Travel Break: Cork Poppers Go Strolling!

The Flaneur

A "flaneur" is a "stroller, saunterer...The deliberately aimpless pedestrian unencumbered by obligation or sense of urgency...he wastes nothing, including his time, which he spends with the leisurely discrimination of a gourmet, savoring the multiple flavors of his city."

Cornelia Otis Skinner

My house is small. Our group is large -- fourteen if all the Cork Poppers join in. So rather than having a sit-down dinner as we usually do, I decided our theme would be "wines to enjoy after taking a stroll" and we would have a "strolling dinner."  All things we could enjoy standing up if necessary or while sitting in various rooms in the house.

This meant, of course, getting the house ready. Pretty flowers, a vintage table cloth, and mom's silver for the table that would soon load up with yummy food.

We'd be in the living area to taste and I covered that table with one of the tablecloths from Rita's wonderful "purge." It has a little wine shops on it! (And that's WINTER tree, not a Christmas tree!)

We started, of course, with the wines. We had six to sample on this day and since our resident white fan wasn't there, they were all reds! And of course we supplemented all this with a great selection of crackers and cheeses from Bob and Dick and Rick's baguettes.

Dick started with "The Bridge", a 2017 Lodi California red blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syriah.

We agreed that it was a good starter and as Dick said, a wine he'd enjoy after a stroll. He bought it for $9.99 but apparently the list price is $20 so a good buy!

Clayton and Anne brought a 2017 Louis Jadot Beaujolais, 100 percent gamay grapes.

It was light and as (I think) Barb said, Louis Jadot is "dependable." Clayton said it was a good summer wine and it had more than a few "ooohs!" when sipped. It was $12.99 and is fairly available nationwide.

Barb was up next with Michael David 2015 Petite Petit Syrah, a combination of 85 percent Petite Sirah grapes and 15 percent Petit Verdot.

The winery is Michael David from California and its alcohol content was 14.5 percent. She found this for $14 at Costco. It was very dry (and as Dick said, "It's drying out my mouth!") and I thought quite tasty. It clearly won the label design contest, hands down, with wonderful graphics and great copywriting!

Rick offered the Italian Marramiero Da Ma Montepulciano d'Arbuzzo, 2016, DOC.

The label was elegant and it was one of my favorite wines of the day. At $11.99, a good buy. It had a nice finish and was dry -- but not too dry.

Kate was next with Bula 2016. Rick and I agreed it was our favorite of the day, a combination of 40 percent Grenache, 40 percent Manzuelo grapes and 20 percent Syrah and was from Spain.

For liking it as much as we all did, it had the most unique conversation when Kate started out that it smelled like a barnyard, maybe fresh cow manure. (I TOTALLY don't agree -- I think it smelled WONDERFUL!). Rick said, "Cow manure is grainy," and then Bob said it was better than horse manure.

Rick said, "This has NOTHING in common with the barnyard. It's excellent. A good one." And we all agreed that everything we'd had so far had been delicious. At $15 from Whole Foods, this one certainly was.

Our last wine, from Bob, was another common favorite, Josh North Coast Reserve Caberet Sauvignon 2015. I thought it was very good.

We commented that the copywriting on the label was also very nice and Bob had a good buy. Usually $20, he found it on sale at Meijer for $13.

Tasting over, it was time to stroll and dine!  The main dish was ham sliders. This is a great recipe and easy to make ahead for a crowd. If anyone is interested, mention in the comments and I'll post.

Barb and Mike brought a deviled egg and olive platter and some yummy meatballs, too!

Kate put her knowledge of pickling from our "Sour" class to work and brought picked and marinated veggies on skewers...

...with a yummy salad served in wonton cups.

I'm sorry I don't have photos of Anne's wonderful dessert duo. It was your choice (or both!) of apple cake or caramel fudge brownies. I think everyone had both!

As people left, they got their take-away -- a very cute mug from Dollar Tree filled with shortbread and cinnamon chip cookies.

Another good Cork Poppers with a great selection in a variety of reasonable price ranges. Give some of them a try!

(All our Cork Popper posts are archived here -- see the menu bar for an overview by category, such a "French," "Italian," etc.)

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