One of the greatest pleasures the table offers is a leisurely couple of hours spent snacking over wine: embracing the Spanish concept picar — just a nibble here and there. For something so delicious and satisfying, a dinner of tapas is also easy to prepare: we already had a chorizo in the fridge from Olympic Provisions in Portland, OR and a quick trip to Surdyk’s yielded a wedge of Chabrin cheese (French, true, but near the border), some Basque-style olives and a bottle of fruity and spicy Spanish wine (2007 Peñascal Tempranillo-Shiraz).

I happened to have a loaf of bread baking in the oven, but it would have been just as well to buy bread. Cured meat, cheese, olives, bread and wine; something about these foods seems very elemental to civilization. It would have been enough to stop at the essentials, but since it was Saturday and Saturday compels me toward more ambitious cooking projects, I also made patatas bravas, my favorite Spanish bar food.

Two hours passed picando with one, two, three glasses of wine is a fine way to spend the evening.

Patatas Bravas

Take whatever quantity of potatoes suits you and cut them into irregular chunks. Peel the potatoes if desired. A recipe I read suggested starting them slow in oil and gradually increasing the heat until they are deeply golden. My own technique was to par-cook the potatoes in boiling water until a fork could just be inserted, then drain and dry them. I then fried them in 350°F oil until they were golden — unfortunately our stove’s rather pathetic BTU output meant this took too long and the potatoes got a bit tough. Probably the best technique is to follow french-fry procedure: blanch the potatoes in 325ºF oil until blond and then finish them at 375ºF. The goal is to have crispy potatoes with creamy interiors. Salt the potatoes after removing them from the oil.

Serve hot with salsa brava and alioli.

Salsa Brava

• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 ½ cups tomato puree, fresh or canned
• 1 t paprika (pimentón dulce)
• ½ t cayenne
• 1 t salt

Heat the garlic and olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat until the garlic turns golden. Add the tomatoes and fry until the color darkens slightly. Stir in the paprika, cayenne and salt and simmer a few more minutes. Taste for seasoning: the sauce should be slightly spicy and taste clearly of paprika.

Alioli

• 1 clove garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press
• ¼ t ground mustard
• 1 t salt
• ¼ t black pepper
• 2 t lemon juice
• 1 egg yolk
• ½–¾ c olive oil

Whisk together garlic, mustard, salt, pepper, lemon juice and egg yolk. Slowly drizzle in olive oil, whisking constantly, until desired thickness is reached. Adjust seasoning.

Tom and I enjoyed an afternoon of grape picking at St. Croix Vineyards on Saturday. The staff at the Vineyards started us off with lunch and wine, then we headed out into the vines for a lesson in picking.

We used clippers to remove the bunches of grapes and any dried or bird/bee eaten ones in the bunch. All grapes—good or bad—had to be removed so the vines would know it was time to get ready for winter. Bad ones were dropped unceremoniously to the ground while the worthy grapes were tossed into yellow lugs, for easy collection later.

I wore my own gloves, but most of the volunteers worked bare-handed. Pickers who are paid by the pound, according to the vineyard staff, tape metal talons to their fingers to enable them to pick quickly, Wolverine-style. We were glad we weren’t being paid by the pound.

At the end of the day, we were repaid for our hard labor with two bottles of wine each — that’s a half a bottle of wine an hour. Not bad for an afternoon’s work.

marthaandtom’s Grape Harvesting at St. Croix Vineyards photoset

Crane’s main attraction is probably their U-Pick orchards of apples, peaches, and a lot of other fruits. I enjoyed wandering around the apple trees while Linda and Juan finished their coffees. It is important to know where one’s apple crisp comes from!

It’s safe to say we enjoyed the pie a bit more than the wine that followed. Just the same, hoping to support better years ahead I took home a bottle of Meritage, a wine Tom and I first had when we dined with his Aunt Ann and Uncle Don at Journeyman Café (again, formerly of Fennville). Meritage is Fenn Valley’s blend of their own Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot. Of all of the winery’s offerings, it is definitely the best.

Tastings at Fenn Valley are complimentary. Of their wines, each guest is invited to choose five. When tasting with friends, though, it’s easy to share glasses around so that everyone can experience the full spectrum of the Fenn Valley.

Tasting Room Hours
Open year round for Free tasting and retail sales.
Monday—Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Sunday 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

July and August
Monday—Saturday 11 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Sunday 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

September and October
Monday—Thursday 11 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Friday—Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Sunday 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

On a recent trip with family to Michigan’s Old Mission Peninsula, I discovered this rule works for the buildings in which wine is produced, not just the bottles. Most of the tasting rooms in Northern Michigan tend toward the rustic, repurposing old schoolhouses and barns or creating new buildings that are firmly within the farmstead idiom. Which makes it all the more striking when you turn a corner and run into this:

This fancy, modern building houses Old Mission’s newest winery: 2 Lads. Established just a few years ago, 2 Lads produces wines from a few varietals: we tried a Rosé of Cabernet Franc, a Pinot Grigio, and a Cabernet Franc. Merlot, Chardonnay and some Sparkling were also in production but not available yet to try—there should be more this fall. They are working to increase their capacity and variety by establishing new vines, but they chose their location partly because they could get into winemaking immediately with some of the established vines. Oh, and for this view:

In spite of how obviously impressed I was by the 2 Lads’ taste in architecture, there remained the question of the quality of their wine. Had 2 Lads poured all their money into a fancy building on a hill that would appeal to twenty-something hipsters while not worrying too much about making good wine? Not at all. I have been to many wineries on the Leelanau and Old Mission peninsulas and I can say 2 Lads is making the best wines of its selected varietals by far. The only winery making better wines is L. Mawby, which only produces sparkling wines (2 Lads didn’t have any sparkling wines available for tasting).

Most wineries in the area can produce pretty good whites, but what stands out at 2 Lads is the reds. I had previously believed that red wine just doesn’t work in the cold climate of Northern Michigan and that I shouldn’t expect much more than the thin, one-dimensional pinot noirs, merlots and cab francs produced by pretty much everyone in the area. But 2 Lads’ Cab Franc had real body and complexity; the 2007 was still a little fruity, but the potential with a couple of years cellaring for the fruit to subside and the wine to deepen was more obvious than in any bottle I had ever tasted. Winemaking in northern Michigan is relatively new—the first producer was only established about 30 years ago. 2 Lads represents a coming of age. 

Judging by appearance, of both their bottles and their building, 2 Lads looks like the premier winemaker of the Old Mission Peninsula. Drinking their wine—even before having several glasses—confirms this is the case.

Happy Summer! This Saturday I enjoyed a trip to Alexis Bailly Vineyards of Hastings, MN with Julia and Hailey. The wine, well, doesn’t deserve much comment. My notes are short and range from “drinkable but really too sweet,” “cloyingly sweet,” to “nasty. zero body. all acid,” “sour. wouldn’t buy it.” Only their Voyageur was somewhat decent, but its $21.99 price tag made my mind wander to how much I love Trader Joe’s. That said, it was a great day. Alexis Bailly has a fantastic tasting room. It’s like being in a barn—all the doors open with the winds coming right in. Cheeses were stationed throughout the room for pairing with the wines (among them a very good blue) and the pours were unlimited, if not generous. There was even a group of musicians playing in one corner. I much enjoyed their rendition of “Cielito Lindo,” I may have sung along. Try Alexis Bailly for a fun afternoon. $10 gets you a glass and all the tastes you’d like, and if you bring your own glass, “BYOG,” it’s just $7.50 to get in the door.

Their 31st Annual Open House continues next weekend (June 5, 6, 7) in celebration of the release of ABV’s 2008 wines. Tastings are offered May through Thanksgiving on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 11 am to 5:30 pm. Hopefully Tom and I will have a chance to return… with a picnic to make a day of it.

***For more photos, see Hailey’s blog.