Lord of the Rings, George Thorogood, Buddy Guy and Yo Yo Ma? Part I

Unfortunately for the last couple of weeks I've been busy with quite a few summer concerts at Ravinia.  Beginning a couple of weeks ago we attended six of the twelve concerts through last Saturday.  Frankly it's gotten in the way of me getting my blog completed.  But we're back on schedule now.  Thank you for your patience. Now onto this week's post.

Two weekends ago was filled to the gills with music.  We spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights at the Ravinia Festival to enjoy a wide variety of music. It culminated with last night's Picnic Contest sponsored by Terlato Wines and Sunset Foods.

Ravinia is a great location to just sit back and enjoy various artists.  This weekend began with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra playing the soundtrack to Lord of the Rings: Two Towers. One wouldn't have thought that this would be one of the more crowded events of the last few years but it was.

The venue is great but sometimes getting to the venue is a bit of a problem. Such was the case on Friday.  We arrived close to the gates in less than an hour through rush hour traffic but it took another 90 minutes to get parked and into the concert.

While we brought our "slimmed down" picnic, it was still a bit of a challenge.  Saturday was a better bet.  Because we could arrive early enough to take advantage of the members early entry, we found a great spot for eight of us to enjoy right outside the amphitheater.

I selected a number of wines from my Chamisal Vineyard collection for the evening.  We began with the Chamisal 40th Anniversary Chardonnay followed by the Pinot Gris and finally ending with the 8-N Pinot Noir.


The 40th Anniversary Chardonnay was very easy drinking. Not too heavy on the oak and it seemed to have some earthiness to it. I think, though, it could use a little more time in the cellar.  During this summer I've really been enjoying a lighter mix of wines and the Pinot Gris is a perfect example.  I should say lighter for me.

I've had some really great Rose wines that I wouldn't have expected to be that good (I've too often attributed them to the sweeter wines like White Zinfandel). The Pinot Gris is the exact same grape as is used in the Italian Pinot Grigio.  So then, what's the difference.

The difference is found in the style of wine that's produced.  It's in the hands of the vintner -- in this case the very talented Fintan du Fresne.  He's been the lead winemaker at Chamisal Vineyards since 2006.  I've found that his style is to make the most of the grapes based on the unique terroir of the vineyards.

Which is exactly what he did with the 8-N Pinot Noir. The grapes from this wine come from a vineyard approximately 8 miles north of the Chamisal vineyards.  Even though they're relatively close together the different soils produce a different flavor profile from most of the other Pinot Noirs that Chamisal Vineyards produces.  I found this wine was a delightful way to end the evening with some sweet desserts.

An interesting mix of wines with which to enjoy George Thorogood and the Destroyers along with Buddy Guy.  After setting up the tables and getting the food out -- Roxanne really outdid herself with a rice, tomato, and chive salad featuring a lemon vinaigrette. Add to that a truly outstanding  fruit tray with our brand new go to fruit (figs) and chicken salad on romaine lettuce boats.

Great picnic food.

Of course my cousin showed up with some great steak strips,a  fresh Caprese salad and blueberry buckle and Redi-Whip (of course). There's nothing like a great picnic with family and friends.  Perhaps that's the best part of the Ravinia experience.

While this is a great concert venue with plenty of great musicians, I think the Ravinia experience is best enjoyed in a relaxed style with food, friends and a glass of excellent wine in your hand. Sometimes it doesn't even matter that the music may not be the best.

Although for tonight, the music was really, really good. While we were pretty close to the Pavillion -- and the park was packed -- it almost doesn't matter where you're sitting.

Tomorrow is a big day.  We're entering the annual picnic contest (one of 50 tables) for the first time. Even though it's a late night, we'll have an early start in the morning.  But more on that in the next post.

An Evening with Four Sisters

The other night we went to the Ravinia Festival for our third concert of the season. Tonight's show? The B52's and the Go-Go's. Nothing like enjoying a little bit of the 80's all over again. After a week of rain off and on, Saturday night was perfect.

Three sisters lined up for the evening

For those in the Chicagoland area, there's nothing like being able to spend a beautiful evening at the Ravinia Festival. They have concerts virtually every night all summer long. And for the really popular concerts it helps to be a donor.  A small contribution and you can enter the park 30 minutes before the gate opens to the general public.

This was one of those concerts. We arrived in time to take advantage of the early donor entrance. This allowed us to set up in close proximity to the pavilion so we could see the the stage screens from our seats. There's nothing like a delicious picnic on a beautiful evening with good food and great wines.

For this night's concert, I chose four sisters to share with my cousin Elizabeth and her husband Dale. These four sisters come from sister wineries, Seghesio, Pine Ridge, Chamisal and Archery Summit.  We started with the Fiano from Seghesio Family Vineyards. All of these wineries are owned by Crimson Wine Group.

Fiano is a wine enjoyed by the ancient Romans who referred to it as Apiano because bees were attracted to it as the harvest approached. The Seghesio family's introduction to this wine came through a blind tasting and they soon became the first grower in Sonoma County to grow this particular grape. With origins in the marine -influenced Italian village of Avellino, Fiano grows very well in the Russian River Valley.

This wine reminds me a little bit of a Pinot Grigio but more complex. It starts with floral aromas and a hint of pear and lime zest. The pear flavors come through very strongly, too. There's a hint of honey that comes through at the end. (Perhaps this is what the bees of ancient Rome were looking for!).

It paired well with our appetizers of several cheeses, a goat cheese, a cheddar and havarti. We also had some olives and some homemade pickles.  We also had some smoked salmon and a few slices of various charcuterie.

Our second bottle of wine was the Estate Rose from Chamisal Vineyards.  This was also a fruit forward wine with strong aromas of strawberry and cream.  Up until last summer's visit to wine country I had never really thought much of Rose wines. I put them in the same category as white zinfandel.

But I was wrong. I've found that the Rose wines make for a great summer wines. With both the Fiano and the Rose being chilled, provided some relief to a warm afternoon.

I found the Rose surprisingly fresh and yet complex. That may be the result of the calcareous, clay-rich soils of Chamisal Vineyards. Having been on the tour on a recent visit to the Vineyard, I can see how the soil could impart unique flavors.  I found the wine to be more than just a smooth drinking wine.  I found the flavors to be very rich . . . reminiscent of the Pinot Noir that forms the base of this wine.

My cousin Elizabeth determined that everything tastes better with Reddi-Whip. That includes not just the fruit and pound cake but also the peanut butter cups.  It's certainly something to keep in mind in the future.

The music began as we just finished this bottle. It was time to open up the Archery Summit Estate Pinot Noir.  From the Dundee Hills region of Oregon's Willamette Valley, this wine really reflects the quality of wines from Oregon.  I recently wrote a post about my recent visit to the winery -- it was the last of the four sisters for me to visit.

Each one of the wineries is producing fabulous estate wines but they're all unique. Each one of the winemakers takes the unique terroir of each vineyard and the grapes to develop really spectacular wines.  The Estate Pinot Noir from Archery Summit is no exception.

This wine opens with aromas of slate. You can really pick up on minerals of the wines.  When you taste the wine you can really pick up on the dark red cherry flavors of this wine along with depth of flavors. The finish of this wine is velvety smooth.

As it turns out it was a great way to finish the evening. Since we still needed to drive home from the concert, I decided not to open the Onyx from Pine Ridge Winery.  This is one of my favorite Bordeaux blends.

As the concert wound down, we ended the evening with a little coffee and pound cake (and of course the Reddi-Whip).  As we were putting away the tables and chairs, the B52's were belting out their hit single Rock Lobster.

Over the years we've developed a pretty good pattern for what we bring to Ravinia. We've seen so many different set-ups that we've created our own picnic package.  Now I'm looking forward to our next concert -- Heart.  A continuation of the 80's theme for this year.

If you haven't tried some of the other wines from these great wineries, I would encourage you to do so

Chamisal Vineyard Revisited

I was back in Santa Barbara again this past weekend and took the time for a friend and I to head back up to Chamisal Vineyard.

It's still mid-march and many of the vines are still sleeping but I won't say the same thing about the wines that we got to taste. We got a bit of a later start than I had anticipated because we met some friends for breakfast.  We met at Joe's Cafe in Santa Barbara.

Joe's Cafe is a Santa Barbara classic.  Joe's is the oldest restaurant in Santa Barbara and it's a favorite of both locals and visitors alike.  And with good reason.  It's at a great location on State Street -- the main drag in Santa Barbara.

This morning I just went with Joe's Omelet. It's a basic omelet with Italian Sausage, mushrooms, bell peppers, onions and cheese. Your basic delicious omelet.

Only this morning I stepped beyond the basic and added the grits instead of the potatoes. It's been a long time since I've had good grits.  And these were good.  They were even kind enough to add some cheddar cheese to the mix.

After filling up on breakfast and getting a helpful hint on heading up to San Luis Obispo, we were off.  The last time I made this trek I took the 101 all the way up.  Perhaps not the most scenic approach.

My friends suggested we head up 154 through the Santa Barbara wine country. Besides, they said, the wildflowers are ablaze in the mountains.

We we couldn't resist the prompting and took the road less traveled. At least I think it was less traveled though there were a lot of cars on the road. The poppies and lupine were beautiful and the views were tremendous. We made the decision to travel straight up to SLO and then take our time heading back.

It was about 12:30 by the time we made it to Chamisal Vineyards -- about an hour behind my schedule but it was well worth the drive. The tasting room was full when we arrived but we found our way to the counter.  They had a lot of really nice selections on tap for the tasting.

Up until last year I never really thought about Rose wines. Frankly I had relegated them to the same pool as white zinfandel. And while my first wines were in large jugs over at my Aunt's house, I never succumbed to the really fruity wines.

I have now realized the error of my ways.

The first couple of wines we tasted would be perfect for Ravinia.  As a member I'm currently reviewing the lineup for early purchase in the next week.  I have 13 concerts I'd like to plan on. This means I have a lot of crisp, clean wines to select.

And among those is the Chamisal Vineyards Rose of Pinot Noir.  This amazing wine consists primarily of Pinot Noir with a little bit of Grenache added in for rounding out the wine.  This wine was crafted from a couple of Burgundian clones (clones 828 and 667 along with some Calerafor your grape growers!) It's a lot more information than I need.

But I discovered something else on this visit to Chamisal. I discovered my palate. For those of you who read my blog know that I generally taste wines and find those that I like and those that I don't like.  All the aromas, the various tastes (cigar box is my favorite . . . who has ever purposely tasted a cigar box?) are lost on me.

As I was tasting various wines this weekend I was picking up on both the aromas and the flavors.  I was intrigued by the various flavor profiles of wines produced from grapes within yards of each other still tasting significantly different.

One of the special pleasures in tasting this weekend was the Vintner's Quest 8-N from Chamisal.  This is a special wine crafted from grapes not on the estate.  These grapes come from a vineyard 8 kilometers north of the vineyard. If you visit the homepage of Chamisal Vineyards, you'll find a brief video outlining this particular wine.

While quite different from the flavor profiles of the Chamisal Estate Pinot Noirs, it was quite delicious. There was less of the spice profile that's found in the Chamisal wines and the fruit was more pronounced.  All in all it's a wine that's being added to my cellar.

And that's a problem. I've already taken four shelves out of my wine cabinet to make room for my current wines. Alas. I will have to remove a few more.  All that means is look ahead to an upcoming Mondays @ Mark's where I unleash some of my new favorite wines on my unsuspecting friends.

Though I suspect no one will be complaining.

Later this week, look to my next post about some really delicious wineries in the area. I found some things that I liked and some things that I didn't like.

Nothing Says Valentine's Day Like Stinky Cheese

Is there anything more traditional for Valentine's Day than roses and chocolates? That's what I've always thought when it comes to this special day. But what do you do when that special person in your life isn't a big fan of sweets.

The Valentine's Day Romantic Cheese selection!

"What?" you say? I know. But chocolate brings nothing but a big yawn from my special friend.

I needed to come up with something special real quick. Life at work has been out of control and with Valentine's Day on Thursday it wasn't conducive for heading out to dinner. So what did I decide to do? I decided I would make dinner.

But what would be a special treat for Valentine's Day?

Sometimes it's important to mix things up a bit.  That's why I thought of my friends at the Artisanal Cheese Company. This year they had a special they called the "Valentine's Day Romance Collection." This fine collection included an award winning Hudson Valley Camembert (in a heart shape!), Brillat Savarin (a triple cream brie style cheese from France), and Affidelice.

Now you're saying to yourself that neither the Brillat Savarin nor the Camembert is a stinky cheese.  Ah . . . but the Affidelice, that's an Epoisses-like cheese when at room temperature is a soft, pungent, spoonable paste.

A view from the Morrito. You can see the
 Morros in the distance.

While I wish I could say that I made the little toasts for the cheese, I had a bag from Costco that was still delicious.  Sometimes the genius is in a simple solution.

I plated the cheese and toasts and opened a bottle of one of my favorite wines.  For Valentine's Day I selected a bottle of Morrito Pinot Noir from my friends at Chamisal Vineyards. It was a delicious choice. Even though these cheeses suggested that they be paired with a white wine, I thought the Pinot Noir might be a good choice, too.

This delicious wine gets its name from a particular spot on the Estate where the grapes are grown. When I made my visit to the winery in October last year I learned a little about the Nine Sisters of San Luis Obispo county. The Nine Sisters are a chain of volcanic mounds that begin in Morro Bay and head inland.

You can see the volcanic soils of the Morrito.

If you were to extend that chain you would end up in the Chamisal Vineyard on a little hill that is made up of similar soils and is believed to be a little Morro (hence the name Morrito). My choice was the 2010 vintage. I know that this is a little early for the vintage but it's a delicious wine and it paired well not only with the selected cheeses but also my dinner for the evening.

I thought I would try to be a little bit ambitious. It began with a trip to Whole Foods to pick up some veal cutlets. Unfortunately they only had veal chops.  That required me to trim the meat and then to do a little more pounding of the meat to get it into the proper thickness for veal scallopini. I used a recipe from Emeril that I found on the Food Network website.

All in all it wasn't as ambitious as I thought it would be. A pretty simple recipe but I did follow fairly closely and I have to say that I nailed the sauce. Just the right tartness from the lemon to go with the salty of the capers and some asparagus with mushrooms, shallots and garlic.

Sometimes all it takes to make for a special occasion is to step away from the tried and true . . . the expected and try something a little extra ordinary. From now on, I think that stinky cheese will be a tradition for Valentine's Day. You might just want to give it a try.

A Special Day at Chamisal Vineyards

It's been about a year since I first heard about Chamisal.  It began with a tweet to the Winery asking what made this little jewel special. My initial interest began because one of my favorite wineries, Seghesio, had just been purchased by the same group that owns Pine Ridge, Archery Summit and Chamisal.

The Chamisal entrance. A beautiful vineyard.

After an initial shipment of some recommended wines from Brooke that expressed the uniqueness of the vineyard, I've been hooked ever since.

One of the things that sets off the wines is the particular terroir. Specializing in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, there's something about the soils that imparts what the vineyard calls the "Chamisal spice."

Overall, the Pinot Noir's are bigger than many I've had in the past.

But I digress.

When I had a business trip scheduled for the weekend in Santa Barbara, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to drive a couple of hours north and make my first visit to the winery. There are a lot of wineries and vineyards out in the market-place producing some very fine wines.  But it's not just the wines.

It's the people of the winery.

The tasting room, formerly the production facility.

That's one of the things that deepened my connection to Seghesio Family Vineyards. Not just the people that run the winery but the people that face the public day in and day out. They represent the personality of the winery.

And after a year of tweeting, email and online purchases, I finally had an opportunity to meet some of the great people behind the wines.

When I first suggested that I would be visiting the vineyard, I had some intriguing follow-up regarding what I might like to do.

Those of you who are regular readers of this blog know that I'm not really an "expert" just someone who likes food and wine. So when I was asked what I wanted to do, I left it wide open.

A left-behind cluster of Pinot Noir.

Then just a few days before arriving at the vineyard I received a tweet from Mike Bruzus the assistant winemaker at Chamisal. Now I'm really impressed. And a little nervous.

And this is why I choose to lover certain vineyards.  I'm really no one special but they pulled out the big guns for my visit.  Even Andrea Chan, the Director of Consumer Sales, came in on her day off to do a special tasting with me.

I arrived a little before 10 in the morning when the tasting room opened.  I was a little surprised to see the gates open but then with a recent heat wave, the winery was in full swing . . . even on a Sunday morning.

Chamisal is located in the Edna Valley near San Luis Obispo. This is a stunningly beautiful area of the country. Just about 10 minutes from the ocean and the Santa Lucia Mountains, this valley shows off why I am glad that I'm not facing the 40 degree weather back home in Chicago.

Inside the tasting room.

So instead of bundling up to go outside and rake leaves, here I'm sitting outside enjoying a private tasting with the very knowledgeable Andrea.

We started the tasting with the Chamisal Stainless Chardonnay. This is one of the most broadly distributed of the Chamisal wines. I've even found it in one of my local Costco's.

That's not to say this is a pedestrian wine. This is a great entry level wine. And for my sister-in-law it's one of the few chardonnays she can drink because the heavy oakiness of some gives her a headache.

Just off the tasting room this is a great place for a tasting!

But more than that, the stainless process allows the unique characteristics of each of the chardonnay fruit to really shine.

From there we progressed through a great selection of their white wines including the Estate and Califa Chardonnays along with the Pinot Gris. Here's where the special knowledge of Andrea really helped.

The Estate blends of both the Pinot Noir and the Chardonnay are made of a blend of all of the estate clones of each particular varietal. 

Some of the vines near the tasting room.

This approach gives you the opportunity to really taste what the vineyard is all about. Then the Califa wines are really the best of the best. Taking from some of the best barrels of the top two or three clones.

What makes the Califa wines unique is that every vintage has the opportunity to take on a different mix of clones and a different taste spectrum.

As a friend from work said after tasting the 2009 Califa Pinot Noir, it has a chance to change your life.

After finishing the tasting of the white wines we moved on to the red ones with a Rose of Pinot Noir. Now as I've mentioned before, I haven't always been a fan of the rose wines. Perhaps that's because the rose wines I've had in the past were cloyingly sweet. But of the various rose wines I've had recently, all have been quite good.

The same is true of this Rose. Served chilled this was a nice transition to the other red wines we would be drinking. Then we went to the stainless Pinot Noir. Like the rose wine, it was served chilled. A nice start to the red wine tasting. This was followed by the Estate Pinot Noir and the Califa Pinot Noir.

A map of the vineyard showing the various clones.

Both of these wines represented the unique characteristics of the Chamisal spice. As Andrea suggested, the spice is a little bit like a chinese five spice mix.

Following the Pinots we sampled some of the small lot wines that the winery produces such as their Grenache and Syrah and the Cinq a Sept and the Monologue.

Now I knew that I would have a difficult time when it came time to leave. We ended the tastings with the vineyard's desert wine . . . their Floreale of Pinot Gris. The fruit for this wine is still on the vines and it will be for a little while yet.

After the tasting Mike took some time from his busy schedule to show me around the vineyard. By the time I arrived at the vineyard most of the Pinot Noir had already been harvested.

One of the differences between Chamisal and other wineries is the way they treat their vines.  They've taken to growing the Pinot Noir vines in way that provides shade at high noon and a lot of sun in the cooler morning and evenings by taking off the leaves that would shade the grape clusters.

Some of the clusters still on a few of the later ripening Pinot vines.

This approach helps create the bigger, bolder Pinot Noir wines for which Chamisal is known. We then drove down several rows to the Chardonnay grapes.  These will be harvested very soon.

Now here's where I experienced my first first of the day.  I tasted wine grapes directly from the vine. Much sweeter than any table grapes, the grapes also didn't have any seeds.

Field lesson #1: the weather at the time the berries are set determines whether or not there will be any seeds.

Chardonnay grapes just days from harvest.

Who knew?

As we drove around the vineyard looking at the various clones and the change in the soil as we went.  Part of the vineyard is made up soil with a high clay content.

Part of the vineyard has more of the ancient ocean seabed mixed with the clay and other parts of the vineyard consist of more of the volcanic rock from the Morros.

A view from Morrito where one of Chamisal's small
production Pinots comes from.

These various soils bring a unique flavor to the various wines that Chamisal produces.  Within this little winery, there are several micro-climates. This makes growing the grapes a little more challenging.

As we were making our way around the vineyard we met up with Robbie Robbins.  Robbins Family Farms produce some really fine Olive Oils and import and bottle balsamic vinegar as well.

After a brief visit, he was off to deliver some of his product to one of his local distributors.

Part of the winery is in a bit of a depression where the fog from the ocean has a tendency to linger. This means that the grapes in this part of the vineyard ripen a bit later than the others in different parts of the vineyard.

It was here that Vineyard Lesson #2: I got a lesson in knowing how to tell when the grapes are ready to be picked. Take the grape and press it against the roof of your mouth and taste the juice, then look at the seeds followed by chewing of the skin.

You can see the volcanic influence of the soil here. 

When the skin isn't chewy but melts, the grapes are ready to harvest. At this point Mike declared that the grapes were about a week away.

Our last stop before heading into the winery was heading to the part of the vineyard where their Morrito (Spanish for little Morro) small lot wine is made.

The Morros or the Nine Sisters of San Luis Obispo are a series of ancient volcanic mountains.

Morrito is right in line with the nine sisters and could possibly be part of that ancient line of mountains. A theory that seems to be supported by the volcanic soil on this hill overlooking the rest of the vineyard.

An ancient oak standing guard over the vineyard.

An ancient oak tree right near the peak of the hill seems to stand guard over the entire vineyard. The views from this point of the vineyard are breathtaking.

Now for a brief visit to the winery itself. The vineyard recently received their Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing designation.

This designation provides for environmentally sound, economically feasible, and socially equitable practices.

As part of this practice the vineyard is rebuilding their retaining pond to recycle all of the water the vineyard uses.

Chardonnay being pressed before heading to the
fermenting tanks.

The goal is to eventually use the wastewater from the winery to then be used eventually to provide water for the vines.

Our first stop on the tour of the winery was to check on the chardonnay that's currently being pressed and being transferred to the fermenting tanks.

Unlike the pinot grapes which are destemmed, the stems are retained for the chardonnay processing. They're actually helpful in pressing the grapes as the skins are not part of the fermentation process.

Pinot in the midst of fermentation.

The stainless chardonnay will spend its aging time in the stainless tanks. The estate chardonnay is then aged in larger tanks so there's some oak.

As we moved into the winery we climbed a few stairs to check on the progress of the pinot fermentation. This was another first for me to peek into the fermentation tanks.

In one of the tanks you could see the spent grapes had risen to the top of the tank as the CO2 released in the fermentation process.  You could smell the difference between the various stages of fermentation.

Fermentation complete (CO2 forces the
grapes to the top.

A quick trip into the barrel room and then back to the tasting room so that Mike could get back to work. I was amazed that, even in the midst of a busy schedule, how amazingly clean the whole winery was.  I think I could probably eat off of the floor

Returning to the tasting room I now faced the difficult decision about the wines I would add to my collection from this great winery.  

Alyssa Larson, the Tasting Room Lead, provided some great guidance as I selected the wines. I even had a chance to re-taste a few of the wines before making my final order. I also decided to add Chamisal to my club wine purchases. And not only did I order my wines but Robbie Robbins left a few samples for me to take home.  

A special thanks to Brooke, Andrea, Mike and Alyssa for setting up an absolutely wonderful day at an incredible vineyard. And to Robbie Robbins of Robbins Family Farms for the samples. I'm looking forward to trying them.

Wine aging in the barrel room. 

I can't wait for my next Mondays @ Mark's event where I'll definitely be introducing more people to these fabulous wines. 

But more than that, I've made some new friends in the Central Valley of California.  And that's the best part of enjoying wine and food.  I'd sure love to hear which wineries you've visited that not only make great wines but are great people.

Train and the First of Three Glorious Weekends At Ravinia

After returning from our trip Sonoma to BBQ and drink wine with both old friends and new friends, we had scheduled three weekends in a row to be at the Ravinia Festival. This is truly one of the great treasures of the Chicago area during the summer. The eclectic mix of entertainers who come through Ravinia every season is a real treat.

This year has been no exception to that rule. Over the course of three weekends, we traveled from Pop to Easy Listening/Big Band to Rhythm and Blues as Train, Tony Bennett and Anita Baker all came to town. Each brings not only an original sound but their own audience as well.  All three concerts were sold out and while I don't know the number of people in the audience, judging from how we were packed in like sardines, it had to be well over 10,000 per concert.

Just getting started!

And here's where the best $75 I've ever spent came into play. Because I made a gift to the Festival, I was able to get in 30 minutes before the mongrel horde was.  Nothing like walking up to the member gate while everyone else is standing in line out to the parking lot!

Being of an age where I'm not always "up" on the hottest pop/rock groups, I wasn't sure what a Train was. I am quite familiar with Duke Ellington's "Take the A Train" but Train . . .  not so much.

But then again, we were at Ravinia so frankly the music, in my mind, is almost secondary. This great venue for a picnic and music is one of my favorite summer spots. Nothing like relaxing around a picnic dinner, drinking some truly fabulous wines and enjoying some music on a Sunday night.

Having set up before everyone in our favorite spot (with a view to the screens behind the stage), we could relax as the gates opened and several thousand people rush the venue trying to find their ideal spot. I'm frankly a little surprised that no one was trampled on the way in.

For us, this is the perfect time. We've already opened a bottle of wine and are now calmly sipping away. We have some food out and we're enjoying not having been nearly killed on the entrance to the park.

The line up for Train. As you can see, the Venom is empty already.

We're on the phone as some friends are trying to find their way into the park and toward our spot. For tonight's concert I've chosen some really delicious wines from Seghesio, Barbera, Venom, Sonoma Zinfandel, Home Ranch Zinfandel and the San Lorenzo Zinfandel along with a bottle of stainless Chardonnay from Chamisal Vineyards.

These should go really well with our cheese and charcuterie, grilled romaine and portabella mushroom salad, grilled chicken skewers, fruit and olives.

While waiting for friends to arrive, we had a glass or two of Seghesio's Venom.  I love what winemaker Ted says of this wine (grown on Rattlesnake Hill on the Home Ranch): "Venom is the antidote for all other previously consumed bad Sangiovese." I understand that Sangiovese isn't one of the easiest grapes to grow or wines to make. Venom is truly a work of art.

After every inch of space around us had be covered with a blanket, a folding chair or a table of some sort, we finished putting out the food.  One of my favorites is this grilled romaine salad that I've put together.

There's something about grilling the romaine hearts that brings out a little nutty flavor.  At the same time, roasting the portabella mushrooms, peppers and corn brings out a special flavor. What really kicks it off, though, is the homemade dressing.

For my brother who's allergic to mustard, it could be considered "killer." But it's really very simple.  If you'd like the recipe for this delicious salad, be sure to respond to this post.  I'll be happy to give it out.

When our friends arrived, we put the finishing touches on the food and the wine.  This was the first visit to Ravinia for Megan, Jason, Deanna and Erick. Now all that was necessary was a little birthday celebration and to sit back and to enjoy the music as Train rolls through Ravinia.

While I know August was your birthday month, Jason, maybe you can continue the celebration a little longer.  Thanks for sharing your birthday with us . . . and about 16,000 other folks.

Not that it really mattered at all by this point, but the music was really quite good -- if this not quite too old guy can say so.  The challenge with the concert being on a Sunday night is that work rolls around Monday morning so it can't be too late.

I suppose there are 50 Ways to Say Goodbye but since there are two more glorious weekends at Ravinia coming up (with Tony Bennett and Anita Baker) I won't say goodbye yet. Just come back next week for more of Mondays @ Marks!