Somewhere, beyond the Sea
This is the final post in my summer guest blogging series “Somewhere, Beyond the Sea”. I am happy to present to you my friend John, The Food and Wine Hedonist , whom I was able to strongarm/pester/lure into writing something for this series. John,despite never writing about wine, is definitely a wine hedonist, at least given what I have seen of his cellar. He has been one of my earliest blogger friends and him residing in Ann Arbor has made us hang out a number of times already. He is definitely one of my coolest friends in A2. John’s blog, for those unfamiliar with his writing, is sometimes loud, mostly hilarious, often thoughtful and at times disgusting (Like when he talks about some of his man crushes or boy band choices). It’s a cornucopia of fun for sure…and he did not let me down with this post. Thanks, John! I’m already looking forward to seeing you soon….
The Winegetter asked if I’d be interested in submitting a guest post for him while he’s on vacation. In the two years that I’ve been blogging I’ve had a few people guest post for me but, oddly enough, I haven’t done any guest posts for anyone else. So when he asked me to do a post about wine based on the theme “Beyond The Sea” I jumped all over it. Well, as much as one can define responding 5 weeks later as “jumped.”
My immediate thoughts went to waxing eloquently about how I began my love affair with Rose wines at our very favorite beach destination in the world – St Barth’s. It’s a French-owned island in the Caribbean with gorgeous, undeveloped beaches. There are no cheesy tiki huts , shysters harassing you to go jetskiing, or people selling trinkets. In fact, there was only one beach on the island that had a hotel on it. The food there is absolutely divine with its strong French-influenced cuisine modified to tropical ingredients.
The island itself is accessible only by puddle jumper or ferry from St Martin.
I took this picture of Colombier beach from the puddle jumper
Or if you’re like Jay-Z and Beyonce who, along with many of the rich-and-famous who frequent the island, you take your pimped-out yacht.
But it’s expensive. VERY expensive. Like, we’re still paying off our trip from a few years ago expensive. For example, we had lunch at Eden Rock with a few drinks and walked away with a 180 Euro tab. But that’s also the beauty of the place. You won’t find ANY rubes in cut-off jeans and wife-beaters or pasty Midwesterners with fanny packs and white sneakers. And since everyone has money and they (in our case WRONGLY) assume you do, they don’t try to flaunt it. So you can be hanging out with Italian billionaires (which we did) and they didn’t care what you did for a living.
It was there that I gained my appreciation for Rose wine. We had it with every meal and it went perfectly with the weather, all the tropical ingredients, and even grilled meats. One day, Boom Boom (my wife) and I went to the beach with a new friend and proceeded to swig down six bottles of French Rose. I’d show pictures from that day, but this is a family blog. Maybe someday I’ll go into detail in my own site.
Fast-forward to present day…
With my kids away at camp for two weeks, we were planning on making a return trip to our paradise. But we also just bought a new house, so any well of money that would go towards the trip has completely dried up. And you wouldn’t believe HOW PISSED I am that I can’t go.
So while the Winegetter and his lovely bride are on a whirlwind tour of Asia, and I’m a little bitter about not being able to take a whirlwind tour of St Barth’s again, I figured I’d take a whirlwind tour of…
The Winegetter’s place.
The first thing you encounter when entering Casa de Winegetter is the kitchen.
Dude, you gotta wash dishes before you on vacation.
Then I had to go to the bathroom as the previous night’s Indian food was coming back to haunt me. I’ll go ahead and spare you guys the picture of that mess. But I did get inspired by Geraldo Rivera’s recent foray into Tweeting a selfie. So here’s that picture.
I did find his stash of beloved Schofferhofer –
You don’t mind that I vanquished the last three, do you?
All that breaking-and-entering was exhausting, so I figured it was a good time to chill out and catch some rays!
Later that night we decided to have a few friends over to sample The Winegetter’s Reislings.
If the neighbors ask about the donkey, just play dumb…
Anyway, thanks Winegetter for giving me this opportunity to write this . And for leaving town!
PS – Ollie, you’re out of toilet paper.
PPS – Maybe this is why I don’t get asked to do many guest posts.
The Dry Creek wines aren’t sold at all the stores in my area. Very few, as it turns out. So I had to undertake a little adventure of my own in searching for this selection. To my surprise, I found the last store I visited (Calvert Woodley) in the throes of a major sale on white wines. They advertise these things, of course, but I just can’t keep up the way I’d like to. Anyway, it must have been the winds of fate that blew me into the store at that very moment. You see, they only had one bottle of the Dry Creek Vineyard 2011 Fumé Blanc left in stock when I arrived. And I got it! It had to be kismet. Having secured my treasure, I took it home with me to be opened and enjoyed as a reward for my dogged determination. Here is what I recorded in my “ship’s log” about the wine. Winemaker: Dry Creek Vineyard Varietal: Sauvignon Blanc 
Wine: Fumé Blanc Vintage: 2011 Appellation: Sonoma County, CA Price: $12.99 Notes: This Dry Creek signature white is light yellow with a green tinge. On the nose I found a peach-o-rama. Seriously, there was copious peach scent in the bouquet. It was appropriately light on the tongue with very bright acidity. On the palate I found white peach, lime, and honey with pear and floral notes. The finish had a grassy bracing zing. It was a dry white, and the label confirmed that with an alcohol content of 13.5%. I thought it was very enjoyable. I could absolutely imagine pairing this Fumé Blanc with a nice grilled fish or shrimp dish. I have to thank The Winegetter for his challenge to write a post on – about, around, through, for, from – the theme “Somewhere Beyond The Sea.” This post answers that call to the best of my ability. I was very honored that he would invite me, among others, to share a guest spot on his blog this summer. Finally, drinking my “wine for sailors” and looking at the sailboat depicted on it’s label brought me daydreams of distant beaches, warm breezes, and idyllic surroundings. And it inspired me. Perhaps because The Winegetter was, himself, inspired to the theme for this blog series by the well-known Frank Sinatra tune “Somewhere Beyond The Sea,” I was moved to write a song. For better or worse. Ha! The goal of the song is to celebrate some of the thoughts and feelings that I associate with sailing, adventuring and the allure of the sea. My tune is called “Somewhere Over The Sea.” I’ve included a home-brewed demo of the song below. I’m not expecting a Grammy nomination for this, but I do hope folks enjoy listening to it. 
the winegetter 