3 North Vines
Date Visited: August 3, 2019
Stop: #39
As we left Trinity Church, I knew there was another
historical marker to visit in Lexington.
However, I knew there was no way we could actually visit it – for two
reasons!!! The first reason - the sign
was damaged and ultimately removed back in 2002 and never replaced. The second reason – even if the sign was
there, it would have been inaccessible, seeing it would have been 1200 feet
offshore and 45 feet underwater!!! The
sign marked the resting spot of the tugboat, Sport. Built in 1873, the Sport had an illustrious
47-year career before a major storm caused it to sink just off the shore of
Lexington on December 13, 1920.
Fortunately, all five crew members washed up on shore alive, but the
tugboat has rested on the bottom of Lake Huron ever since and is a favorite
dive spot for scuba enthusiasts. So, I
guess officially we can’t count this as a stop on our quest, but we took solace
in the fact that our next stop would be to a winery.
From Trinity Church, we headed north on Main St. for about
1000 feet and made a left hand turn onto Huron Avenue (M-90). We drove 2.6 miles west on Huron Ave, which
becomes Peck Road outside the city limits of Lexington. On the south side of Peck Road, there is a
vineyard and a long driveway leading up to the winery and tasting room. We had arrived at 3 North Vines.
3 North Vines was founded by Nathan and Kristi Shopbell in
2007. The two had met at a wine tasting
class while students at Michigan State University. After graduating, they married and launched
their respective careers. But they soon
realized they were missing something, so they decided to turn their wine-making
hobby into a new career. They bought 35
acres of farmland between Lexington and Croswell in 2007. They began planting grapevines in 2008, and
finally opened the doors to their winery and tasting room in 2014.
On this particular day, the winery was packed with
customers – maybe it was the perfect weather, or the Art Fair in Lexington, or
maybe it is like this every Saturday at 3 North Vines. In any event, I dropped Sarah and Kathy off
at the door so they could get in line, and I found the very last parking spot
as far away from the front door as you can get.
The tasting room sits on top of a hill that overlooks the vineyard. There were people sitting all over the
place. The tasting room indoors was packed. The patio area was also completely
filled. By the time we got to the front
of the line, there were no seats available anywhere. However, the servers were so friendly and
wonderful – they went and found a table (made completely from the shafts of
discarded hockey sticks) and three chairs and found a perfect place for us to
sit under a tree with a nice view of the vineyard. A server showed up at our table almost immediately
and provided us with a wine menu and a verbal list of appetizers to choose from.
The wine list contained 11 selections:
- Lucky Shoe – sweet white blend of Seyval and Vidal Blanc, with hints of melon
- Fool Me Once – semi-sweet rosé, with citrus and cherry notes with a crisp finish
- Seyval Blanc – sweet white, has a floral nose, with tropical notes and a sweet finish
- Riesling – semi-dry white, has bold flavor of apple and bright and exciting
- Albariño – dry white with pineapple and pear flavors, with a delicate finish
- Sémillon – dry white, smooth floral and easy to drink
- X Marks the Spot – semi-dry red, red blend and hints of cherry. Unoaked and easy to drink
- Pinot Noir – dry, light body red with hints of oak and red berries
- Pinot Noir Black Label – a dry red, light body red with an earthy smoky finish
- Pinotage – dry red, with notes of chocolate and berry flavors with light oak
- Marquette – dry red, medium body, is thick with red fruit flavors with a smooth finish
And 2 sangrias:
- Raspberry Mango
- Red White & Blue
To make it easier for customers to decide what wines to
try, 3 North Vines provides their patrons with 3 Flight Selections at the
bottom of the wine list:
SWEET
|
WHITES
|
REDS
|
Lucky
Shoe
|
Seyval
Blanc
|
X Marks
the Spot
|
Fool Me
Once
|
Riesling
|
Pinot
Noir
|
Seyval
Blanc
|
Albariño
|
Pinotage
|
Riesling
|
Sémillon
|
Marquette
|
It was easy for me to choose – I went with the SWEET
selection. Kathy decided on the WHITES
flight, and Sarah went with the REDS.
The flights were $7 each and the pours were rather generous (at least 3
oz. each). You could also buy wine by
the glass for $7 and Sangria by the glass for $7. It is important to note that 3 North Vines offers
5 different ciders as well – A Few Good Apples, Espresso Royale, Clear and
Present Cider, The Hunt for Peach October, and Cherry Is Not Enough. You can get a flight of cider (3 pours) for
$7, or buy cider by the pint for $7. We
also decided to get a snack, so we ordered the Sweet Side tasting plate which
included a variety of different chocolate desserts.
Our server took the order for our wine selections and
returned shortly with our first tasting.
This was not the typical way we had done tastings in the past since most
places bring all of your selections out at the same time. With there being so many people at the winery
this day, it appeared that being served one glass at a time guaranteed long
waits in between glasses of wine. But I
have to tell you, that was not the case.
Our server was excellent, never letting our glass stay dry for very long
before our next glass was in front of us.
She was extremely pleasant and very helpful, and we really appreciated
the great service we got that day. We
enjoyed all of the wine and sangria selections, and just really enjoyed sitting
outside in the fresh air. We struck up
conversations with people sitting next to us, and watched a very large family
gathering try to take a group picture.
Unfortunately, because of the large number of people involved, taking a
selfie so that everyone could be included was impossible, so I offered to take a
few pictures for them. By this time, we
had finished our wines and our snack, and Kathy had ordered a couple of bottles
to take home with us. We spent about an
hour and twenty minutes there, relaxing, people watching, talking, drinking,
and just enjoying the atmosphere. This
was definitely one of the top wineries we have visited so far on our quest, and
we definitely plan to return someday.
One of my favorite vineyards by far!! I loved the atmosphere and the wines!
ReplyDelete