The New Abby Normal

Posted on May 31, 2020 by thewineraconteur

“Wait Master, it might be dangerous…you go first.”

I am becoming more and more a curmudgeon, when I am constantly bombarded with the message of a “new normal.”  I am sorry, I had to listen to a constant message that the country was down in the dumps and that we would have a lousy economy for the rest of my life, and that was going to be the “new normal.” I have lost respect and favor for so called “journalists” ever since I saw a man that had covered the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, decide that he was more important then the story, when he was interviewing the President of the United States of America.  I am sorry if there is no respect for that office, then petty positions like governors should even be held in lower esteem.   Living in a lockdown confinement is not normal, for Americans who have heard of how we waged a revolution over taxation without representation and won our freedom to be independent.  I was just reading that currently in another fiefdom called Nevada, if we wanted to go visit the children and grandchildren there, we would have to go into voluntary quarantine for fourteen days, before we can see the family.  I am sorry but after being in quarantine for seventy-two days, that is insanity.  Instead of fuzzy dice hanging from the rear-view mirror, there will be a mask, and not for robbing banks; and there will be medical latex examination gloves in the glove box. Now perhaps “journalists” and “politicians” don’t have families anymore, so the concept of family is lost on them, but to everyone I know and respect, there is still family. 

Since, this is about Abby-Normal and not Hans Delbruck, even our dinner was different at home.  We had a Botana, probably more a Tex-Mex creation with spicy ground-round in a chili poured on Nacho Chips then covered with cheese and baked and toss in some Jalapeno Peppers as well.  Let us nor forget to have some Spicy Guacamole and some Salsa as well.  Now normally we go out for a dinner like this, but now in Abby-Normal times we have to get it to go, and then reheat it once we get it home.  It loses the appeal and we may as well have it fresh and hot the first time around, as left-overs and reheating are also part of the new Abby-Normal.  Though I really have nothing to complain about, because we are eating like Royalty, but that is because my Bride can cook and I feel sorry for people that have to rely on Microwave meals that are loaded with Sodium that will cause issues later on, depending on how long they endured a steady diet of such “food.”

We will also take a break for Abby and rather than having wine, we will have what we normally get when we go out for a meal like that and get a Margarita.  Now, our favorite eatery prior to what has happened, used to make a huge batch in the morning and let the flavors mingle and steep for the day and they were wonderful, actually my Bride used to think that they were too lethal and she would only have one, after her first encounter with two of them.  We just so happened to have a bottle of Jose Cuervo Margaritas, which is a premixed ready-to-drink cocktail, while it might not be for the purist, it works for the few times that we feel like a Margarita at home.  It is made with Cuervo Tequila and Triple Sec, all you need is ice, but since we keep it in the refrigerator, we drink it neat and neither of us find it lethal, and it is easy to enjoy and really worked well with the Botana. 

“Soitenly. You take the blonde; I’ll take thee one in the toiben.”

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Memorial Day 2020

Posted on May 29, 2020 by thewineraconteur

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

Memorial Day should have been a big family day with twenty to thirty gathered together for a good time, good food and good beverages.  We always looked forward to the holidays for something special, instead we are still in lockdown, unable to be with family and friends.  Part of our state was recently opened up for people to start resuming a life, if you live there.  We were admonished not to dare travel there, because it should only be for the locals, that is fine, let them iron out some of the details on a smaller scale, without outsiders contributing extra concerns.  Our first family had to be up there, since it seems that their cottage made the cut for opening up, but they don’t live there, but it is now fine for people to visit their second home, which was illegal only a couple weeks ago.  Same thing with boats, you could only use a boat, if it had no engine, and then surprise, boats with engines were allowed, just in time for the boating season. It was a blessing for the small marinas who were backed up at least three weeks, because it was illegal for them to do their work, but I guess the surfaces of motor boats are now safe from germs.  A company that gets boats launched up north, was suffering and then working overtime to get things taken care of, and a man called and had the audacity to want to have his boat opened up first, and when told no, he then mentioned that he happened to be married to the governor, and was told that it won’t happen.  The owner of the company put a notice on his Facebook page, because he was all upset, the notice went viral and he had to take the notice down, because his staff was kept busy answering about the truth and not getting all the boats launched that they should have been doing.  After a couple of days of stonewalling, the truth came out, and the husband was just attempting to be funny, she asked for forgiveness I wonder how often that “funny” may have worked in other situations?  Don’t ask me, I can only talk to family members by telephone or Zoom sessions.  Memorial Day was also the Day 70 for us to be in lockdown and in five days after that I will have been clean of a potential bug for five cycles.  I will let you in on a little secret as well, we don´t wear masks in our own house or when we are out for our daily walks in the fresh air in our subdivision. 

My Bride wanted to know, what I had the feeling for, for Memorial Day.  I jested and mentioned that since it was only the two of us, maybe we could have Brats and Beans, something that we might have offered as one of the many sides to accompany the main dishes for everyone to enjoy.  She thought it was a good idea, but then she said that we don´t have any Brats, so she substituted Smoked Kielbasa, which I think she said was the end of the links in the refrigerator.  She made a dish of sautéed Kielbasa with Red Peppers, Onions and Sauerkraut in one big pan.  She then made a pot of Baked Beans and she also made some Corn on the Cob.  It kind of had a holiday feel to the meal. I have to admit that she is trying to make the most of the situation, as she tries to keep me perked up, but she is hearing that I am not the only one that is tired of being in a lockdown situation.

Another one of the lone individuals that were being neglected in the cellar, found it was their time to be selected.  I tried to find something that would be chilled and not to fussy with the foods that we were having.  I found a bottle of Enrico Marcato ¨La Giareta¨ Pinot Grigio delle Venezie IGT 2011.  Enrico Marcato is the winemaker for Family of Wine, that has been in the wine industry for about a hundred years.  This wine is aged for three months in Stainless Steel and they produce around thirty-five thousand bottles of this wine a year.  Pinot Grigio accounts for seventy percent of the production in the Delle Venezie IGT and the remaining thirty percent is a long list of sanctioned wines.  This nine-year-old Pinot Grigio was very pleasant and just an easy drinking wine that did not fight with any of the assorted flavors of the dinner. I am hoping that by Father´s Day, the state may see some easing on the lockdown, if not by the Fourth of July, so that we can celebrate freedom and independence.

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Memorial Day Weekend 2020

Posted on May 27, 2020 by thewineraconteur

“Suppose they gave a war and nobody came.  Then war will come after you.”

Is often attributed to Bertolt Brecht as he wrote about the rise of the Democratic Socialist Party of Germany after the First World War and the Depression that followed.  I feel the same way about the holidays that have been missed and Memorial Day was very sad.  There were no parades, no pomp and circumstance and even for the children that are not taught the meaning of the holiday except that it is usually a long weekend and there is a barbeque.  A very tragic accident occurred in my state, a private dam that was in the midst of going from private ownership to the state could not contain the water and several communities were destroyed and thankfully no one was killed.  It turns out that the attorney-general, an elected official demanded that the dam, raise the water level to protect some fresh-water mussels, not only are the mussels gone, but so are homes, possessions, communities, schools, places of worship etc., etc., etc. I am sure that people that lost everything are going to appreciate that the mussels were so important.  It also shows that the attorney-general’s knowledge is minimal concerning dykes and engineering.

It was a very quiet day, just like every other day has been and my Bride has done the most to make our Sundays special.  We started out with a brunch of lox, capers, onions, poached eggs, bagels and cream cheese.  Just like what we might have ordered out at a restaurant, if you remember that word and what it means.  Then we had an early dinner of Roast Beef, with Peppers and Onions, Mashed Potatoes and Corn on the Cob, followed later on by Chocolate Pudding. The food is great and so is the company, I might add.  Though it would be nice to see some other walls and let someone else cook, and clean up; and perhaps one day it may happen.  After our early dinner, we then had another marathon three-hour Zoom session that was fun, and my Bride was very animated and it was good to see those that showed up.

It was another day to enjoy the labors of the cellar.  I think it would be a sin to use Dom with orange juice, so we used Korbel California Champagne, which is produced in the time-honored way of “Methode Chanpenoise” and it is a blend of Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, French Colombard and Pinot Noir. A perfect way to start off the day and Korbel is one of those houses that have been grandfathered in using the term “California Champagne.”  We now make them in the steakhouse method that we discovered in Las Vegas, which is to fill the glass with Bubbles and a tincture of Orange Juice.  While I was in the cellar earlier, I found a bottle that I thought needed to be liberated as well, a bottle of Barton & Guestier Roi Chevalier Saint-Emilion 2001.  Barton & Guestier or in the old days, when the labels said B & G is the oldest wine house in Bordeaux.  They are a negocient with over two-hundred winegrower partnerships, as well as their signature Chateau Magnol in the Haut-Medoc.  The company began in 1725 when the Irishman Thomas Barton settled in Bordeaux and became a wine merchant.  In 1802, his grandson Hugh joined forces with Frenchman Daniel Guestier and a partnership was created that is still going on today.  The current version of this wine is a mix of eighty percent Merlot and twenty percent Cabernet Franc with about three months of aging in oak.  Since the 1900’s, the Saint-Emilion has been named Roi Chevalier, in reference to Edouard III, King of England and Duke of Aquitaine at the beginning of the 14th Century.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, and I am happy to report that the wine was perfect, though I had to decant, because even with The Durand, the cork crumbled a bit.  The color was still good and the nose offered some fruit still, and so did the taste.  The tannins and the fruit had mellowed a bit, but still a perfect pairing for the Roast Beef, and the bottle kind of evaporated during the course of the Zoom session.

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A Good and a Bad

Posted on May 25, 2020 by thewineraconteur

“Springtime for Hitler and Germany”

With apologies to Mel Brooks, a movie, a play, and then another movie.  A farce based on the concept of staging a theatrical production on one of the worst parts of the history of mankind and the ugliness of when you give petty people places of prominence.  One could substitute perfectly the name of a governor that wishes to be a vice-president consideration by using hob-nail boots to keep the populace locked down and then substitute the proper state in place of a country.  I am rewriting this introduction, because last night after business hours this harridan who is trying to compete with other governors extended our lock down, as everyone in the state was counting the days for some additional breathing room.  Then she had the audacity to leave to her cottage which just so happens to be in the part of the state, where she had just loosened up, she also has allowed doctors and dentists to begin practicing their profession; as I am sure that her husband will be glad to get out of the house with her and start working, just like everyone else in the state would like to.  She also has kept a clamp on barbers and hair salons, but dog groomers are allowed to open, and I guess she needed to get a trim.  Felons are being let out of prison, but citizens are being threatened with jail time, if they try to help themselves   

I guess we have been very fortunate that no one that I know has gotten this cold virus that originated in Wuhan, China. I am also glad that we have had the good fortune to be able to pay our bills, eat and drink while we are in lock-down mode.  I do miss the restaurants, and to be frank, even after the governor claims victory over smiting and vanquishing the virus, we may be hesitant about venturing out, but that is our right to decide.  We started off one meal the other day after having a nice tossed salad, and had Center-cut Pork Chops with Potatoes and Onions and Corn on the Cob.  My Bride has really been trying to mix up the menus, so that we don’t get tired of any particular entrée, especially since we will be enjoying it again as left-overs on the next day or so. 

I have progressively been moving the whites from the cellar into a wine vault, so that we will make sure that the white wines are drank in a timelier manner.  I was able to make room and get a couple of bottles in the refrigerator.  I was really looking forward to trying this one white wine that I found, that I don’t remember buying or getting as a gift, so I am going to have to watch myself.  I opened up a bottle of Pierre Boniface Domaine les Rocailles Apremont Vin de Savoie 2004.  Savoie is a wine region all by itself and seldom seen here, especially in Michigan, the region is the eastern edge of France near Lake Geneva and bordering Switzerland.  The white cross on a red background is both the flag of Switzerland and Savoie.  Three quarters of the region is planted with white grapes, because of the unique soil and growing cycle, three grapes are most successful.  The Jacquere which is planted the most, the Altesse known locally as Roussette and Roussanne locally known as Bergeron. The Vin de Savoie AOC was created in 1973 and is the core value of the region and can be used for all types of wine produced.  The terroir of the region, and most of the vineyards are planted on steep, south facing slopes and the ground is basically limestone, which retains the heat of the sun for longer periods of warmth each day, as there is very little water retention in the soil, so the grape production is small, but the quality is up for the struggling vines. The village of Apremont is the most known of the region and is predominately planted with Jacquere.  Its name means Bitter Mountain and that is because there was a terrible landslide in the mid-13th Century killing thousands and it wasn’t until the 18th Century that the area was begun cultivating vineyards. The wines are known for being typically light and dry with floral, mineral characters.  Alas, this was the first wine since I began raiding the cellar that had not cellared.  It had a synthetic solid cork that was a bear to remove, but the wine had totally oxidized and it had neither a complimentary nose or taste and it was relegated to the sink for proper disposal and I was really looking forward to it.  I did have a backup in the refrigerator.  I opened up a Mission Trail Vineyards Friars’ Reserve Chardonnay Paraiso Vineyard Santa Lucia Highlands 2008.  There was very little about this wine, when it was issued and the winery used the “Champagne” method of pressing the grapes to lessen the potential bitterness and aged in mixed types of French Oak barrels, both new and used for a creamy blend.  This wine had a very small production, as the 2015 only produced one-hundred-fifty cases.  What an awesome bottle of wine, for a twelve-year-old there was still floral notes, with a nice buttery, oaky taste that was very mellow with a finish that had some vanilla spice and terroir.  It was delightful, and my Bride threw caution to the wind, as she is counting points with the Weight Watcher regimen, an had a second glass, it was that notable.  There has to be some good news to offset the bad. 

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Piccata and Penelope

Posted on May 23, 2020 by thewineraconteur

Lt. Col. Korn, XO:  All you have to do is be our pal.

Col. Cathcart:  Say nice things about us.

Lt. Col. Korn, XO: Tell the folks at home what a good job we’re doing.  Take our offer Yossarian

Col. Cathcart: Either that or a court-martial for desertion.

This is the condensed and I feel abridged version from the book, but it is about two Air Force Colonels who take it upon themselves to keep raising the number of missions the pilots must fly, before they are rotated out.  The officers were anticipating getting glory and recognition from the higher-ups and they were also hoping to get written up by the popular magazines of the day; neither of which came true and now they were in the midst of “CYA” and I think it has parallels to today.  As for us we are just going with the flow.  My Bride is still working her job which is considered essential, though she is not on the front lines and her work is from 8:00 to 4:30, and I am keeping her same hours, just in another part of the house.  We then take our half-hour walk of three kilometers, which is not a bad pace for a couple of seniors and we are not wheezing or puffing when we get home. 

We are having breakfast together, and then we usually meet up for lunch, unless she is in the middle of a big project.  After our walk, we then have our dinner together.  We are trying to maintain a routine of normalcy, just like the days before the cold virus.  As I have said, she tries to make a dinner that is at least ample for two dinners, and sometimes three, and I have probably eaten more leftovers in the last seventy days then the entire prior year.  In fact, we had leftovers of the Chicken Piccata dinner.

The only difference for the menu is the wine and I have been looking for wines that have been tucked away that needed to be discovered.  I found a wine that I had forgotten about, but it was now or never.  I opened up a bottle of Penelope Sanchez Tinto Joven Campo de Borja D.O.  2008 a blend of eighty-five percent Garnacha (Grenache) and the balance Syrah.  Campo de Borja is in Aragon, which is in Northern Spain.  An historic district founded in 5 BC, the Borgia family that rose to prominence in Italy during the Renaissance and produced two Popes, and the name translates to the Land of the Borja. Winemaking in the area goes back to the time of the Romans.  Garnacha/Grenache is the leading grape grown with an average of thirty to fifty-year-old vines and the locals refer to the area as the Empire of Garnacha.  Some of the other grapes that are grown there are Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Mazuelo/Carinena and Syrah and some Rosé wines are found there along with some white wines from Macabeo/Viura, Chardonnay and Moscatel.  The only references that I could find to Penelope Sanchez is that the wine is made to be drank young, and all I can say is that twelve years it was still a charming bottle of mellow Grenache.

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Brunch, Dinner, Zoom and Wine

Posted on May 21, 2020 by thewineraconteur

Capt. Richard N. Jenson: What are you doing there, soldier?

Soldier getting up from floor:  Trying to get some sleep, sir.

Patton: Well, get back down there, son.  You’re the only son of a bitch in this headquarters who knows what he’s trying to do.

Another day in trenches as we are living life in a dream.  John F. Kennedy once said “Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president, but they don’t want them to become politicians.” I have seen memes proclaiming that it’s like the Sixties, because gas is cheap and we have been grounded.  Another was stated that we are all becoming like a famous movie character “The Dude” from The Big Lebowski. I am glad that gallows humor is holding up, so that we can find some silver linings in this terrible storm that has engulfed the world.  As for me, I don’t think that I look like The Dude, but it is a close race between Dr. Zorba and Larry Fine, though I am shaving, because I am not Jason Bourne and attempt to cut hair.

We had a wonderful Sunday during the lockdown.  We had an early Brunch.  My Bride made a Ham and Cheddar Souffle with Mimosas.  Then she and one of her girlfriends get together on their phones and watch the same mass on their computers, and her girlfriend even encourages my Bride to sing louder.  Sunday is kind of our day of rest from jobs and projects.  We normally eat dinner around five in the afternoon, but we had an early dinner.  We had Chicken Piccata, Rice Pilaf and Steamed Asparagus and Chocolate Pudding for dessert.  Ever since, she has discovered making a Piccata Sauce with different “proteins” and assorted add-ins for flavor, it has become one of her new favorite dinners to make, and I am not complaining.  We then, had almost three hours of Zoom to catch up with everyone, and I know that my Bride is itching to make a big family dinner, if and whenever the self-appointed Gods deem family gatherings are permissible.

We started off with Mimosas, for those that think that breakfast is a sobering reality.  We use splits of La Marca Prosecco DOC NV probably to the same exact mixing ratios that we discovered out in Las Vegas, where I think Orange Juice is dearer than bubbly.  The wine is named after the La Marca Trevigiana zone in the heart of the Prosecco region of Italy. This wine was listed as being one of the “Top 100 Wines of the Year” by Wine Spectator magazine in 2007. Since this wine is from the Prosecco DOC region it is listed as using the Prosecco varietal, instead of the other name of Glera.  The wine is produced by the Charmat Method, which keeps the cost down in production and it also keeps a few less bubbles rising up in the glass, and it is a bit sweeter by design, but it is a great way to start the day off.  For dinner and for the Zoom party, we opened up a bottle of Chateau Ste. Michelle Chardonnay 2013.   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 wine for being seven years old was still very crisp and had a lot of fruit to offer.  It was an excellent wine to enjoy with the family after dinner and during the Zoom session. 

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Filets and Franc

Posted on May 19, 2020 by thewineraconteur

“Major Strasser has been shot…round up the usual suspects.” 

Day 60 of the lockdown, so by my estimation, I have been clean four times, and I was excited like a little kid going on a school excursion trip.  The only difference was that I was just going to a hardware store and my Bride was going to get some perishables at the local small Michigan chain grocer, the big stuff we are still covered with, some of the stuff like milk and fresh vegetables.  It is becoming shades of World War Two as the markets are rationing certain items now and hoarders are creating artificial shortages.  You can only purchase two meat items at a time, and toilet paper, rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide and disinfectants are the new Bitcoins of the new world order.  Meanwhile, I was buying some stuff to fix up the house, as well as a potential big job in the future.  Besides wearing masks, and hats (to hide sixty days of unruly hair, because only politicians can get their hat cut) we were sporting surgical gloves; we actually had a complete carton of them and who knows what other gems we may have, half forgotten about.  It was fun and I felt like a scofflaw, because there is only supposed to be one person in a car and we had two. 

We are still eating extremely well, as we continue to have these curious Banana Pancakes, to make sure that we are getting some Potassium.  For lunch, we are having soups or sandwiches, and I know that one day when I go and sit down in a restaurant, two of the earliest items that I will order is a cheeseburger and a pizza pie and of course later on, a duck dinner, foie gras and any veal dish.  Not that I am really complaining, because there is a God and through his providence, we are still eating.  My Bride, as well as myself grew up knowing that one had to have a balanced meal and she is intent on maintaining that goal.  We had Filet Mignon with Mashed Potatoes and Steamed Asparagus, and followed by Pineapple Angel Food Cake topped with Strawberries and Whipped Cream.  While she is losing weight on the Weight Watchers food regimen, though the good news is that I have lost a couple of pounds and not gained, but then I am eating what she is, only more.

I was down in the cellar, looking for something interesting and singular, if I could and I found a potentially good wine, depending on how it matured.  I opened up a bottle of Ciccone Vineyard & Winery Cabernet Franc Leelanau Peninsula 1998 and estate bottled.  Silvio “Tony” Ciccone is a first generation American and his parents immigrated to Pennsylvania.  He eventually found his way to Detroit, got married and raised eight children while being an Optical Engineer.  All the time he had a couple of rows of grapevines in the backyard, just like his father did, and he maintained the Ciccone tradition of making home grown and hand made wine.  When Tony and his wife retired, they moved up North in Michigan to the wine country and in 1995, and the following Spring he planted by hand the first five acres with Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Gewurztraminer.  Two of his children have now taken over the business and his daughter is one of two female winemakers in the Leelanau County.  They know have fourteen acres of vines and the first to plant Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Dolcetto in the area.   I opened up the bottle a half hour before dinner and I probably should have done it an hour early, as the first glass was rather indifferent, but then it really started to mellow out.  Neither of us could pinpoint the nose, and at first, it didn’t even taste like a Cabernet Franc, which is my Bride’s favorite varietal, but after an hour there was some layers of dark fruit still there, opening cautiously for us to enjoy, and like most Cabernet Franc wines it ended with a dry finish with terroir.  Maybe it is just me, but I always get more notes of terroir from Cabernet Franc at all price points, compared to most other grapes.  The other thing I noticed when we were up there and buying this wine was there was no mention of one of the other daughters that had some success in show business, by the name of Louise Madonna Ciccone, but maybe for another day.

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Salmon and KJ Great Estates

Posted on May 17, 2020 by thewineraconteur

Bartlett: “Gentlemen, no doubt you’ve heard the immortal words of our new commandant: devote your energies to things other than escape, and sit out the war as comfortably as possible.”

My Bride and I have been most fortunate as we seem to weather this storm.  She has commandeered the dining room table, so that she can spread her work out.  Usually a little past 4:30 Monday through Friday, after she shuts down her computer and we go for our 5K walk in the subdivision.  I mean there is no place to go, the spa that we joined is shuttered, because of the lockdown, so we do some exercises at home and our walk.  The good thing is that the we have not been reported as selfish protesters, because we still walk hand in hand, no six feet space between us, and we walk in the fresh air with no mask, as we live on the edge. LOL. The last week or so, we have started to notice more people walking or riding a bicycle.  There are some strange new etiquettes involved when walking.  If we see people either walking or talking to their neighbors, without breaking pace, we venture out into the street for a couple of house widths, before getting back on the sidewalk.  It is really not that serious, as there is almost no automobile traffic in the whole area.  People wave to us from their porches or from chairs in their garages.  My biggest beef I guess is how people try to squeeze more cars in the driveway and then we have a choice of either walking on their lawn or back on the street, so it is back on the street for us.  In the 58 days of lockdown we have had the pleasure of walking in weather from the thirties to the seventies; and have enjoyed rain, snow and blasting sunny days, of course it is Michigan, so fluctuations are the norm. 

My Bride is still experimenting with the menu, as she is trying to make me not miss dining out.  She is also going and getting some of the different sauces and spices she has bought and never used, either because she didn’t want to take the extra time or she figured that her pain the arse husband might balk at something out of his comfort zone.  She was going to make Salmon, and I figured that she was going to use one of her tried and true recipes that I enjoy.  When I met her, she was basically a fish-eater and a white wine drinker.  I had to basically reintroduce her to red meats and to red wines and she hasn’t really complained about it.  She marinated the salmon in a Peanut Sauce, I don’t know about these things, it was better than I had anticipated.  Let us just say that it is a good thing that I am not a food critic. 

I found another lost soul that needed liberating from the cellar, it was Kendall-Jackson Great Estates Chardonnay Arroyo Seco 2000, in one of the heavy-weight bottles and the label etched in the glass.  I am going to go out on a relatively safe limb and opine that this wine later was renamed “Highland Estates” and now goes by the label of “Jackson Estate.” Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates is one of California’s largest wine producers with 10,500 acres of land in both Sonoma and Napa Counties.  The estate was founded in 1974, when Jess Jackson purchased and eighty-acre pear and walnut orchard in Lakeport, California which would later be in the Sonoma Valley AVA.  His first wine was a vintage 1982 Chardonnay and it was successful from the get-go, and it has snowballed over the years.  This particular wine is from the Arroyo Seco, Spanish for Dry Creek in the Salinas Valley of Monterey County and is famed for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  The wine was aged for about nine months in French Oak of which sixty percent was new. This is one of their prestige wines and not one for making a killing on, as there was probably only a little over four-hundred cases produced. For a twenty-year old Chardonnay, it had a beautiful soft gold color and an enticing nose of citrus.  The wine was full bodied and still offered some fruit and some spice, with a decent finish, my Bride did think that there was noticeable tinge of alcohol permeating through the finish, but I didn’t pick that up as much.  I have to admit that we are tasting some wines that we may have passed over for one reason or another, but so far all have been excellent and the sad thing is that they were all singular in the cellar, and they have all been enjoyed before they may have started showing their age. 

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A Michigan Dinner

Posted on May 15, 2020 by thewineraconteur

Paul Crewe: “You know, there’s only one thing I’m sorry about.” Warden Hazen: “What’s that, Mr. Crewe?” Paul Crewe: “That you’re not out here with us knockin’ heads.” Warden Hazen: “I’m afraid I’m a little old for that.” Paul Crewe: “No, you never had the guts to begin with!”

The State of Michigan has always had a feast or famine environment.  At one time we were the Car Capital of the World, we were The Arsenal of Defense, and as the old saying goes “When America gets the sniffles, Michigan gets the cold.”  Michigan always felt a slow down first, and was usually the last state to get the momentum back.  Over the years I have seen the cycle first hand, and I have talked to others that have witnessed similar cycles, before I would have been aware of it.  In the cartoon strip and later the Broadway musical and then the movie there is the lyrical statement that was a satire of an expression once uttered in Washington “What’s good for General Bullmoose is good for the U.S.A.”

Well, we are still in lockdown mode, along with other parts of the country and my dear Bride, is still trying to come up with new dinners to make the evenings more enjoyable.  She has probably gone to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for week-long business trips for maybe the last twenty years, and there have been some years that I have accompanied her, depending on how she could arrange the visits that she had to do, otherwise, I would be sitting in an empty car, for hours on end.  On the trips that I have gone up with her, one common dish that I noticed, at almost every restaurant that we went to, was their adaptation of a Spinach Salad.  I have only had Spinach Salads while in Michigan, so I am not sure if it is a regional dish or not.  My Bride fried up rashers of bacon, until they were really crispy and then took some of the bacon fat (grease) added spices and then tossed this dressing immediately on crisp spinach leaves, and the leaves wilt and then garnish with hard boiled eggs, bacon and shredded Cheddar Cheese.  It may not sound like much, but it is quite substantial as a meal.  It was followed by Pineapple Angel Food Cake with Whipped Cream and Strawberries.

Well, in the back of my head I decided to maintain that Michigan theme of our dinner.  On one of our trips to Mackinac Island, on two different nights we enjoyed Gruner Veltliner wines from Austria and really enjoyed them.  After that trip we have encountered more of this grape, both from abroad and now domestically.  I found a wine in the cellar that did not have a neck tag and it was in with some of the Italian Red wines, and so I saved this lost gem from collecting any more dust.  I grabbed a bottle of Shady Lane Cellars Gruner Veltliner Leelanau Peninsula 2013.  The winery was founded by Dr. Joseph O’Donnell, a neurosurgeon from Grand Rapids in 1987. It recently changed hands to Richard Fortune from Indianapolis, Indiana; whose family has been visiting the area for the last fifty years or so. This is another winery that I have found out has been mentored by Lawrence Mawby of L. Mawby Vineyards and from my further studies appears to be the un-official “Godfather” to the other wineries in the area. I can appreciate his concept, because for years in retailing the concept of a strong neighbor (competitor) makes the entire area better.  After that trip up North to the wine country, I discovered that I knew the winemaker, when he was the general manager for a great wine shop that was across the street from where I used to work for ages.  I would have asked for him, though I am sure that he wouldn’t have remembered me from some thirty years prior, and he traded in working in Dearborn, to being up in paradise in the Traverse City region of the state.  I just thought that a wine that had some bounce would work well against the bacon dressing.  The wine still offered a nice citrus nose, and delivered some nice acidic layers of some stone fruit and pear, with a nice finish that offered some pepper and terroir featuring mineral notes.  It was refreshing and very pleasant with the dinner.  

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Easter, Zoom and Two Whites

Posted on May 13, 2020 by thewineraconteur

“Now, I can be a good guy, or I can be one real mean sum-bitch.”

I think that we are all going through the motions of day in, day out.  Even my Bride has mentioned that she is tired, though she can’t pinpoint why. We are fortunate to be riding out this storm.  It was our first Easter without a crowd, there were Easter dinners where the count was close to thirty people, and prep work almost required a week.  Now, it is just my Bride and I, and for my Bride she loved being the Mother Hen and making sure that every ate and ate well. I mean it is hard to do all of the communicating on the telephone, FaceTime and now Zoom.  It has become the bright and shining moment to see family members and get some voices other than our own.  She gets excited the day before a big Zoom session and that is good, she plans on an early dinner, so that we are ready.  We even get dressed like we are going to go out, which is something we reminisce about, and she claims that I miss it more than she does, but I know she does as well. 

She decided that she was going to make a Kielbasa dinner again, part of it, is because she bought a package of Kielbasa to feed a battalion.  I would have been over-kill for her to have made a leg of lamb, or a standing rib roast or for that matter a ham.  I actually won her over to Smoked Kielbasa over Fresh Kielbasa, as I feel that it has more flavor, and she agrees, though there will always be times when we will have the fresh.  The Sauerkraut used to be just boiled, and now it is drained and sautéed with onions, garlic, potatoes and slice Kielbasa.  This gives the Sauerkraut a smokey and drier finish and gives some layers of taste instead of just the cabbage.  She also made Chocolate Pudding for dessert, she is trying to make the meals interesting and a focal point.

We opened up another one of the bottles that she had just purchased, Voga Pinot Grigio Delle Venezie DOC 2019 to pair with the Kielbasa.  Voga Italia is a brand of Italian wines launched in 2006 and are instantly identifiable by their cylinder style bottles and resealable caps.  They produce white, red, sparkling and sweet wines and they also now make a vodka, and they only market instantly identifiable varieties as well, like Pinot Grigio, Moscato, Merlot, Prosecco and Cabernet Sauvignon.  The Venezie in the name, most people think is for Venice, the historic and romantic city of canals, island, bridges and gondolas, but it is actually for Tre Venezie, Triveneto or “Three Venices.”  These three are Venezia Euganea, Venezia Giulia and Venezia Tridentina and they were three Italian administrative regions which existed from 1866 to 1919 and now correspond to Veneto, Friuli-Venezie Gulia and Trentino-Alto Adige; Delle Venezie covers the entire area with the exception of Alto-Adige or Sudtirol. The DOC laws allow that the wine must be at least eighty-five percent Pinot Grigio and then there is a long list of local grapes that may be used to blend in.   This wine is produced using Stainless Steel and the maturing time is not long, so as to keep the freshness of the fruit.  This is just a great easy-going wine and it paired very easily with the dinner.  My Bride was so animated and enjoyed the Zoom session so much, that I guess the Pinot Grigio just evaporated and I had to go and select another white wine to continue the evening with, as the one-hour session actually ended up going for almost three hours.  I had to go and open up a second bottle of wine, as we were having so much fun, and I opened up a Michigan wine that we picked up on one of our trips up North to the wine country here.  We had gone and tasted some wine at the winery and one of the wines we went home with was this Laurentide Winery Chardonnay Leelanau Peninsula 2016.  Laurentide Winery is on the 45’th Parallel.   As I quote from their web site about their name.  “Welcome to Laurentide, named in honor of the last great ice sheet that receded 10,000 years ago from the upper tier of the North American continent. With the completion of this great geologic event, the Great Lakes and surrounding lands assumed their present forms. The Leelanau peninsula was exposed and the rocks and fossils from a 350-million-year-old ancient sea floor started to formulate the soil that sustains our vines today contributing to the unique terroir of the region.”  William and Susan Braymer have a classic, almost romantic history leading up to their ultimate decision to becoming winemakers.  In 2006 they bought a cherry farm and began planting some grapevines.  This wine was listed as being un-oaked, and it was just stellar, even better then I remember it to be when we were there.   My Bride was really into the wine, or maybe it was the Zoom moment, but we had a great time that evening and another wine that almost evaporated as well.  The Michigan wines are really getting better each year.  I hope that this is the last year that I ever have to encounter an Easter that was so pitiful.  I feel sorry for the Great Grandparents and the Grandparents and the little children that had to suffer, forced to be away from loved ones. 

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