essex wine report

Sunday was a beautiful day. The sun was out and it wasn't too hot and it was the Open House at Erie Shores. I don't know how they do it but the weather was beautiful again, just like last year.

This year Terry and I took my brother and his wife. She has shown interest in the areas wines so we hoped she would like it. Al is into cars...teaches racing actually and since the MG club was there it gave him something too as he ain't a wine guy. Both appeared to have a real good time.

Alma and Harvey are excellent hosts and seem to really enjoy putting on these events. They do it very well and should be a model for the other vineyards. It is unpretentious, adult and casual but it is good where it counts,

They have the MG club for an activity, good food and excellent help.. The music was good and fun..That is, it made me feel like I was at a friend's home and not in church. Everyone seemed to have a casual good time about them. Also they have the parking thing down to a tee. It usually is a disaster but it is very organized. Actually the whole thing is very organized, but in a nice way.

Above all. Terry has taken a liking to MGA's so maybe I can get one. If anyone snickers about buying an old English sports car...I had a FIAT Spider so an old MG is definitely a step up in reliability. It looks so cool too.

The vineyard looks wonderful. The grape bunches look great...green, full, beautiful. Since I am such an expert at growing stuff (I've got my 20 square foot herb farm on my patio) you have it from me that this could/should be a great year. Actually I have that from a couple of vintners that this could be a GREAT year if the weather holds up.

New wines: I tasted 2 and had a couple of glasses, though not enough for a review, but enough to get an idea.

The are about to release a Reserve Cabernet. The 2005 vintage was very good so they held back some and released them now. All I can say is that I liked it a lot. Now I agree with Michael Pincus regarding the fake/stupid reserve wines being released, but this one is a real reserve. Erie Shores tends to sell their wines young so holding this one back a year to me makes it legitimate. It also allows them enter a new market segment while not alienating their present clientèle and to see the turnout they have a lot of clients. A good move to me and it tastes good too!!!!!. I will get me some soon but I am really overstocked.

The second wine was the new Rose... very different from summer sun and in a cool cobalt blue bottle. Looks good and tastes really good. Its light and happy, just like the Summer Sun and compliments it very well. I really liked it and would tell you the name but I can't spell it and Open Office's Spell check isn't that good and jeez I just don't want 50 emails from my 'editors'. But anyhow it was liked by everyone.

Al and Pam left with a bottle of Summer Sun and I am about to open a bottle of their Riesling. Congratulation to Erie Shores for their great hospitality and presenting us with another wonderful afternoon.

I have recently noted a veritable plethora of awards that the local wineries have won of late.

I would like to compile a list of the awards to post, so I request that the wineries email them to me. I just can't remember them all and just don't want to forget any.

Please use word or wordperfect or open text formats so I can cut and paste. I know I am lazy but I want to show those who don't know just the quality we are making.

Ps: the “veritable plethora” was from Howard Cosell during a football game.

Well I said that I was going to stay away from wineries for a while....well I lied. I blame Terry as she made me go...yup she forced me.

We hadn't been to Colchester Ridge for a while so we had lunch at the marina then headed to the winery. The marina is an interesting place. It is much smaller than I thought. The patio was much smaller than I had envisioned but the food was good and they had local wine available. That is a good thing as I see this marina as ground zero for my Ohio strategy and finally somewhere to eat while we are in Colchester. A nun was there while we were so that's a good sign...I think??? We'll be back and I hope Ohioans will be too. There is a nice spot for a few rental cars there too.

Well back to the winery. I lauded their original strategy to release a limited amount of wine at first and getting them right. This year they have expanded on that theme and have shown a lot of progress. New is a Sauvignon Blanc. I was quite happy to see one and this one is very nice. It seems milder than some but has BIG citrus notes. Under casual drinking I found it very nice to drink, not too big but with real nice citrus and floral notes. I am glad to see a winemaker going a different direction from the herd. The new Gewürztraminer at first taste seems better then last year which is a nice step as I liked last years. It seemed more peppery like it should be and a wee bit rounder (by memory). This will be a winner.

The reds were excellent and I look forward to tasting them all. The range is the classic Bordeaux grapes and various themes on them. Judicious use of oak and guess what?? I tasted pepper notes which I find in the area wines. Wow terroir!!!! I am looking forward to trying the wines I bought and definitely want to get more.

One other thing they have done really well is to have a list of restaurants where their wines are served. Now, people like myself can support restaurants who support our local wines. All wineries should do this.

On Sunday, Terry and I went looking for a bite on the water. We thought....hey Wheatley should have something.....no they don't...and that is a waste. So we headed east and stopped by Smith and Wilson. Any reader knows that I really respect what they are doing and besides they are nice people.

I just don't know how they do it, but they keep introducing new wines and they always seem to be good. Either he is a much better winemaker then he lets on or he is lucky. What I taste isn't luck.

A new Riesling (crisp and good), a new red, Clearly Red(quite nice), a Viognier(far far better than I thought one could do with that grape), join the already large lineup. And to Miguel, the Double Barrel is as good as ever. He awarded on six of eight wines he submitted so I guess others think he has got it right too.

They have added some tables outside so that one can enjoy his vineyard and that my friends is a good thing, as It is beautiful there.

As supporters of restaurants who sell local wine, they have adverts for the “good restaurants”. We picked up an advert for a restaurant near Rondeau. Hey it was only 20 minutes more up the lake so we headed out. Well, guess what??? We got lost. I turned right instead of left and ended up in Erieau. Where's that??? I don't know but it looked like Jimmy Buffet could sell the place out. Very casual, cool, but we wanted Rondeau. So we kept the lake to the right and I stressed as I worried about bears and other vermin. Well another ½ hour and we got there. It is a very casual place who are just outside the gate of the park, on an old marina that seems not to operate, but it is on the water and has a big patio. They have an extensive and I mean extensive local wine list. They hit about half of the wineries and great choices from them. They stress local ingredients so we got what I expected from my type of restaurant: featuring pickerel and perch (as they should as it may be the best we have) with some salmon and of course some red meats. We had an appetizer which was excellent. A multi dip with a lot of the good nacho chips. I had the pickerel bits (which were superb) and Terry had the perch dinner (she really liked it too). Both were done well and we accompanied them with some Smith and Wilson Sauvignon Blanc. Well we had 2 bottles as the music (Jimmy Buffetty again and it fit) was good and we just didn't want to leave. Oh... The place is Dove's and we really liked it. They need a better map...or I need gps...that more so. We will be back......nuff said.

Well I have a bug so no tasting today so I will have some reviews soon. So many wines so little time.

OOPSY...I wrote thus last week and forgot to post it..so here it is..

I hope everyone's ac is working well. This is just not right. Terry and I wanted to go to Epicure but the heat was just too much so we ate in.

This is where the fun began. We turned a leg of lamb on the bar-b-que. With that we had a bottle of Macon. Now for those who are unaware, Macon is a sub district of Burgundy, that wonderful region of France that gives us Beaujolais and Pinot Noir. This was a wonderful bottle of wine, light happy and tasty. Yes, a light wine with lamb, but to me it worked as the Macon was very good.

This wine is an old favorite of mine. That said, I was not afraid to follow it up with a good local. It was French, it was a Burgundy and not cheap so lets see what happens.

I opened a bottle of View Pointe Pinot Noir and the result was amazing. It simply outclassed the French wine in so many ways. It could be described as a bigger Pinot. It is deeper in color than most and appears to have had significant time in oak. It has a great nose, luxurious and deep, deep color and wonderful taste, but it certainly not over-oaked.

It just has so much more body than the French wine. The oak comes through but is not 'upfront'. What I did note was a peppery taste. This is odd as I have only tasted this in ViewPointe and Erie Shores wine. This may have something to do with their proximity to each other and maybe how close they are to the lake. If this was Islay I would say that I taste the sea, but we aren't in Scotland and this is wine and not whiskey. It is a good thing though. All I can say is that again it shows how good the wine can be from here. It may have not been a fair trial as the ViewPointe is $20 and the Macon was $15 but it is a Burgundy and from a very good house to boot.

I am very happy drinking this wine and glad I have a few bottles left.

As I write this its only 95 and humid so I guess this is nice and cool now. Well summer is here so I guess we just have to wait for a storm to cool us down.

In summer my choices in food and wine change quite a bit. I really tend to eat even less meat and head straight for the fish monger. As such I tend to drink a lot of white wine as the mercury rises.

I will share a favorite with you. And this wine is really odd in the fact that I simply prefer the cheaper ones. The expensive ones tend to do nothing more for me than the $7 ones. From Portugal I give you Vinho Verde. As the temperature goes up this wine just performs better. It is light, unpretentious and happy. At its price its a bargain and one can happily serve it to ones friends and not feel guilty and save the visa at the same time. A winner if ever I saw one. It goes great with seafood. Make paella and man this wine just works (had 2 bottles after the Liverpool game in a Portuguese restaurant on College (Toronto)..yum yum eat em up)...nice paella...well the Portuguese version. Pretend you are in Portugal, serve up some seafood on the patio and just smile. Those little bubbles are great too. It isn't carbonated but has these wee little bubbles. I find all the cheaper...sorry cost effective wines from Portugal some of the best bargains in the world. Again choose the cheaper ones as they are really good and will surprise you. The Mateus people actually makes good wine. I haven't had the rose for years but they make a pretty good red and white.

The next is no surprise....Summer Sun from Erie Shores...it is just so nice on the patio. I can't say enuff about this wine.

Gewürztraminer: my favorite type of wine. Give me a crisper one for the summer, like Colchester Ridge or a slightly rounder one when it is below 90. I'll take the Mastronardi or the Pelee Island Reserve. These wines are crisp and fresh and go with the spicier fare that summer seems to bring out. They have enough acid to work with food, but are still very drinkable alone. I am very happy with what we make here.

Pinot Grigio: since everyone likes this wine, I have to give it props. It is crisp and fresh and just works in the summer. We make some great ones too

Its funny, but two of my favs just don't work for me over 85. I love Riesling, but I like the rounder ones and it just can't be like today for me to really like them. Same with Sauvignon Blanc. It goes great with food, especially fish but I really like it better when it is a wee bit cooler. Maybe I can have it this weekend with some pickerel.

And of course Champaign. Mumms Extra Dry. Actually, Prosecco, Friex, or any number of new world ones. I was clued into some Aussie bubbly and will have to get some. As usual I am overstocked so I've got to get through some cheapie stuff I bought for a brunch before Ican buy some more.

So there are some of my summer choices. Put some shrimp on the que, pan fry some pickerel or perch and just live well. Keep cool Baby!

Well summer is officially here. Carousel has passed. This year I was a wee bit disappointed by some of the villages but I still had fun.

I wish that some of the 'more exotic' villages could be found but the tried and true were all there. At least are having more dancers so that is good too. My hat goes off to the Scots as they had non stop entertainment and aside from the calling of the food it went off without a hitch ( I refused all the club draws but bought a bunch for the fiddich to send the dancer to the nationals). I still find the wee dancers doing the sword dance so cute. I'm just glad they aren't using real swords. Mumsy really liked going there on the last Sunday and the Yute now wants to be a piper. It looks like he will defect to the Scottish Society Band which is cool. I'm just really afraid of living with someone learning the pipes. I guess that is what alcohol is for.

Another new fest was the Ice Cream Festival held in Belle River. I just never knew Belle River could have a park like that. It really reminded me of Traverse City. No I wasn't on acid it was really nice. The festival was in its first year and was pretty good. I am really looking forward to next year.

At the fest Tso (aka Terry) and I found the trolley people whom I spoke of in my last post. They are doing exactly what I think should be done. I really hope it works as we really need something just like what they do. Just get more meta tags as I couldn't google them and or the Ice Cream Festival site. I can blame Tso for that as she helped get the trolley people their web site as they used her guy. Now I know why Rob always talked to me at length...he just stole my ideas and had terry get him his website designer. A conspiracy if I ever saw one. I just feel so used.

My/our cider is coming along very well. The second group is very dry, clear and red. The first is pineapple and very cloudy with a lot of pulp. I am low on alcohol but that is ok. BTW I fixed my MP 44 (juicer whiched I demoed making cider) tonight. Seems that all that work caused the mounting screws to back out and weld themselves to the power terminals. That accounts for the vibrations (no restraint so the motor was on its own) and sparks. Well new screws Loctite and solder has put the MP44 back where it was. It was built like a tank (probably a panther mk 4). A fine piece of German Engineering.

I've got to get back to the wineries, but in buying a certain wedding present ( a picked dozen of local wine ) I managed to buy 5 cases of wine so I am overstocked. Guess I will just have to drink more so I can come out to play again.

Wine review shortly.