Tag: Thanksgiving

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Holidays

Okay, We Can’t All Afford a $2,000 Scotch For Christmas…

...loaded it onto his trusted burro Cuco...
Balvenie Vintage Cask 1966
The Balvenie Vintage Cask
1966… Only $1549.00

…but we have them if you need them, and lots of other, more affordable gift ideas this holiday season.

“Oh. My. God. I had NO idea.” This is a phrase often uttered when a visitor to the store first explores our “Secret Cellar” or bothers to look up at the hundreds of collectible, limited release, and small batch spirits that line the wall near the ceiling of the store. Being the holiday season and all, we thought this might be a good time to once again say it out here on the intarwebz (we mentioned this last year during the “fiscal cliff” drama). Main Party is a classic example of why you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Hiding behind our admittedly slightly funky facade is a world of wines and fine spirits you probably wouldn’t imagine would be here. The beer folk know about our amazing selection of craft and import beers, but for some reason the fine wine crowd has been slower to get hip to our offerings. We’ll be celebrating our 25th anniversary in business next year, and Joe (the owner) has been carefully building what is probably the most extensive selection of fine wines and spirits in Ann Arbor. We’ve picked some unique items below to highlight what we have to offer, and rest assured that with around 3,000 wines on hand, we have pretty much anything you’re seeking that fills that gap between something like the 400 dollar 375ml Château d’Yquem below, and the $8.99 Argentinian red table wine. Stop in sometime, look up, and look in back too. You’ll probably be amazed at the selection. Then tell a friend. We’re tired of the premium cellar being Ann Arbor’s best-kept wine secret!

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Holidays

[UPDATED] Need a Versatile Wine for a Holiday Dinner? Just look for the Curious Turkey!

Curious Turkey Update![UPDATE: We realized that our “Curious Turkey” tags tended to get lost in the mix of all the shelf talkers, so we switched to a bright red ornament to make them easier to spot. So we figured while we were at it, we may as well select more great wines to feature! See below. ] Your Thanksgiving menu may change from year to year, but there’s one thing you can count on with holiday dinners. And that is that when the full spread is a melange of dishes comprised of everything from a classic holiday turkey or ham to Aunt Gertrude’s famous suspended marshmallow bundt-pan jello or Campbell’s-soup-based green bean casserole, there is no single wine that is up to the task. That’s why we’ve once again selected some value-minded versatile wines that have a lighter, simpler, or sweeter touch to better embrace the riot of flavors that are likely to be on the table. As we pointed out last year, that “Bacon Turducken” trend is probably over, so we can at least eliminate the terror of the “Russian egg” birds-within-birds-within-birds hurdle. But holiday dinners remain an impossible challenge when it comes to selecting a “perfect” wine. The solution then becomes almost simple — just stick to certain styles and varietals and it is a fairly easy task. Rieslings, Chenin Blanc, and Pinot Grigios are a no-brainer for the whites, and Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, and a smattering of other reds can cover you for the reds. Below is a short selection from the 3,000+ wines we have on hand. Just look for the “Curious Turkey” tags. If the specific wine we’ve chosen to highlight doesn’t suit your fancy, you’ll at least be looking at the right section to help you make a selection! Our last-minute picks are below.

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Holidays

The Perfect Wine to Serve With Bacon Turducken?

Enough is enough!

This Thanksgiving, let’s all give thanks for the fact that the whole Bacon Turducken thing seems to have faded from the limelight. If you were lucky enough to miss it, it started with roasting a duck inside a turkey, which – in the internet age of bacon fascination – inevitably led to a version wrapped in bacon, and probably reached an unchallengeable apex with the Turgoodukfowmalsinquaparquabantenuck. That is the likely name of the result of roasting a turkey – stuffed Russian nested doll-style – with a goose, a Barbary duck, a Guinea fowl, a Mallard, a Poussin, a Quail, a  Partridge, a Pigeon squab, a Pheasant, a Chicken, and an Aylesbury duck. Who knows why they stopped there; there are smaller birds, if we’re not mistaken.
As we pointed out last year, selecting wine for Thanksgiving dinner can be enough of a challenge with the riot of flavors on the typical table, a challenge compounded by the unpredictable contributions by our guests, which may include time-honored American traditions like Jell-O with things floating in it, or sweet potatoes baked with marshmallows. Or that other classic “recipe” that is basically a can of green beans and a can of cream of mushroom soup sprinkled with dried onions. Sorry to give your secret ingredients away, Auntie Emma.
So once again this year, we’ve selected some wines that are versatile and reasonably priced to get things rolling. These are just some starters based on versatility and price; with over 3,000 wines in stock, if you already know what you’re looking for, we probably have something to suit your needs! But if you DON’T know what you’re looking for, look for the little turkeys amongst the shelf talkers. Even if the featured wine isn’t

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Holidays

The Mythical Perfect Wine For Thanksgiving (and the holidays in general)

Just look for the colorful little wreaths

[UPDATED: We will continue to feature these wines through December] Some of you may have been clever this year, and planned an exacting menu for Thanksgiving dinner, with carefully selected courses, and no mystery dishes brought by guests. This information is not for you. We’re sure you’ll have no trouble finding what you need amongst our nearly 3,000 wines on hand. But the rest of us are left with the age old challenge of deciding which wine is perfect to accompany smoked ham, deep-fried turkey, canned onions on green bean casserole, those horrifying fluffy fruit-and-cool-whip based conconctions your aunt Millie brings (deviously named something like “ambrosia”), and sweet potatoes with marshmallows. Gone are any hopes of an intimate and loving relationship between the food and the wine. No, a better analogy would be a public orgy, or maybe a even riot. Yes, on Thanksgiving, you almost have to think of your wine choice more as riot gear. You need a wine that’s simpler, bolder, lighter, sweeter, more acidic, and a whole range of other words that don’t belong together. In other words, a good basic strategy is to have at least three wines on the table. The good news is that this doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Some of the better choices to do battle with the Thanksgiving spread are coincidentally often less expensive varietals. For reds, a Beaujolais or other Gamay, a hearty Spanish or Italian, or a Pinot Noir will fare well. And grandma will love the pretty label on the easy-to-quaff Beaujolais Nouveau that you might ordinarily turn your nose up at. For whites, a Riesling, a Torrontes, or white blend will be fine, and don’t forget the utility of a nice Rose or mid-priced sparkler for cutting through the dense palate of a holiday dinner. So even with this knowledge and freedom, picking three wines out of the thousands in our store could still be a bit of a challenge. So we’ve picked some FOR you. In the center of the store is a section devoted entirely to about 30 holiday wine choices, with a selection focused mostly on Banfi, Trivento, Georges Duboeuf, and a few other familiar names. We also picked out about thirty more throughout the store, and marked them with the curious Turkey you see on the left. Below is a sampling of what’s amongst the section in the middle of the store. So have fun with it! Pick a nice bottle to make yourself happy, and then freestyle a bit!

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