Delightful wine lunch at Vintij Grand Boulevard

Visiting The Cove, our Destin, FL vacation rental home, we had a delightful wine lunch at Vintij Wine Bar at Grand Boulevard shopping center in Sandestin, one of favorite outings we try to take in every trip. 

We had a delightful lunch sitting outside on the patio at Vin’tij Wine Bar in the tony Grand Boulevard shopping center, where you can purchase a bottle and enjoy with small bites, lunch or dinner. 

I wrote about Vin’tij and their extensive wine shop selection in this blogpost last autumn - Wine tasting at Vin’Tij Grand Boulevard (San)Destin.

Before lunch we had the delicious Bread Basket with olive oil, Roasted Garlic, Marinated Olives, Roasted Red Peppers, Fresh Basil and Parmesan Cheese.

For lunch, Linda order the Seared Ahi Tuna with marinated cucumber Marinated Cucumber Salad, Sriracha Kewpie Mayonnaise, Chili Oil & Ponzu.

I order the Mango Ginger Salmon with stir fried vegetable cous-cous. It was delicious, as good as any salmon entree I’ve ever encountered. 

We purchased in the wineshop this Napa Valley Chardonnay from a favored producer we know well. 

Pride Mountain Vineyards Napa Valley Chardonnay 2023 

Pride Mountain Vineyards sits high atop Spring Mountain, above St Helena at 2,100 feet, at the mountain summit above the town of St Helena in the Mayacamas Range that forms the western wall of Napa Valley. 

Pride is one of two Napa/Sonoma Valley producers whose vineyards span the summit which is the border between Napa and Sonoma Valleys. 

While this wine is sourced from Napa Valley and therefore labeled as such, some Pride labels are designated Napa/Sonoma Valley. The other producer is Constant Vineyards, high atop Diamond Mountain, at the north end of the Mayacamas range.

We own several vintages of Pride Napa Valley wines, mostly reds, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

We visited the Pride Mountain Vineyards high atop Spring Mountain back in 1999 and 2000 when we tasted and acquired a case of their wines.

The vineyards and wine production date back to 1869 according to archived records. The original structure was destroyed by fire after Prohibition. Pride Mountain Vineyards built the current building as part of a complete renovation of their estate in 1997.

Due to the property's unique location at the summit, atop the mountain straddling Napa Valley to the east, and Sonoma Valley to the west, the winery is required to maintain two separate facilities, one in Napa and the other in Sonoma. The property line is divided down the center of the crush pad.

As mentioned above, Pride Mountain Vineyards labels may be designated Napa Valley, Sonoma County or both, depending on the source of the blend. Pride Mountain Vineyards brands their estate, "One Ranch, Two Counties."

Pride Mountain Vineyards consists of three vineyards totaling 235 acres on Spring Mountain in the Mayacamas mountain range that separates the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. Their distinctive terroir with their high elevation includes soil of volcanic rocks, gravel loam and stones along with some clay. There they grow Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Syrah, Petit Sirah, Chardonnay and Viognier in 40 different blocks produced in fifty lots of wines that varies from vintage to vintage.

This wine is 100% Chardonnay, sourced from multiple vineyard sites, produced mainly from purchased fruit, primarily from Carneros, 30% of the blend underwent malolactic fermentation. It was aged in 90% Neutral Oak and 10% New French Oak. Production of this release was 2617 cases.

James Suckling on JamesSuckling.com rating this release 95 points, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate gave it 92 points, Antonio Galloni of Vinous rated it 91, and Jeb Dunnuck gave it 90 points. 

Winemaker notes - “The 2023 Pride Mountain Vineyards Chardonnay is a beautiful, generous expression of Napa Valley fruit at its freshest and finest. The 2023 growing season was long and even, which layered in profound complexity to this wine. Overflowing with aromas of juicy pear and nectarines, the first sip is dominated by mouthwatering minerality, balanced by a delightful salinity, and accented by an intriguing touch of lime zest. While this wine is perfect for pairing with Thanksgiving dinner or fresh Dungeness crab, it will equally captivate you when enjoying a glass or two on its own.”

Pale golden straw colored, medium-bodied, nice ‘balance between power and finesse’, bright, ‘focused and quite steely’, notes of citrus fruits with hints of pear and orange blossom, white flowers and bit of cinnamon with bright acidity on the lingering finish. 

RM 91 points 

https://go.cellartracker.com/wine/5146159

https://www.pridewines.com/wine/our-wines/pride-chardonnay/2023-chardonnay/

https://www.pridewines.com/

Brewer Clifton Sta Rita Hills Chardonnay BYOB at Captain Dave’s

Brewer Clifton Santa Rita Hills Chardonnay BYOB at Captain Dave’s Destin/Miramar Beach

Visiting The Cove, our Destin, FL vacation rental, we dined at Captain Dave’s, a favorite, a local institution, and a short walk down the beach from our house. 

Captain Dave’s On The Gulf is the oldest seafood restaurant in Destin, (FL), family owned and operated since 1968. It offers beach front views from the spacious high ceiling dining room overlooking the gulf. 

Before dinner we sat on the deck overlooking the beach to watch the sunset with a Captain Dave’s Rum Punch. 

Tonight was a replay of a previous visit to this restaurant from last fall, when we even ordered the same entrees as tonight - Nickel & Nickle Chardonnay BYOB at Captain Dave’s Destin.

We each ordered our favorite entrees - Linda the Coconut crusted shrimp …. 

… I ordered the Captain Daves signature Parmesan Crusted Mahi Mahi. 

We took BYOB this Chardonnay from Sta Rita Hills, Santa Barbara County that we just picked up at Wine World in Destin. It proved to be a huge QPR - Quality Price Ratio value for easy sipping Chardonnay. We liked it so much, we went back and picked up a couple more bottles.  

Brewer Clifton Sta Rita Hills Cellar Selection Chardonnay 2023

Winemaker Greg Brewer founded Brewer-Clifton in 1996 to produce wines that reflect the geographic, geologic and climatic uniqueness of California’s Sta. Rita Hills appellation in Santa Barbara County.

Sant Rita Hills has one of the coolest climates on the west coast, Sta. Rita Hills of Santa Barbara County, with a long growing season, making it ideal for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The unique topology where the valleys run perpendicular to the coast funnels the maritime influences through the hills to the small appellation that is filled with variations in soil, aspect and micro-climates to produce terroir ideal for those varietals. 

Greg Brewer also produces Diatom Santa Barbara County Chardonnay which we have enjoyed in the recent past, another high QPR easy sipping Chardonnay. We wrote about it in these pages in this recent blogpost - Diatom Santa Barbara County Chardonnay 2023.

We visited the Brewer Clifton tasting room in the town of Los Olivos during our Santa Barbara Country wine experience back in 2023. 

Jeb Dunnuck gives their Sta Rita Hills estate Chardonnay 95 points and writes, “I've written many times, this appellation release can stand toe to toe with any Chardonnay from Santa Barbara County.”  That release was rated 94 points by James Suckling and 93 points by Wine Spectator.

This was pale golden straw colored, medium-bodied, crisp, clean and pure with bright vibrant, intense Meyer Lemon citrus, accented by notes of pear and hint of green apple fruits, with tangy acidity, and expressive mineral on and a great lingering finish. So bright and vibrant, it needs food or a cheese accompaniment such as tonight’s seafood which was an ideal pairing, thereby enhancing the enjoyment of both, food and wine. 

It was so bright and vibrant, it needs food or a cheese accompaniment such as tonight’s seafood, which was an ideal pairing, thereby enhancing the enjoyment of both, food and wine. It was great with our seafood entrees.

This release was aged nine months in 100% neutral oak barrels but any sense of oakiness is muted. 

RM 91 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/w?5299506

https://www.bygregbrewer.com/brewer-clifton

https://www.captdavesonthegulf.com/

Glaetzer "Amon-Ra" Shiraz with Grilled Rib-eye Beefsteaks

Glaetzer "Amon-Ra" Shiraz Barossa Valley South Australia with Grilled Rib-eye Beefsteaks

We traveled to Dallas to visit dear friends and transplanted fellow Hoosiers Mark and Jane. Mark and I go back all the way to high school, while Linda and Jane were sorority sisters in college. 

For dinner, we picked up Tomahawk Ribeye beefsteaks to grill, and baked potatoes.

Before dinner we enjoyed an artisan Extra Aged De Graffstroot Gouda cheese with olive oil and olives, with crackers and Italian bread.

 

I picked up at their local wine shop this ultra premium label Aussie Shiraz, one of Linda's favorites, in the big bold expressive style that she loves. 

Ben Glaetzer "Amon-Ra" South Australia Barossa Valley Shiraz 2017

I told Mark to watch Linda’s response when we presented the bottle, which was immediately "Hoboken", reminiscing a memorable getaway weekend dinner when we picked up this wine and took it BYOB while visiting son Alec in NY/NJ (as featured in earlier Amon-Ra Aussie Big Shiraz for Tomahawk Dinner)

.
I wrote in my blogpost about Hoboken dinner that night, that this big powerful big red overpowered the Italian dinner, Amon-Ra Barossa Shiraz 2008 - Amon-Ra Barossa Shiraz 2008 Overpowers Italian Dinner  I chronicled this wine in that blogpost October 26, 2013:

"If you read this blog, you'll see continually that we, and especially Linda, love big bold Shiraz, so she selected this label for tonight's dinner. This was our first adventure tasting the classic AMON-Ra and this is indeed a BIG wine ... not for the feint of heart! While it overpowered our Italian fare and begs for a big steak, dark chocolate or hearty cheese,it was delicious none-the-less.'

"AMON-Ra is the flagship wine of the Glaetzer Family who have been producing Barossa Valley wines since 1888. We hold several Glaetzer wines going back a decade including one of our favorites, GoDolphin, which has since been discontinued, Wallace, Annaperenna and Bishop. The branding and labels for these wines all feature hieroglyphic symbols from ancient Egyptian mythology.' 

Note - Ben Glaetzer was named New World Winemaker of the Year in 2006.

"Since AMON-Ra was considered to be the king of all gods, winemaker Ben Glaetzer chose that symbol for his flagship, top of the line ultra-premium label. Perhaps this is fitting since the temple of AMON-Ra was believed to be the first temple to ever plant a vineyard to produce wine for the citizens of the temple.'

"The eye on front of the AMON-Ra label is the all-seeing eye of Horus or wedjat ("whole one") - a powerful Egyptian symbol of protection. It is represented as a figure with six parts, corresponding to what Egyptians regarded as the six senses; touch, taste, hearing, sight, smell and thought. Ben created AMON-Ra Shiraz to appeal to all these six senses. And it certainly does!' 

"Fruit for Glaetzer wines is sourced from the small sub-region of the northern Barossa Valley called Ebenezer. Some of the vines are as up to 80-120 years old.' 

Note, that night in Hoboken we drank the 2008 vintage release. My blogpost from then continues: "The 2008 release of AMON-Ra Shiraz is the eighth release of this label. The 2008 vintage in the Barossa was a difficult year for wine producers due to a heat spike during the vintage. As a result, Glaetzer limited the total production of AMON-Ra to maintain the quality of the wine. The strict fruit selections were rigorous and uncompromising to sacrifice quantity for quality resulting in the smallest volume released since the tiny 2003 vintage, lower than the 2007 production. This required carefully monitoring the vines and making multiple passes through the vineyards carefully selecting only grapes with the right intensity of fruit and balancing different levels of ripeness before the heat spike overstressed the fruit."

"This release was produced by winemaker Ben Glaetzer who was New World Winemaker of the Year in 2006. According to the producer, "the 2008 vintage shows great purity of fruit and firm but fine tannins, giving great structure and power to the wines."

Exceptional old vine fruit was sourced from the famed Ebenezer sub-district at the northern tip of the Barossa Valley. Vine age 50—130 years old. Yield 2 tonnes per hectare. 

In Egyptian mythology, Amon-Ra is considered to be the king of all gods. The temple of Amon-Ra was believed to be the first temple to ever plant a monoculture vineyard to produce wine for the citizens of the temple.

While Linda loves and prefers this big bold style, I tend to prefer and opt for a more balanced, elegant, complex style such as a Bordeaux varietal blend for a beefsteak or other fine dining experience. Never-the-less, this was awesome with tonight's dinner.  

This is sourced from ancient dry-grown vineyards in the renowned Ebenezer district, an important part of Australia's winemaking heritage and a living link to traditional Barossa viticulture. Select exceptional fruit from a loyal group of third and fourth generation Barossa grape growers is the backbone of Glaetzer wines. The most exceptional fruit is sourced from 80-110 year-old non-grafted bush vines which are extremely low yielding.

This wine is fermented in 1 and 2 tonne open fermenters, hand plunged 3 times daily. Bottled unfiltered to ensure minimal interventon with the wine’s natural characteristcs.

This release was matured for 16 months in 100% new oak hogshead barrels (95% French and 5% American) and matured on lees to maintain fruit profile and animation.

This release was awarded 96 points by Wine Advocate, 95 points by Vinous, 94 points by James Halliday, 92 points by James Suckling and 90 points by Wine Spectator. 

Winemaker Notes - Brooding, vibrant black with bright purple hues. Absolute purity, black fruit aromas complemented by notes of fragrant spice. Seamless, rich and full-bodied with black plum flavors intermingling with dried spice and finely balanced supple tannin. Impressive yet restrained.

The 2017 Amon Ra Shiraz is dark inky purple garnet colored, full-bodied, bold, concentrated, textured blackberry and black raspberry fruits with savory spice, notes of cassis and licorice, black tea, hints of pepper, baking spices and new oak, but it's been mostly absorbed into the wine, bit of licorice on the long finish with thick, velvety tannins. 

RM 94 points. 

https://go.cellartracker.com/wine/3252750

http://www.glaetzer.com/

Earlier review of this wine … 

"March 27, 2007 - Ben Glaetzer Barossa Valley Amon Ra 2005 - RM 93 RP 98 - $59 - Dark berry, graphite, mineral, cassis and a hint of vanilla with long silky firm tannins on the finish. Tasted at Vino Volo at IAD." 

Amuse Bouche Premiere Napa Valley at Polo Grill, Tulsa

Amuse Bouche Premiere Napa Valley at Polo Grill, Tulsa

Traveling to/through Tulsa, OK, we dined at Polo Grill in the Utica Square Shopping Center.

Polo Grill was founded in 1983 by chef/proprietor Robert Merrifield with a view to offer the finest cuisine and service to guests. Early success allowed for expansion in 1996 adding a combination wine cellar / private dining room (shown below) and an expanded bar area. Further expansion provided growth to a total of five private dining rooms, plus patio dining and an expanded Polo Lounge. 

Polo Grill has become one of Oklahoma’s best restaurants winning many industry awards including Wine Spectator Magazine’s Best of Award for its wine cellar/ list, since 2000. The restaurant wine collection grew to 4,250 bottles and was expanded again in 1998 to a wine inventory of 10,000 bottles with over 1,000 selections. It is since grown to an impressive wine selection/collection with over 1,100 labels and 17,000 bottles. They offer a diverse range of both vertical and horizontal choices, along with half bottles and large format bottles. Also, their Wine by the Glass program features a wide range of 40 rotating options across wine types and budgets.

Polo Grill has also been recognized as the only DiRoNA and AAA Four Diamond restaurant in Oklahoma. 

The wine cellar has been reported to now house 25,000 bottles showcasing ‘1,478 vintages’ featuring extensive selections from California, Burgundy, Champagne, France, Washington and Oregon.

One of the interesting notable key strengths of the wine collection is distinctive offerings from several wine auctions including Premier Napa Valley barrel auction wines with 276 PNV selections of Napa Valley Premiere labels, and Sonoma AVA’s offerings from the SoCo Barrel Auction (barrelauction.sonomawine.com), and boutique wines from Reveal Walla Walla barrel auctions (revealwallawalla.com), and the Willamette Valley (willamettewines.auction) regional selections.

The famous annual PNV is hosted by the Napa Valley Vintners (NVV), a week-long celebration of Napa Valley wine and community and provides a first look for the wine trade of each year’s highly anticipated vintage. 

We were drawn to Polo Grill because of its culinary reputation coupled with its extensive wine list selection. They bill themselves as “Tulsa’s Best Steakhouse” and their menu selections also include lamb, chicken and seafood specialties, and all the customary starters and side dishes. 

For starters we shared a wedge salad and an order of the cheese bread with olives and olive oil. 

For my entree, I order the filet of beef, prepared ‘Pittsburgh’ style, with a side of mashed potatoes. As one would expect in a top steakhouse, they understood my ‘Pittsburgh’ (charred with hot pink center) request and prepared it perfectly, although it was served less than ideal warm rather hot. 

Linda ordered the shrimp and grits with a petit filet of beef accompaniment. The shrimp was a bit slightly undercooked and the plate, like mine, was warm rather than hot. 

We were served by Parker, who is billed himself as Director of Wine. On Parker’s suggestion, we ordered from the extensive wine list a Napa Valley Premiere auction limited release vintage selection, to meet my request for a red blend to accompany the steak. He provided attentive service including impeccable handling and serving of our wine, extracting and presenting the cork, dutifully and carefully decanting the bottle, and offering a taste. Despite the attention to detail, and representations of their extensive cellar, the wine was served at room temperature, as opposed to the preferred cellar temperature, or cooler.   

At fifteen years, the label, foil and most importantly, the fill level and cork were nearly perfect, although the cork was a bit dry and separated upon extraction with a traditional corkscrew. 

Amuse Bouche Napa Valley Premiere Merlot 2011

This special limited release bottling was produced exclusively for the Premiere Napa Valley auction from a quarter barrel. It is a’ Pomerol-style’ (predominantly Merlot with Cabernet Franc) blend crafted by owner and legendary winemaker Heidi Barrett.

In 2002, Heidi partnered with longtime friend John Schwartz to create Amuse Bouche, a Pomerol-inspired Merlot from Napa Valley. “Recognizing that the cult-wine phenomenon had created an ‘almost aspirational class structure among collectors’, the partners set out to make this limited-edition wine available to a much broader consumer base.”

This special label offering is a blend of 94% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc, sourced from estate vineyards, specially selected and blended, aged in Gamba and Taranasaud barrels, resulting in a wine that the producer describes as ‘rich in cassis, red licorice and mocha flavors’.

This special label was from the 2013 Napa Premiere Auction 17, Lot Number 36, featuring the 2011 vintage Amuse Bouche Winery Napa Valley Merlot. Only five cases were produced. The special (below) label shows this being bottle number 25 of the 60 produced and is initialed by Heidi Barrett. 

Many of the top wine producers support the Premier Napa Valley auction with special limited release bottlings. Our visit to our local Total Wine beverage superstore featured several PNV labels in their Reserve Wine locker. 

Winemaker, co-owner Heidi Barrett grew up in the Napa Valley in a winemaking family and has become one of California's leading winemakers.

After graduating from UC Davis in 1980 with a B.S. Degree in Fermentation Science, she went to work for Justin Meyer at Franciscan Vineyards and Silver Oak. After working ‘crush’ jobs at both Lindeman's Wines in Australia and Rutherford Hill, Heidi Barrett became assistant winemaker to Jerry Luper at Bouchaine Vineyards. In 1983, at age 25, she became winemaker at Buehler Vineyards where she first attracted critical acclaim by greatly improving the wine quality and taking the production from 6,000 cases to 20,000 cases. 

Her bio on the Amuse Bouche website writes: “In 1988, she left Buehler to become an independent winemaker (freelance), making wine for a number of small wineries. Within a week she was hired by Gustav Dalla Valle and was winemaker at Dalla Valle Vineyards until spring 1996. It was there that she took her abilities to the next level creating some powerful yet elegant Cabernets, including the famous "Maya" cult wine, a proprietary Cabernet blend that received two perfect 100 point scores from Robert Parker ( the '92 and '93) as well as record breaking bids at the Napa Valley Wine Auction. She started making wine for Screaming Eagle in 1992, which has also received two perfect 100 pt scores (the '92 and recent '97). A 6-liter bottle of '92 SE set a world record for the highest price ever paid for a single bottle of wine at the 2000 Napa Valley Wine Auction selling for $500,000. A vertical offering of this cult wine went for $650,000 at the 2001 NVWA.”

Since 1988 she has developed an impressive client list of ultra-premium wineries. In addition to her own wines from La Sirena, she is currently the winemaker for Amuse Bouche, Paradigm, Lamborn, Kenzo Estate, Revana, Au Sommet, Vin Perdu, and Fantesca, many labels we hold in our cellar (highlighted) Past winemaking clients include Screaming Eagle, Dalla Valle, Jones Family, Grace Family, Vineyard 29, David Arthur, Barbour Vineyards, and Showket. 

In 1994, Heidi started making her own wine, La Sirena (Spanish and Italian for ‘Mermaid’), starting with a tiny production of Sangiovese, and her first Cabernet Sauvignon in 1996, and in 2000, the first Syrah.

She was winemaker of the year, made Robert Parker's list of wine personalities of the year 1994,1995 and is on Parker's wine heroines list of 1998 (one of two from the US). Parker has dubbed her the "first lady of wine".

Her Winemaking Philosophy:”Balanced, less is more”.

She founded Amuse Bouche with longtime friend John Schwartz in 2002. Their wines consistently gain high marks from wine reviewers. Their general release bottlings are an artist series featuring unique artwork on each label. 

The general production bottling of the Amuse Bouche 2011 was their 10th vintage, a blend of 96% Merlot, and 4% Cabernet Franc. The Amuse Bouche website describes that vintage release - “Harvested on October 24 and aged in a combination of Taranssaud, Radoux and Gamba cooperage, and bottled in March 2013. Heidi described this wine as boasting flavors of sweet black cherries and ripe plums with underlying aromas of chocolate, coffee bean, red licorice and exotic spice box.” 560 cases were produced compared to just 5 of the special PNV bottling. 

The general release of this vintage got 92 points from Steven Tanzer and Int'l Wine Cellar.

This wine/food pairing was a perfect compliment/accompaniment to the grilled beefsteak, which increases the enjoyment of both. 

Bright ruby-red colored, medium full bodied, balanced, bright expressive, concentrated fruit forward ripe sweet black raspberry and currant fruits accents of with accents of spice, smoke, herbs and floral, with tangy acidity and smooth tannins on a lingering finish. Some might be taken aback by the forward full sweetness of this wine. 

RM 92 points. 

https://www.winespectator.com/restaurants/316/polo-grill

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1812223

https://www.amusebouchewine.com/

https://pologrill.com/