Cruise Day 4 - At Sea

Day 4 was a relaxing day sea as we cruised towards our next stop.

Slept in, had breakfast,  and wandered the ship and also took in a presentation on our upcoming port stops that was very educational.

Then after lunch, the most notable activity we did that day was the Fine Wine Tasting event.

3 of the ships sommelier's conducted the wine tasting, and it was both educational and an opportunity to try some higher-end wines.  Learned quite  a bit about wine, got to try wines I have never had before and some nice little bites accompanying them.

Very enjoyable.  

It opened with the champagne which was a nice opener to the tasting. Very nice glass that was dry, but not overly dry, and I'd certainly imbibe it again.

The Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc was very good.

The Shafer Red Shoulder Chardonnay was very nice and buttery smooth, and I'm normally not a fan of chardonnays at all, but I wouldn't turn that down if offered that again.

Interestingly enough, I found the house Cabernet that I would order with dinner, included in their Plus package (that we had for the cruise) to be tastier, at least to me, than their much higher-end Caymus on their tasting menu that is in their higher-end package.  

The CARO that we sampled at the tasting was really, really good (it's a blend of Cab and Malbec from Argentina) and I'd try to find a bottle of that somewhere to have again, even though its more than I'd normally spend for a bottle of wine. I mean that was a fantastic bottle of wine to my taste.

A very nice wine tasting.

More time was then spent wandering the ship, relaxing on the balcony, and just taking it easy, and then we went to dinner at the Steakhouse specialty restaurant which was magnificent.

Our waiter, Petar, was hillarious, gave magnificently great service, and made it a very memorable meal. We each had a ribeye that was cooked to perfection. Trust me, the very minor upcharge to experience a great steakhouse at sea over the standard restaurant (which has great food itself)  is well worth it. A reall;y perfect and special meal.

Then I played craps with the regulars at the table, and I then lost some money but had fun for hours and still remained ahead overall.

It was an excellent day at sea.

A Discovery Of Amontillado

I recently went to Total Wine, which is a dangerous place - think a Costco-sized building full of different wines and spirits from around the world. Quite a few interesitng bottles were purchased.

I was looking for some Sherry by Lustau for Tash, as we had tried some lovely sweet Lustau Sherry as a dessert finisher at a bar one night, and accidentally picked up and purchased a bottle of Amontillado Los Arcos that was mixed in with the sweeter Lustau Sherry that Tash likes.

It turns out it was quite a happy accident.   Of course we were expecting a sweet Sherry so the initial taste was rather not what were were expecting but it quickly grew on me.

The Amontillado is a dry sherry, not sweet but very refined and is most pleasant to drink. It is dry but not sand-papery. Not bitter, nor overly tannic, nor harsh as you might expect a fortified wine to be, it drinks most smoothly, and has a lot of depth and subtle flavors, and the aftertaste is very nice indeed.

If you think all sherries are sweet dessert wines think again.  

While there's absolutely nothing wrong with sweet dessert wines and the sweeter sherry, Amontillado changes your concept of what sherry can be.  This smooth, dry, light brown colored liquid stands on its own.

How good is it?  Well, after drinking this, I can understand why the fellow in the tale of the Cask of Amontillado was so easily lured with the promise of trying some fine Amontillado. 

So if you come across a bottle of Lustau Los Arcos Amontillado Sherry, don't run away thinking it is a dessert drink.  Instead, it's a rather fine wine. Apparently Sherry also offers impressive health benefits (This study brought to you by the Sherry industry), so there's yet another reason beyond simple enjoyment to consume it responsibly.

Weekend In The Wine Country Next Door

Tash and I decided on a weekend getaway this past weekend.  The first getaway without kids in tow in 14 years.

So with Leah happily ensconced in Abby's dorm room over the weekend due to a school break, we headed off to Essex County, Ontario.

The best part - no more fakakta ArriveCan App needed!  Even the Canadian Border people expressed that they were rather happy to see it gone.  Apparently it sucked for them just as it sucked for the users.

I had not realized that there was some beautiful wine country just a bit over an hour from our house, but there is, and it is truly lovely in autumn.

It was not the high season at all, so getting an AirBnB was easy right across the road from the CREW winery, with a short walk from there to the North 42 Degrees Winery, and a short drive from other wineries as well.  This made wine tasting rather convenient.

We arrived late on Friday night and awoke and then started to explore the area.

After breakfast we headed to Point Pelee National Park and hiked the nature trails there, seeing beaches on both the bay side and Lake Erie side of the point.

The bay side was calmer, even with large trees down from storms on the beach:

The Lake Erie side had some good wind and wave action going:

We walked further along into the marsh area of the Park, saw some ducks and some informative boards about he wildlife in the area.

Interestingly enough, the Beavers around here are bi-national:

An neat quirk of language, that.

Having suitably exercised, we decided to reward ourselves with a wine tasting at Oxley Winery. 

Oxley, like CREW and North 42 Degrees are all small, family-owned and operated Estate wineries.  Estate meaning the grapes used in their wine are grown on their properties. We did the Swanky Wine tasting, which featured their rarer and finer wines that they have produced. Some of them, for example, only have 50 cases produced of some of these particular vintages. 

Their master taster, Yvonne, did a nice job telling the history of Oxley Winery and the wines they produce, and the story of these wines in particular. We had a nice couple across from us and we got to chatting during the wine tasting and had a very pleasant time.

As to the tasting itself, the Bianca to start with was really great, I had never had a Bianca before, and it was smooth, crisp, semi-dry, and refreshing. 

Next up, the Barrel fermented Chardonnay was superlative.  I normally really dislike Chardonnay, but I could drink theirs all day if given the chance - no sour or gasoline aftertaste with this stuff, it was deliciously smooth without being sweet nor bitter and with a delightful finish.  

The Merlot and Merlot Cabernet were very good but their 2019 Syrah Reserve is delectable.  A really lovely full bodied wine that is simply awesome. I got an extra pour of that from Yvonne and sipped it in appreciation accordingly.

We then had a light lunch at the winery and the food, accompanied with more wine, of course, in this case a Winter Wowza - their white heated mulled wine, as we were dining outside and the wind was a tad chilly. Very tasty food and wine both.

We then walked the grounds for a bit, looking inside at the shops, and then headed off, checking out some local fruit stands, including one where they have test apples.

What are test apples?   Test apples are new varieties farmers are growing to develop the next great commercially successful apple.  Quite interesitng and tasty with interesitng varietal focus - some sweeter, some crisper, some of both. They are certainly developing some interesitng apples, and some may soon end up in an orchard near you.   Had to eat them there, as you can't cross the border with fruit.

Then we had a nap and after waking up changed into dinner clothes and walked across the road to CREW Winery and had a tasting and dinner there.

Tash loved their Gewürztraminer,  and I found their Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon to be mighty fine indeed.  Their Merlot felt a little watery and was too light for my taste, but their cab varieties are terrific.

Well wined and dined we walked back to our AirBNB and that was Saturday.

So on Sunday we got up, had a light breakfast at the AirBnB, packed up and checked out, wandered around the area for a bit and then headed over to North 42 Degrees Winery for brunch.

Lovely to see their vines as you pull up.

Lots of grapes remain on these particular vines, to hopefully become ice wine.

 

 

Inside, for brunch, we were seated on the top floor of their lovely main building.

 

The view from the room is amazing and had the weather been warmer, we would have eaten outside on their large deck with a lovely view.

Of the three wineries we visited, Wineries North 42 Degrees had the best food. 

Not to say the others were bad, as they were really very good, but this was a cut above.  The steak and poached eggs with Hollandaise sauce was cooked to perfection, and Tash's Smoked Salmon (smoked right on the premises)  Eggs Benedict was similarly outstanding.  I had a glass of their delectable Cabernet Sauvignon to accompany the Steak and Eggs. Tash had a French 75 made with their sparkling wine and an addition of some essence of lavender they grow on their estate. The brunch finished with a Belgian chocolate pots de creme. To say it was an awesome brunch would be an understatement.

We then toured the grounds of the winery and spent some time in their garden in the sun planning for the upcoming week.  After that, we headed to Amherstburg, a nice town with quite a bit of history, especially involving the War of 1812, on the Canadian side of the Detroit River.

So there are indeed Cannons to be seen.

They're some rather nice British 24-pounders, pointing across the river towards the US side, aimed to shoot over Bois Blanc Island, just in case of a rematch.

It's also a monument to the men of Amherstburg who lost their lives in World War One and World War Two.  

The monument is rather well done, with the names on plaques on the main monument, and then each of the stands describing the men who fell serving their country complete with their picture and a short synopsis of their service and loss.  Two of the boards are below:

 It's a very well-done memorial honoring the heroes of this town.

After viewing the memorial we explored the town, visited a local bookshop and bought some books, and visited a coffee shop to caffeinate before departing. We then headed off, and crossed back into the USA, picked up Leah, and went home after a great and restful weekend.

I had not visited Point Pelee before nor known about this neat wine region right next door to us.  It is now on the must visit again list and considering we could easily make a day trip of it, visit it again we shall do, as there are many more wineries there to visit, and the ones we visited already are also worth another trip.

Halloween Preparations

With Halloween approaching, the kids' thoughts turned to Pumpkins:

So we bought some and they and a friend made some pumpkins.

With three pumpkins carved, we had a ton of pumpkin seeds that we're going to toast and have later.

Abby carved hers all by herself this year:

Here's the Pumpkin undergoing a full candle test once done:

Abby's friend, who is a couple years older made this one from a pattern and did a very impressive job:

While the kids did pumpkin preparations, we prepared libations:

Leelanau Cellars' Witches Brew - a nice spiced red wine, served warm is just the thing for Halloween. An excellent and very tasty Michigan product well worth a try.

It's gonna be a great Halloween.