Gang of Pour - School's Out

MoCool 2001

Intro

Portland, Oregon:
Double J's Old Hill Ranch Roundup

Cristom Vineyards

Ann Arbor, Michigan
MoCool 2001

Ogier Tasting

Cleveland, Ohio
Larry & Mary Meehan

North Carolina:
Greg Ellis, High Point

Jim Cowan, Banner Elk

Detroit, Michigan:
Back at Gang Central

Epilogue

List of Wines

GANG OF POUR MOCOOL LINKS

2000
1999
1998
1997

I returned from Portland just in time to attend some of the Saturday and Sunday MoCool (MOtown Co-Operative Off-Line Tasting) festivities. This year’s theme was Tour de France, and the Saturday BYO BBQ had a new location, at the home of Cindy and Clay Johnson, in Webster Township, situated between Ann Arbor and Brighton. The sprawling grounds provided the perfect setting for the event; there was room to mingle up close with the almost 200 wine lovers in attendance, or if one wished for a little more elbow space, there was plenty of that as well. The large horseshoe shaped series of tables underneath the spacious tent held wines from virtually every region of France, while down the center area were the food tables.

Once again, Alan Kerr aka Canadian Zinfan served as "MoCool Executive Chef," with Allan Bree aka califusa and Tyson Lambert providing most able assistance in their capacity as Sous-chefs. Pascal Chambon aka Mr. Flippy made his first MoCool appearance as Maitre d'hotel, assisted by Colin Hill. And Pastry Chef Tom Denk's assorted French pastries and desserts were sublime. A variety of regional French fares was served throughout the day. Taste temptations such as Flam Kuche, Moules Mariniére, Grenouilles grillé avec sauce Poulette and Fondue de Compte du Luberon lead up to a main course centered around an otherwise fine Daube d’Agneau a la Nicoise that suffered only for lack of a little salt. ;-)

(It should be noted that Larry Meehan [left, between Bruce Leiserowitz and John Sprow], who drove up to Gang Central from Cleveland that morning to join Kim and me, did yeoman’s service in seeing that the kitchen crew got a taste of many of the fine wines being poured outside.)

As was the case last year, I took no notes on the wines I sampled. Not that there weren’t many, many great ones to be had. But if there is one drawback to this otherwise terrific event, it’s that almost every rare, highly sought after bottle that is uncorked creates something of a feeding frenzy, leaving those who failed to get a small pour disappointed. Still there is more than enough excellent vino to go around, and two that stand out in my memory (a 1993 Trimbach Clos Ste. Hune Riesling Alsace and a 1957 Huet Le Mont Vouvray Moelleux) hung around for awhile to be sampled and savored casually. And at one point, Larry Meehan directed my attention to a "modest" $14 Chinon that more than held its own against the big boys and girls. And then there was Gary Kahle's 18 litre Melchior of 1982 Chateau Tayac (pictured at the top of the page), which never did run out.

To me, this day is really more about the people, some of whom traveled from as far away as South Africa (Margie Barker, Greg de Bruyn, and Rudolph Erasmus) and Great Britian (Simon Goldberg). And MoCool "winemaker-in-residence" Stephane Ogier (left, between this taster and Stuart Yaniger) was heard to say with some amazement, "In France, we have nothing like this." It was a day to renew old friendships and begin new ones. In particular, it was a treat to meet John Sprow, with whom I had been exchanging correspondence via email and Internet wineboards for more than three years. And what a pleasure it was to swap stories of "the good old days of Michigan Rock ‘n’ Roll" with journalist and co-founder of Cream Magazine, Dave Marsh.

All in all, it was another memorable MoCool Saturday, and once again, kudos go to Cindy and Jay Baldwin, Sally and Joel Goldberg, Dave Guimond and John Wolf!

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