Archive for the Tasting Notes from the Underground Category

Continued from the article Tasting Leelanau

Our expedition to the Leelanau Peninsula was a smashing success and particularly eyeopening for me.  I had gone under the mistaken notion that the Leelanau played something of a second fiddle to the Old Mission Peninsula’s first chair in quality Michigan wine, and discovered that nothing could be further from the truth.   Read the rest of this entry »

Continued from the article Tasting Leelanau

Lee Lutes, photo courtesy of lpwines.com

Our final tasting was, most appropriately at Black Star Farms. We didn’t have an appointment, per se, but David Rusnell spoke with Winemaker/Distiller/Manager Lee Lutes during the LPVA Visioning Session on Wednesday, and Lee agreed to lead us through the tasting. We scheduled to meet after we returned from our appointment at Left Foot Charley, and when we arrived, we found Lee already tasting some barrel samples with another Charlie, one Dr. Edson, from Bel Lago. Read the rest of this entry »

Continued from the article Tasting Leelanau

It might be argued that a visit to Left Foot Charley is out of place with the Tasting Leelanau theme of our three-day excursion to northern Michigan wine country.  After all, the winery itself is located in Traverse City, and at the time of our first report on Bryan Ulbrich’s upstart start-up project, only wines from Old Mission Peninsula fruit were made.  But from the start, Ulbrich had ideas about also sourcing grapes from the Leelanau, and now he’s doing so.  There’s also the Gill’s Pier connection, so Bryan is no stranger to the “other side of the bay.”  Besides, it just wouldn’t be right to be in the area for three days and not drop in to see what’s new at LFC. Read the rest of this entry »

Continued from the article Tasting Leelanau

Margaret and David Bell

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We started our final day of Tasting Leelanau with a visit to a relatively new producer, Circa Estate Winery, owned and operated by Margaret and David Bell.  We were immediately struck by the fact that everything about this operation is first class and with a very distinct style.

In the accompanying video, the Bells tell of how they got into the grape growing and wine making business. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo courtesy of lpwines.com - Click to enlarge

Picture driving back roads through the hills of the Leelanau Peninsula in a bright red, souped-up Dodge Charger for three days, with weather more beautiful than anyone has a right to expect in mid-November, bouncing from winery to winery and tasting some of the very best wines the appellation has to offer, and you’ll get some idea of what our adventure in northern Michigan was like last month.

Our intrepid band of explorers, all of whom serve on the tasting panel for Michwine.com, consisted of Master Sommelier Claudia Tyagi, retired engineer and avid wine aficionado David Rusnell, Gang of Pour Chief Cook and Bottle Washer Kim Adams and this taster.  Claudia earned the title of Master Sommelier in 1997 and serves as wine consultant to a number of fine restaurants and collectors in the Metro Detroit area, while David has judged in numerous wine competitions in Michigan and Ontario.  Both are keen, longtime observers of the Michigan wine scene, not to mention excellent traveling companions.   Read the rest of this entry »

Continued from the article Tasting Leelanau

We began our survey of Leelanau wines with our visit with Charlie Edson at Bel Lago, and it set the tone for our entire tour.  The wines are delicious and Charlie is a delight to spend time with.  I suppose it would be more proper to refer to him as Charles E. Edson, Ph.D, his official title, but he just seems like Charlie to me, and I came to think of him as a buddy after sharing food and wine with him a few days later.  Claudia has known him for some time, and I’d met him on a couple of occasions previously at trade tastings, but those events, by their very nature, made it hard to get the kind of read on his wines that I would have liked. Happily, there would be no such distractions on this bright Monday morning. Read the rest of this entry »

Continued from the article Tasting Leelanau

If our visit to Chateau Fontaine wasn’t quite as exciting as the wild ride that owner Dan Matthies took us on the last time we were there, it was still rewarding on a number of levels.  Dan and wife Lucie Fontaine Matthies are putting out as solid a lineup of wines as ever, and they now have the ubiquitous Shawn Walters making the wines for them. Read the rest of this entry »

Continued from the article Tasting Leelanau

We pulled into Ciccone Vineyard and Winery, our last Monday appointment, late in the afternoon.  Established in 1995 by Silvio T. (Tony) and Joan Ciccone, the estate is situated on forty acres with a panoramic view of West Grand Traverse Bay to the East and Elm Valley to the West. 16 acres are planted to Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Gewurztraminer, Dolcetto, Pinot Blanc, Riesling, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Muscat, Malbec, Foch and DeChaunac.  Most of the vineyards face west, enjoying the long summer days.

Tony Ciccone is a tell-it-like-it-is kinda guy, and we were utterly charmed by his plain speaking manner and genuine hospitality. And, yes, the wines were quite nice too!  Tony started us off in the standard manner, with two whites. Read the rest of this entry »

Continued from the article Tasting Leelanau

Click to enlarge

We began our second day of tasting Leelanau at Longview Winery, a producer with which Kim and I had essentially no previous experience.  Owner Alan Eaker comes from a Fine Arts background, having studied ceramics and sculpture before accepting a professorship at the University of South Florida in 1969, where he worked in various capacities until his retirement in 1998, including serving as Chairman of the Fine Arts department from 1984-1989 and as the Director of GraphicStudio, the premier joint public-private venture for research in art at USF from 1989-1995.  He bought land in Leelanau County in 1998 after his wife Linda told him that she wanted to live on a farm, but she wasn’t so sure what to think when he told her that vineyards would be planted there.  Happily, things have turned out very well for the Eakers; the wines they are producing are very fine indeed. Read the rest of this entry »

Continued from the article Tasting Leelanau

Adam Satchwell - click to enlarge

I met Adam Satchwell, winemaker at Shady Lane Cellars, at a (mostly) rosé tasting last May, and because the pink stuff was my total focus at that event, I didn’t taste through everything he was pouring. We discussed the possibility of visiting him at a later date, however, and lo and behold, there we were, pulling into the tasting room parking lot for our second appointment on Tuesday. Read the rest of this entry »