Monthly Archives: November 2008

We start with a couple 750ml bottles of 2008 Spruce Campbell, a homebrew based on Bell’s Best Brown ale and flavored only with the spring growth harvested from my backyard spruce tree — no hops. It’s named after ‘B’ horror movie icon Bruce Campbell of Evil Dead and Bubba Ho-tep fame simply because we drank it at my annual Halloween party the previous Saturday and Bruce is a funny dude. It’s tart and fruity with a suggestion of citrus. Most folks wouldn’t know it was spruce unless you told them. Chicks dig it.

Halloween night in suburban Detroit is mild. Orange leaves tumble down the street in front of a light, steady wind. My six-year-old daughter, dressed as queen, hands out Blow Pops in a most royal fashion while her mother chides the children that seek treats sans costume. There were none as bold as last year’s morbidly obese teenager in her sweat suit that couldn’t bother to stop talking on her cell phone as she thrust her open candy bag in our general direction, pointlessly collecting.

There are a few envious comments about the porch sill lined with bottles of wine from passers-by. I would be jealous too if I was dry and spotted a group drinking the brisk and spicy floral 2006 You Are So Beautiful from Domaine le Briseau. Light, yet a satisfying combination of tart fruit and mild powders, I would happily have this wine as a canoeing partner in the dead of summer. It seems I would prefer drinking it in the sunlight. It is not a vampire wine.

There is less luck with a 2002 Brun l’Ancien Terres Dorees. Though the balanced and structured twiggy red berry fruit body is all there it clearly smells of pooh — pooh being connotative of a tolerable stench as opposed to the other descriptions one might imagine. It was certainly drinkable but disappointing after the recent two or three bottles that were well singing.

Bound tightly in its own skin is 2006 Foillard Morgon. All the elements are there: low growing berries and wiry tannins. But they’re quiet and shy allowing a fullish, almost sweet fruit presence occupy much of the stage. The consensus is to let it sit while praying it evolves into something like a 2001.

Following is a firm bottle of 2007 Franck Peillot Vin du Bugey Pinot Noir. It is angles and muscle covered by felt. Less profound than the mondeuse from the same producer, it in fact drinks similarly with lean fruit and an impression of mustard greens or some zesty herb that grew from rich soil. I feel we should have some sliders to marry up to this one. It is a skeleton wine albeit only on this one night of the year.

Coming full circle, we open a 2007 Tue-Boeuf Vin de Table Français Rouillon Frileuse that obviously shares some breeding with the Briseau. A slight tinge of sulfur quickly blows off and underneath is a pretty expression of pointed and delicious strawberry vine juice balanced by its acidity that many wine lovers might possibly despise. Nevertheless, the wine is drinkable beyond belief on this night and shows particularly well for its $11 sticker.

Romero’s Land of the Dead sits in the DVD player but it’s late, very late. I try to watch anyway but I’m out before the first head explodes, leaving three-quarters of a can of poorly considered Elephant malt liquor on the side table. I unfortunately sleep without dreams.