Alabama

My trip to Alabama was a great look at a new market for Fogarty wine. I spent Wednesday in and around Birmingham. I had a great lunch at Chez Fon Fon, a classic French Bistro styled spot, and an incredible dinner at The Highlands Bar and Grill. Frank Stitt is the proprietor of both and is somewhat of a living legend when it comes to Southern Cuisine. The Stone Ground Baked Grits appetizer alone at Highlands is reason enough for me; man it was good!

On Thursday I drove to Huntsville and visited numerous restaurants and wine shops. Lara Isbell, from The Wine Source, had put together a number of appointments as well as spearheaded our involvement at the Museum Dinner; we are very grateful to have sales reps that are this driven! We had lunch at the Chefs Table where i had an awesome Crawfish Bisque! After a busy day of visiting accounts we were the featured winery at the Huntsville Art Museums Winter Wine Event. After the tasting we dined at The Chophouse, where i had a massive slab of seared Ahi, it was great stuff.

Friday saw more account visits and a great lunch at Cafe Michael and had another awesome Bisque; I think you are pretty safe ordering Bisque in Alabama, they take it pretty seriously!

Fogarty was the featured winery at the Backers of Bacchus Dinner and Live Auction. We poured our '06 Skyline Chardonnay and '05 Skyline Red with a series of appetizers. The dinner by 801 Franklin was paired with our 2006 Gewürztraminer, the 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley Yountville, Vallerga Vineyard and the 2003 Lexington Meritage. The food was really well put together, both the fillet and the scallop, the main course, were cooked to perfection; no easy feat when cooking for 150+ people.

After the dinner and auction we headed back to The Chophouse for a celebratory libation. I was lucky enough to try a 1977 Chateau St Jean, Cabernet Sauvignon, Wildwood Vineyard. This is a wine from my birth year and was graciously poured by Mark Flatt, a wine fanatic I had met the night earlier who had offered to bring the bottle after a conversation about old California wine and birth years. Thanks a bunch Mark that was great! The wine was in great shape and barely showing its 30 years of age!

A big thanks to Frank Hanson for and Glenn Tony, the Owner/President of the Wine Source, for the hospitality in Birmingham. And a serious shout out to Lara in Huntsville, thank you so much!