Michigan Vineyards
Sunday, November 05, 2006
This weekend we went up to Traverse City to see Erika's brother and sister. They live about 20-25 minutes from Leelanau Penninsula where at least 12 vineyards are located. We took Saturday and visited 5 of them.
We started at Bel Lago a small vineyard which has a number of great whites and ice wines. Their pinot noir was a bit thin but they make a red table wine with a blend of 7-8 grapes and it was suprisingly good. I picked up a bottle of that since my other favorite the pinot gris/chardonnay blend I can get down here. After leaving Bel Lago we made our way to Black Star Farms one of the premier vineyards in MI. They distill their own brandy, grappa, make a number of wines and also have a creamery. We sampled a number of their wines and bought their chardonnay and the apple wine with maple. This one was very good, it was an apple wine fortified with some apple brandy and a bit of mable syrup. The easiest pairing would be with some vanilla ice cream. Our next stop was L. Malby a sparkling house with some great prices. We sampled a number of their sparklings and brought home a bottle of their Blanc de Blanc, a brut style sparkling. Compared to Black Star Farms, L. Malby's tasting room was a heated shed with some tables. The people were very nice and it was one of my favorites. Our 4th vineyard was Willow, a small winery that only made 4 wines. We picked up a bottle of their Pinot Gris, the other ones were not worth it. Our final stop was over on Mission Penninsula, a small area of land in the middle of the Traverse Bay which has about 7 more vineyards. We went to Chateau Grand Traverse, the Robert Mondavi of vineyards in MI and was not impressed. Their wines were ok but the place was packed and I didn't end up buying anything.
We met some reporters from the local paper at our 1st winery who followed us to our 2nd stop. They asked a ton of questions and took a pictures of us tasting. I still need to go out to their website to see if we made the paper or not. We didn't ask if/when it would be in so Alison will have to keep an eye out. We are about 4-4.5 hrs from Traverse City, its a bit of a drive but well worth it. Traverse City is also known for its cherries, which are amazing. The wine only started within the last 20 years, before that it was all cherries.
Bel Lago - Red Wine NV (blend)
Black Star Farms - Sirius Maple Apple Wine
Black Star Farms - Arcturos 2004 Barrel Aged Chardonnay
L. Mawby - Blanc de Blanc
Willow Vineyard - 2005 Pinot Gris Reserve
Posted by mardenhill 11/05/2006 08:09:00 PM
Labels: Wine
