essex wine report

Last Sunday was the release party for Sprucewood’s new Meritage*. Terry and I both enjoy the wines and the people so we just had to take the invite.

When we arrived we were surprised on two issues. One was that the parking area was quite full. Obviously the release was creating a quite a bit of buzz. The second was we saw the same people we saw he last time we were there. They’re really nice and constitute my entire readership(according to my page counter.., that in reality is closer to a random number generator...it also changes past day counts too!!).

Inside, it was quite busy, with the air of a party. The had set out a very nice appetizer area; with fruit, a chocolate fountain and an excellent cheese tray. It had some very interesting cheeses which were very tastey (thank god that the kraft cheddar was missing).

Now to the heart of the matter, the wine.. The Meritage was served separately, at another station which was manned by the owner. The wine was decanted and thus allowed to breathe. Our sample was ample, enough to give a first impression.

The nose was magnificent. Full lovely and just there. 

Immediate thought was that this is a very balanced wine and ready to drink now. There was an absence of harsh tannins and the taste was very very nice. The wine can best be described as following the company product line. This is not a big wine as Meritages can be, but it is a very lovely wine. Like the Pinot Noir, it is a very ‘delicate’ wine. If I were sexist, I would say that this wine shows that it was made by a lady. I just can’t see Mike Ditka making this wine (he has a major cellar btw), but I like this nonetheless.

It was a fitting day for a very nice wine. I congratulate the Sprucewood family for the hospitality and the quality of the wine. 

I wish more wineries would have release parties as this is a fun way to get the word out.

*Meritage is actually a California marketing creation, much like Fume Blanc. Since by quirks in California law the Bordeaux blends were not recognized as real wine they came up with Meritage to allow the consumer to be able to know that these blends were quality and certainly “not rushed before their time”. 

The Meritage blend involves the classic Bordeaux grapes: Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. These grapes have widely varying tastes but they work very well together. Now, you can do the blend and not be a Meritage as it is a marketing license, so don’t worry about others in the area that are similar. The Barncats, Birddogs and Double Barrels of our world are just as much Bordeauxlaise as a Meritage. The French being French have numerous blends which vary from village to village and if the bring back some of the ‘lost grapes’ which the found in Chile, there could be four major then some minor actors. So you can have 2, 3 4 or 1 of the noble grapes and still be like a Bordeaux since the just won’t tell you what's in it.

I wrote this last Tuesday...I’ve had trouble posting it..sorry

Last weekend was the London Food and Wine show. Despite the frigid weather we decided to head there. And boy was it cold. It was really cold.

It was held at the fairgrounds, but the signage was really poor. We ended up at the wrong building but realized it was across the street… maybe all the cars should have been a hint, but the banner shouldn’t have been at another building and a proper sign would have been nice. Oh what a pain am I, but I am sick today so I can be bitchy if I like.

Cost to get in was really fair ($10) and they worked with tickets rather than cash so that was nice. Made life simple.

The local wineries were well represented and seemed to have been really busy, especially on Friday and Saturday. We were there Sunday and everyone looked a little tired. It was good to see the Pelee Motor Inn there as people will realize that we have hotels here.

Highlights:

Lailey Vineyards -- wonderful Pinot Noir...it was of the “delicate” variety … I agree as it sounds better than saying light . We’ll be going there next time we are in Niagara

Nickel Brook Brewery-- the showed a Green Apple Pilsner which was really cool. They say its an old German recipe which involves mixing lightly brewed cider with beer. It was really good and we are looking forward to somehow getting some. It’s not available west of London, but if you see some try some...you’ll like it….I hope

Rush Creek Wines -- they showed some very interesting fruit wines. We really liked the strawberry chocolate wine which was just soooo cool so neat.

Anthony Sedlak demonstration. He is the fellow from “The Main” on the Food Network. I was never really a fan, but I have a new found respect for him. He really seems to know what he is doing and is rather funny.

Food: It all looked good and I couldn’t decide so I had some of Terry’s cassoulet. Now I always wanted to try it after seeing the French Leave Episode. Now to another topic...John Burton Race was the Michelin Starred chef who took his family (six kids and wife) and moved to the south-west of France for a year to find himself...well I thought he was a good guy, but he turned out to be not so nice...left wife #2 and 6 kids for new squeeze who had his love child...wife #2 promptly closed his new restaurant while he was in Australia with her...good for her...bad for him….English divorce laws are tough and 6 kids...oi

Lowlights:

I was very poorly treated by one wine merchant. I know that I am not a David Beckham look alike but that does not mean that I could be a customer and maybe that French pinot I tried was expensive but I have bought Grand Cru before and this wasn’t ...oi. Maybe he just didn’t like my Liverpool scarf...I only have 2 scarves and I won’t wear my England nat’l scarf till Beckham plays again.

What was nice was that there weren’t the usual vendors you see at home type shows. You know the miracle mop et all. It was a very adult show.

Well we had a good time and only hoped we had a show like this one. Oh I just hear you screaming Epicure, but the vendor costs are too high(I keep hearing that from all sorts of people and from someone at the show), the location sucks,,,I just love asphalt when it’s 110 degrees out and its just too crowded. It used to be fun.

So we’ll be going next year and maybe I’ll get to go to Joe Kools after.

Very cold today and I just don’t like it at all. But I/we had a very wonderful wine which is an endangered species. It’s the 2002 Ladies from Pelee Island. There are a few bottles left and we bought a few and have 1 or 2 left.

Of course with the Ladies it allowed me to sing a wonderful song from my youth to Terry.....Lady by Styx. It’s funny but we watched Styx and Loverboy on New Years Eve. They played in Niagara and were actually ok, but looked well...old. Loverboy well just looked like ...me. Well, Dennis DeYoung sang Lady to his wife of like 30 years...oi... man am I getting old, but after Argentinian champagne some other wine and while drinking the Mastronardi bubbly (very nice btw) it just seemed great. It was cold there but it was way better than Dick Clark.

Well, back to the wine. A Sauvignon Blanc is a classic wine and has the cajones to age. This one is probably on life support, but is still quite alive! Pulling the cork gave me a chill but all was good.

We had it with some roast chicken. As I got 2 for 1 we cooked up 2. One was done with herbes de provence and the other with cajun spice. I perched it on some veggies (they were past their prime). Add a bucket of grapeseed oil (very good for you btw) 2 martinis et voila dinner. The Ladies were very nice with the chicken. They held up to the spice and were just soooo nice.

I get the cut grass but not extremely freshly cut, maybe a couple of hours cut and some nice fruity tones, light stone fruit with maybe some exotics. Very very nice and smooth.

Taste-wise it is very smooth. So different from the New Zealand variety. Nice refined, well maybe 5 years can mellow someone out. The wine just engulfed my pallet. I get the grass, the fruit but it’s not upfront....it’s just there. So very nice. I haven’t drank alot of Bordeaux Sauv Blancs and those I have had were a very long time ago and were ok. I bet there are some good ones and I may just go find them. This is a mature wine, similar to what I get from a good Burgundian Chardonnay. It’s too bad that there is so little left.

I really enjoyed this wine and will savour the last bottle or may just go buy more!

It is a terrible day out, but Terry put a ham in the oven so life is definitely getting better.

The wine for this evening is Auxerrois from View Pointe, Now, this wine is a rarity. Very few wineries make it and few people have drank it.  Pete the Elder tells a wonderful story about drinking this with the winemaker from Chateau des Charmes back when they were working out of a barn. I always thought it was a southern French grape BUT to my surprise it is from Alsasce, A cousin of Pinot Noir to boot. How did I not know this???? I really hate Wikipedia now, but it makes sense. I find a kinship to Gewurtztraminer and Pinot Blanc. I feel better now.

Just in case you didn’t know, View Pointe is the most eastern of the cluster of wineries along count road 50 in Colchester. The road there is called Murdoch Street, which is named after after Terry’s grandfather...quite cool. But it is actually on the lake and has the most beautiful view. So just head south on Walker, go thru MacGregor, turn right at three 3 corners in Harrow then left at the funeral home (Erie Street)  and head south again. Drive all the way to the stop sign and veer left and head east. Go past CREW on the left and soon View Pointe will be on your right...you can’t miss the gapes.

We had the wine with a smoked picnic ham that we got at my local ghetto grocer store. Now this is the same store that we got whole tenderloins for $2/lb and we got this for $1/lb. My Scot ancestors must be proud of my thriftiness. The wine was able to stand up to the smoked ham and the spiciness just worked.

The wine itself is very nice. The aroma is very citrussy. Terry felt that she smelt apricots. All in all it is very pleasant.

We both just loved the taste. This is the first “round” wine both of us liked. After finding out that it is Alsatian in heritage I can really taste it. The taste on the pallet is very fruit and like its cousins I get alot of lighter stone fruits. I tasted the apricots that Terry smelled. I find the hint of sweetness that is fruitiness to me and that wonderful mouth feel.

The roundness is just so nice to see and it makes it just so much nicer for me. I think that this makes a wine tougher to mate with food as this roundness just doesn’t mate well but the ham was soft too so it just felt well. I really believe that food should feel right. Steak with a cab or merlot works not just by taste but with the feel. Steak is harder with hard flavours and a good big oaked cab mirrors that. It has the edges to work with the “carbonation” of the steak. This is just what is important to me, Its more than taste its feel too.

But back to the wine. It is a wonderful example of what can be done here and is a usual end product from View Pointe which just seem to be all good. A fine wine and one which the should be proud of. 

We are going to introduce a new feature today. As I’ve managed to get the mac-book working....well I still need to get the wireless working, the new feature will be a monthly restaurant review. So here is the first one.

Our first choice for a review is Jack’s located in Kingsville. it’s located just west of the four corners and basically beside the licbo.

My first thought as we walked in was that it was basically pub food. Well yes and no. All the pub essentials are there but there are many twists and better stuff.

Let me comment first on the wine-list. It is excellent. It only features wine from the region and all the wineries (except Muscedere...why they aren’t there, nobody is sure) and the prices are great. The appear to be charging basically corkage and the wines vary from about $20 to $35. Wagner’s cider is there for $10 so why drink beer. 

They are really making an effort to support the local wineries. This is what I like to see as it is one more step to properly define the appellation and one step closer to a regional cuisine.

Now to the food. We were there twice so we had four dishes and the yute joined us once and had chicken fingers. Here is a prime example of what the are doing. Not just breaded, these were covered in parmesan and fried not just deep-fried, The little twist was nice.

On our lunch visit, we started with the artichoke appetizer. Fried artichokes breaded with parmesan with dill lemon and pine nuts. Terry liked it alot and so did I but I would have preferred a lighter batter..kinda like a tempura, but it was very good.

 Terry had the quiche with caesar salad. The salad was great and wasn’t a garlic fest. Now I like garlic but at lunch it isn’t too cool as one may have to go back to the office and vampires only come out at night. The quiche came in a single round of about six inch diameter. From the appearance it looked cooked in a proper dish and not a pre-frozen item in a tin. The pastry was golden brown and looked great. Terry enjoyed it very much. 

I had pickerel. It was baked in blackening spice with lemon. Blackening was a big deal a while ago and this twist was nice and refreshing. It gave spiciness but not a cajun firefest. The fish was beautifully done and the portion was really nice. The sides were maple glazed carrots and a smashed potatoes. No I’m a smooth mashed potato boy but the big lumps are nice and the garlicyness was just right, I really enjoyed the meal.

For wine we had Sprucewood’s Pinot Noir. It was priced really nice (~ $23) so it was a steal and meshed wonderful with the food. One complaint was that the wine came at room temperature. I know I’m a stickler for this but the were happy to get me an ice bucket to cool it down. I’m not the only one to do this btw...I first got the idea from Mario Batali and this is one of his pet peeves too. Too many restaurants have this problem.

For our second visit, we had the squid appetizer and it was excellent! The squid was served over some hot peppers which added some heat and a wonderful taste....very nice. 

 Terry had the tenderloin medallions. They looked wonderful and she really enjoyed them too! She wouldn’t let me have a taste so I know she really liked them.

I had the manicotti. Now I never make this so I order it out and this one was pretty good. The serving size was good too.

With the dinner we had the cider(~$10) to start (they brought an ice bucket to keep it chilled) and then we had the Pelee Island Merlot for dinner(~$20). I’n not sure if it was the reserve as it had a custom label, but it went well with the meal.

We had no room for desert, but did order a maple creme brule. This was well done, but mine is better, but I use alot of non restaurant ingredients.

Service both times was excellent. Not over served, but very attentive polite professional service. Myles spilled his pop and she made him not feel bad about it. On the lunch our server was happy to talk wine with us and brought the manager over to discuss the wine list and their philosophy. The made us feel right at home. As you can guess we were very pleased.

The restaurant was very clean, though I didn’t use the loo, but it looked sparkling. The decor is eclectic and informal. I just loved the old wood floor with it’s squeaks and stains...soo nice.

Oh yes....they are kid friendly.

As this is our first review it will be the benchmark. for those who follow. Food was excellent and the menu was very original. The wine list is great and the pricing was great. Service was wonderful.

So I guess you can see that we really liked it. Actually after the lunch we returned Monday for Terry’s birthday dinner. Local specialties (perch and pickerel) local wines...this is the basis for my local is good philosophy, so all in all, I give it an 85 which to me is really good. Improve the chilling of the red wine and change those tablecloths (the material itself is sticky and grabs glassware...it was clean its just a feature of the material) and a 90 would be a walk. I feel sorry for the restaurants who follow.

SUMMARY

cleanliness: excellent

menu: varied and favourites with neat twists, inventive

portion size: ample

food: very good

wine list: superb...I think the want you to drink wine over beer as the wine may be cheaper

value for money: very good

This is a record of our search for the Holy Grail, no not a cup or a little girl (if you believe the DaVinci Codes), but frozen artichokes. Yes, those wonderful green globes of taste which allows me to not spend days cleaning those little devils and throwing out 90% of the globe.

On Saturday we loaded up the vehicle and headed out to the Eastern Market. If you haven't been there-go. It's a wonderful market, with both farmers and shops. That I love as you can get fabulous cheese (at US prices which are way way below ours...don't blame the merchants as it's a wonderful government policy), olive oils, spices, and just neat stuff. Not eating there was a problem since we were hungry.

But I just had to go to Avalon. This is a great bakery off Cass near Wayne State. Close but I needed food. What, no French baguette!!!!! I settled for some Challah, scones and brownies......what a sacrifice.

So, then we decided to go to Hamtramck for some Polish food......Just my luck that Under the Eagle was closed for the Holidays. Oi, we are all hungry and just didn't feel like eating Middle Eastern. So we headed east to go to Kroger in Grosse Point. Got a call from a friend and I missed where to go so I ended up at my old office. That wasn't all bad, as I knew where to go from there. Steve's Backdoor on Kelly Rd for some Middle Eastern Food....I know don't ask......get there and what...it closes in 10 minutes.....oi

Now what...head to Sahara on Harper. Got to Harper and turned left rather than right. Oi...now I go a couple of miles north. Terry and Miles are laughing so all is ok. I turn around and go about 2 blocks south of where I turned and we are there. Well we totally pig out and I couldn't even dent my dinner...note to self....grape leaves still in fridge.

So now its time to go to Kroger...well I turn left on Mack and guess what??? I needed to go right again. Well we turn around and get there. Search search search..where are they? No please let this day not be wasted...then my trained eye spotted our treasure. Yes they do exist and we are now artichoke unchallenged.

Canada Customs wasn't too thrilled about our little adventure, but allowed us to return to our motherland.

I hope all have had a wonderful Holiday Season. This break has been wonderful for me and I just don't want it to end (I will have to check my lottery tickets..not even 1 bloody #). Just to know that I haven't been slacking too much, I spent the week off retempering my taste with a lot of wines. Wines from France, Italy, Argentina, Niagara and of course local. It was great fun but right now I am suffering a wee bit.

The only thing that keeps me vertical is the glee that I get when I announce that this will be my last blog written under the evil persecution of Microsoft. I order my Mac today...after I pay my bills and see if there is anything left of course. This is a move to try to make this thing a little more professional.

What do I see for the year ahead?? Well as a contrarian I see positive movement. Windsor will spend another sad year. The town is sick and possibly needs an exorcism. Gun violence, people leaving, poor administration. Hey it's been that way for years, but Detroit has always been worse. I think we are just waking up to the mess we are in. I am not pointing fingers at the mayor as these problems have been around since my youth. Adding the casino hasn't really done any good. The downtown, which once supported adult fun is now only set up for kids and as a result is dying. The casino just couldn't be happier. Now they have the best restaurant (according to them) and there is no reason to leave....oh joy.

So why do I remain positive? My last trip to Harrow showed that Muscedere was basically out of product. That's right they were sold out. It's not good for them per marketing, but it shows that people are buying the stuff. Add the fact that this growing season was exceptional and man next year could be amazing.

If you travel into the eastern half of the county it is like another world. There is building going on and everyone seems happier. This depression seems to only have hit Windsor so I am hopeful that it will be better next year.

And besides, by next year I should have my house sold and fully moved in out here and put the addition on and maybe just maybe planted a few grapes. Who knows?

Now for my predictions: I see Pinot as really improving down here. A new one is coming on line and the other available ones are quite good already. Having had a lot of Niagara Pinots ours are pretty good and hold up well. We had a nice Sonoma Pinot and for twice the price it wasn't twice as good.

Cab Franc. I see another good year. If the winemakers avoid making the wine too earthy it will stay our premier wine. I say this because I had one that seemed that way, but maybe it was an off bottle and/or I may have been off that day.

I have great hopes for the Bordeaux blends. Here I think we have the best ability to make our mark. Cab Franc, Cab Sauv and Merlot should thrive here and we do make some excellent product. I like the emergence of the Meritage labels (even though it isn't a real designation) as it sounds nice and gives a good marketing point. We all seem to know what it means and it allows the vintner to put a stamp on the wine. Hey this type of move made Robert Mondavi millions.

I am also salivating for next years white wines. This growing season has to just make these wines awesome. The winemakers seem to think so so let's just hope it turns out that way. All indications point that way.

So, this is why I am bullish about the New Year. If the trolley people get more headlines, the Wine Fest does well (of course it will since I will be there again and this year I will serve samples), and that new winery comes on line, I just see us going forward. This year's crop was good; the weather isn't bad so all is good except for my headache.