Cheers

The drink is a cobbler.   Oloroso Sherry and simple syrup muddle with an orange slice and then stirred over ice.   Strained into a glass of crushed ice and garnished with another orange slice, a few slices of white peaches and two slices of dark plums.  Light, refreshing and simple on a summer evening.   

♪♫...Satisfaction....♫

Last of the morning fog on the river

There was a good and early morning walk with the resident canine along the shores of the Great Miami River.  In two days the weather has gone from 90+ degrees to this morning's beautiful 58 degrees thanks to a weather front from Canada coming south.

Great Miami River

There was a celebration of sorts last night with a dry aged, strip steak cooked over hardwood.  Thanks to video cameras in a convenience store the "gentlemen" who vandalized  my car early last week and stole my credit cards were apprehended and charged with felonies.  I still had the expense of having the auto glass replaced, but the charges on my cards were refunded and the arrests gave me some satisfaction.

We opened one of the bottles of the Lowell Marie Merlot (two posts below) that I purchased last weekend.  It's a beautiful wine to transition from the bright and happy rose's of summer to the heartier reds that will come when the weather is much cooler.  It did a wonderful job of washing down the steak. 

The web

I loved the sunlight coming through this spider web this morning.  I wouldn't have seen it if Ms. Birdie had not been chasing a rabbit which ducked around the edge of the woods.  She also managed to chase a few gophers and couple of squirrels.  She got much more exercise than I did. 

Approaching Autumn

Now that it is September the start of autumn is approaching here and the colors are beginning to change from deep green to drier shades of green, red and brown. 

There was a wonderful wine this past weekend that pleased both me and a large group.  The wine was a 2007 Max Ferd. Richter Brauneberger Juffer Kabinett Trocken Riesling from the Mosel.  I took it to a party where the entree was a smoked pork butt.  Of the eight people there only two are true Riesling fans, but this wine won over the other six.  It quickly disappeared.

For a seven year old Riesling I expected a more golden color, but it looked much younger.  A bit of kerosene on the nose quickly gave way to spring flowers and citrus.  Flavors were apples and grapefruit, but the thing that won over everyone was the acid and minerality in this wine.  Crisp and clean and dry.    This bottle was long gone before the pork was ready.   As one person remarked, 'this tastes like an apple on a cool, October day."   Remarkable wine.

There is one more bottle of this in the cellar, and there are three other vintages of the same wine resting there with the 2007.  Good times ahead.

2007 Max Ferd. Richter Brauneberger Juffer Kabinett Trocken Riesling.  9% alcohol.  $18.

Kinkead Ridge / Lowell Marie

The new label

Log time readers of this corner of the internet should be aware of my fascination with Kinkead Ridge wines from the Ohio River Valley.  They have been world class wines from locally grown, vinifera grapes - not an easy project in this part of the country.

The good news is that the winery opened again on September 4 after being closed for a year due to the two  devastatingly cold winters this area experienced in 2014 and 2015.  In short  - there were no grapes.  The sad news is that the vineyard is no more.  It could not recover from those two bad winters.   Additionally the winery has new ownership, and the land where the vineyard was has  been sold to different ownership.  The new owners of the land do not intend to replant the vineyard.  The estate grapes are gone.  Very sad. 

Viognier grapes before the two bad winters

There are still three red, estate wines from the 2013 vintage that will be released in November, but the winery reopened with wines made from purchased grapes, some from a considerable distance away.  The wines also have a new name,  Lowell Marie, named for the new owners.  Plans are to produce wines under that name from purchased grapes and hopefully plant a vineyard elsewhere to again make estate wines under the Kinkead Ridge label.  The news wines are good and interesting and after tasting through the lineup I found four to bring home in a mixed case.

A row of cabernet vines

The  2014 Pinot Gris made from juice purchased from Washington State.  It is light, refreshing and a wine with an herbal core to it.  It would be good chilled with whitefish or lighter chicken or pork dishes, but would probably be at its best just chilled and consumed with snacks.  It’s a happy wine.  13.5% alcohol.  105 cases produced.  A good bargain at $11.99.

There is a 2014 Sauvignon Blanc (53%)  and Semillon (47%) blend made from grapes purchased from Washington state.  There is mellow apple, some citrus and green figs on the nose.  The figs really came through to me in the taste of the wine.  This is much fuller bodied than the Pinot Gris.  It was unquestionably my favorite of all the wines.  14.8% alcohol.  258 cases produced.    At $13.99 it is the best buy of all of the wines. 

Cabernet grapes

The 2014 Merlot was made from grapes purchased from the Lodi, California area.  It smells like fresh crushed plums and berries.  It’s light bodied and full of fruity flavors with just enough tannin to keep the fruit in check.  This is not a wine for keeping,  just a wine to open and enjoy.  12.9%  alcohol.  190 cases produced.   $10.99

The last wine in my case was a 2013 Chambourcin from the McCafferty Bridge vineyard from the Ohio River Valley.  Chambourcin is a French-American hybrid that survives the winters in this area.  It is a very full bodied wine with dark color.  It attacks the palate on the first few sips with tannin and grip, but it quickly mellows to dark fruits.  I got a bit of mushroom in the wine.  It is not for the faint of heart.  I am usually not a fan of the hybrid grapes, but I can make an exception for this wine.  It is sold under the River Village Cellars label. 12.8% alcohol.  111 cases produced. $11.99.

There are three other wines available that I did not purchase.

A 2014 Rousanne-Viognier was made from Washington state grapes.  The mix is a little strong on the Rousanne for me.  Good wine, but I would have preferred more Viognier.  And there were two vintages of Traminette available on the River Village Cellars   The 2013 I already had in the cellar.  The 2014, at 2.9%  residual sugar, is a better wine.  The acid is better and makes this a better wine.  Both are $9.99.

The vineyard house

Rose' Corbieres

Our unusually cool weather pattern is ending and the week ahead promises to be typical summer - hot and humid.  We managed to get in one more evening one the patio before the humidity returned.  There was grilled chicken leg quarters, a nondescript pasta salad and a 2014 Domaine Sainte-Eugenie Corbieres rose'.

The wine is a blend of Cinsault and Syrah. A beautiful pale pink to copper color in the glass gave way to fresh berries on the nose.

The wine was bone dry and very mineral like in its mouth feel.  There was good depth of fruit and great acid but it was that wet rock sense the lead the way.  It was something I really liked.

Nothing too serious here and it was great with the chicken and the price was great.  Perfect picnic wine.

Domainee Sainte-Eugenie Corbieres Rose'.  13% alcohol and $11.

Cidre

Last night was a sparkling cider evening.  The clouds cleared in the early evening and by the time dinner was ready the sun was setting. 

The cider was an Etienne Dupont Cidre Triple from the 2013 vintage.  Per the label it was produced from a selection of bitter apples from the Pays D'Auge area of Normandy.  I was familiar with the regular cider from Dupont, but not this much stronger Triple.  It checked in at 11% alcohol.

The flavors were a mix of bitter apples and mushrooms. It was bone dry, crisp and refreshing and reminded me most of a dry German Riesling with a few years bottle age.  Quite a long finish and the bubbles stayed busy the entire time.  It is not quite as apple like as the regular bottling at 5% alcohol but it is very good stuff

Dinner was some grilled swordfish and a slaw of fennel, apples and crushed juniper berries.  It was good with the fish, but it was tremendous with the slaw, which was dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. 

2013 Etienne Dupont Cidre Triple.  11% alcohol and $9.

Disappointment to Delight

Old wines can be strange and unpredictable.  That was certainly true of this bottle, a 1998 Hermitage La Chapelle from Paul Jaboulet Aine from the northern Rhone of France. 

There was a small steak from the grill and I was in the mood for a Syrah wine.  I pulled this bottle out of the cellar.  The first mistake was pulling the cork and immediately drinking the wine instead of giving it some time in a decanter to open up.  It was brick red with orange edges and it smelled most of tart red cherries.  There was considerable acid in this wine.  Lots of red fruit tastes but the acid was overpowering here.   Still, it was drinkable with the steak.

The wine was vacuumed overnight and another glass was poured on the second day.  The acid had subsided somewhat and there was more flavor, though still very much on the tart side.  Better than day one but my verdict was that it was a wine past its time.

There was still half a bottle left so it was vacuumed again and opened for the last time two days later to go with a pork chop that was grilled and finished with a sauce of maple syrup and chipotle pepper.  The wine was tremendous.  The acid was back in balance with the fruit and the fruit had darkened in flavor to something more like what I expect from a Syrah based wine.  It was still on the light side but it was mellow, balanced and delicious.  The sweetness in the maple syrup did wonders for the sharp acid in the wine and the slight kick from the chipotle made the wine seem richer.

My last bottle of three of this wine - and by far the strangest.

1998 Paul Jaboulet Aine Hermitage La Chapelle.  13.5% alcohol and $105.