Mills Fine Wine & Spirits

From the Archives of The Onion, August 21, 2002;

Wine Appreciation Tips

Good for a laugh.

Ben Humor, Wine

Some thoughts on Bennett Lane’s Maximus Chocolate Wine Sauce. This came into the store today and as a chocolate lover, I had to try it. I ran hot water over the neck of the bottle as it suggested to warm the sauce before drizzling it over some vanilla bean ice cream. The first flavor I got from the sauce was a deep cocoa but dry, almost like a chocolate bar. Then the wine infusion hit and I started to taste the rich merlot.

This is a very full sauce, which I think benefits from the vanilla but I’m very interested in trying it with more dishes soon.

Robert Bennett Lane, california, Chocolate, Merlot, Wine

Mills Wine Find!

Thank you to everyone who came to our annual Wine Find on Saturday, November 14th. We all had a great time and we hope you did too. It was good to see so many people come out to taste a fantastically diverse selection of wines.  As the “new guy” at Mills, I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting so many folks that are new to me, but not new to Mills. The Wine Find was a great way to meet a lot of new friends.

Some of my favorite wines of the evening -

Domaine Fussiacus St. Veran 2007
Already one of my picks for the holiday season! A vibrant and pure expression of traditional Chardonnay.

David Hill Pinot Noir 2007
A heady, Earthy Oregon Pinot punctuated by sweet berry on the nose and mouthwatering lusciousness.

Nicolas Potel Bourgogne Rouge “Cuvee Nicolas Potel” 2006
Not available at Mills yet, but hopefully soon we can offer you all this lovely little gem. Bright fruit and a long, lush finish.

Batasiolo Barbera d’Asti 2006
Assertive acidity and a mile-long finish highlight this food friendly wine.

If you’ve spent any time in the store recently or read our blog or emails, you may have heard us talking (yelling) about Capture Sauvignon Blanc. In this case, you can believe the hype. We have less than 60 bottles left of this brilliant and beautiful wine. I predict that other California wine makers will follow suit and we’ll have a Sauvignon Blanc re-invention in California.

Capture showed beautifully at the Wine Find (and that afternoon at the shop) and we have just under 40 bottles left in stock!

Ben Mills, st. john's, Tasting, Wine

I came home tonight and wondered what I could throw together for dinner that would pair with this bottle of wine that I brought home from Mill’s. “Wow”, is all I can say about this combination! So, I thought I’d share, only with our mills customers and staff my very own recipe and tasting notes.

Here’s what you will need:

Bottle of Mader Alsace Gewurztraminer or any Gewurztraminer from Alsace at Mill’s

pizza stone

1 ball of pre-made pizza dough (Trader Joe’s makes an awesome one)

3 sweet vidalia onions

1-2 cups sliced mushrooms

1/2 stick butter or my favorite, Earth Balance Vegan butter

2-4 cloves garlic (depends on your own preference)

1/2 zucchini and 1/2 yellow squash sliced very thin or any other veggies

olive oil

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees

In a large sauce pan saute the onions and mushrooms and half the garlic (chopped or minced) for about 20 minutes on med-low heat until translucent and brown and cooked down.

Lightly flour the pizza stone with flour or cornmeal.

Spread your dough ball thinly onto the pizza stone, overlapping the edges by a couple of inches. Bring the overlapped edges back up forming the crust for the pizza. Poke holes with a fork all over the dough then brush with some olive oil. Finish with some shaker cheese and bake in a 425 degree oven till browned. (about 10 mins) Pull from the oven.

Melt the butter and add rest of garlic to melted butter. Brush onto the pizza dough.

Spread the caramelized onions and mushrooms onto the dough. Top with the Parmesan.

Top with the sliced zucchini and squash (and any other favorite veggies) and add shaker cheese and salt and pepper to taste.

Bake for about 15 mins or until browned.

For comparison, sip the wine before and after tasting the pizza. Its a fruity wine at first sip, lots of lychee, apple and pear. Sip after the a bite of pizza and your in heaven! The wine evolves even more and the acidity pairs perfectly. It really packs a fruity mouthful! Not too sweet, just a lingering beautiful finish! This Gewurztraminer is from Alsace. We have a few from this region in our store that will have the same affect. Just ask, we’d be happy to lead you in the right direction! Enjoy!

Share your own favorite recipes and wine pairing. We’d love to hear about them!

Cheryl

For many years one of MILLS weak spots was California wine. Unfortunately our last two wine managers had NO respect for the wines of California and our collection reflected that.

Today, that’s history! Over the last year we have atempted building our California Collection to a “world class” assortment. Using Maryland’s Non Resident Winery Act, Mills has brought in MANY wines that here-to-for were not available in Maryland.

WE have also offered EMail sales on some of Californias greatest wines at prices that “Wine Searcher” tells us are the best in the entire USA!

To further both of those goals our current EMail might be the most “telling” one we have done. Silver Oak Alexander 2005 at $49.99! Most Annapolis area stores can’t get it at all, yet Mills will have plenty as of next Friday and at a price lower than we have seen in years.

Then MILLS captured CAPTURE! The former winemaker of Chateau Latour in Bordeaux has created a Sauvignon Blanc for the record books. He only made 3000 bottles and MILLS was allowed 120 of those bottles.

Whats even more important and gratifying to us is the following. To this point we are the ONLY Mid-Atlantic retailer to be captured! What this says to us is that the great wineries of California now recognize MILLS as the place to be for California wines in Maryland!

Peter

Only an unprecedented tasting of 2006 White Burgundies from Olivier Leflaive would bring me into work on my day off.  On Sunday, November 8th, Mills hosted a very special tasting courtesy of our friend Nancy Priest of Frederick Wildman and Sons, Ltd. and Chris Snead from F.P.Winner.

“…the 2006 vintage produced rich and powerful wines. It was necessary to use our knowledge and experience from previous vintages to preserve freshness and harmony.”
–Franck Grux, winemaker at Olivier Leflaive for over 15 years

We set up the wines on a long table in our Burgundy section and as some of you well know, there isn’t a whole lot of room to work with back there, so it was a fairly “intimate” event.  The wines were all truly spectacular. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to taste wines of that magnitude and be able to take my time, enjoy them, savor them, and reflect on them. I filled a good couple of notebook pages with my thoughts.

Let 'er pour Nance!

I’ve been lucky enough to have been able to have tasted a lot of wines over the years, and to be able to talk about them, recommend them, and describe them to friends and to our clients.  But there were some truly elusive and downright magical things happening in those glasses on Sunday.  From the vivid lemongrass and white flower fragrance of the Rully 1er Cr ‘Rabource’ to the warming orange peel woodsiness of the Mersault AC “Vireuils”, these were some incredible wines.

So hard to pick a personal favorite, but the Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru “Clos St. Marc” really sticks out in my mind with bloomy and seductive “Citrus Orchard After a Rain Storm in Springtime” aromas and tightly woven, focused flavors of melon and peach. I think I would love this with a good piece of fish, grilled over coals and lavished with lemon juice and sea salt.

Trying to find room to mingle among the bottles...

Of course, the two wines from Puligny-Montrachet were fantastic – the “Les Referts” displayed almost playful flavors of creamy peach and ginger and a long and warming finish. The second, “Les Folatieres” had a spicy and floral elegance on the nose and flavors of anise, poached pear, and dare I say, Juicy Fruit gum? But unlike Juicy Fruit, the “Folatieres” certainly did not lose any of its flavor over the long and joyous finish.

The tasting finished with a  Batard Montrachet Grand Cru. The nose was intense, opening with a bloom of perfumey peach and pear. The flavors were hugely ripe and juicy, but the wine itself – mouth-filling and rich – was still totally balanced and elegant. The finish stayed with me for a good chunk of the afternoon.

All in all, it was really a special event. It’s so great (and rare) for a shop to really connect with its clients and have the opportunity to create these kinds of events. I am glad to be part of the Mills team. I mean, I love wine as much as of our customers do and it’s all about sharing the love right?

Ben Burgundy, olivier leflaive, pate, Tasting, white burgundy

Rick's New Bar

Wow!  We just got a delivery from Preiss Imports today.  Rick is very excited to be able to offer you some of the most intriguing and unique spirits and cordials in this area.

Here’s a list of some of the things we just got in stock:

From Luxardo:

Anice Forte: Classical anise liqueur infusion of chinese star anise.

Sambuca dei Cesari: Made with an infusion of elderberry and green aniseed.   Since antiquity,  elderberries have been know for their digestive and tonic benefits which Luxardo transfers to their classic anise base liqueur.

Ammaretto di Saschira: Made from pure almond paste and aged 8 months before bottling.  Distinguishable from other Amarettos by the high quality almonds picked around Avola in Southern Sicily.

Limoncello: An authentic Italian lemon liqueur.

Espresso Liqueur: Luscious coffee liqueur infused with the best Arabica coffees from Central America.

Additional Preiss Imports:

Pontarlier Anis: All natural,  tantalizing anis without artificial coloring, made from the finest ingredients.

Kalani Coconut Liqueur: Finest natural coconut extract and essences are blended with pure cane syrup to create an exotic, tropical coconut liqueur.

Senior Chocolate Curacao: Deeply chocolate flavored and rich,  followed by a wave of orange.

Mitchell’s Blended Whiskey: Signature blend from Scotland’s oldest distilling family.

Rick has stocked the shelves and set up a new tasting bar right in our store.  This tasting bar is a unique opportunity to try some of these rare gems.  So, stop in and let Rick show you these special cordials and spirits!

Cheryl amaretto, anice, anis, bar, curacao, limoncello, luxardo, mitchell's, pontarlier, Tasting, whiskey

We just got this great bottle of white in.  It’s 50 percent Chardonnay and 50 percent Sauvignon Blanc.  I know what you’re thinking….what an unusual blend! Not being a chardonnay drinker myself,  I was amazed at how much I enjoyed this wine!  It’s very clean,  crisp and fresh with grassy notes.  What a great bottle to take to a holiday party.  It’s 11.99 and from what I can taste,  one of the best deals in the store!  Pair it with fish or white meat or serve it as an apertif.

Cheryl

Wine & Spirits Magazine put out their 100 Best Wines of 2009. They named Diamond Creek’s 2005 Red Rock Terrace Cabernet Sauvignon the top, giving it 98 Points. We have this on sale right now for only $98.99 for a limited time only. Call me at Mills, (410) 263-2888, to reserve yours now!

Robert 95+ point, Cabernet, california, Diamond Creek, Napa Valley, Wine

Visit us on our Facebook Page and become a fan.  Make a post on one of our discussion pages and be entered into a contest (the prize has yet to be determined). Hope to hear from you soon!

Robert contest, facebook