Sunday May 10th 2009, under great weather, we planted 190 Marquette grape vines. It was a blast, everybody might be sore today, but we will remember it for a while. We still have the Seyval Blanc to plant, it will be done this week. Thousands of thank you’s to the Lerouge’s for their usual great hospitality!
More blogs will follow, to keep you updated to what in going on with our vines.
C. Fichepain 
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OK, I finally got my bucket.
Last night, Nebraska’s newest brewery, The Lucky Bucket Brewing Company unveiled their first offering, Lucky Bucket Pre-Prohibition Lager. This lager, bursting with flavor, will be widely available on tap over the next few days at bars throughout the metro.
At a kickoff party held last night at the venerable Dundee Dell, brewmaster, Zac Triemert greeted both Dell regulars and well wishers with a broad smile. That smile was highly justified. This was the culmination of years of hard work and planning. It was a rousing success.
I think the only disappointment was from those who had to leave the party early to watch Creighton play arch-rival Southern Illinois at the Qwest Center. The Bluejays stunning come from behind OT win may have mitigated the pain… maybe.
What’s next for Lucky Bucket? In the coming months, expect to see an IPA (India Pale Ale). And just over the horizon are oak aged brews, like the much anticipated Concentrated Evil. Plus, with the new bottling assembly soon coming on line, we’ll be able to bring home Lucky Bucket in convenient six-packs.
In the mean time, march down to your favorite watering hole and ask for a “bucket”. If they don’t have it yet…find another favorite watering hole.
AltaJoe Uncategorized No Comments »
First of all, let me make this perfectly clear; I’m not a wine expert. Not even close. That’s kind of sad when you take into consideration the quantity of wine I consume in a year. I guess that I’ve picked up a few things along the way. But one I hadn’t was the fascination with the wines of the Bourgogne. Sure I have enjoyed some, but none really stood out as worth mentioning…until now.
I was lucky enough to join some of my French friends in celebrating Christmas Eve. One of them had the foresight to pack a 1997 Edmond Cornu & Fils’ Savigny-Les-Beaune in his checked baggage and spirit it across the pond from Paris.
Let’s stop here and say that subsequent googleing has brought to my attention that this particular wine is not one of the quintessential great wines of Burgundy, nor even an honorable mention. It’s a village wine. It just happens to be made by a very good winemaker.
In the glass, the wine looked well past it’s prime. The browning extended well beyond the 1/8 inch comfort zone, extending well into the glass. Any color intensity that it might have had was long gone. The words weak/pale came to mind. To say the least, what we saw didn’t bode well. BUT, raise the glass to the nose and the aroma was so bold that each and every one of has the same reaction. Our eyes nearly popped out of our heads. The cherry literally exploded, followed by spice and the scent of violet. This couldn’t be. The color, the brackishness…the nose it didn’t make sense. Could this be magic that is Burgundy?
This one bottle has jump started my quest to 1) find the wines of Edmond Cornu & Fils here in the US and 2) renew my interest in the Bourgogne.
AltaJoe Uncategorized No Comments »
Here we go! Check out the “post planting party” at the Domaine. We were so lucky to have a beautiful weather. Pierre was driving the tractor to drill the holes, Barb was directing him. Zac, Joe and I were planting the posts. It took us 4 hours to plant 100 of them, NOT BAD!!! Check out the new images http://levoltaireomaha.com/wine_blog. More news very soon.
C. Fichepain Uncategorized 1 Comment »
Well, here we go. After many years of dreaming, one of my goal is taking shape. A vineyard! Not a big one but big enough to start with. It will happen at my friends house Pierre and Barbara in Blair Nebraska. And yes, you did read well, Blair Nebraska! We will not grow any Cabernet, Merlot or any of the common grapes but more an French-American Hybrid called “Marquette“, a grape who can sustain the Nebraska cold weather. We will plant in the Spring 2009 1/3 of an acre, around 190 plants. Not to big, just enough to get our feet wet. The “vineyard” will be located in the beautiful and hilly countryside North of Omaha. The picture in the following link is actually the location where the post will go very soon. We already took a rough measurement to estimate the number of plant we will need. Click here to vue the field.
I will try to keep you updated with all this exciting informations.
C. Fichepain Uncategorized 1 Comment »
I have a friend who has recently announced to his friends and family that he only wants gifts that are consumable. When he told me I said, “Ah, you mean food & wine.” Exactly!
Today it is so easy to shop on-line, pick out a great wine and have it shipped to your loved ones that it’s a no-brainer; almost too easy.
Two of my favorite on-line retailers are: Overstock Wine Online (of course) and Wines til Sold Out
Give it a try.
As always, thoughts and recommendations are most welcome.
AltaJoe Uncategorized No Comments »
This morning I happened upon an article in Wine Enthusiast Magazine about a winemaker in Spain who several years ago embarked on a mission to craft a wine to complement Sushi. Brilliant!!! I hope.
Let me say that I love Sushi and I love wine. Unfortunately for me they were a mutually exclusive pleasure. I had never found a wine that fit the bill. I’m also slightly amused that it’s taken so long for me to hear about it.
The wine is Oroya. Take a look.
AltaJoe Uncategorized 2 Comments »
The other day, I was walking past the bar in our lower level, the one that the previous owners were so kind to put in before they moved. There’s a case of wine sitting on it, unopened, with the Elyse label prominently displayed. Elyse is a “Mom & Pop” winery located down a dusty road in Napa.
My first thought is, am I ever going to deal with it, or am I going to let it sit there until the next time we have company walking through the door. At which point I’ll make a hurried attempt to get it out of sight. My next thought was; So much wine, so little time.
There are literally thousands of wineries producing, well, thousands and thousands of wines. Some are well known (Lafite) that will never pass my lips. Some are too well known and, unfortunately, will. But the vast majority I will never hear of and much to my chagrin, I’ll be missing out on them. You see, I’ve had the pleasure of stumbling across small wineries like Elyse and have been blown away.
Elyse is the quintessential winemaking winery. It is small, very small, so it sources most of its grapes from vineyards in and around Napa. What its winemaker does with them is magic. The word luscious comes to mind every time I open a bottle.
Lucky me. I happen to have local distributors that bring Elyse into my market. There in lies the rub. If they didn’t, I’d never have gotten to experience it. But what about all the others? So much wine, so little time.
AltaJoe Uncategorized 3 Comments »
I remember friends giving me a shocked look when I returned a $90 bottle of Gevrey Chambertin back to the Sommelier, and asked for another one. To the surprise of my guest, he smelled the bottle and without saying another word said “I will open another bottle right away Sir”. The first bottle was corked, and the wine was undrinkable.
Being a restaurant owner myself, I know the rules of engagement in this matter. The restaurant is not losing money because the wine supplier will exchange or reimburse the product right away.It is ultimately the wine producer who loses money in this deal.
So, if you think the wine you are being served has a wierd color, smell or is corked, don’t be shy and speak up. The waiter should replace your glass and open a new bottle. But please, remember as well to not take advantage of the situation. Ask your waiter for advice in your choice of wine. Some of them might not be ready for your tastebuds but are actually excellent wine. At this point I lose money and at this point I am not happy.
Cheers, please enjoy wine!
C. Fichepain Uncategorized 1 Comment »
This restaurant in Arles came recommended by Joe Donovan. It was fabulous. Each of the 13 courses were very small “amuse bouches”. Most of the unusual ingredients came from Jean-Luc’s garden. The presentations were beautiful and each were described to us in every detail. The degustation of wines were equally wonderful. There were several white wines from the Laguedoc-Roussillon region that were great. If you’re anywhere near Arles, France don’t miss it. Reservations are required and must be made via their website: http://www.rabanel.com/ Our meal was made complete by the visit of Jean-Luc to our table. He’s asked that I send him our blog.
Bernie Duhaime
BDuhaime Uncategorized 1 Comment »