Locations F Dave Phinney

Travel Diaries: A Few Days in Chicago With A Few Wine Tidbits

July 15, 2024 2 comments

Chicago might be my second favorite big American city after New York. Of course, this is a business traveler’s opinion (planned many times to visit the city of Chicago as a tourist, but this never happened so far). Situated largely around the Chicago River, the city offers magnificent views all around (just scroll down :)). The city also played a cornerstone role in American history, so you can’t help but think about all that was happening on those streets…

I spent pretty much an entire [work] week in the city, and had an opportunity to walk around a bit (mostly in the evenings). I stayed at the Fairmont Hotel, so most of my pictures, obviously, are taken in the proximity of that hotel (and some are just from the room). The hotel was very nice, no complaints. However, last year I stayed at the Palmer House Hotel, and being a historic hotel (the Palmer House was built in 1871/1875, while Fairmont was built in 1987), it offered a lot more charm – to my taste, of course. Okay, now you will have to scroll for a bit to get the wine portion.

I hope these pictures give you an idea about the beautiful city of Chicago – of course, nothing can replace first-hand experience so you might want to add Chicago to your “to visit” list. Now, a few thoughts about wine.

As I’m sure you know my habits by now – when I travel, if convenient, I like to buy wine in the local supermarkets and grocery stores, just to see what is going on with the local wine scene. In Chicago, I visited Whole Foods and a large supermarket called Mariano’s, and I bought a bottle of wine at each place. Before we talk about particular wines, I just want to make a more generic comment, about the state of the wine market overall.

Media loves to talk about how wine is losing its popularity – not all of the alcohol categories, as wine stores can’t keep enough of the High Noons on the shelves, but specifically wine. People are buying less wine, people don’t drink wine, especially young people, and yada yada yada. I visited two large supermarkets, and both of them had shelves and shelves full of wine from around the world. These supermarkets are located in downtown Chicago, where real estate, I’m sure, is at a premium. If wine didn’t sell, these supermarkets wouldn’t keep such a supply on the shelves and give it so much space in the store. So I think the wine market is doing just fine…

Now, let’s talk about a few of my wine experiences in Chicago. First, I got this 2020 Famille Perrin Nature Côtes-du-Rhône Rouge (14.5% ABV, Grenache, Syrah, aged in stainless steel/oak barrels for 1 year, organic grapes) at Whole Foods. Perrin is a well-known name in French winemaking, and specifically in the Rhone – the family owns one of the most famous Rhone estates, Chateau de Beaucastel. When I saw this wine on the shelf for $15.99 (it was also on sale and cost $14 and a change), it was a perfect combination of a good name and a good price. Perrin family had been farmed organically for more than 40 years, and now this wine comes from a certified organic vineyard. I’m always a bit afraid that generic Côtes-du-Rhône red would be a little wimpy – the fear was unjustified with this wine, which delivered a perfect core of the dark fruit, good energy, perfect balance of acidity with well-integrated tannins. Definitely try this wine if you will see it.

My visit to Mariano’s yielded this NV Locations F French Wine Release 7 France (15.5% ABV, a blend of Grenache, Syrah, and assorted Bordeaux varietals, barrel-aged for 10 months). The wine selection at Mariano’s was large, but not interesting. I didn’t want to spend too much, so the Locations F at $19.99 was not the best value, but the most reasonable value/interesting wine compromise I could come up with.

Location wines are produced by well-known California winemaker, Dave Phinney, of Orin Swift Cellars fame (Prisoner, Machete, …). Location wines are typically non-vintage, and produced from the variety of grapes in the country of origin which is depicted on the label – F and FR for France, I and IT for Italy, CA for California, ES for Spain, and so on – you can learn more here. While the wines are not vintage-specific, there are different release numbers and each release might have an entirely different grape composition. For example, the Location F I had in 2015 was a Cabernet Sauvignon wine from France, while this release 7 is a blend of Grenache, Syrah, and other varieties.

The wine had a nice core of dark fruit, good acidity, and good overall balance. If I hadn’t looked at the label, I would never tell that it had 15.5% ABV – the alcohol was very well integrated and didn’t affect an overall balance. Not sure this would be my go-to wine at $20, but at the same time it was not the worst value either.

There is one more wine I would like to talk about here – 2021 Foradori Teroldego Vigneti delle Dolomiti IGT (12% ABV, cement tanks and used 20 to 40 hectoliters foudres for about 12 months, certified biodynamic). I had this wine at the Siena Tavern restaurant. To be entirely honest, this was almost the cheapest wine at $78. If there is one thing I despise with passion, it is ridiculously priced wine lists at restaurants. This same wine can be found in retail for about $25, so it was priced at triple retail. Definitely not the worst, as I’m sure the obscure nature of Teroldego played a role here – baby Ornellaia, Le Volte dell’Ornellaia, was priced at $89 on the same list, which makes it 4 (four!) times retail. I know a restaurant is a business, but come on… have common sense. I have to say that I didn’t see too many people with wine bottles on the tables, maybe that wine list requires some thought…

The wine itself was excellent. A touch gamey, both on the nose and the palate, dark fruit, roasted meat notes, crisp acidity – it was drinking very well… I looked up Fordari wines, and frankly, I would like to try other wines in the portfolio, especially the single vineyard Teroldegos.

Here you are, my friends – my Chicago trip with a few wines attached.

Categories: photography, Travel, wine recommendations Tags: Chicago, familie Perrin, Foradori, Foradori Teroldego, location wines, Locations F Dave Phinney, travel

Restaurant Files: Grand Experience at Bistro V in Greenwich, Connecticut

July 25, 2015 8 comments

For the past 2 years, I had an opportunity to experience many great Connecticut restaurants, often in the group of passionate foodies (also known as bloggers), and to share those experiences with the world. Majority of our visits included food and wine, but I would say that food was always a star. Don’t get me wrong – we had a lot of wonderful cocktails and wines at most of the places we visited, but we had to connect food with wine on our own.

What would make dining experience “Grand”? To me, this is simple – proper pairing of food with the wine completely changes your dining experience. When the wine “works” with the food, the result is greater than the simple sum of two – it is totally different, elevated experience, a true celebration for your taste buds. This is exactly what I experienced at our recent visit to Bistro V & Pâtisserie in Greenwich, Connecticut. Every dish on the menu had its own wine pairing – and most importantly, not just a pairing, but very successful pairing.

Bistro V originally opened in 1980 on the busy Greenwich Avenue strip of shops and restaurants in Greenwich. In 2014, Marc and Evelyne Penvenne (originally from Burgundy, the owners of another successful Greenwich eatery, Méli-Mélo Crêperie & Juice Bar) took over the Bistro V and since then reintroduced it to their customers, maintaining dining experience as French classic as it can be.

We started our evening with the cocktail of Byrrh and Sparkling wine. Byrrh is something I never heard of before. According to Wikipedia, it is “an aromatised wine-based apéritif made of red wine, mistelle, and quinine”. Byrrh was created in 1860s, and it was very popular as an apéritif in Europe and US. It disappeared in US after the Prohibition, and was reintroduced back only in 2012. The cocktail of Byrrh and Monmousseau sparkling wine was excellent, light, refreshing and very easy to drink ( dangerously easy).

While we were enjoying our apéritif, two Hors D’oeuvres showed up, perfectly single bite size – tiny toasts with smoked salmon and similarly sized Paté toasts. Both worked extremely well with our sparkling apéritif.

As we situated at our tables, the bread baskets arrived. It is not for nothing there is a word Pâtisserie in the name of the restaurant. Baking is an indelible part of Bistro V, and while these were not the pastries, which Bistro V is famous for (well deserves a separate post), these rolls were incredible – fresh, yeasty, comforting, crusty, warm and fuzzy feeling-inducing. Nope, can’t describe it – but this bread alone is well worth the restaurant visit.

One fun part of been in a group of bloggers (besides the fact that no dish arriving at the table can be touched until multiple cameras with flash and without would be deployed for the good period of time – and also nobody would scream at you about using the flash) is that you get to see and do things which would be impossible if you just come to eat at the restaurant as a regular customer. For instance, to visit the kitchen. We were given an opportunity to step into the kingdom of the Executive Chef Erik Erlichson and snap a few pictures as the food was ready to be brought out – definitely a fun thing to do.

Our dinner started with Watermelon Salad (Ricotts salata, Candy-pickled rind, pine nuts, baby arugula, lemon vinaigrette). The contrast of sweet watermelon and sharp cheese was perfect, and addition of peppery arugula and pine nuts provided both spicy undertones and the texture. The intended wine pairing was Barone Fini Pino Grigio from Veneto. I have to tell you that inner snob got in the way here, and I expressed my surprise with the Italian Pinot Grigio at the French restaurant to our server – as the result, my pour was very small and I finished it before salad arrived – I think they would work together well, but I was unable to establish that.

Our next dish was Chilled Maine Lobster (Court-Bouillon-poached, hearts of palm, radish, tomato, cilantro emulsion). With this dish, there was a slight inconsistency, which is probably unavoidable when serving tasting portions – the portions which had mostly the claws were excellent, but the other part of the body were rather chewy. But in any case, the dish paired perfectly with 2014 Domaine La Colombe Rosé, Provence, which was excellent, clean, with touch of strawberries and perfect balance.

Next up – the Iron Skillet Grilled Branzino (Shaved fennel in citrus emulsion, orange “oil”) – an outstanding presentation to begin with. Crispy skin and very tasty dish overall, with an excellent balance of flavor. Here we were first introduced to the range of wines from Lebanon. 2012 Ixsir Altitudes White, Lebanon (blend of Muscat, Viognier, Sauvignon, Sémillon) had a touch of white fruit on the nose, spicy balanced palate of white peaches and a hint of spices, overall an outstanding wine. The pairing was excellent, the wine really boosted the flavor of the dish, moving the whole experience to the next level.

Next dish was Crispy Hudson Valley Duck Breast (Salad of confit, snap peas, carrot ginger dressing) – this was simply a perfection on the plate – every component of the dish was excellent by itself and delicious together. The wine pairing was very surprising – Cabernet Sauvignon blend from France (I would rather expect to see a Pinot Noir with duck), but once again, the wine complemented the dish spot on, delivering the next level of hedonistic pleasure. “F” Cabernet Sauvignon by Dave Phinney, France (15% ABV) had nice red fruit, touch of herbs, dark fruit on the palate, mint, touch of earthiness, nice spice and excellent balance, making the high ABV absolutely unnoticeable.

At this point in the dinner my relationship with the server completely restored after the Pinot Grigio fiasco, and I got to taste the wine which was not a part of the wine program for the evening – 2012 Ixsir Altitudes Rosé, Lebanon, a blend of Syrah and Caladoc (a new grape for me!) which was excellent, crisp, with strawberries on the palate and clean acidity, very refreshing.

Question: have you come across a new phenomenon (for me, at least) – a natural mineral water from Bordeaux? I saw one recently at the wine store, and we got to taste one at the restaurant – we had Ô Muse Grand Cru de l’Eau Natural Mineral Water from Bordeaux, both still and sparkling. I wouldn’t claim that I noticed any difference with any other regular or sparkling water, but I still wanted to mention this as we should expect to see those more often.

Ô Muse Grand Cru de l'Eau Natural Mineral Water

Let’s get back to food. While all the dishes were outstanding, I still had a favorite of the evening – Versailles Steak Tartar (Filer Mignon pf grass-fed beef, house sauce, traditional condiments, baguette toasts) – my notes only say “wow! wow!” – do I need to say more? This dish was a fiesta of flavor, simply spectacular. If you like Steak tartar, you owe it to yourself to come and experience it at Bistro V. The wine pairing was absolutely spectacular as well. 2010 Ixsir Altitudes Cabernet Blend, Lebanon (blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Caladoc, Tempranillo) had the nose of herbs, tobacco, smoke and red fruit. The palate was concentrated, with the nice tannins, dark fruit, firm and well structured – an excellent wine overall.

Our dessert was very simple, but uniquely refreshing and delicious – Chilled Fruit Soup (Cedric’s frozen yogurt). It also paired perfectly with Pineau de Charentes, a fortified wine made from the lightly fermented grape must with addition of neutral Cognac brandy.

Pineau des Charentes with Cedric's Frozen Yogurt

At the end of the evening, we had an opportunity to thank Executive Chef Erik Erlichson for the delicious meal and inundate him with questions.

There you have it, my friends – Grand Experience at the Bistro V in Greenwich, Connecticut. If you live in the area or plan to visit, I highly recommend you will make Bistro V a part of your dining plans. Cheers!