WTN: Having a flight (of wines) before my flight

Once again I found myself turning in my rental car hours before my flight to avoid paying for an extra day. Thankfully, Detroit Metro Airport has a Vino Volo and it was on A Concourse, same one as my flight back to Raleigh-Durham. I spent about 90 minutes at Vino Volo having a cheese plate, the penne and cheese (like mac and cheese with Gouda and truffle oil) and a flight of rose' wines and then a glass of Verdejo. (The cheese plate had Mahon from Minorca, Spain, Manchego (Spain) and aged Gouda from the Netherlands along with bread, fig jam, nuts and dried fruit.)

The order of the rose' flight was a Provencal rose', a Spanish rose', and an Argentinian rose'. Flight of three (maybe 2-3 oz. of each) for $10. Bottles were also available for purchase and I will list those prices.

2011 Cotes de Provence Andrieux & Fils Cuvee Victoria (Grenache/Syrah). $25.00 a bottle. The server said this was her favorite of the rose wines. I liked it but slightly prefered the Spanish one. This was the palest in color--a pale salmon or coppery color. Very light and refreshing on the palate. Easy to quaff. Fine with the penne and cheese.

2011 Mas Donis Rosat Grenache/Merlot/Syrah, Capcanes, Monsant, Spain. $23.00 a bottle. (Vino Volo put this on the borderline of "bright" and "rich" while the other two rose' wines were categorized as "bright.") It had the deepest color of the three wines--a light ruby. Red berries figure prominently in the flavor palate. I couldn't really say which grape variety stood out in this GSM but the resulting wine was quite attractive to me. Medium-length finish. Very pleasant.

2011 Fabre Montmayou Malbec/Merlot, Mendoza, Argentina. $27.00 a bottle. Medium in color--pink coral. A little austere compared to the other two. A pucker factor. Too soft for beef--maybe a match for pork/ham or roast fowl.

I had the Verdejo with the cheese plate.
2011 Arindo Verdejo, Rueda, Spain. 13.5% alcohol by volume. $21.00 a bottle. Nice pungent or bracing nose. Vino Volo descriptors say apple blossom, tropical fruit, sweetgrass, and Anjou pear. I find more pear than other fruit, plus a faint echo of grapefruit. Nice minerals and acids. I bought a bottle to take home with me for a Spanish tapas-themed fundraiser sometime after Christmas. On the label it says that this is from western Segovia in the Rueda appellation and comes from sandy soils covered with alluvial pebbles that contribute to the minerality of the wine. Nice.

Jane, I can't help but wonder what these wines would sell for at regular retail. I understand the prices being up at the airport, but these (except for the Provence)seem to be up around 100% over what I would guess for retail. It was nice to see you on Friday and again on Saturday.

JC,
You are Energizer Bunny of wine tasting!!!

So good to see you this past weekend. Looking forward to next year!

Cheers!
JB

Bob, the only one I checked price-wise was the Verdeho and it was nearly double what wine-searcher.com lists. North Carolina prices generally are high also because of the high taxes on alcohol and other factors so the difference may not be that great for a purchase near where I live (if I can find a Rueda.)

[Jenise]

Vino Volo locations DO sell wine at a premium, but what a treat to have a Vino Volo around at all. The one at Seattle is an oasis.

Due to a missed flight and numerous near misses in my younger days, I have become one of those that shows up at the airport at least 90 minutes before my flight. Vino Volo is well worth the premium to me. Unfortunately, I think Jenise and I are in the minority. Flying out of Dulles last spring I noticed numerous folks come in, sit down and check out the menu and wine list and get back up and leave. I asked the waitress about and she told me it happens a lot. I know that during my hour or so there I would say 2 people checked and left for every one that stayed. Considering the small numbers it draws to begin with when compared to Cinabon I would be somewhat shocked if they survive.

On Sunday August 12 we came through Detroit on our way back from True Love's aunt's funeral in Georgia. We had a hard enough time getting from one Delta gate to another, much less having time to get to the Concourse. Drat!

Jane - you are one of the few who can make an airport sound like a destination restaurant! Thanks for the notes and I'm pleased to know you.

Found out a Charlotte wineshop carries the same Rueda wine for about $14.95 so I may buy another bottle there the next time I'm in Charlotte.

Jon, glad to know you too. What's the wineshop where you work? I need to visit sometime when you are in the store.

[Jenise]

Due to a missed flight and numerous near misses in my younger days, I have become one of those that shows up at the airport at least 90 minutes before my flight. Vino Volo is well worth the premium to me. Unfortunately, I think Jenise and I are in the minority.

Must be an area-by-area thing. I'm sure what you describe happens here too--a lot of travellers would be happy to pay $8 for a glass of Barefoot chardonnay instead of $10-12 for something of true quality--but our VV has no trouble filling the seats they have (which is much fewer, on a square foot basis, than most 'bars') with grateful discerning travellers who enjoy the calming modern ambience as much as they do the better wines. (When I called it an 'oasis', I meant that in every sense of the word.) We've even met friends there between flights and ordered bottles, and purchased bottles to take with us to our destination (since our VV is past Security, and bottles purchased thus are strangely allowed in the airline cabins). Sure, it's always at a healthy premium, but the owner of our location is on a number of highly allocated mailing lists and I can sometimes buy wines there that I just never ever see at retail.