Archive for October, 2009

Geo’s non sobering sabering

George receives instructions from Champagne Warrior, Brad Baker, on how to saber a bottle of Jean Laurent Champagne after Anne Keller chickens out   Many, many bottles were sabered that night.

The crew at Cloverleaf Fine Wines continue to carry on in selling a great selection of beer and wine in what still seems like their new digs in Royal Oak, but the fact of the matter is that they’ve been at their Main Street location for about a year now. The shoppe is located in a walk-down that creates a cellar-like ambiance, and Tom Natoci and company continue to give the kind of personal service and offer the out-of-the-way selections that have kept customers coming back for many years, this taster included. Here are 4 that I broke Wine Probation to pick up and enjoy just last week, starting with another one from our friends at US Wine Imports.

2006 Ramon Roqueta Catalunya Cabernet Sauvignon Rosado, 13% alc., $5.95: Watermelon pink color, and all strawberry on the nose, taking on a good deal of mineral on the palate to tone the rich fruit down some and turning it bone dry. Has depth and even some structure, with the acids one would expect and even some tannins. This has held up very well and can even go a few more years if it has to, but for this price, buy it up and slurp it down! Find this wine Read the rest of this entry »

Continuing our series on tasty wines we’re finding locally, we’re regular shoppers at the Madison Heights Costco outlet, and they always have good things to drink at reasonable prices, like the following five.

2007 Burgans Albarino Rias Baixas, 12.5% alc, $9.89: Just as good as last year’s model, this clean medium straw colored Albarino delivers attractive lemon cream and green apple flavors and aromas that show a little rounder fruit and a little less minerality than some. Medium bodied, with the requisite acidity that one expects from the variety and a smooth texture at the same time; just and excellent crisp white wine vintage after vintage that elicits positive comments from everyone we pour it for. Find this wine

Imported by European Cellars LLC, Charlotte, NC Read the rest of this entry »

Kim and I have been shopping at Ferndale’s Western Market for more than 20 years now. The produce, meats and prices have always been good, but we had wished that they sold beer and wine. Well, that changed about 3 years ago, when they got their license to do just that. At first, their offerings were of the mundane, “usual suspect” varieties. Enter Jared Gild, who gained a deep appreciation for “real” wines like those imported by Louis/Dressner and Kermit Lynch through his association with our friend and colleague Putnam Weekley. (He also confesses to being a regular reader of these pages…) Jared has worked wonders in upgrading Western’s beer and wine department over the last few years. For instance: we stopped in a few weeks ago for some meat and veggies and ended up walking out with 5 bottles of wine to boot, including the following 3, which we had yet to try. Read the rest of this entry »

Simply amazing.

The only real signs of age are textural – all the angles have become curves. The color is bright and clear. The nose carries ripe and sweet berry/cherry notes with none of the expected tea leaf/tobacco/cedar/rose petal/claret patina of an aged Zin. The fruit is sweet and focused in the mouth with completely integrated tannins and acids – a study in harmony.

Perfect with grilled tri-tip, tiny roasted Yukons and a simple leafy green salad and held up beautifully through the entire meal.

Wondrous.

…is open for business and has it all – loam and licorice
and asphalt and tarry fruit – great mouthful of CdP, but
I must say the Paloma 1998 Syrah stood right up to it, and
then some. What it lacked in fruit it more than made up in
spice. Balanced and ready to go – a very very good wine
from a horrible vintage.

Quite a pair matched with braised lamb shanks and several
toasts to Jim…

Reunions are always happy events, and even happier so after 6 years of absence. We’d last broken bread and shared wine with Allan Bree aka califusa in 2003, so when it was announced that he would be assisting Alan Kerr aka Canadian Zinfan in the kitchen at this year’s MoCool festivities, we extended to him the use of our spare bedroom during his stay.

From Left: Larry Meehan, Madame Mystery, George Heritier, Alan Kerr, Allan Bree, Kim Adams

We enjoyed a number of fine wines and some excellent food during Bree’s visit, but the highlight was undoubtedly the 6-course wine dinner he prepared, with a more-than-able assist from Kim. Allan had brought along 6 different 1999 Rochioli Russian River Valley Pinot Noirs to pair with different courses, and I’m happy to report that both the victuals and the vino were sublime. The participants included Messrs. Bree and Kerr, Cousin Larry Meehan, the enigmatic Madame Mystery and of course, Kim and this taster. Read the rest of this entry »

The release for September 26th features wines of the Napa valley.  Some are good and some are excellent. Only way you will find out is to read on……… Read the rest of this entry »

I love Northern Rhônes, particularly the reds made from the great Syrah grape. Although great Syrahs are now made in lots of places, there’s nothing quite like a great Cote Rotie or Hermitage, especially ones that have been given a respectful sleep in a cool cellar for a decade or two. So I was pretty jazzed when my wine group, the X-pensive Winos, dedicated the tasting this month to Northern Rhones, Young and Old.

Now most of our group hasn’t been collecting that long, so getting some interesting youngsters was no problem. Fortunately, a couple of us, ahem, mature members of the group, have been cellaring Rhone wines going back into the early 1980’s and even earlier. My own introduction to Rhones came via Kermit Lynch, and in those day ole’ Kermit had a lock on the top Northern Rhone masters—Chave, Rostaing, Jasmin, Gentaz, Clape, Verset, Champet—the list was endless and was pretty incredible by today’s standards. So we were fortunate to have some interesting (meaning “great”) old and mature Rhones to sample and compare to the young upstarts. Read the rest of this entry »