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

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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 »

Continued from the article Tasting Leelanau

Kris Sterkenburg - click to enlarge

The first thing I noticed when we pulled into the parking lot at Gill’s Pier Vineyard and Winery is that the tasting room looks suspiciously like a pole barn, and a second glance quickly confirmed that.  Co-owner Kris Sterkenburg likes to point out just what can be done with a pole barn when you enter the room, and indeed, it’s an elegant, well appointed setting in which to taste the wines that she, husband Ryan and winemaker Bryan Ulbrich produce.  We arrived late in the afternoon on Tuesday for our final appointment of the day, and we were especially pleased to find stools at the tasting bar, which we immediately settled ourselves upon in order to rest our weary feet and limbs. Read the rest of this entry »

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Widespread Panic brought their traveling road show to the Royal Oak Theater in Royal Oak, Michigan last night, and the Traveling Rothburys were there in full force to immerse ourselves in the experience.  Daughter Rosie has been telling me for the last two or three years how incredible these guys are, but they stayed pretty much off my radar until after our experience at Rothbury this summer, when I figured that I had better check them out and I loved what I heard.  When tickets went on sale a few months ago, we were first in line to buy ours and since Rosie has seen them on many occasions and turned us on to them, it seemed only fitting that we fly her up from the Keys and all go together.  As things turned out, it just couldn’t have been a better time.  Read the rest of this entry »

Alan Kerr (r) with Patrick Hersey at the 13th Street Winery - click to enlarge

When it is a balmy seventeen degrees C ( 63 F) outside, the sun is beaming down and it’s mid November, I should be arduously working in my yard, raking leaves and turning over the soil. On the other hand, my garden can wait; a quick spin down the road to check out a few wineries has way more appeal, especially as the new location of  13th Street Winery is barely a five minute drive from my home. Read the rest of this entry »

While sweeping out my Tasting Notes folder, I came across these items. They have not been part of a Gang story, but will be added to our archive of Mr. Ridge tasting notes.

I hope you find them of interest. Read the rest of this entry »