Motor City Wine Tasting

Through one of the many Michigan blogs/web sites I follow, I came across this event listing:

Overdue for a trip downtown, Scottie and I decided to purchase some tickets to this wine tasting for some Friday evening.  We also managed to bundle a few other Detroit activities into our trip!

The Motor City Wine (MCW) is at 608 Woodward Avenue, suite 200 (just south of Campus Martius, in downtown Detroit.); however, knowing that MCW occupies the upstairs suite helps as the outside of the building is pretty indiscriminate.  Luckily, even though I forgot the address number, Scottie was able to notice the small sign near the first floor door labeled "MCW" (it also helped that there was a cluster of young people leaving!).

We walked upstairs, verified our names since we pre-paid, and received our tasting sheet!  We were on our way to the tasting tables, but first, we had to squeeze our way through the cluster of people attending this event.  Apparently, I wasn't the only one that saw their event listing. Maybe it was their facebook event page.
Either way, this event was hopping!  While the actual suite or future "shop" size was probably no bigger that two bedrooms combined, they managed to squeeze 60-70 people in there for the event at any given moment? Roughly? I might be underestimating even, but let's just say, there was little room to maneuver most of the night, which hopefully indicated a successful event for owner David Armin-Parcells.

The event included four stations with 4-5 wines at each for tasting.  Tastings were unlimited until the bottles were dry, but Scottie and I still weaved our way through the tables as if we were re-living a Michigan Beer Festival.  After all, due to our lengthy bus ride down on the SMART, we were most definitely thirsty and missing out on a full hour of sampling!

After a few samples (all reds), we found a table of light appetizers provided by Atlas Global Bistro.  We also encountered a familiar face as one of my co-workers was there with a friend of hers!  It felt like a very Chicago-ish coincidence.

Scottie also managed to hunt down the owner, Mr. Parcells, unsuspectingly, to find out more about this MCW shop.  Apparently, the shop wasn't "officially" open yet as he was awaiting the official liquor license from the City of Detroit.  The gist of the conversation led us to believe bureaucracy was at its finest as Mr. Parcells shop is quite unique to Detroit.  Mr. Parcells, a former manager over at the failed specialty grocer, Zaccaro's Market, is essentially an entrepreneur (in Detroit!) trying to establish a retail wine shop that sells unique and affordable wines from around the world, while at the same time, offering opportunities (e.g. samples and tasting events) for customers to learn about wine and share it with friends.  It's the first of its kind in the downtown area, which would certainly appeal to those living and working nearby.  Read more about MCW in Model D Media.  Model D also put together this video below from the event we attended.


Here's our official review of the wines we tasted:

Table	Wine Sampled / Region	Scottie	Lindsay
1	Château de la Rivière Rosé (Bordeaux, France)		n/a
1	Domaine de San Guilhem (Côtes de Gascogne, France)	n/a	n/a
1	Chateau Camarsac (Bordeaux, France)
1	Domaine Font-Sane (Côtes de Ventoux, France)
1	Villa Pillo "Toscana Borgoforte" (Tuscany, Italy)
2	Chapoutier 'Bila Haut' (Languedoc-Roussillon, France)
2	Venta Morales Tempranillo (La Mancha, Spain)
2	Altos de Luzon (Monastrell, Cabernet, Jumilla, Spain)
2	Volver Tempranillo (La Mancha, Spain)
3	Versatile (Alenpajo, Portugal)
3	Gascon Malbec (Mendoza, Argentina)
3	L. Mawby 'Blance de Noir' (Leelanau, Michigan)
3	Steel Head Sauvignon Blanc (Dry Creek Valley, CA)		n/a
4	Charles Smith 'Eve' Chardonnay (Columbia Valley, WA)	n/a	n/a
4	Morande 'Pionero' Pinot Noir (Casa Blanca, Chile)
4	Casa de Campo Cabernet Sauvignon (Mendoza, Argentina)
4	Four Vines 'Old Vine Zin' (Paso Robles, CA)	n/a	n/a
4	D'Arenberg 'Stump Jump' Sticky Chardonnay (Sweet Dessert Wine - Australia)	n/a	n/a