, this would have been referred to as a distaff winery, or to some a cottage industry, but with more woman being recognized for their talents in the wine industry, they are definitely held as peers.  Dawn Galante is the wife of Jack Galante of Galante Vineyards, and an officer of both wineries.  The wine is whole-cluster pressed, fermented and settled in Stainless Steel for a couple of months to maintain the delicate fruit flavors.   The nose offered tangerines and apricots, and along with a refreshing acidity there were notes of strawberries and watermelon, perfect for the last hurrah of summer.    

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A Restaurant Closing

Posted on September 8, 2020 by thewineraconteur

As a retired merchant, it bothers me to see a business closing or filing for reorganization or going out   business.  This year I have been watching many businesses closing either on their own accord or by mandates of local governments.  There have been national chains and small Mom and Pop operations and it means that more people lose their jobs, their livelihoods, their future dreams for themselves and their families.  Watching all of these companies that were mandated to close, means that the tax coffers dry up and then the local governments blame the pecking order above them to correct everything and since I have to live within my means, I think that everyone from businesses to governments must do the same, especially if they caused some of the problems. 

Oh well, my Bride and one of her sisters, went down to visit another sister to help out, and they stayed a little longer than anticipated.  On the drive back, they ran late, I mean who knew that a side trip for shopping would take so long.  Any ways, my one Brother-in-Law decided to meet up with the wayward shoppers out our way, to help my Bride, otherwise my Bride would be in the car for another two hours going and back and forth to drop off her sister, who lives on the other side of town from us.  We had quite a few gift cards that had accumulated for this one restaurant that had a location near our house, so I was going to make a reservation there and we could all meet there and then unload part of the car in the parking lot and then we could all go home.  The restaurant near us, that we had been to, just a couple of weeks earlier was closed and they were suggesting that we should go to another one of their locations, as they are a national chain.  We got everybody in sync for a new location at a big shopping mall and it was rather crazy and the two husbands got their first and made sure that we had a table for the group, meanwhile out in the parking lot, I guess I have been in a sheltered lifestyle, because I could almost get high from all of the “shoppers” blowing weed as if they were at a rock concert in the cheap seats.  There was another national chain across the hall from the restaurant that we were meeting at, and you would have thought they were giving away food for free, with the huge lines to pick up carry-out orders and not much concern about social distancing.  We found out once we were seated that the restaurant that we were at, had filed and may be going out of business, and since our brother-in-law was doing us a favor, we picked up the tab and we even ordered some to go food for them and for ourselves, and we will still have to hurry and eat there another time or two, to make sure that we use up all of the gift cards.

All of this excitement caused us to develop a thirst and they have an excellent white wine that always works and is far above, better than the usual Chardonnay that is offered in most popular priced restaurants.  We ordered a bottle of Sonoma-Cutrer Chardonnay Russian River Ranches 2017 for the table.   Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards was founded in 1973 by Brice Cutrer Jones and the main estate vineyard is two-hundred-fifty acres planted with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.  They have several other vineyards in the Sonoma region and they produce five different Chardonnay and four different Pinot Noir wines, all in the Continental style.  This particular wine is a blend of maybe a dozen different vineyards.  The wine is pressed whole-cluster and the juice is free-run and stored in a tank for a few days, before being aged in either new French Oak and neutral French Oak sur-lie and Stainless Steel for the balance; and aged for eight months.  We are partial to this wine and this vintage offered aromas of pear and apple, with some balanced acidity and a nice finish mixing in some smooth buttery notes without being overpowering.  It was great to get my Bride back home.  

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What, No Cheeseburger?

Posted on September 6, 2020 by thewineraconteur

I remember when I was a kid in grade school, I used to read the newspaper, actually I would read anything that I could get my hands on.  There was an article back then about local celebrities who opined where they went for their favorite burger in Detroit.  This article goes back to when everything centered on Detroit, no one even mentioned restaurants in the suburbs.  Detroit had a local celebrity that was an actor in his earlier career and then hosted a television show on two different systems in the Detroit area for decades, where he would talk about the “old” Hollywood and reminisce about colorful stories of the actors and actresses in the film that he was showing that day, and some days he would even present a film that he had a part in.  He had small parts in most movies, including “Mrs. Skeffington” and “Now, Voyager.”  His most famous scene in a film, has probably been excised in today’s PC world as he was the man that was setting the fire to burn Ingrid Bergman in “Joan of Arc” with his only line being “Throw another faggot on the fire” which referred to a burning stick or torch, but even he in the Sixties used to joke that the line now had a different context and he used to opine if and when his scene would be removed.  He had a great voice, was a good-looking man, but he never was able to capitalize on it, either in films of the small screen.  On the small screen he appeared in a lot of westerns, which were common shows in the Fifties, also in the Fifties he may have voiced the most famous quote to this day and was paid the handsome price of $350 in 1952 and no credit.   “…And who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American way!”  I mention all of this background, because getting back to the newspaper article, all of the newscasters and journalists of the time were mentioning famous bars in Detroit, which even as a kid, I had been to (perhaps another story), but this television host said that his favorite burger was at The London Chophouse, which was the premier dining establishment since the Thirties and I had to ask about it, as a kid, because I had never heard about it, and of course I had never eaten there as a kid. 

All of this exposition is because we decided that we wanted to go out for dinner and we really wanted a burger.  At this point in my life, I have to agree that a steakhouse has an awesome burger and before all of this lockdown, we used to go and sit in the bar often at a steakhouse, just to have a burger and a couple of glasses of wine.  Even my Bride was geeked up to having a burger.  I mean it has been probably over 120 day since we had a “bar” burger, though over that time she has made some homemade patties, but just not the same as a blended and crafted burger in a steakhouse.  We were given throw away paper menus, which is rather the norm today and as I scanned the menu, there was no burger and no house-made potato chips as well.  Oh, the inhumanity of the times.  We ended up ordering a couple of appetizers and made the most of the trip, as we weren’t looking to drop fifty or more dollars for one steak.  We had an order of classic Crab Cakes with roasted red peppers and a lime butter sauce.  We also ordered the Beef Carpaccio with a capers-Creole mustard sauce, red onions and diced egg.  Actually, between the two plates there was a lot of food and it was very good, so we did not go hungry, but it wasn’t the burger that we both were craving. 

The wine is also a big factor in attracting us for a burger in a steakhouse as opposed to a burger joint, some of which have great burgers, but the wine selections leaves something to be desired.  I picked out a bubbly for my Bride, because it sounded interesting and, on the carte, it was listed as New Mexico, which was a first for both of us, and actually there are three AVA designations in New Mexico, but this wine was Gruet Methode Champenoise Brut Rosé American Sparkling Wine NV.  Gruet Winery was founded in 1984 in New Mexico, as they were looking for interesting terroir and an affordable region compared to California to make their Methode Champenoise sparkling wines using Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes.  The roots of these vines originated from Gilbert Gruet’s Champagne house in Bethon, France.  The wine was actually rather festive and refreshing and there was a constant stream of tiny bubbles until the glass was finished.  The wine was pure Pinot Noir and aged “en tirage” for a minimum of twenty-four months and offered a soft strawberry nose and some nice acidity.  When I found out that there was no burger, I ordered a glass of Chardonnay, which was excellent with the crab cakes and actually wasn’t too bad with the beef carpaccio, because of the preparation.  I had a glass of Cave de Lugny Macon-Lugny La Carte Lie-Dit 2016.  Macon-Lugny is part of the much larger district known as the Maconnais, and the commune of Lugny has become very well known because of the hard work of the cooperative Cave de Lugny.  The Macon-Lugny is only used for white wines that are entirely Chardonnay, they also may use the designation for red and rosé wines made from Pinot Noir and Gamay.  Cave de Lugny is the largest producer of White Burgundy in the world, controlling a third of the production of Southern Burgundy and half the total production of the Maconnais.  Founded in 1926, they are a cooperative of family-owned estate, but not a negocient with over two-hundred-thirty estates.  Cave de Lugny claims that they are the home of the birthplace of Chardonnay and they boast some well known lieux-dits (or registered localities) like “Les Charmes,” “Les Beluses” and “La Carte.” This was a charming wine that featured some oak qualities and was just a very easy drinking Chardonnay, in fact my Bride ordered a glass of this after the Gruet and split her glass with me.  The quest continues for us to find a steakhouse burger. 

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No $600.00 Vinegar for Me

Posted on September 4, 2020 by thewineraconteur

We almost suffered a tragic calamity on a Tuesday night. I guess that it was just due to the good fortune that I have been constantly in the wine cellar, as I moved, shifted and inventoried the main wall of wines.  To try to keep the racks neat, I went and removed the tissue paper wrappers on most of the bottles that were so covered from Day 1 at the winery.  A few of the bottles have actually been with me, since I was a student living with my family in Detroit. The wine has been moved twice in houses and rearranged a couple of times here in the current location, until I built my wine cellar.

The great wines of Bordeaux come from an area called the Medoc, and the great wines of the Medoc were listed by ranking in the 1855 Classification, which has held up quite well for all of this time.  Some of the greatest wines from this classification come from a small commune in the Medoc named Pauillac.  Chateau Brane-Mouton was one of the leading wineries in the 18th and early 19th centuries, but suffered for a time period in both quality and price.  The estate was bought in 1853 by the Rothschild family and eventually renamed Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, a different part of the Rothschild family that owned Chateau Lafite-Rothschild.  There was hard work and diligence by the family to return the glory of the estate back to it former position, but not soon enough for the 1855 Classification.  Four winery estates were name as Premier Cru Class Classé (First Growth); Lafite, Latour, Margaux and Haut-Brion.  Mouton was recognized as the first of the Second Growth wines, and the winery felt slighted and dishonored and never even mentioned the 1855 Classification on their wine labels, whereas all the other listed wineries did.  In 1922, there was a tremor in the force, as Baron Philippe de Rothschild took control and immediately began some new changes, including Chateau bottling, which is de regueur today and he had to construct what is now considered the iconic barrel hall.  At the end of World War II, he also started commissioning artists to create a distinct label each year, and the labels have become collectibles in their own right.  After much Byzantine machinations and wine-political maneuvering, the Baron achieved what he felt was truly the right of the estate and in 1973 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild was elevated to a First Growth.   

By now, most of you must think that I have lost what ever gray-matter I may have owned with this short narrative of Chateau Mouton-Rothschild.  It happens that while I was a college student, one of my customers offered me the option of buying three bottles of Chateau Mouton-Rothschild 1973 as a future, with the astronomical price of nineteen dollars a bottle in 1970.  I had to scrape up the money, which was a King’s ransom back then for a student, and who knew what would have foreseen what occurred in 1973 for the winery, and who knew that the label would feature part of Pablo Picasso’s Bacchanale from the Musée de Mouton and the wording “Premier Cru Classé en 1973.  All of this leads up to the fact that I have been constantly in and out of the wine cellar and I happened to notice a couple of drops of wine on the floor, under the first column of wines, which begins the French collection that I have.  As I was checking the bottles, I noticed that one bottle had a cork that had actually pushed out and through the lead capsule covering.  I immediately went into the kitchen and got some sealing plastic pushed the cork back into the bottle, recovered and added a very tight rubber band as an additional sealant.  My Bride then asked whether we should have salmon or center-cut pork chops and I emphatically told her the pork, because we didn’t have any filets thawed.  I attempted to open the bottle with my Durand, but the cork still came out in dark burgundy wet pieces, and the initial whiff of the bottle was rather foxy or gamey.  I then used my tried and true coffee filter paper in a funnel to decant the wine, and the nose was opening up and it was a Mouton, a 1973 to be exact, because I had opened one up a couple of years earlier.  The wine was still a deep claret in color and still a delightful blend of fruit and tannins thirty-seven years later.  The best part is that we will have the balance of the wine tonight with left-overs, and while that may sound inglorious, it was unplanned, we had a stellar bottle of wine and not a bottle of vinegar.

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The Wall is Done

Posted on September 2, 2020 by thewineraconteur

Not the wall that causes a lot of political fighting, but the main wall in my cellar, and all the wines have been identified and inventoried, now all that leaves is four other racks in that room, plus the wine vault in the family room.  When all was said and done, I ended up packing and unpacking eighteen cases of wine, and let me tell you, that my back is rather tender from all that bending, stooping and stretching.  I tried to get it all organized.  All the French wine, and then the domestic wines by varietal, winery and vintage, followed by the rest of the Old World, and then the balance of the new world, and even all the Splits are done.  At least I have a better idea of what may or may not make the cut, but even then, I have fooled by what we have discovered as I have been slowly raiding the cellar, and still doesn’t seem to be making a dent in the collection.  I don’t know if that is good or bad, but I will accept it as a good sign. 

I have plenty, I hope, of the plastic or cardstock tags that can go over the corked end of the bottle, so that each bottle doesn’t need to be disturbed again for a while.  Supposedly the tags were supposed to be such that I could write on them, and then wipe them clean to use over and over, that didn’t work for me.  I was using “Post-its” and applying them to the hanging tags, but over the years there were different sizes being used and they would stick out beyond the tag and the secondary stickers would fall off and eventually be on the floor.  I found a size that I could actually get two labels from and they wouldn’t stick out beyond the hang tag.  Then with my spidery printing, I came up with a template that I could include the vintage, the grape or type, the region, the name and the winery.  All of this information was also printed up on lined paper, by column and row.  I will then get it entered onto a spreadsheet, so that if I have to make subtractions or additions, it will be easier on the computer. 

It was more work than I had anticipated, as I had to box up half of the wall to create a work zone and did column by column and I was working out of cases that I first sorted by varietal, and then started sorting by vintage, and thank God for sturdy empty cartons that I could put on the floor and then place another carton on top of, to make it easier on my back, as well as the different heights of the steps on the staircase going into the basement.  I don’t know if it makes me appear to be smart or to be lazy or maybe a combination of both, but it was a work out, and so will all the other racks that I will do, in the future.  I guess that I have a certain amount of pride, as I actually built the entire cellar room from scratch, as it was just an empty corner of the basement with poured concrete walls.  If nothing else, I will work up a thirst.

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The V Spot

Posted on August 31, 2020 by thewineraconteur

Raiding the cellar seems to be a popular diversion for the last couple of months.  First all the restaurants were closed and then they were only open for carry-out and then finally they were allowed to open, but at thirty to fifty percent capacity.  So, the wine bloggers that have been collecting, not hoarding, wine have been able to survive in relative peace and harmony, as long as they have food to go along with the wine.  It has been an interesting time for observations and for pundits as well, but I will try to refrain from getting into the fray.  I have had the good fortune to have retired, before all of this insanity occurred and I have been taking a good inventory of what we have amassed, as well as reorganizing the entire collection.  I had cases of wine all over the basement, as I had to box up some of the wine, to make room on the wine rack to start recording every wine, and I am doing it first old school with lined paper and pen.  It is also been a great time to start pulling some of the wines that had been forgotten about, so that we can drink them, and hopefully they haven’t gone bad.  At the moment, I think that we have discovered four bottles, so that is not too bad, but I am sure that by the time this is over, we may find more that have not survived, just like the restaurants and businesses. 

One of the first things that I did was try to get all the white wines together, so that they can find a new home up in the wine vault in the family room, which is another job in itself.  The white wines have been a bit scarier, as the odds are that they won’t age as well as a First Growth or a Barolo, which need time for the tannins to soften and mellow out.  I found a bottle from a wine shop that went out of business long prior to what is going on.  The wine was imported by American Wine Distributors, Inc. of San Francisco, California and they are out of business, as I was doing some research.  The wine was made by Fetish Wines Pty Ltd. of Adelaide, South Australia; and they also appear to be out of business.  A very catchy name for a company and surely it would have attracted attention on the shelves.  Rolf Binder was the winemaker of the wines by the company and I have found Wine Spectator scores for some of the wines at 89 and 90, and they also had acclaim by Robert Parker.  Some of the wines had very interesting names and labels such as: Moscato Field of Dreams, Playmates Grenache, Playmates Shiraz, Playmates SGM, the Watcher, the Wacker and Tawdry Shiraz.  All kind of intriguing labels and names, to say the least. 

Which leads me to the wine that I discovered in my collection Fetish Wines “The V Spot” Viognier Barossa Valley 2008.  I have to say, that even the back label was rather intriguing in its write-up and ballyhoo.  “You definitely know it when you find it, and, once you find it you will never forget it.  Fetish “The V Spot” Viognier is the sort of wine that you’ll want to find over and over again.”  I had good fortune with another older Viognier, but I did have my concerns as this wine had a screw cap, but then so do some of the Chateau d’Yquem wines.  The wine still had a floral nose, though not as pronounced as a fresh Viognier, and neither of us could put into words what the wine was, but it was delicious, smooth and rather mysterious, perhaps we had found the V Spot, and alas never to find it again.  Another happy ending for a twelve-year-old white wine, that has no provenance per se, but it surpassed all expectations, so a good lesson and a fun moment, and in these times, we do need fun and good news.

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A Quick Night Out

Posted on August 29, 2020 by thewineraconteur

It was one of those nights when we just wanted to go out for a change of pace.  We haven’t been going out as much as we used to, before the lockdown, but we still try.  Also, we have stockpiles of gift cards, that we should really start using up, in case some of these restaurants join all of the other businesses that are now the way of the Packard Motor Car Company.  I would be a shame to lose that money or to see any more businesses be forced to shut their doors after coming this far.  The gift cards are like found money, and we may as well redeem them, and there is a large amount of them in a box from maybe a half dozen different places. 

We went to one of our usual places, when we usually go see a movie, but we haven’t seen one of those in ages as well.  Though drive-ins were finally allowed to open, I guess they just have to keep the cars six feet apart or something like that, but they were actually closed as well.  Oh well, no movie, but a quick dinner and it is rather sad to see how some restaurants even after removing or closing down tables are still empty.  We put on our masks and walk to the booth and as soon as the water glasses were brought to the table, the masks were off.  My Bride was going to go with a salad, but whenever I can get her to get something else, I am happy, since she makes the best Caesar Salad that I have ever had, I always wonder why she would want a poor imitation.  I found a dish that I thought she would like, as she enjoys that vegetable that people grow in their backyard gardens and then spend a couple of weeks pawning it off on friends, enemies and strangers; yes, I am talking about zucchini.  She had their Shrimp Scampi Zucchini dish.  Zucchini ribbons sautéed with lemon, garlic and white wine, tossed with fresh Italian parsley and then mixed with Shrimp Scampi, though she was asking about the dish, the waiter suggested that perhaps she would like if they made the dish with have Zucchini and half Angel Hair Pasta and my Bride was in Seventh Heaven.  I actually tried some of her dish and it was better than I had expected, as I am not a fan of zucchini, in case you couldn’t have noticed, whereas my Bride likes all vegetables.  I had the Jambalaya Linguini as I enjoy some heat in my dinner.  A dish of blackened chicken and shrimp, Andouille sausage and Tasso ham all tossed in a Cajun Sauce with the linguini.  I seldom see linguini on menus anymore, ever since Neil Simon introduced “The Odd Couple” on the Great White Way.  If you don’t know what I am talking about, you need to watch the original film version to appreciate, why I am smiling as I type this.

Since, we were only having a quick dinner, and this restaurant offers a nine-ounce pour, if chosen, we each had a different wine.  My Bride had the Francis Ford Coppola “Rosso & Bianco” Pinot Grigio California 2018.   The Francis Ford Coppola of the Godfather films fame, among others, bought and resurrected the old Inglenook Estate, and his Rubicon is now back under the original name of Inglenook.  A little side note, is that Francis Ford Coppola was born in Detroit, as his father was a musician with the Detroit Philharmonic Symphony, and Henry Ford of the Ford Motor Company was a major benefactor of the Symphony and he was also instrumental in the creation of the Ford Hospital System of Detroit, where Francis was born, and hence the middle name that sounds rather incongruous, but now makes sense, just in case you ever wondered about it.  The winery was so successful with the several different label series and at several different price points that Coppola moved all of the popular price wines to Sonoma along with his film museum to Sonoma, and even tossed in a bocce court there as well.  This particular wine series “Rosso & Bianco” is his opening price and carries a California designation.  The wine also has some Sauvignon Blanc and is a bulk wine that offers a bang for the buck, and my Bride has been on a Pinot Grigio kick these days.  I had the Clos du Bois Chardonnay California 2018 which is another safe bet.  Clos du Bois is a California wine producer that was originally and still located in Sonoma County.  It was founded by Frank Woods in 1974 and his first wines were a Chardonnay and a Pinot Noir.  In 1978 he introduced the first Sonoma “Bordeaux Style” wine.  In 1988, Frank Woods sold the winery and it is now owned by the monster beverage corporation Constellation Brands, Inc., which also owns among the many labels, Robert Mondavi Winery, Kim Crawford and Ruffino.   This was just an easy drinking Chardonnay and it paired well with the heat of the Jambalaya.    Once in a while, it is good just to get out have a quick meal. 

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Dead Canyon Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon

Posted on August 27, 2020 by thewineraconteur

I really enjoy belonging to a wine club, actually we belong to three and the Fine Wine Source of Livonia offers the biggest selection of surprises.  I say that because the wines that we receive are probably not wines that I would readily grab off of the shelve.  I think that there is a bit of snobbery in anyone that starts collecting wines, they look for certain areas and grapes that they are comfortable with, as well as certain price points which is very important, unless you happen to be an athlete, celebrity, or politician.  If it wasn’t for a wine club, I would probably miss out on a lot of wines, and one of the perks of this particular club is that you get case price, even if you only buy one bottle of wine.  Also, there are the chances to discover a great wine for the house, that is still so good, you can offer it to guests as well, and don’t have to hoard it for yourself.  And I am really looking forward to when we can start having wine tastings again, which is a major part of this wine shop’s allure and enticement.  How many times, have we ended up adding to the cellar, because there was a wine that was just a knockout, even during a quick tasting.  As I have been going through the wine cellar, rearranging and doing an inventory, I will kind of smile when I get to some wines resting and remind myself of the time when these were bought. 

Horse Heaven Hills in Washington State is from what I understand, is one of those regions that evokes the old John Wayne and Randolph Scott westerns of the Thirties, in regard to the landscape and scenery.  The land and terrain and the Columbia River Gorge offer a dramatic Wild West that was romantically recorded for years in the oaters.  The early pioneers found great ranching in the early 1900’s and then it all came to a screeching halt when fierce winds and scorching temperatures wiped out even the grazing areas for decades afterwards.  After the population left for greener pastures, and that is basically the impetus for naming the estate the Dead Canyon Ranch.  Back in the Seventies a farmer got the idea that since wine grapes only produce great juice, if they suffer, this was one of the harshest tracts of land.  If grapes are grown in rich soils, the grapes become flabby with no character and they become table grapes, because if you ever taste wine grapes at the time of harvest, you will never want to taste an ordinary grape again, I liken it to plucking sugar cubes off of the vine. 

Dead Canyon Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon, Horse Heaven Hills 2017 is one of the labels by Mercer Estates of Washington State.   Mercer Estates planted their first wine grapes in Horse Heave Hills in 1972.  They have taken advantage of the soil and the desert climate to produce some elegant tannin Cabernet Sauvignon, as well as some other wines.  Their first vintage was in 2005 at Prosser, Washington.  They have a state-of-the-art winery giving the winemakers the luxury of temperature control and the ideal settings for fermentation.  Their barrel rooms allow for long and varied aging, so they can do things their way, and as they see fit.  This wine is described as offering a nose of black currants, blackberry and blueberry fruit, and secondary notes of graphite and roasted black truffles.  A gutsy wine, with integrated tannins and very affordable.  This wine has been touted as being perfect to pair with grilled lamb chops or steaks. 

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“FS” Rosato Piemonte

Posted on August 25, 2020 by thewineraconteur

I was getting ready to stop by the Fine Wine Source in Livonia, Michigan and pick up my August wine club selection, as I am finally getting back on track.  Perhaps soon there will be wine tastings again and the ability for every business up and down the food chain to start making a living again.  Since the state is collecting valuable tax money on wine, you would think that would be high on the list, because tax revenues came to a screeching halt, when everything was basically shut down during the lockdown.  Also, because I had ordered another case of everyday white wine, back when the lockdown began, to try to help a local business, and my case and probably another forty-nine cases of it came in the door as well. 

Giacomo Sperone SPA was founded in 1911 by Antonio Sperone Sr., who had started a craft-made production of Vermouth and fortified wines in a small cellar in the outskirts of Turin.  He was also selling bulk wine to customers and consumers and he started off with horse drawn wagons, but there was a slight pause during The Great War.  The company kept expanding production and business, and Antonio’s son Giacomo became an oenologist and began innovations and initiating changes in the way business was proceeding.  In 1960, Giacomo built a new facility in Cusano Milanino and added Asti sparkling wine to the list of products.  In 1983, the family purchased seventy-five acres of prime vineyards in Piedmont and built their current facility in Mombaruzzo near Monferrato.   In the Seventies, Giacomo’s sons Paolo and Antonio joined the family business.  They began Tenute Nairano, which is centered on the production of quality wines from the Piedmont.  In the last ten years they also began Caravello Limoncello, one of the leading brands marketed in America. 

As the family business grew and expanded, one of the newer wines is “FS” Franco Serra Rosato Piemonte DOC 2018.  Piemonte has more DOCG and DOC appellations than any other area in Italy, with a wide range of special grapes designated for certain areas.  Barbera is a workhorse for the Monferrato region and certain designations even have the name of the grape as part of the title.  This particular wine is almost entirely Barbera, except for five percent which is Dolcetto.  This Rosé wine is described as being elegant, light-bodied and dry with fruity, floral aromas, sweet cherries, raspberries and watermelon flavors with a bright acidity.  It is touted to be served chilled and perfect as an aperitif or with appetizers and first courses. 

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The New Ennui

Posted on August 23, 2020 by thewineraconteur

Every morning around seven, we go out for our daily 3K walk and it takes us about forty minutes and then we come home, clean up and get dressed and have breakfast.  Our normal routine now, though I don’t have to get as dressed up anymore as I am retired and making sure that I get some of the money that I put into it, for fifty years.  When the lockdown began and it was an experimental short term, that no one expected would become a life sentence, we use to see plenty of people in our subdivision walking hand in hand, walking their dogs and seeing kids on their bicycles.  Now as it has dragged on and there are still no legally sanctioned gymnasiums to try to keep some semblance of physical fitness, one would think that walking, and for those that want to be cool jogging would be on the rise.  Instead there is this new ennui and as we walk, I have started to observe and count the other people, and this morning there were three people; one woman about twenty years my senior pulling weeds and one man about twenty years younger than me jogging.  Even the dogs have given up and have become complacent to house arrest.  After seeing how svelte my Bride has become, I am attempting to join in her endeavor to lose weight, though I probably won’t be as successful as she, as she is now at the weight that she was when she married me.  I want to scream when I am outside “where did all the people go?”  The third person, might respond to my cry, or he may not, as he is usually sitting out on his patio smoking a cigar, and I wish that he would smoke a good cigar, because I can remember how good a quality cigar smelled.

I am still trying to keep busy, as I have noticed that there is plenty of inertia and people are getting depressed from being in a mandated solitary confinement, but one would think that they would at least want to get out and walk, get some sun and some fresh air.  I am sure that the convicts that were released from the real jails early, because they might get the disease, are enjoying their time in the sun and fresh air.  Anyways, one of the projects that I am doing, besides making sure that I still have an article every other day, is rearranging the wine cellar and actually recording what is down there by column and row, the old school way with lined paper and a pen.  So far, I have discovered only three bottles that were not drinkable, but I am sure that there will be more, but out of a collection of almost fifteen-hundred, I am hoping the odds are pretty good.  I went and boxed up some of the wine for the short term, to make some sorting room, and I am making new neck labels for every wine as well.

As I was moving some of the bottles to make room, my hand got very sticky grabbing the neck of one bottle, the plastic seal was still secure, but some of the wine had seeped out, and if you look at some older bottles you will see that the volume in the bottle looks low, and that is called ullage, and it is mentioned by the catalogues when one is bidding on wines at an auction.  I don’t remember the bottle at all, so I will presume that it was given as a gift and forgotten about, as alas these things do happen.  The wine is Weingut Weinhaus Gebr. Endlich Rudesheimer Kosterlay Rotwein Kabinett 1990 from the Rheingau and though it isn’t stated, I will presume that it was made with Pinot Noir, which accounts for five percent of the grapes grown in Rudesheim in the Rheingau.  From what I can gather from the label and doing internet searches, the wine was made for a small hotel that had “strangers’ room” availability.  I took the bottle and placed it in one of the refrigerators to chill, and when I went to open the bottle, I removed the plastic seal, there was no cork at the neck of the bottle.  The nose from the bottle was not what I would call enticing, but I did pour some of the wine into a glass and even the color was wrong, as it was dark with a brown cast, and most red wines as they age tend to lighten in color.  I did not attempt a taste, as the wine continued to open up in the glass, it became even less enticing.  When I poured the wine down the drain, I discovered that there was a cork sitting in the bottom of the bottle.  This was just an addition to the new ennui of the times, and it makes me yearn for the days of “Angel Eyes” and the old ennui.

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