The Ravinia Goat Rodeo Picnic Contest and More

As many of you who've been following my blog or my facebook feeds know, we've spent a lot of time at the Ravinia Festival this summer.  I think when all's been said and done we went to 12 concerts this summer. Perhaps our busiest week was the last one when we had six of the twelve events.

Well, as I mentioned in my previous post, we went to see Yo Yo Ma and the Goat Rodeo Sessions. That was the evening that we were selected as one of 50 entrants into the Ultimate Picnic Contest. This joint event was co-sponsored by Terlato Wines so part of the judging had to include some Terlato Wines.

The good news is that Terlato has a wide variety of different wines ranging from rally nice Napa Valley and California wines to those found in France and in Italy.  While I had not had one of their wines before, there was enough to choose from that I didn't think we'd have much of a problem.

As it turns out we didn't.  As you may know if you have followed this blog for some time our trip to Paris a couple of years ago was the launching point for this blog (the background photo is a cafe along the Rue Cler in the 7th arrondissement of Paris). It was during that trip that my partner in these adventures developed a love for the wines of the Cotes-du-Rhone.

As it turns out Terlato has a couple of wines from a well-regarded winemaker in the region Michel Chapoutier.  His Belleruche wines are imported by Terlato.  We found these to be very consistently good in our pre-picnic planning.  At the same time I wanted to do something that I thought would be unique -- turn one of the bottles into a candle.  (As it turned out, it wasn't so much of a unique concept.)

Our original plan was to feature a theme of East meets West with the clever use of some Bento boxes.  Unfortunately, Amazon let us down and didn't deliver the boxes in time.  That left us scrambling a bit.

I had ordered a cheese from IGourmet.com that was a selection of Goat Cheeses.  This concert is a unique mix of talents from across many musical genres as Yo Yo Ma has blurred the lines many times. The name of this album -- the Goat Rodeo Sessions -- refers to a situation where the chaotic cannot seemingly be controlled with each person having their personal agenda and direction.  This certainly reflects the nature of this effort.

A cross between bluegrass and classical, elements of jazz with each musician playing elements together in what could be called controlled chaos.

Perhaps that's what my selection of cheeses could be called -- controlled chaos.  I ordered Aracena, Beemster, Midnight Mood and Buenalba for the event.  The Aracena by Dona Manuela is a raw goat's milk cheese from the Andalusia region of Spain. It's a full-flavored cheese full of herb and citrus flavors. It reminds me a little of a nice stinky cheese from France.

The Beemster is a Gouda made entirely of goat's milk.  Apparently there are a number of farmers who keep goats for the locals' enjoyment and so they also produce a goat's milk gouda.  I found this cheese to be a clean, sweet flavored cheese that was very easy to eat.

The Midnight Moon is a relatively new cheese coming from Cypress Grove Chevre. This is a very different cheese both in texture as well as flavor.  It has a nuttiness to it that makes it great to eat on bread or all by itself.

We finished the cheese with a Buenalba with Pimenton.  This cheese is similar to the Spanish Ibores but different in that the Pimenton de la Vera is infused into the goat's milk before setting it in curds.  This is another raw milk cheese.

These cheeses added nicely to the rest of the spread which included an unbelievable fruit tray with champagne grapes, blueberries, strawberries and our new favorite fruit, figs.

There were also olives, chicken salad on baby romaine leaves (really great for picnics) and a rice salad with some of our homegrown tomatoes and a heavenly lemon vinaigrette.

While we didn't win, show or even place, it was a lot of fun.  We really had a lot of people commenting on the quality of the spread and how it was something that they could reproduce themselves pretty easily.

That, I thought, was one of the best parts. I forgot to mention that we also had saucisson, a French dry cured sausage.  It was intriguing enough that one of the judges -- who views himself as mostly vegan -- had to try a bit of it.

Not surprisingly he found it to be quite good!

Perhaps the most difficult part of the whole affair was that we had to wait until after the judging was completed in order to dig into the delicious picnic fair. We certainly learned a lot about this for next year so plans are already in the works.

I'll leave you with some pictures of some of the other entries in the picnic contest. While there were a lot that were amazing entries, very few seemed like they were something to replicate.

I was astounded by the sound of Yo Yo Ma and the other musicians.  While at times it seemed as though they were all headed for a train wreck somewhere through the music, they ended up pulling every piece together. All in all a very enjoyable evening.

Picnics are always fun. What was your favorite picnic this summer?

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

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!

A Little Iron and Wine

First let me apologize for the lack of posting over the last few weeks.  Sometimes life conspires against you and that's been the case for me.  Lots of travel, a move and some personal challenges have made it difficult to get some posts written.

While I'm not yet unpacked, I am back to my regular Monday schedule. Last weekend was my first Ravinia concert of the season.  For those of you who aren't in the Chicagoland area, the Ravinia Festival is an outdoor concert venue. They have concerts pretty much every night from Memorial Day through Labor Day.



You can get yours at the Ravinia website here.

What I love about Ravinia isn't so much the music but that you can picnic on the lawn.  An afternoon drinking some really good wine and eating some really good food.  The problem for us is that, too often, I can't seem to push the easy button.

Over the last couple of years, we've perfected the experience.  We have the perfect picnic bag (complete with wheels and space for 4 bottles of wine and plenty of cooler space.  But that still, too often, means schlepping chairs and tables and . . . well you get the idea.

Last year we utilized one of the upright grocery carts but it turned out to take up so much room in the trunk we moved on to a folding wagon. I only have one thing to say to this folding red wagon . . . Genius! The only draw back are that the front wheels and the handle are independent so it can wander a bit.

The Wine Army on the move!

Over the years we've added a couple of Crate and Barrel "Table in a Bag" tables to our Ravinia outfit.  They come in very handy. Now it's just a matter of adding food and wine.  As I mentioned, I have just moved so everything is in boxes out in the garage. It makes for a difficult time creating for Ravinia.

Laying out a spread and pushing the easy button, the approach we took was a three course meal.  Course 1: Cheese, fruit, olives and a little Genoa Salami. Course 2 included a pasta salad with shrimp and some vegetables and artichokes with a roasted garlic aoli. For course #3 our friends Nick and Annie brought an out-of-this-world rhubarb/strawberry crumble.

For the most part everything was put together Sunday morning between errands and such.  As for the wines, I mentioned earlier that I had moved. What that means is that my wine cabinet, though moved, is still empty and all of my wine is on the floor of one of the bedrooms.  That means wine selection had to be a bit of a hit or miss approach.


Frankly, I think I hit.

The wines chosen were a 2011 Seghesio Pinot Grigio, a 2009 Chamisal Vineyards Chardonnay, Seghesio's Defiant and Venom.  I brought along the Seghesio Dionigia but we didn't get to it.

Nick and Annie with our pre-concert cocktail!

Actually, we almost came with just two bottles of wine. I had the wine in the picnic carrier but pulled the white wines to put in the fridge before we left. I had the trunk packed when I remembered the wine and made a quick dash upstairs to grab it.

After setting up the tables I pulled out a little summer cocktail I like to make.  It begins by creating a rhubarb simple syrup and then adding rum, tequila, seltzer water and mint.

I think it would be equally good as a non-alcoholic drink as well.  However, it can be made as strong as you like.  I mixed it with two parts rhubarb simple syrup, 1 part tequila, 1 part rum. They go down smooth and easy . . . a couple of them would put me down for the night so I recommend 3 or 4 parts syrup to 1 part rum and 1 part tequila.

As you can see, we spared no expense on the serving dishes

We then opened up the Seghesio Pinot Grigio. I had heard from Nick earlier that Annie liked Pinot Grigio and I'm a huge fan of this one.  It's a great summer wine.  Actually, it's a great wine all the way around.  I'm more of a red wine person but you won't get me complaining about this one.

You also won't get me complaining about Chamisal Vineyard's Chardonnay. My sister-in-law has a hard time with the oakiness of most Chardonnays but they have a great stainless version that she absolutely loves.  This is their "middle of the road" Chardonnay. 

We ended the evening by introducing Nick and Annie to two of my favorite wines: Defiant and Venom.  Perhaps it's because the name matches my sometime personality. This delicious blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Aglianico quickly became one of my favorites.

When I first started to seriously look into wines, I thought that blends were just a way for the winemaker to drop in some really cheap wine and try and pawn it off on the unsuspecting consumer.

I couldn't be more wrong.

I'm beginning to believe it's really where the winemaker gets a chance to show off his talent. And in this case, Ted Seghesio is a gifted winemaker. Taken by themselves these wines have a distinct and unique taste but when you put them together --

it's magic. 

While I was going to end with the Dionigia, it turns out the Venom was the close for the night.  This sangiovese is quite different from the Defiant.  Grown on the home ranch, it gets its name from the hill upon which the grapes grow -- Rattlesnake Hill.

Photo of Rattlesnake Hill from Seghesio's Facebook Page and Richie Knapp

Pete Seghesio told me last summer that when he checks the vines up on Rattlesnake Hill he drags a shovel behind him to make enough noise so that the venomous citizenry will move along and not be a problem.

On my last visit I picked up a t-shirt as a souvenir. It's black with a quote from the winemaker: "Venom -- the antidote for every bad Sangiovese you've ever had."

He's right, you know.

The Venom was a delightful end to a wonderful evening.  Mostly, I've talked about the food and the wine and didn't really touch on the music at all.  I guess that while I really enjoy the music, that's not what the Ravinia experience is all about.

This night's concert featured both Dr. John and Iron and Wine.  I guess it's a pretty eclectic mix with a musical icon and a relative newcomer.  It was a wonderful evening with some of Dr. John's more recognizable tunes and a few more obscure tunes. 

Perhaps the most interesting happening of the night was happening on a blanket not too far away from us.  My friend, Nick, took this picture on the sly.  Ravinia is good for a lot of things but I think this goes a bit too far.

Actually, this was one of the more tamer images from the evening.  I'm pretty sure that they had no idea who was playing or why they were really there.

They left at the intermission and missed the entire set from Iron and Wine. Frankly, I would have thought that Iron and Wine would have been more their style but perhaps they had other things on their minds.