essex wine report

Man, I’ve been working too hard lately, but 3 of 4 carboys of cider have now been bottled and all indications are very positive. 

We intend to open some Perry this evening after dinner. For non-decedents of the West Country, like me, Perry is pear cider. This was real hard work as the pears broke my press and I had to do emergency repairs. Next year, I will let them get very soft prior to pressing.

Well it was clear bright and had a wonderful smell. Add the secondary fermentation and I will have a wonderful sparkling cider. Oh yes it should be about 11%.

First carboy of cider is basic with a sugar secondary charge Todays has about a dozen bottles with raspberries and six with red currents from our garden. Oh yes, four with honey. An experiment yes, but should be good. Next batch will be done with caramel to get a dark cider. Fun Fun as long as they don’t explode. All natural and relying on alcohol to preserve it. Just like the old days.

So far, batch 1 of cider is good but lots of sediment….we did that one with a juicer and won’t do that again. Batch 2 was peach done with a juicer….it was a disaster but id drinkable and at 10% alcohol its a beast...its ok but, I may cook with it. We bought a press after that fun. Batch 3 was 2 bushels of pears and 11 of apple so I guess I will not be buying Strongbow this year. All fruit was local from Ruthven.

I will let you know how it goes...I’m knackered.

I finally made it to Caldwell’s Grant last night, not that I hadn’t had the food previously(we always got some at the wine fest), and it was just what I had expected.

It is a nice cozy restaurant and we chose to go to the patio. This we had basically to ourselves which was quite enjoyable as it was nice and cool.

The wine list is very extensive and varied. I would have liked to see more locals but I can’t complain about what I saw. The pricing was fair and we chose a bottle of ViewPoint Auxxerrois for $30.

 The menu has a fair bit of choice but not too much. There was enough variety to keep everyone happy including vegetarians ( a nice curry)…. Why would you go out to dinner to have nuts an berries??? 

Why do restaurants always want to serve everything?? I always get scared when I see War and Peace arrive as the menu, as I just can’t see anyone being able to cook so much without it being re-therm. Here they did it just right...2 pages... all you need….one thing I liked was the steak wellness chart...I just hate being with the “my steak is overdone” or “my steak is too rare” person….here. they would order and shut up...no bitching.

We had the mussels as our appetizer. These were done in a curry sauce and were oh so good. Ample enuff to serve me happily. We just grazed on them.

Mains was pickerel for the both of us. Very nicely done, though Terry felt that the cornmeal batter made hers a wee bit dry. When we finished...her way before me and all was gone. Veg was zucchini peppers and something...hey we were on the patio and it was quite dark which all seemed local fresh and very nicely done.

The bread was wonderful and came with a flavored butter.

Service was excellent, friendly, professional, fun and just attentive right. Not bothering but there...this is good as we were alone and could have easily been forgotten.

All in all a very good meal. The perceived value was excellent as our “specials” were at the going rate for pickerel. This made it a good value.

I am glad we went and we will be back.

Score 85

Summary

cleanliness: excellent

menu: modern American

portion size: just right

food: very good

service: very good

wine list: nice selection 

  priced fairly

could be more locally sourced

value for money: very good

I have been pondering many issues lately and one which interests me was started from an article Pete the Younger emailed me. It was a piece about a study regarding the pairing of music to wine. Their choices were rather ‘interesting’ so I’ll add my 2 cents worth.

There is the beer group and or the beer and whiskey group. These bands include ZZ Top, George Thoroughgood, all blues and an new performers like Kid Rock.

The rum and beer group is led by Great Big Sea….why...because the are from ‘the rock’ and are a great party band..going to see them in Ohio this summer. Place in here all the great Celtic bands too. These tend to be from Cape Breton Island. My Gaelic isn’t good and I just don’t need another Sir Rod correction when I say that certain band name wrong….he won’t offer me a family discount either for their music.

So here will be some of my wine choices, starting with white wines.

Chenin Blanc: a wonderful grape that is French and not really grown much here. It is very light but has some depth and interesting hues. For this wine I suggest Yael Naim...Who is that you may ask. She is the woman who does the Mac Air theme. Her music is whimsical happy and light but really cool. It was recorded in Paris and just oozes that coolness. Some is in Hebrew but that is still good. So combine French sounds with the old Yiddish influences and there you go...light happy but with surprising depth.

Voignier: another rather rarish grape from France...southern mainly. Light fresh and  and again happy. For this  Ella Fitzgerald. She was just so cool and before she got ill could just groove, Happy, light and just full of life. Don’t discount her or the grape as there is alot there. She was an accomplished musician and made superb music.

Chardonnay: the grape I have learned to love. We all hated it in the late 80’s and now I love it. Stylistically it can move around and have many variations on a theme. No doubt this goes to Alyson Krauss. Union Station is/was great bluegrass, she does somewhat mainsream country as a solo artist and made that wonderful album with Robert Plant...it reminds me of the acoustic side of Physical Graffiti. She moves around gendres but you can tell its her. All good too...and btw I don’t like country kinda how I didn't like Chardonnay...I’m so conflicted.

Sauvignon Blanc: wow all French grapes. An early favorite of mine. Herbaceous and just oozing with flavour. Goes well with food and can have a rough side if not done well,but can be just wonderful. To this I will match Branford Marsallis, brother of Wynton and a fine sax player. He is really into Bebop and sometimes hard to listen to, but can be oh soo good….real music.

Riesling: so wonderful, can be sweet, can be dry, can be just wonderful. For this I suggest Jane Sibbery. I saw her in a small venue in Toronto and she was just stunning. Man layers and textures to her music. Can be sweet, can be tart and just wonderful.

Pinot Noir: the undisputed king of grapes. The best there is, was, or will be. To this I propose the Velvet Fog, Mel Torme. He could swing, scat and just had fun doing it. Not heavy stuff but full of depth, layers and talent.

Cabernet Franc: earthy tones with a little lightness. I like Joni Mitchell here. She started doing folk then now is doing great jazz based music. Intelligence, talent and the ability to to be cool. Years of cigarets have given her that raspiness in her voice which just works so well.

Merlot: like the character in ‘Sideways’ I am not a Merlot fan. Its just too jammy for me. Here I will suggest Beethoven's 5^th. Just too over the top for me. I like the 6^th much better.

Cabernet Sauvignon: big bold fruit….Wagner...enuff said

Meritage: not a grape but a blend...still really good and for this I choose Thelonius Monk. Complex intelligent full of life.

Sangiovese: in the finest forms just incredible. A tad lighter, but just packed with flavor. Here we have OP, Oscar Peterson. A wonderful musician who was regarded as ‘the best’ for years. For years wouldn’t leave Montreal but made his big impact when he did. Just love his music just like I love Tuscan wines.

Nebbiolo: complex deep dark tannic….hues of tar and alot of earthy stuff...not for everyone. Only one choice… Charles Mingus….complex, sometimes hard to listen to but makes wonderful music...you either love his music or hate it...I love it.

As you know, I full believe that the wine experience is influenced by: friends, food, music, food, and the karma of the space. All play a role and if in harmony a simple wine could just be wonderful.

NEWS FLASH!!!!!

A new winery is starting!!! That’s right. I have it on good account that just south of “the Freeze” grapes have been planted.

Well actually I have 2 vines of Cabernet Franc so in 5 years I will have full production of wine.

Some friends were adding to their vineyard and gave Terry and I 2 vines….very cool. They just don’t look like one would expect. Just basically a cane and a graft on it.

What it will really do is allow me to see how the vines grow and what really wine is about. Maybe someday I can really plant some volume, join up with the Mondavis and make Opus 3, right here in Kingsville. Then I can be a featured villain of Mondo Vino II.

Yes we all can dream.

Father’s Day…7:30 am

I am sorry that I am late with this. The storm whacked our internet, then the router has been acting up. I have a new one but Terry is so busy that I am afraid to disrupt the computer to install. I can just see a “problem” when she has 8 shoots to process. Add work, screaming at expressvu on a daily basis...my satellite just slowly died. After 4 hours on the phone to some very nice but totally inept Indian techs I managed to get a Cdn so that I could cancel my account. She was very nice and got me to try again. Well their tech is on the way...yes at 8 am on Father’s Day.  (Later, I was to find out that I was lied to again and the tech is coming next Sunday (this info came from a very nice Indian fellow who really understood just how impressed I am with expressvu))

Last weekend was the series of open houses for the local wineries. Did I organize a trip?? Nope. F&J did so I just went along for the ride. We started out at Sprucewood. I really like the Mitchell’s and this is where F&J had their reception. It is really a nice spot and the drive thru the vineyard is just so nice and worth the trip alone. 

Over the last year or so I have gotten to know Steve and realize his passion for the business. A fellow Engineer, who isn’t in the ‘plastic pocket protector school’ is a wonderful thing to find. Tanya, his sister, is the winemaker. She’s an Engineer too and I think it shows in her wines. They are very consistent thru the line and very orderly. This may be sexist but I feel that they show a women’s touch. The wines are a wee bit lighter and certainly not “over the top”. Judicious use of oak, nice complexity. The line is good. Locally, we are blessed with 3 great female winemakers, Tanya Mitchell- Spucewood,   Lyse LeBlanc- Mastronardi (I apologize for the spelling error) and Izabel Benben- Aleksander. Their work is wonderful. What is really nice is that each has a style and the product is better each year.

The Sprucewood people can put on a spread. Cheese trays, fruit, reasonably priced interesting food and a band. They were really trying and were being rewarded by the amount of traffic they had. The lineup of wine is very nice and we even had dedicated red wine drinkers trying whites….very good indeed. Of note is the Late Harvest Riesling which is very very nice. I prefer Late Harvests to Ice Wines generally as they are not so sweet and are more accessible. We also really like the Chardonnay and the Pinot Rose. 

Then we were off to Erie Shores. They have put up a pavilion which is a great idea. Receptions at wineries are a wonderful thing, but the tent rental prices are very high. This is a good way to avoid that. They had a bus tour in when we arrived so we took over the showroom, Alma was as wonderful as ever and their wines were very well received.

Then we were off to Viewpoint, Their new wines were on display before the entry to the main hall. Let me just say that the future is quite good.

Of course we ended at Muscedere. Fab and Rob do such a good job but they haven't bottled the Chardonnay yet. J&F had left to prep for the party so it was us and Swifty. He likes wine and it was interesting to watch his response. Clean and fresh was what he found. Well the wine was fresh and hadn’t been abused by any angry custom agent or delivery man. Maybe its just good????

The celebration just finished the day. It feels like it was last year not last week. Well my friend from the ghetto of Rochester Hills wants to come visit so we’ll take him east. Mastronardi, Aleksander and Pelee Island. I’m looking forward to that weekend.

Well I will start this review by stating that this wine is wonderful and I will buy more. I first had it at the winery and this winery is great. It is Near Iniskillen but is very different. The building isn’t great, they aren’t terribly friendly at first, but open up when they find out you like real wine and have a really nasty cat.

But the make wines the real way and their vines are 30+ years old. Its Marynissen Cabernet/Merlot and is available at the lickbo. Its priced great and tastes wonderful. I like it alot.

Music is simply Ed Love on WDET….a great jazz show and dinner was pizza from Calabria...this is decadent...it really didn’t go to well but I don’t care...I needed some good wine.

The color is deep red and it takes its color to the edge...no wateriness here. It hangs in sheets and just has some gorgeous legs….Condi legs...the go on forever.

The nose is really nice, but I aerate so its not pronounced, just dark fruit...kinda jammy smells, some oak and niceness. No nasty bits.

The taste...yes the taste...its great!..ok I’m done….just buy it. No really it is complex without being pretentious, nice tannins, some acids, oak  and enuff alkeehol to keep it fun. Fruit isn’t up front...this is real wine.

I would serve this with anything...no try red meat, lamb or goose. It would be heavenly with a turned goose. It has enough body to stand up to the fat and cut thru it. I like it alone which is strange as I like foofoo wines without food.

Musically choose something complex. I would say Bach or OP (Oscar Peterson). It needs to be cool and refined. No Ozzy here.

Well buy some and enjoy. This wine is a beacon to what we can produce when our vines get this old. Age gets wisdom and complexity.

Drink and enjoy. They are really nice people when you get to know them. I will go back there and get some more...maybe tomorrow!!

Last night I struggled thru another wine tasting. I am about ready to quit. What I have discovered is that either I have no taste whatsoever, or that these Bordeaux’s are extremely over-rated and over priced.

Yes I did like some of them, but at $70 it better be good. The Burgundies, yes they were good too...much better btw...but again at $70, they should be.

I just see massive snob appeal backing marketing. Like the amp designer who goes into the hills and meditates for 3 days before designing his amplifier and refuses to speak English to reviewers ( he is fluent but just grunts….you interview his assistant and he nods) just so he can charge double for his amps, I see the same thing. After some high dollar Bordeaux, I came home and opened a bottle of Crew. It not only stood up, it made me feel better and for less than half….hell yeah... the price. Is the French….” you can only grow grapes on this terroir” thing a myth? A couple of weeks ago I was listening to NPR when a geologist came on and spoke about a book called “Terroir”. He totally debunked the idea that the vines get the stone taste by the terroir. It was very interesting and will certainly get me an F.  BTW I don’t buy it.

Well l was really sickish last night and the first wine was so dreadful I was looking for the STP label…..well the 2^nd was wonderful...ooops it was corked...I faux pas’d big time...well the first was sooooo bad a corked wine tasted good...ouch..btw I am drinking Marynissen right now and am very happy.

Now the instructor is doing a very good job so I can’t blame him. The text is by my ‘favorite’ wine expert. She will stay nameless but I used to love to watch her show and heckle her….typical English know it all….oi...I’m not being nice am I 

So I’m having flashbacks to my Business degree...oi me taking a Labor Relations course from a woman who didn’t shave her legs. When I questioned her on the relevance of the Flint Sit Down Strikes and the Rouge fun to modern labour relations in the auto industry, she cringed and didn’t know about them……it was at U of Windsor...oi.  Well she called me at home and assured me that my “political” views would not damage my grades, I should have run…..I was in a class of union reps and well I felt kinda out of place…..hell I am pro union (gets me a higher rate) but I felt like a fascist. I feel that way now...but I am older, wiser and more of a bastard….I’ll just sit in the back and plot…..maybe I’ll lie and tell them that I only drink a real expensive wine that is unavailable except at this wonderful wine store in Highland Park...hell the kid was espousing how he likes to drink Chateaux Y’quim at about 3 bills a bottle, or the woman who loves Opus 1….I suggested she get some Il Bastardo (actually really really good)...she was horrified. I loved it. 

I’M A LOCALVORE AND PROUD OF IT!!!!!!!!

Well, since the Meritage fest I really haven’t been able to review any wine so I’ll give you some quick thoughts on some.

Really good:

Marchesi di Montechristo     Nebello del Bastardo 2002   this wine is wonderful and cheap… a great bargain which I wold happily serve an of my friends… Sir Rod went off the wagon to this wine and blamed me for recommending it. Big full and red...great with pasta and big food...aerate the hell out of it

Marynissen   Cabernet/Merlot 2002  this wine is from one of Niagara’s oldest vineyards and is wonderful. Stylistically similar to the great Bordeaux wines which Mr Parker loves. Not fruit forward and just wonderful...and a bargain...available at LCBO so get some

Lailey  Riesling 2006   another winner from Niagara. We showed up at 5 minutes to closing and we were still treated ok. They remembered us from the Wine Show and they make great wine. A wonderful Riesling.

Oyster Bay   Sauvignon Blanc 2007 An archetypical Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough. Grassy notes and fresh fruity flavor. Serve with seafood or drink alone. I always loved this wine and it seems to have dropped in price.

Erie Shores  Reserve Cabernet 2005  An oakfest which I really think will get way better with age. Its very good now and would pair great with beef.

CREW Cabernet Sauvignon  2005 this is their Big boy and is a great wine if you love big chewy reds. Serve with red meat or game and be very happy.

Muscedere  Sauvignon Blanc 2007  this is a very big Sauvignon Blanc. So different from the Oyster Bay. More French in style and will work wonderful with food. I would suggest bigger seafood and chicken/fowl.

Remo Farina Ripasso 2004 different wine which is a special wine available only from the Veneto, specifically Valpolicella. New wine is laid over the pressings of Amarone (nirvana in a bottle) and gives alot of bod to the lightish Valpolicella. Great wine...we had it with Bolognese. Went wonderfully.

Well that’s some of what I am drinking. All very nice and available locally. They won’t embarrass you and all taste very nice.

BTW summer is here so its Vinho Verde time and please buy the cheap stuff as its actually better. Lickbo raised the price so now its about $8.50. Such a pity. Goes great with Paella and seafood or on its own, but keep it cold…..not good at room temp.

Tootles