Dinner Club - Vancouver Meets Bretagne

Due to member travels, our Dinner Club takes an annual winter break until our snow birds have returned to roost - except, of course, unless the gang all heads off together like we did last year to Antigua when Jeaux and Matinder hosting a once-in-a-lifetime St. Patrick's Day dinner.

J&M were hosting this time as well and, once again, they took us "on the road." However, their theme for this round wasn't Caribbean based. Rather they focused on all things Bretagne since they had just returned from a sailing regatta in that northern province of France. Luckily, it was a gorgeous day and we were able to start dinner up on Jeaux and Mutineer's rooftop deck. It was if we'd been transported off to a sunny après-midi en France.

1942.  N.V. Henriot Rosé (Reims - Champagne - France)

As is only befitting a culinary trip to France, we started off with a little bubbly. Although Bretagne isn't exactly next door to the Champagne region of France, it's certainly a lot closer than Vancouver is.

Henriot refers to themselves as one of the last independent and family owned houses in Champagne and they've been making Champagne for over two centuries, having been established in 1808. Their Brut is made with all three classic Champagne grapes: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier and their hint of rosé colour is achieved by adding a bit of the Pinot Noir wine prior to the final bottling.

Along with our bubble, Matinder and Jeaux served up a cider spritzer along with a bevy of hors d'oeuvres as we lounged on the roof. The spritzer is common to the apple growing region and we also had a quartet of mousse/pâtés that Jeaux proclaimed were omnipresent throughout the region. She'd also made some savoury pâte à choux, blood sausage tarts and filled crisps. We probably could have filled up on just the nibblies but, bien sûr, there was plenty more to come.

Our first step to happiness, once we'd arrive at the dinner table was an assortment of salads - particularly featuring beets and noodles. The course was accompanied by a duo of boutique wines with a similar heritage.

1943.  2014 Mike B. Riesling Cabinett (Okanagan Valley)

2011 Kurtis Wild Ferment Semillon (Okanagan Valley)

Both of the wines were made at Okanagan Crush Pad under the mentorship program that was introduced as part of the Vancouver International Wine Festival's Sommelier of the Year award. The winner of the annual prize is provided the opportunity to make a small batch wine of their choice. The sommelier, cum winemaker, gets to choose the grape and the style of wine they'd like to tackle - and the limited production can sometimes be found on the local shelves.

Kurtis Kolt was the first sommelier to make a wine as part of the Wine Campus series and I'd hunted down a bottle some years back when it was originally released. Accordingly, it has already been added to The List as #1248 and, therefore, doesn't get another number this time around.

The second bottle was made by Mike Bernardo, of Vij's restaurant, as he was named Sommelier of the Year in 2014. He opted to make a wine along the lines of wines that he'd regularly pair with menu items served at Vij's. I hadn't seen this wine yet. So, I was particularly pleased to give it a whirl - both because of its provenance and because he'd chosen Riesling. Bright with acidity, I can see its versatility with a number of dishes.

1944.  2012 Barton & Guestier - Lobster & Shrimp Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine (Muscadet Sèvre-et-Maine AOC - Loire - France)

I remember B&G as one of the few French labels that I'd recognize many years ago when I first started to grab the odd bottle of wine now and then. They certainly didn't go in for this mass market kind of label back in the day but, then again, there were no critter wines back in the 70's and 80's - unless you counted Baby Duck and its ilk as critter wines. This bottling is part of collection of wines that are meant to give the consumer a (none-too-subtle) hint about what meal might pair nicely with the wine. A definite bonus - I should think - considering that I very much doubt that there are many folks in our Vancouver market who would have the slightest idea what to expect from a bottle of wine made from the Melon de Bourgogne grape.

The label certainly came in handy when it came to our trying to pair the wines, brought by all of the dinner guests, with an appropriate dinner course. We might not have been dining on lobster but I think mussels weren't too far off.

1945.  2006 Domaine la Barroche Châteauneuf-du-Pape (Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC - Rhône - France)

We normally would have served up a C-du-P with a heartier course but we seemed to have hit the dessert course before we had need to pull the cork. Unfortunately, I can't claim to have had the pleasure of knocking back many bottles of Domaine la Barroche but I can certainly say that I haven't met a bottle of their's that I haven't enjoyed. The small estate's production is difficult to find and one of their flagship wines, Pure, is generally found only on an allocation basis.

Their signature Châteauneuf-du-Pape is standardly a Grenache-driven wine and the winery, 2003 having been their first vintage, definitely steers to a more modern, fruit-laden product. I figured it could pair up to Jeaux' trio of typical Bretagne desserts. Besides, if no one else wanted to go the route of a red with dessert, that would just mean more for me.

Thinking a bit of a stretch and a flight of stairs might do us all some good, we once again retired to the roof deck to chat away the balance of the evening. Funnily enough, there were still some wines that had yet to be touched. Tyrant pointed out that we truly must be getting long in the tooth because he couldn't recall a previous dinner club where there was still this much wine left by the end of dinner. He followed that statement up with his offer to give it the old college try and drink some of the remaining juice - particularly since he'd spirited a couple of Burgundy's out of the cellar in honour of the fact that I was in my final 100 wines for the blog.

1946.  2012 Joseph Drouhin Saint-Véran (Saint-Véran AOC - Burgundy - France)

1947.  2003 Moillard Mercurey (Mercurey AOC - Burgundy - France)

Going to Burgundy and pulling out a Chardonnay and a Pinot Noir certainly added to the Gallic fare of the evening. I think Tyrant might have been right when he thought we should have been better pikers during dinner so that we'd have opened these with the benefit of food but the wines seemed to go down well enough on their own.

Then again, it was late, and the time for constructive tasting had long passed. These were simply good for propelling the conversation forward on one of the first long nights of summer.

Kremmig Crème du Plessis (À L'Eau de Vie de Cidre de Bretagne)

Our hosts trotted out one final treat as well. They'd brought back a bottle of Kremmig from their adventures in Bretagne. Kremmig is a specialty of the du Plessis distillery - a cream based, eau de vie made with Lambig. Lambig, itself, is a Bretagne specialty liquor made by distilling hard cider.

There was no going back to wine after the Kremmig. All that creaminess just coated the mouth and said "you're stuck with me now kid." Not that we needed more wine.

Jeaux and Matinder may have transported us to a corner of France for the evening but reality of needing to return to our Vancouver beds had us all bidding "au revoir" and "à bientôt" and heading off into the night. The Lady Di and She Who Must Be Obeyed are next up on the hosting schedule. Just a little something to look forward to.

An Antipodean Landmark

Except for that one vacation when he was on the "Merlot Boy No Merlot Diet," there's never been a shortage of party or booze present whenever we find ourselves with Merlot Boy. Whether it's in VanCity, Oz, Vegas or the Big Easy, it's always been 5 o'clock somewhere. Then, there's Margarita, that lovely little addition to the travelling entourage, and her nom-de-blog is likely enough of an indication as to the influence she has on the collective decision-making process. So, we were somewhat taken aback when our favourite Aussie wanted nothing more than a small dinner party to celebrate his 50th birthday - even though we'd offered to throw a rave of a bash for him.

Despite the fact that there may have only been a tight cadre of nearest and dearest, that didn't mean that Merlot Boy was putting the kibosh on a smorgasbord of wine. Indeed, I'm adding a full ten bottles to The List - and the count would have been higher except that there were a couple of duplicates.

1677.  N.V. Josef Chromy (Tasmania)

Every landmark birthday calls for a sparkling kick-off and, given our birthday boy's Aussie heritage, we popped the cork on a bottle of Tassie bubble. Luckily the weather was everything a boy could ask for. So, we took advantage of the garden setting. Merlot Boy hadn't even heard of Josef Chromy before; however, one must realize that you can pretty well bet on the fact that MB will be draining the brewskis most of his time in Tasmania. After all, almost all of his visits there coincide with footy games when his beloved Hawks play a "home away from home" game.

1678.  2013 Folonari Pinot Grigio (Italy)

As much as I try to get Merlot Boy to drink BC wine when he's visiting, he still gravitates to his Aussie reds or to bargain buys that he recognizes from home. Trying to tell him that BC makes some of the best Pinot Gris in the world is like trying to convince an Aussie that there actually are some lovely Kiwi wines in the market. Yeah mate, as if.

1679.  2013 Paul Hobbs - CrossBarn Rosé of Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast - California)

I don't generally look to California for my Rosés either. Memories of California and White Zinfandel can be hard to get rid of - especially when the Okanagan is becoming a bit of a hotbed for Rosé. From the shot, it looks like there couldn't have been a better choice of wine for the BBQ'd salmon though - at least from a colour coordination standpoint. Good thing the wine tasted as good as it looked.

1680.  2010 Eau Vivre Pinot Noir (Okanagan Valley VQA)

I needed to throw at least one BC wine into the mix. Given that salmon was the main course and we were definitely a red-leaning group, I figured a perennial critic's fave would be a good pour for the table. Not sure that I did anything to convert Merlot Boy's buying habits, but the wine was certainly well-received.

And from that point on, the photos of wine bottles was a forgotten task. There were plenty of photos taken - just not of the wine bottles. There's the one at the end of the post of all the dead soldiers but you'll just have to take me at my word that the wine kept flowing long after the salmon was cleared from the table.

2012 Wirra Wirra - Scrubby Rise (not added to The List as we've already downed this vintage)

1681.  2013 Lindeman's Cawarra Shiraz-Cabernet (South Eastern Australia)

1682.  2012 Tommasi - Le Prunée (Merlot della Venezie IGT - Italy)

I think this bottle was someone's way of telling Merlot Boy that he's getting old and wrinkled - like a prune - but in a classy way, hence "Le Prunée." 

1683.  2011 Hess Select Cabernet Sauvignon (North Coast - California)

1684.  2011 Long Flat Cabernet Shiraz (Australia)

As luck would have it, Miss Jaq's 50th was only a week or so apart from Merlot Boy's. He may live in Melbourne but it often feels like we see more of him than we do of Miss Jaq since she's usually off somewhere teaching in exotic locales like Abu Dhabi or China. Luckily, she was spending the summer in Vancouver and was able to celebrate right along with Merlot Boy.

And celebrate we did. Maybe not to the same extent as we did for Daveyboi's 50th, but that's likely a good thing. I think there were a few too many martinis poured at that birthday bash. Perhaps having Miss Jaq and Elzee in attendance just kept the boys a tad more in line than is often the case.

1685.  2008 De Bortoli Noble One Botrytis Semillon (New South Wales - Australia)

This wine was not chosen as a dig at Merlot Boy's advancing age. Botrytis may be known as "noble rot" but not even we would joke that MB is in an advanced stage of rot. Rather, I chose this lovely because, like him, it's iconic and Australian. Noble One is one of those bottles that you feel you have to keep for a special occasion. There aren't many events that are more special than a landmark birthday with equally monumental friends.

Thing is, there were one or two (at most...as if) that were still going strong after the dessert wine. Accordingly, a quick reach into the cellar was needed. However, I will have you know that I, personally, only had enough of a pour to legitimately add it to The List.

1686.  2009 Henry's Drive - Dead Letter Shiraz (Padthaway - South Australia)

In the spirit of the evening, it was Aussie and it was big and bold.

It might be a good thing that we don't have 50th birthdays to celebrate every week. I'd get through this Odyssey count a lot faster but the old liver might have a bit of comment to make.

Happy happy bud!

The 2013 Annual AWAS Gala Dinner

Amongst its variety of tastings, Vancouver's Australian Wine Appreciation Society hosts an annual Gala Dinner and for the last five years, it's been building on a tradition of raiding the society's cellar and creating the dinner around 10-year old wines that have been salted away by our cellar master. The evening's assortment of wines included some promising treats - despite the fact that the dinner started with a caution that 2003 was a difficult vintage for most of Australia.

2003 might have been a year of rains and short growing seasons but you wouldn't have known it from the wines that we were poured. I guess it just goes to show that the best winemakers can still pull off good wines in challenging vintages. Production levels might be down and 100-point scores might be missing, but the best wines still manage to make a statement.

The dinner was held at Tramonto Restaurant at the River Rock Casino and the evening's menu had some treats to match the wines. Plate-wise, a favourite of Boo's and mine was the parsnip velouté with duck confit and balsamic pear chutney. The '03 Rockford Semillon and Vasse Felix Chardonnay weren't my favourite pours of the night - as the whites showed a little more age than I tend to appreciate - but the soup more than made up for it. I held back from licking the bowl clean but I was sorely tempted. The Grosset Polish Hill Riesling (from an earlier course) fared a bit better for me. Even so, the minerality that showed prominently with its age made it a difficult match for the sweet shellfish that it was served with.

The reds hit a much better note for me - and they weren't even being paired with lamb. I'm not sure that I remember the last Aussie-themed dinner I attended that didn't feature a bit of lamb on the menu. Smoked sablefish and stuffed chicken leg filled in for the lamb tonight and we were none-the-worse for it (and that's coming from a great lover of lamb). Another surprise - beyond the lack of lamb - was the fact that a Samuel's Gorge Shiraz from McLaren Vale was poured. I'd never heard of Samuel's Gorge until last Spring when Boo and I spent a couple days in the region and Samuel's Gorge was the winery right down the road from where we were staying at Chapel Hill. Here, I thought we'd cottoned on to a hidden gem and AWAS has had some of their wine in the cellar for years.

The Samuel's Gorge was paired with a Shiraz from Heartland. This is a project of well known Aussie winemaker Ben Glaetzer and this Shiraz hails from the lesser known Limestone Coast and Fleurieu Peninsula that is a little further south of McLaren Vale. It was interesting that neither Shiraz was from the Barossa. Indeed, it was the Rockford Cab Sauv that hailed from the Barossa and it was matched with a Coonawarra St. Hugo's Cab from Jacob's Creek.

1249.  2003 Elderton Botrytis Semillon (Riverina - Australia)

All the reds delivered nicely and I'd be hard pressed to pick a favourite from them. The one bottle that I'm going to add to The List from the Gala, however, is an Aussie take on classic Sauternes. Tramonto's chef took the promised tropical notes and luscious richness of this Elderton treat to heart and served it with a first for me: deep fried crème brûlée and pineapple carpaccio.

Yup. Anyone. Anytime. Anywhere. If you're going to end my dinner with crème brûlée and dessert wine, you're likely sending me home a happy Bob. That was definitely the case tonight. I'm not sure how one deep fries crème brûlée but I'm more than willing to risk the additional calories to try it out again.

For the moment though, we'll just have to wait to see what surprises will be in store for next year's dinner and the selection of the 2004 vintage wines.

Crawdads Like They Should Be

Still being a relatively new convert to Twitter (yes, you can follow me @2001bottles), I'm constantly surprised with the great news and laughs that abound.  I saw a tweet mentioning that a fish monger, not far from our neighbourhood, had a rare shipment of live crawfish arriving.  A quick call into the shop scored us three pounds and a chance to redeem our invite to Mr. D. from a couple of months back when Boo ran across some frozen bugs - that turned out to be truly awful.  I mean REALLY bad.  We owed Mr. D. big time after that night.

These ones, on the other hand, were so fresh, we caught a handful of them trying to escape from the bag they were in prior to their impending engagement with our dinner plate. Indeed, one was found behind our microwave about 10 minutes into dinner when we kept hearing a funny sound coming from the kitchen.  Despite the little guy's valiant efforts, I wouldn't have the slightest idea about keeping a crawfish as a pet; so, he went into the pot all the same.

1248.  2011 Kurtis Wild Ferment Semillon (VQA Okanagan Valley)

The first bottle that we opened was one that I'd been looking forward to trying ever since I'd heard about it.  "Kurtis" is Kurtis Kolt, one of Vancouver's most recognizable wine names.  In 2010, he had been named Sommelier of the Year by the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival (as it was at the time). As of that year, an intriguing prize was also awarded to the recipient.  In conjunction with the Okanagan Crush Pad, the concept of a Wine Campus was conceived and Kurtis was given the opportunity to make 100 cases of his own wine - with all the proceeds going to the BC Hospitality Foundation.

In one of his columns in the local WestEnder paper, Kurtis wrote that "I've had no illusions of giving up the city life in favour of small-town living in the valley, but the idea of having a hand in making just a barrel of something really floats my boat." As one of the promotional releases recounted, he was afforded the opportunity to "take part in the full decision-making process that is involved in creating a wine label, from viticulture, grape selection, and winemaking to the final blending, labelling, marketing and bottling process."

I find it interesting that Kurtis chose to go with Semillon.  It's not a grape that's all that common to the Okanagan.  His choice of going with a wild ferment and use of one of Okanagan Crush Pad's new concrete egg fermenters just made the wine's production all the more interesting to me.

I'll admit that I don't drink all that much Semillon and I'm not all that familiar with its best known characteristics.  As such, I can't say whether the wine is all that true to the varietal or not.  I do know, however, that it's certainly getting nice reviews in the local wine press. As for me, I'm really glad to have found a bottle - given its great background story and limited availability - but it didn't rock my world.  It could just be that it didn't match up with our crawdads and that, maybe, I'd have a completely different opinion in a different setting.  For the moment though, I like the story behind the wine more than the wine itself.

1249.  2007 Château Sainte Colombe (AOC Côtes de Castillon - Bordeaux - France)

The evening's red was a bit of a nod to the new Bordeaux release that's just on the horizon. The Côtes de Castillon district isn't generally seen as a star appellation in the Bordeaux system, but it is seen as region that shows lots of potential and has seen considerable investment in an attempt to compete with its neighbouring districts - Saint-Émilion and Pomerol.  Sainte Colombe is owned the Perse family who also own the higher end Château Pavie in Saint-Émilion - a wine that has been in the centre of stylistic criticisms between Jancis Robinson and Robert Parker, two of the most influential wine critics in the business.  Château Pavie goes for hundreds of dollars each but the Sainte Colombe is far more affordable - try low double digits.

Typical of Right Bank Bordeaux wines, this is a Merlot dominant wine (70% or so) with Cabernet Franc making up most of the remainder.  Unlike the 2009 vintage which is about to be released, 2007 was a cooler year for the region and, accordingly, this wine isn't quite as full or flush with fruit as I tend to like.  That being said, the cajun spicing on the crawfish seemed to draw out some spice in the wine and I went for a refill of the red before I reached for the Semillon.

It doesn't seem like I've given a ringing endorsement to either of the night's wines.  Regardless of that fact, there wasn't a drop left in either bottle by the end of the evening.  And, perhaps more importantly, the crawdads were delicious!  The mortification would have been unbearable if we'd served up to crawfish stinkers in a row to Mr. D.  Big sigh of relief there.

Raspberries and Black Noble

Everyone - in particular, the gardeners amongst us - has been complaining about the lack of summer weather in Vancouver. Everything green seems to be weeks behind a normal growing season. The "Bummer Summer" doesn't seem to have had an evil effect on our garden raspberries though.

We're enjoying our best crop ever and Boo harvested our current bounty today.

Not only that. He even decided to accentuate the positive and make a pie for us to dig into as well. Such an occasion called for an equally special wine to accompany the taste treat. We have a bit of a stockpile of dessert wines; so, it seemed like a no-brainer to reach for a bottle that's been there waiting for a chance like this.

863. N.V. De Bortoli Black Noble (New South Wales - Australia)

Looking at this wine, you'd be hard pressed to guess that it hails from white grapes and Australia. The Aussies have quite a history with "stickies" and fortified wines as many wineries started with that style of wine when the Australian wine industry was getting established.

Black Noble is a pretty unique wine all on its own though. One of De Bortoli's most lauded wines is its Noble One - a Botrytised Semillon somewhat stylized on a French Sauternes. With this wine, the De Botoli's take some of that late harvest Noble One and add a couple of bonus steps. They both fortify it and age it in a solera-like, fractional blending system. The Black Noble sees an average aging process of eight years in oak.

The end result is an unctuous, deep wine that is regularly commented on as displaying overtones of coffee and toffee - two of Boo's favourite flavours. With notes like that, it was just desserts all around.

I'll have to hope that we get another harvest of berries - to see what other surprises might be in store.

Showing Our Pride

What better way could there be to start this year's Pride entry than with an advert from the Ontario Liquor Board that celebrates all things GBLT and cocktails of all persuasions. This may be a wine blog but I'm not sure that I match up with the ad's wine references. I'm fairly certain that I don't qualify as "a bisexual that can't decide between Cabernet or Chardonnay" and I can guarantee you that, despite having a distinct fondness for Rose this summer, I'm not one of "the trans folk who navigate the divide like a rose wine." I'll have to work on a witty catch phrase for Boo and I - or you can come up with one yourself. Best relate it to Riesling or Syrah though.

In the meantime, let's throw out a few gratuitous photos to support the two additions I am proud to bring to The List.

Unluckily for Boo, he had to work on this year's big day and the Parade, but, luckily for me, the lovely and talented Miss Jaq was in town and she was happy (if not downright gay) about joining me downtown for the Pride Parade. The Former Ms. WESA and KT invited Miss Jaq and I to their Pride Brunch where we had a great chance to prep ourselves for the big Parade with lively chat, tasty treats and Mimosas!

547. N.V. Freixenet Codon Negro Cava (Spain)

Good for both mimosas and simple sipping, this Spanish Cava is a great substitute for French bubbles. Very few folks would know what you were talking about if you said you were serving a blend of Macabeo, Xarel-lo and Parellada, but our little brunch gang went through enough bottles to confirm that it's a blend that works.

As much as we could easily have lingered and increased our sparkle quotient, the beckoning fun on the street pulled us away from the comfort of the boys' deck-stravaganza. Considering it's likely the last brunch to be hosted by them in the West End, I'm glad we were able to drop in.

From the deck, we wandered down to the curbside real estate that Lady Di and She Who Must Be Obeyed had staked out - portable table and tiki umbrella setting a comfortable step up from the hard sidewalk. I particularly thought that the mini-mirror balls were a superb addition. As you can see, we arrived early enough to beat that portion of the 600,000 crowd that lined the route.

I suppose I need to breeze through the actual Parade because there weren't exactly any new bottles to add to The List. The Lady did offer "special coffee" but we didn't plan well enough to sip our way through all the life passing us by. Next year! We'll be better prepared.

I've always had a bit of a hankering for The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and I was glad to see that a new chapter had actually opened in Vancouver. Mr. D. and I (but particularly Mr. D) were actually blessed the night before by a novice sister of the Abbey of the Long Cedar Canoe. I hope it's not our last encounter.

I thought this year's Parade was a ton o'fun. No doubt the Mimosas, special coffees and curbside seats all contributed to a little more dancing and interaction than usual. I thought that the costumes were better than ever - even if the dancing boy floats will never challenge T.O., NYC or Amsterdam.

Catching Elzee's ear during the Parade proved to be particularly beneficial on the bead front. One can never have too many beads - regardless of the dictates of the local gay rag's "boi about town" - who declared them passe. My guess is he's never even been to Mardi Gras. One can never fully appreciate the importance or joy of beads until Bourbon Street or the Krewe Parades are experienced.

The Parade was a long one this year but we managed to last until the last dancing boy wandered by. That was a bit of a feat considering that the Lady Di had to catch a plane that afternoon and we had to take down the curbside lounge.

Hopefully, we'll get another invite next year. We'll work even harder on the set up and party atmosphere.

Following the Parade, Miss Jaq and I wandered over to the Festival at Sunset Beach to take in the crowds and activities. It's become a new tradition of our's to grab a bottle of wine and sip on the hill as all the gay life wanders by and celebrates around us. We stopped at Marquis Cellars to pick up a bottle on our way to the beach. Our choice of wine did have a few selection parameters to keep in mind. One it was hot out, so a chilled white seemed useful. A screw-cap was rather critical. And Miss Jaq is partial to BC wines while at home. It wasn't an endless supply of options but we did pretty darned well.

548. 2009 Black Hills Alibi (VQA - Okanagan Valley)

Miss Jaq had never had a bottle of Alibi before, so I figured it time that she gave it a try. A blend of around 80% Sauvignon Blanc and 20% Semillon, this classic white Bordeaux blend is a perennial BC fave. I remember that one of BC's better known wine writers once said that an earlier vintage of Alibi wasn't only a great wine, but might be the best white wine ever produced in BC.

That was a few years ago and I don't know if the same accolades are still being thrown about but Miss Jaq was pleasantly surprised and the wine was a great balance of cool, fruit and acid to pass some time among our celebratory friends.

Plus, we added another piece of sculpture from Vancouver's Biennale to our wine locales. Jaq didn't even know that the Biennale existed. She was totally intrigued because Abu Dhabi has gi-normous plans for its own Biennale in the years to come. This piece was right above our wine spot at Sunset Beach and seems to be one of the most appreciated pieces in the city. It's by Jaume Plensa of Spain and is called "We, 2008."

One last note for this entry. While Jaq and I were enjoying the Alibi, we were continually serenaded by heavy bass and dance beats. We went back up to Beach Avenue and an impromptu dance party had been set up by the Rave Babes. Miss J. and I joined in for so many songs - despite the fact that we were old enough to be parents to any of the dancing Rave Babes.

What was really a hoot was that this party was happening in virtually the exact spot where Miss Jaq and I watched our first Pride Parade together - maybe 25 years ago. We were sitting on the curbside (without all the accoutrements - or crowds for that matter) and a drag queen of the day walked by, smiled and pronounced with arms wide open, "Oh isn't that sweet, Milk and Cookies." One of my best Pride memories of all time.

A Retreat to Penfolds

434. 2008 Penfolds Rawson's Retreat Semillon/Chardonnay (South East Australia)

Whoa, after all the postings that have been related to the Playhouse Wine Festival, hockey playoffs and special events, it's going to seem tame to just have a basic weeknight wine to write about. Not to downplay Penfolds or anything, but this is simply a have-at-home-on-any-evening kind of wine. We just thought it'd go with a corn and crab chowder.

The Penfolds website even refers to this brand as being "affordable, everyday, easy-drinking wine and is a classic Australian marriage of fruit power and structure." I think the first part of the sentence is perhaps the more memorable aspect of the wine.

The Semillon plays almost a 2/3's role in the blend and the grapes are sourced from throughout the South East wine regions of the country - which pretty much encompasses every region in the country.

It's not likely to become a summer, go-to white around our house. But, then, it's a $12 bottle of wine; so, I don't think one's expectations should be a whole lot more than a nice sip - and it's all that.