Yacoubian-Hobbs for Easter

Posted on April 14, 2020 by thewineraconteur

Easter is considered to be the Holiest Day for most sects of Christianity.  As an Armenian, I can attest from history that ever since they became the first Christian nation, Armenia has been suffering at the hands of other nations that don’t believe in the same faith.  The term genocide was coined over the mass murder of Armenians.  Why do I bring this up?  Ever since I can remember, there has been an Easter dinner with lamb as a central focus of the meal.  As the family grew, one of my cousins even created an Easter Eve party, because we had all started having Easter dinners with our own families, as a way to get the cousins together the night before for another lamb dinner.  This year, as you probably are aware there is a virus that is allowing petty satraps to take away liberties from the citizens.  Here in Michigan through the fiats of the governor, it is verboten to visit a friend, a neighbor or a relative.  It is now illegal to go to a nursery to buy flowers for the table or to take to a gravesite.  It is illegal to visit your own vacation home, you must continue to pay the taxes for the two homes, but you are stuck in one location.  As was written in The Detroit News “She would rather be obeyed than compromise” and in the same article the attorney general has even gone to paying informants if people attempt to express their liberty in doing such actions that are subversive to the governor.  Which all brings me back to Day 26 of our solitary confinement and my Bride wanted me to have an Armenian dinner, even if only the two of us could enjoy it.

We started off with Lahmajoon, which for non-Armenians, I usually call it an individual size Armenian pizza, but it is beyond that.  It should be made with small very thin sheets of dough, that is covered with finely ground lamb, diced onions, diced parsley, diced garlic mixed with a tomato paste and plenty of hot spices, it is then baked and should be immediately eaten.  I can remember in the old days, my Grandmother making hundreds of them and they seemed to vanish as soon as she pulled them out of the oven, to make more; now granted this is when everyone sat and milled about in the kitchen while she was cooking.  She also made Armenian Pilaf which is a staple in our house, almost for any dish, especially for the big parties and even the non-Armenians are upset when we don’t have it.  For the uninitiated, it is browned egg noodles and rice steeped in chicken broth and butter, until all the broth and butter have been absorbed by the rice, and yes, my family has always made this with garlic as well.  She made Brussels Sprouts sautéed with Bacon and drizzled with Aged Balsamic for some greens.  We also had Lamb Chops, which were marinated in garlic and rosemary, you do see a common denominator here.  After we had house-made Chocolate Pudding with Whipped Cream.   We called the two families in Las Vegas before dinner, and had a “Face Time” with Ms. Yoga during dinner, and then afterwards we had a “Zoom” sessions with her sisters and Mother and it reminded me of an old television show The Hollywood Squares, but there were twelve squares instead of nine and conversations  were continuous. 

Which finally brings me to the wine for the evening and we went Armenian as well, and no there was garlic in the terroir.   About a half a year ago, I went to a special wine tasting event at one of the Armenian churches in the Detroit area and had a chance to try many different Armenian wines along with some great Armenian food, and the event was a fund raiser.  I did not give the wine a glowing review, much to my sadness, but I feel that I must be true, in what I write.  I went back and copied what I wrote, to save you the effort “The other wine that I will discuss is the Yacoubian Hobbs Areni Noir Vayots Dzor 2015 that I had actually read about and was glad to see its presence and I was looking forward to trying it.  Paul Hobbs of California has been partnered with at least two wineries outside of the United States and here with the Yacoubian family.  The partnership began in 2008 and a new vineyard was planted in 2014 near the Areni – 1 Cave, the site of the world’s first commercial winery.  The Areni Noir grape is ancient in Armenia, but a fresh newcomer to the international wine community; it is a dark, thick skin grape that is perfectly adapted to the major temperature swings in the high elevation plateau where the grapes grow best.  This wine is also from the Vayots Dzor region.  The wine was fermented and aged in Stainless Steel and eleven-hundred cases were produced.  As I stood in line to get a taste of the wine, the couple in front of me, took one sip, poured the balance of the wine into the spittoon, and immediately rinsed the glass with water, looked at me, and told me not to bother, but I had to try it.  They were absolutely right, I could find no redeeming qualities to the wine, and I really would prefer not to say that.  The entire wine was off, the nose was non-existent and the wine had nothing worth noting, I could not even find any words to describe what I was tasting.”  After all of the wines and reviews I did mention that I felt that the tasting event was not well handled, the wines may have been rushed in, and in perhaps not the best manner.  I also mentioned that a lot of the vineyards were young, and there is something to be said about old vines, or so many labels would not mention that fact.  I also said that I would not let that one night deter me from trying more wines from Armenia.  I was amazed that I was approached by Yacoubian- Hobbs, as I was surprised that they even found my article, let alone would even offer to let me write about their wines again; I feel that reveals the integrity of the winery to look past a poor review and try again.   I would say that with ten days of being contacted by Paul Hobbs of California, I was in possession of Yacoubian-Hobbs Areni Rind, Vayots Dzor 2016.  Everything I have read about this new wine, is consistent with the 2015 vintage, so I am hoping the extra year for the vines and my cellaring will produce a different review.  My Bride even kind of made a face when she saw what wine I was opening up, as I think she was expecting me to open up something more to her liking for the dinner.  I allowed the wine to breathe an hour before dinner and I poured two glasses about a half hour before dinner.  This wine, was not the same wine that I had at the fund raiser and the short time in the cellar allowed it to mellow, the nose was soft and the taste and finish evoked red fruits and not dark fruits, but still very tasty.  In fact, my Bride looked at me and said this wine is really good, and we proceeded to finish the bottle between dinner and “Zoom” time.   It would have been better with people, but we obey the laws, with the anticipation that the governor will issue a reprieve.

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My Sauce Bolognese

Posted on April 12, 2020 by thewineraconteur

“Hey, come over here kid, learn something.  You never know you might have to cook for twenty guys someday.  You see, you start out with a little bit of oil.  Then you fry some Garlic.  Then you throw in some tomatoes, tomato paste, you fry it, ya make sure it doesn’t stick.  You get it to a boil.  You shove in your sausage and meatballs, heh..?  And a little bit of wine, add a little bit of sugar, and that’s my trick.”  We are losing count of the days we are in self-quarantine.  It is the first time that I can remember that a Michigan governor followed an Ohio Governor in how to lead, but most of the state seems to be coping with it. 

Any ways, I guess I am helping out in the kitchen, and that is OK, because it was brought up that perhaps I should make my Sauce Bolognese.  Now you have to realize, that when I cook, there is a mess, not like I am a slob, but I get everything prepped like I am a big-time chef.  There are bowls of pre-diced peppers, garlic, a couple bowls of onions and mushrooms.  My Bride went to one of those chains that sell everything and they even think that they can sell groceries, I have never set foot in one of the stores, but she came back with the ingredients, but mostly Brand X.  Now normally, I want the stewing meat from the butcher shop ground twice, but since there was a rush on groceries she came home with a couple of packages of “ground sirloin” that did not look like any ground meat that I have ever saw.  I have two secrets that I will share with you, when making the sauce, I like to start with frying up some prosciutto, but we started with bacon for a smokey flavor in the bottom of the pot, plus then I have a little bacon sandwich, during the early part of the cooking.  My other secret is that I also finely dice up some carrots and I use this in lieu of adding sugar, to cut the acidity of the tomatoes, and this was shared by an old paisan of mine.  I spiced up the “meat” while it was cooking, and then I added the Brand X canned tomato products of paste, sauce and puree and then I added more spices and zing.  I even added a half bottle of a great red wine to the sauce and let everything simmer for about four hours, with nothing but stirring and some more spices.   I mean it was tough, that I didn’t even have “real” bread to scoop up some sauce for a sauce sandwich to check on the flavor.  In spite of my bellyaching, while it may not have been my best sauce, I finally was able to doctor it enough that it had some taste, not to mention that she was able to bag and freeze about three or four quarts for using later on, depending on whether we get clemency and an early parole. 

While it was simmering, I went down to the cellar and was rummaging around looking for something interesting or something I may have forgotten about, you know that happens.  I found a bottle of Farnese Vini Castello Vecchio Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 1997.  Farnese Vini is an Italian wine group and one of the leading export companies in Southern Italy and today produces about thirteen-billion bottles of wine a year.  They have seven wineries in Puglia, Campania, Basilicata, Abruzzo and Sicily.  In Abruzzo, Farnese Vini owns two wineries one is Caldora and the other is Fantini Farnese.  Fantini Farnese has a wide range of red and white wines under multiple labels and designations.  Castello Vecchio is no longer a viable label that I can find, but it was barrel aged and of course made from the Montepulciano grape.  This wine was a bit troublesome to open, as the cork was giving me some difficulty, but with aid of one of my “Ah-So” metal prong openers, I got the cork out intact.  The wine still had a deep color, with just perhaps a tinge of brown at the rim, and the nose was very light.  The wine was drinking very easy with almost no tannins or fruit showing, but a very layered soft wine that really was subtle with the Sauce Bolognese.  Even a couple of days later, when we had some leftovers of the pasta and I reopened the bottle it was still totally enjoyable.  I am sure that this wine would have been quite robust young, but it was very interesting to see how it had become a mellow twenty-three-year-old.  The good news is that we are still eating and drinking through the mandated quarantine.

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We’re Bank Robbers

Posted on April 10, 2020 by thewineraconteur

That was the first thought I had when I saw the prototype of the face mask that my Bride created.  I guess that I have a strange sense of humor, especially the “gallows humor” from the forced incarceration that we all seem to feel.  This will be one of my stray articles away from wine.  I guess it is because I am proud of her and her ability to do this project.  I think it was Day 17 that she decided to go and get her sewing machine and set it up in the family room.  She had already commandeered the dining room table for her new office, because she and basically all of her company are working remote and so far, it seems to be good.  I think that our governor tried to put everyone into bankruptcy with the draconian measures that are in place, but it doesn’t seem to be working out as well here.  It seems that we are hearing fewer bad reports from the coasts, but Detroit seems to be behind the curve.  So, as my Bride was talking to her coworkers and clients, she was hearing all types of sad reports on the shortage of goods, she decided that she would help by making the face masks. 

First, she went looking for fabric, and shades of Carol Burnett, she found the extra fabric from the curtains in the kitchen and the breakfast nook.  She also ended up ordering fabric from a fabric shop, because they are deemed an essential business and she arranged for street side pickup.  She was on a roll, and then she ran out of the fabric used for the ear straps, which was good, as she was ruining needles, she became creative and started crocheting the straps.  She would have gotten gold stars in Home-Economics, but I don’t they teach that anymore in schools, because it is more important to teach Human Sexuality to kindergartners.  She got me to assist in the cutting of the fabrics and this was done in the living room on the coffee table, as it was fair game and was an open space.  She has a regular sweat shop going, but since she is the only laborer, I guess she can get away with it, not to mention, that it is not done for a profit motive.

She has gone out of the house to mail her parcels of face masks to the family, and she has been spreading the news out to different circles of friends now, to make sure that they have face masks as well.  She will be sending out more shortly, and while they may not be trendy or chic, they are accomplishing what they are designed to do.  I think that it took longer for me to find a photograph of actors in face masks, then it does for her to make one.  Fear not, even though we cannot have dinner parties, birthday parties, holidays events, dinner club meetings, restaurants or wine tastings as mandated, we are still eating and drinking and there will be wines to be written up.  The food may be depleted before the wine is here, but the stories will continue, and I hope that everyone is trying to maintain safety and good health habits and we will all survive this, or we will all be living in a Warner Brother’s film from the Thirties.       

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Chicken at Home

Posted on April 8, 2020 by thewineraconteur

This whole stay in shelter or whatever is the official term for it is, is giving my Bride a taste of retirement, even though she is working every day.  While we may be home all day, we are still trying to maintain some semblance of order, you know, a routine, like getting up, showering, shaving (for me), paper and breakfast and coffee.  Some days breakfast is more elaborate and some days very Spartan.  She then goes off to the computer to work remote, like the majority of her associates and I create projects that I can do, while maintaining my sanity as The Wine Raconteur.

Lunches are normally a solitary thing, as we normally don’t have lunch together during the week, and for the most part, they are easy lunches that we both have.  I attempt to channel my inner Dagwood, and I know that the majority of the people that will read that, will say “what in tarnation’s is a Dagwood?  Is that Endorra mispronouncing Darren again?”  I mean lunch is reverting back to my days in school, a good bread (and I am sure that will be one of the first things that are gone) a couple of different deli-counter meats, a couple of different cheeses, a couple of different spreads and some hot peppers and then once assembled, a quick trip to the toaster oven and I am satisfied.  She thinks she is at the office with soup or yogurt.  One of the nights she made Parmesan Breaded Chicken Breasts with potatoes and vegetables.  She is a firm believer in a rounded meal, just like we were taught in the last century.  This is one of her favorite dishes for home, because she says it is quick and easy. 

I decided to go with her new favorite go-to wine and also because it was already chilled, it is amazing how that works, and brownie points are good when-ever.  Famille Sichel Sirius Bordeaux Blanc 2017 was the wine that was poured.  Famille Sichel is a family owned negocient firm from 1883 in Bordeaux, as they were in the procurement process for their locations in Mainz, London and New York.  In 1938 they even bought Chateau Palmer, which at the time had fallen on bad times and have since brought it back to all of its glory.  The family does not believe in resting on their laurels as in 2001 they even built a completely new bottling and storage facility in the Bordeaux region.  This particular bottle of wine is a blend of the two leading white grapes of Bordeaux, namely Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc.  I don’t think that I would be amiss to opine that this wine was aged in Stainless Steel as there was plenty of fruit and very refreshing.  It starts off with a nose of citrus fruits and finishes with some terroir with a decent finish.  I will tell you, that this is a new habit, that may be difficult to break, and that is drinking wine at home, just for the two of us.

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A Surreal Beginning

Posted on April 6, 2020 by thewineraconteur

As we got on the road leaving Louisville to go home, the highways were rather eerie in appearance.  There were very few cars on the road, but there seemed to be more trucks and that was great especially as we were listening to the news.   The trucks had to try to keep up the pent-up demand for toilet paper and hand sanitizers.  The longest stretch is crossing the State of Ohio, which is a state that is perfect for highways, as it is flat and rather barren; a long boring drive except for the construction zones.  One thing that took us for a surprise, was when we had to make a pit stop, we usually stop at a “fast food” restaurant, the only time that I really try to “indulge.”  We walked in, and all of the chairs were piled up at the entrance areas for the seating areas, as if it was a scene from “Le Mis” and then it hit me, that the restaurants were only doing carry out orders.  So, we ate in the parking lot and went back on the road. 

When we got home, there was a period when we were taking a lay of the land, to see how we were going to hold out.  Thankfully, my Bride had gone to Costco before our trip, so we had plenty of paper products and other stuff, that she normally buys there.  Many years ago, before I appeared on the horizon, my Bride had a short period of hard time, because of other forces and she has vowed never to be in that situation again.  I have occasionally teased my Scarlet O’Hara, because of all the food that she has to buy.  I guess that is a good thing, as we have two refrigerators and a chest freezer all filled with groceries, not to mention two pantries filled with canned and dry goods.   I guess I will never tease her again. 

She had made a decision that what ever dinner is made, it should be enough for at least left-overs for another day, without the need to ask for a doggie bag.  She decided that we should have filets the first evening, so that we could have steak salad the next night.  She is quite efficient, especially when she puts her mind to it.  After unpacking from our trip, I went into the garage, where we had wine chilling, either waiting to be opened, or opened bottles that had been resealed.  The garage had been a good storage area, and I decided that I had better rearrange the refrigerator in the garage, in case it starts warming up, I didn’t want any of the wine to go bad.  I was also deciding what we should have with the filets, and there was a bottle of local Michigan wine that I thought would be festive for the start of our staycation, at least for my Bride.  I decided that a bottle of Mawby Sparkling “Us” NV was the way to start and we discovered this wine on our last trip to the wine country in Michigan and the great sparkling wines from Larry Mawby, one of the elder gentlemen of wine in the Traverse City region.  Mawby Sparkling offers wines made in both forms, Traditional and the Charmat Method.  The Mawby Sparkling US NV is a classic blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, aged in Stainless Steel, then later blended with some reserve wine, aged and with an added dosage to maintain a certain finish and bottled.  This wine is an excellent bottle of sparkling wine that is affordable, dry and crisp, with a steady flow of small bubbles, but still offering some fruit in the finish. I am hoping that this nightmare will not last too long.

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Two Glasses

Posted on April 4, 2020 by thewineraconteur

As I had stated in the first of these articles for our latest trip to Louisville, we were dropping off birthday presents from the family as well.  While we were out at the River House restaurant, a very good friend of theirs joined us for dinner, and she also joined us the next night at the house for dinner, as she was going to attend the play along with us.  She also brought along the first glass that I will discuss that she gave as a gift, and as an aside, she had asked me if I knew what it was. 

It was a Riedel Sommeliers Blind Tasting Glass, that was a black lead crystal hand-made mouth-blown classic wine glass.  I thought it was very interesting, and I had never encountered one of these glasses before, as I have never attended a blind tasting event.  I am not a sommelier, nor have I ever taken any of the courses, but I can appreciate the concept of the glass, which would really be akin to a parlor game for some wine people.  No one can appreciate the color of the wine and they would have to use their sense of smell and taste to guide them to a proper conclusion.  I am not sure if I could solve a mystery of this nature, if it was presented to me.  Though we actually have a fine set of black stemware that we use with a set of China, I may have to try it one day at a party with wine lovers and see how it goes, though they are neither of the caliber or quality, it may be an interesting time.

The other glass is one of two that we picked up before we left Louisville.   One will go into a permanent collection to collect dust and the other is to be used.  It may be a collector’s item as it is date May 2, 2020 and it is for 146’th running of Kentucky Derby and as I am writing this, the Derby has been rescheduled, just like everything else in the world.  So, perhaps the second glass should start collecting dust as well. 

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Detroit Caters

Posted on April 2, 2020 by thewineraconteur

We had gone down to Louisville for a couple of good reasons.  One, we had taken birthday presents down that my Bride had collected from the rest of her family; and two, we were going down to see our nephew in a play.  As they have always said, the best laid plans of mice and men…  By now everyone is aware, unless one is living under a stone that a virus that was originally from a province in China, has wreaked havoc on the world.  We did not see the play, in fact Kentucky was already closing down venues and the play was one of the early losers.   Their daughter came in the night before, because her college was closing down, so the world may never see her lead in Little Women.     

We were making the most of it, since we were there.  After all, we had all these filets that we had schlepped down with us, and since we were going to have the dinner before the play, we were still going to have the dinner.  Our host brought out one of their cooking toys, that they have brought to our house for cooking at the holidays, and my Bride has been discussing it, once again.  They like to use the Sous-vide system for cooking meats, and it is employed by a lot of restaurants to help deliver the right temperature for each diner.   Sous-vide, if you are like me, needs a little explanation; it is also known as low-temperature long-time cooking.  It a method of cooking, in which the food is placed in a plastic pouch or a glass jar and cooked in a water bath for longer than usual cooking times at an accurately regulated temperature, and can be used for meat and for vegetables.  The concept is that the items cook evenly inside without overcooking the outside and the meat retains moisture.  Then the meat is finished on a broiler, grill or pan for the browning that is expected, especially for fine grades of meat.  There were plenty of other sides to accompany the steaks, and yes, the steaks were perfectly presented at Medium Rare. 

Since, we were bringing the steaks, we also brought the wine to pair with the dinner, and as a bonus, the wine even had a Detroit connection, and no, it was not wine created at Chateau Detroit.  My Brother-in-Law would have gone into his cellar and grabbed some rated wines of the Medoc, possibly even some 2000 vintages that he had bought as soon as he could, but I will let him regale us, at another time with them, if he is so inclined. Tom Celani is lauded in the Detroit area for his largesse for charitable organizations that he helps in a grand manner.  He and his father ended up creating one of the largest Miller distribution companies in the United States along with other beers and wines.  Tom Celani fell in love with wines, first as a drinker and a collector and finally acquiring a Tuscan-style estate with seventeen acres of grapes and one-hundred-twenty olive trees in the foot hills of the Vaca Mountain range in Napa Valley.  The first wine that we had was the Celani Family Vineyards Robusto Napa Valley 2018, and I had told everyone that I had wrote about the Robusto 2017.  The 2017 vintage was labeled Proprietary Red Wine and so was the 2018, but the 2018 was entirely Merlot. The dinner was off to a beautiful start.  Here was a beautiful inky dark glass of Merlot that promised red fruits and spices, and delivered in spades along with a nice finish of terroir with balance tannins.  The next wine that we tasted was the Celani Family Vineyards Tenacious Estate Napa Valley Red Wine Unfiltered 2016.  I had tasted and wrote about the Tenacious 2012 and we may have a bottle or two left of it in the cellar.  When I first had the wine, I was told that it was created in the image of Le Pin and Chateau Petrus, and quite a lofty goal.  The wine is a blend of seventy percent Merlot and thirty percent Cabernet Franc.  The wine is aged in new French Oak for twenty-two months and has become their affordable signature wine.  This had a big nose of black fruit and strawberries, with a taste that was dominated originally by the black cherry, and finishing with some rich terroir and some great acidity for cellaring.  If I was crazy about the pure Merlot, the addition of the Cabernet Franc put it over the edge.  Outside of the bad news that was surrounding us, the dinner was an oasis in the maddening world.

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Picking Up Some Wine

Posted on March 31, 2020 by thewineraconteur

Even though we took wine with us, my Bride wanted to stop and get some more wine, while we were down there.  I guess it is the Big Sister Syndrome and she felt that it was the least we could do, as we were part of the team depleting their “go-to” wine at the house.  We were making a side trip to Total Wine & More, where we knew that that went to get their “house” wine.  Total Wine & More was founded in 1991 by two brothers and it is still a family owned business with over seven-thousand employees and headquartered in Potomac, Maryland; and if there is need for good wine, it would be near our nation’s capital, where everyone has a reason to drink.  They operate two-hundred-five superstores with an average of eight-thousand wines, three-thousand spirits and twenty-five-hundred beers, plus a few munchies.  We have been to a couple of their stores, one in Louisville and one in Las Vegas during our travels, and they are just opening up their first store in Michigan, but on the west side of the state. 

As soon as we walked in to the store, they were offering tastes of a specialty liquor, of which I passed on, but my Bride is much more open to trying new items, if they had been offering a taste of wine, I might have stopped.  I also understand that the stores offer classes and wine tastings, but we actually were there for some quick shopping.  My Bride tried a sample of Jameson “Cold Brew” and got excited about what she tasted and immediately thought of Irish Coffee for the wee evening hours.  Jameson is the largest seller of blended Irish whiskey in the world and the third-largest single-distillery whiskey produced in any country.  The company began in 1780 as the Bow Street Distillery in Dublin and initially managed by Scot John Jameson for the Stein family and relations to the Haig family of Scotch fame.  The Jameson family took over by 1805 and at their peak, the distillery covered five acres and over three-hundred employees.  The company has merged and changed hands with ups and downs of the last century, like two World Wars and Prohibition in the States and since 1988 they have been owned by Pernod Ricard.  Jameson “Cold Brew” is the blending of the smooth taste of triple distilled Jameson and the richness of natural cold brew coffee flavor in one bottle.  The coffee flavor is made with Arabica beans from Brazil and Colombia, with no added sugar, and they recommend it best served chilled, or over ice, but as I said my Bride will try it in her Irish Coffee.

We were there to get Bonterra Organic Vineyards Chardonnay, California 2018, as quite a supply of it was evaporating while we were in town.  At Bonterra, they grow wine organically and sustainably, they plant native flowers to attract insects, chickens and songbirds to eat pests, and they even have sheep to “mow” between the vines.  For this wine they ferment seventy percent of the juice in a combination of French and American Oak, and the remaining thirty percent is done in Stainless Steel.  Then the juice is blended and aged in neutral oak, with just fifteen percent being new to add a bit of the classic vanilla notes to the citrus notes.  A very easy nose of lemons, honey and almonds, with a nice tart taste and finish with some lemon zest at the end.  Just a very easy drinking wine, that belies the price.

We almost got out with just the Bonterra and a bottle of the Jameson, when I just asked if they might have a couple of bottles of Aligoté, after all, nothing ventured, nothing gained.  They had a few bottles of Cave de Genouilly Bourgogne Aligoté 2018 and we were happy to take those as well.  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.  It was a very successful shopping trip, and sometimes it feels like we return from trips with more, than we started with.

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The River House in Louisville

Posted on March 29, 2020 by thewineraconteur

When we got into Louisville to visit the family, Saturday night was originally planned for going out for dinner and we kept to that agenda.  Louisville is blessed with a fine selection of restaurants from local eateries to the top of the food chain and most of them are independents, instead of the chains.  That is not to say, that they don’t have the obligatory chains that are homogenizing the landscape and eliminating the local cuisines, but that is part of the restaurant scene these days.  When we are in Louisville, we always allow the locals to select the restaurant, and they always do a great job. 

They chose the River House, that surprisingly is located on the river.  The River House is owned by Executive Chef/Proprietor John Varanese who has been in the South, getting experience at places like Magnolias, Azalea and finally culminating in opening his own restaurant called Varanese, and then he opened up the River House in 2015.  There was five of us for dinner, and there was plenty of food ordered, but as usual, I will only discuss the plates that my Bride and I had that evening.  My Bride had the Chilled Half Pound Lobster stuffed with Gulf Shrimp, Bay Scallops and Lump Crab with lemon, capers and dill served with baby greens and cherry tomatoes and it was delicious.  I went with a dish that we made once at the house, but it is so time consuming that I am better off getting it at a restaurant when we are out; so, I had the Braised Beef Short Rib with Barbeque Pan Sauce, buttered whipped potatoes topped with fried onion straws, and the dish was so rich, that I had to take a doggie plate home with me, and a separate box for the bone for a lucky dog. 

We had a couple of bottles of wine with our dinner and we started out with a white wine.  We had the Bos Wine Ode to Fume, Napa Valley 2015, with their tagline of “Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs” by William Shakespeare and an homage to Pouilly-Fume of the Loire.  David Bos has been a vineyard manager in the Napa Valley for ten years and was immersed in the now lauded biodynamic/organic farming practices since day one.   He gets intimately involved with the vineyards to try and nurture all of the best from the vineyard.  David and Jackie Bos, along with their winemaker Jillian Johnson are striving to create an affordable cult-wine from Napa Valley.  Bos Wines got its beginning with the Napa Valley Phoenix Ranch single vineyard Syrah, and they have since added a Napa Valley Soda Creek Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc,  and I would have to venture that this is a second Sauvignon Blanc wine for them, but not a single vineyard offering, as their website leaves a lot to be desired when it comes for information.  I would opine that this wine was done in Stainless Steel to maintain the crispness and the citrus flavors to the forefront.   After the white wine we followed with a red wine, Trivento Bodegas y Vinedos Amado Sur Red Blend, Mendoza 2018.  Trivento is a large Argentine wine company with a range of wine and labels in Mendoza, and the name refers to the “three winds” that blow across Mendoza.  The winery was established in 1996 with a three-hundred-acre vineyard in Maipu, and they now have thirty-seven-hundred acres of vineyards in eight different properties in Mendoza.  In 2011 they opened up an art and wine tourism facility at the winery.  The Amado Sur brand is a blend of Malbec, Syrah and Bonarda, and they also make a Torrontes based blend with Viognier and Chardonnay.   This wine had enough body and finish to hold up to the steak dinners that were ordered.  A fine meal was had by all, with no need for dessert and the five of us were getting together the next evening as well.

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Night One in Louisville

Posted on March 27, 2020 by thewineraconteur

We got up bright and early to get ready for our trip, last minute stuff to pack, coffee, breakfast and to read the newspaper; and I sometimes feel that I am the last person that still enjoys the feel of the paper in one’s hand.  We were going to stop at the butcher counter and get filets for one of the dinners during the weekend, the dinner before we were planning to see our one nephew in a local theatrical production.  After about a six-hour drive with lighter than usual traffic we got to Louisville.  We were staying at an extended suite hotel, the kitchen galley was very nice, including pots and pans, dishes, glasses and utensils along with a dishwasher.  Of course, with me, I found a few faults with the suite.  Instead of having two beds, there should have been one, with a sofa and an easy chair, and there should also have been at least one desk chair, instead of all dining room table chairs for when working on the computer, but the worst sin was no wine glasses.  OK, minor complaints, but it had to be mentioned, if they really need my input. 

After we unpacked, at the hotel, we drove over to see my Bride’s sister and her husband and which ever of the children might be there for dinner.  It was kind of exciting and all the talk was about the one daughter away at college that had the lead in Little Women, the son that we were going to see on Sunday in his play, as well as the other two boys.  We all started off with munchies of cheese and crackers, after all, what is better with wine than that to start off the meal?  My Sister-in-Law was getting fancy and cutting parchment paper to make pouches as she was going to Salmon en papillote.  Fancy and delicious, but at home we basically just make the salmon and the vegetables separately, but all was good.

We brought some wine with us, because that was only the fair thing to do.  We brought a bottle for the suite and one for us to take of my Bride’s newest go-to wine that we discovered at our local wine club, and it was not a monthly offering.   Famille Sichel Sirius Bordeaux Blanc 2017 was the wine that was poured.  Famille Sichel is a family owned negocient firm from 1883 in Bordeaux, as they were in the procurement process for their locations in Mainz, London and New York.  In 1938 they even bought Chateau Palmer, which at the time had fallen on bad times and have since brought it back to all of its glory.  The family does not believe in resting on their laurels as in 2001 they even built a completely new bottling and storage facility in the Bordeaux region.  This particular bottle of wine is a blend of the two leading white grapes of Bordeaux, namely Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc.  I don’t think that I would be amiss to opine that this wine was aged in Stainless Steel as there was plenty of fruit and very refreshing.  It starts off with a nose of citrus fruits and finishes with some terroir with a decent finish.  The wine kind of evaporated during the munchie part of the evening.  As we were getting ready for the salmon, I know that my Bride loves a good Pinot Noir, so I opened up a Big Sur Vineyards Reserve Pinot Noir 2013.  As we had all been to Carmel-by-the-Sea, Carmel Highlands, Ventana and Big Sur, not as a group, but we all had great memories of the region, the food and the wines. Big Sur Winery was originally an olive grove, which they still maintain and they offer many products made from olive oil.  They do not offer much information about their wines, but the fruit for this wine came from the Antle Vineyard in the Chalone AVA. They had produced one-hundred-seventy-cases of this wine and their original estimation was that the wine would age for another five to six years.  They were wrong, this wine was still rather feisty and big, for a Pinot Noir and it was totally delightful.  The winery alas, lost all of their buildings in the first couple of days of the Soberanes Fire of 2016 and are still rebuilding.  A great way for the weekend to begin.

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