Hanging with the INN Crowd

Black Star Farms Suttons Bay

Date Visited:  November 9, 2019

Stop:  #70

We were about an hour and a half into our Toast the Season wine tour through the Leelanau Peninsula when we left Two K Farms Cidery and Winery and headed towards our next destination.  We jumped back on SW Bay Shore Drive (M-22) and headed north.  We drove 1.0 mile to East Revold Road, where we turned left and headed west for a short distance – about 318 feet, to be exact.  Another left, and we turned into Black Star Farms.  The narrow driveway winds through the north end of the vineyard, passing the beautiful Inn at Black Star Farms, which dominates the landscape.  After about 0.3 miles, we came upon the Tasting Room, which is the last building on the right side as we traveled south on the driveway.  The large parking lot was nearly full, which was not surprising seeing as Black Star Farms is one of the most popular stops on the Leelanau Peninsula wine trail.  Braving the cold and the sloppy conditions, we made it to the front entrance and, alas, entered an extremely busy tasting room. 

Now, this is not a small tasting room.  In fact, it is probably one of the largest tasting rooms we have ever been in.  With a large Bar-In-the-Round dominating the main room, there is also an extension of the room on the south side with 3 or 4 portable bars available to accommodate larger crowds.  There is also a private room on the west side of the main room.  Additionally, there is an outdoor bar on the east side of the tasting room which they can close up with portable panels to protect customers from the cold and other inclement weather.  This has become one of my very favorite wineries in Michigan, not only for the atmosphere in the tasting room, but also for the enormous selection of incredibly delicious wines.  Add in the assorted spirits made onsite at the distillery, and customers have a wide breadth of selections to choose from.  It would be easy to spend several hours here.

But, we did not have several hours to spare, so we had to get right down to business.  First, was to drink our complementary bubbly offered to us by the hostess as we entered the room.  Since the line for the food and wine samples was fairly long, having something to sip on while standing in line was a nice added touch.  It’s this attention to customers that solidifies Black Star Farms as one of my favorite places.  The Staff has always been attentive to our needs whenever we have been there.  They are friendly, informative, knowledgeable, and very courteous.  They converse with us, they laugh with us, and advise us – no matter how busy they are.  They make us feel special every time we visit.

We can only imagine this customer focused culture was created by the owners, Kerm and Sallie Campbell.  My experiences after 37 years in the business world tells me that the culture of a business is borne from the personalities and values of its owners.  Kerm and Sallie, along with founding partner Donald Coe, purchased and founded Black Star Farms in 1998.  The Campbell’s love for wine evolved after living in Europe for several years, and when they returned to the States, they purchased what was at the time an equestrian estate.  Today, the estate is 160 acres with the Inn being the centerpiece.  It has 10 rooms, each named after a star in the northern sky.  The estate also includes the vineyard, winery and Tasting Room, a distillery, farm-to-table café, multiple wedding and corporate venues, on-site catering, hiking trails, working farm, equestrian facility with indoor and outdoor riding arena, Centennial event barn, and more.  Today, Kerm is the sole proprietor of the estate.  It is truly an incredible place to visit, and a stay at the Inn is high on my bucket list of things to do. 

We finally made it to the front of the line and received our pairing:  a squash and apple pierogi with Riesling poached apples, buttermilk crème, and chives paired with the 2018 Arcturos Gewürztraminer.  It was a perfect pairing, and we enjoyed it immensely.  Once we polished off our food and wine samples, the tricky task became finding a spot at the bar.  We had to wait for a bit, but eventually we were able to carve out a space for two at one end of the bar while Randy and Christie ended up at the other end.  Black Star Farms was offering 5 additional samples per person, one of the more generous offerings during this event.  To make things easy, they had created 4 different pre-selected wine flights – a dry white flight, a dry red flight, a Staff Favorites flight, and a sweet flight.  Each flight contained 5 different wines.  This certainly made selecting wines easy since Black Star Farms produces 45 different wines and spirits. 

Selecting our flights was pretty easy, since Kathy and I are not really dry wine fans.  Kathy’s palate is evolving to appreciate some dry wines, whereas mine has not quite made that leap.  So, Kathy chose the Staff Favorites Flight, and I selected the Sweet Flight.  Our bartender was Olivia, who was the manager at that time at the Black Star Farm’s Mission Point winery.  Since the Toast the Season event is extremely popular, she was needed to help accommodate the large crowds.  She was a perfect hostess for us.  Very engaging and knowledgeable, she was a pleasure to talk to.  She told us about each of the wines we were about to sample.  Kathy really wanted to try the Vintners Select wine, which was not a choice in the Staff Favorites Flight, so Olivia told her she could substitute one of the wines in her flight for the Vintners Select.  Olivia truly made our visit a special one. 

Our final wine selections looked like this:

Kathy’s selection:

STAFF FAVORITES FLIGHT

• 2018 Arcturos Pinot Gris – Complex with melon and delicate notes.
• 2018 Arcturos Pinot Noir Rosé – Bright and fresh berry fruit notes.
• 2017 Arcturos Sur Lie Chardonnay – Vanilla and flinty aromas with rich tropical fruits.
• 2017 Arcturos Pinot Noir – Bright berry nose delicately touched with spicy oak.
• Vintners Select – Rich dark fruit flavors and a hint of cocoa and spice. (substituted for the Red House Red – Fruit driven with layered flavors and hints of oak).

John’s selections:

SWEET FLIGHT

• Black Star Farms Hard Apple Cherry Cider – Bubbly, with crisp apple and cherry.
• 2017 Arcturos Late Harvest Riesling – Rich apricot, pear, and honeysuckle notes.
• Delighted – Bubby with red berries flavors and a lush fruity finish.
• Black Star Farms Pear Wine – Made from 100% Bartlett Pears.
• Sirius Raspberry Dessert Wine – This dessert wine is the essence of fresh raspberries.

Kathy enjoyed the Chardonnay, which she thought was really smooth but not overly buttery.  Olivia mentioned that that wine was aged in steel containers and not oak barrels.  Kathy also thought my Delighted wine was fun, and thought that the Pear Wine had a really good flavor – it tasted like a nice ripe pear (which has not been our experience with other pear wines we have tasted).  I agreed with Kathy on the Delighted wine and the Pear Wine, but I also really enjoyed their Late Harvest Riesling.  When it came to deciding what we should buy, the choice was easy.  We ended up with one bottle each of the Pear Wine and the Late Harvest Riesling, and 3 bottles of Delighted.  We have already drunk all five bottles, so it is time for us to make a return trip to Black Star Farms.

Be sure to visit the Black Star Farms website to get a list of their current wines and ciders, and their current business hours. https://www.blackstarfarms.com/

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Great Views, Ciders, and Wines

Two K Farms Cidery & Winery

Date Visited:  November 9, 2019

Stop:  #69

Our second stop on our Toast of the Season wine tour through the Leelanau Peninsula was only 2 miles away.  We made our way down the hill from Ciccone Vineyard towards SW Bay Shore Drive (M-22) and headed north.  About 1.2 miles on the left was the entrance to Two K Farms Cidery and Winery.  A long winding uphill climb later, we parked in the only parking spot remaining.  Sitting atop a glacial dune, the tasting room has one of the most spectacular scenic views on the peninsula, overlooking West Grand Traverse Bay.  On this day, the tasting room was devoid of tables and chairs.  The gently arced wood bar dominates the west wall of the room, allowing an unobstructed panoramic view through the wall of windows on the east side of the room.  The room has a high ceiling with exposed beams and antique chandeliers, making the room feel older than it actually is.  A fireplace dominates the south wall of the room.  There is a wrap-around deck that offers an opportunity to sit outside and enjoy the scenery while indulging in their wines and ciders.  It is truly one of my favorite places to enjoy wine.

The farmland on which the cidery and winery resides has its origins dating back to the early 1800’s.  The first owner of the land was a War of 1812 veteran who was granted the land as part of his military service.  Eventually the farm was sold to Robert Lee in 1855, and he and his family continued to work the land until the early 2000’s.  At one point, the farm totaled more than 400 acres, extending all the way down to the shores of West Grand Traverse Bay.  The red barn, which can be seen from M-22 and sits just north of the entrance to the cidery and winery, is the lone surviving building from the original farm.  The topography of the farm was dominated by a drumlin dune, created by the glaciers that carved all of the land in this region.  The dune was altered twice over the years – once when M-22 was constructed in the 1940s, and again when the tasting room and processing room were constructed in 2017-2018.

The Lee farm was bought by K & K Farm Group in 2010.  By that time, most of the farmland (80 acres total) was dormant except for a few acres of corn and hay.  The next five years were spent planting 35 different varieties of heritage apple trees and grapevines.  Their first harvest was in 2016. 

Two K Farms opened their tasting room on September 21, 2018.  They already have won several national awards for their ciders and wines.  This is due to the dedication of brothers George and Max Koskela (the K & K brothers), who manage the farm and are involved in every aspect of running it, and the great staff working there.  We got to experience the great staff firsthand!!

When we entered the tasting room, we were guided to the south side of the room and told to go outside to get our food sample and paired beverage.  They had set up a small tent on the south side of their deck with a heater inside, and we waited in a short line to get an Apple and Cheddar Biscuit Bite and a sample of New World Cider.  We went back inside and stood along the windows enjoying our samples and the scenery (as well as the warmth!).  The cider was delicious and paired very nicely with the biscuit bite.  The room was quite busy, but we were able to find some spots up at the bar so we could enjoy our wine/cider samples.  Our hostess warmly greeted us and provided a lot of great information about the cidery and winery, as well as great descriptions of the ciders and wines available for us to sample.  She truly had passion for this place, and we really appreciated her kindness and the attention she afforded us, especially given how busy they were.  We were allowed two additional samples each, and since they only had 4 wines available, we decided to pass on the ciders and focus on the wines.  Kathy and I divvied up the 4 four wines accordingly:

Kathy’s selections:

• Cille
• Colonnade

John’s selections:

• Riesling
• Bubbly Riesling.

I love Riesling, and Two K Farms does a great job with their Rieslings.  I truly enjoyed them.  Kathy has been looking for a good apple wine, and the Colonnade was a great choice.  Also, we have struggled in finding rosés that we both like, and again, Two K Farms did not disappoint with their Cille.  We were set to buy some wine but decided to check our inventory to see if we had any wine left over from our 2018 visit.  Checking the list, we still had a bottle of the Colonnade and the Riesling, as well as a bottle of the Sangria still at home.  So, for the second winery in a row, we decided not to buy any bottles.  It was time to move on to our third winery of the day, so we gathered up Randy and Christie and bid farewell to our hostess and headed out.

Be sure to visit the Two K Farms website to get a list of their current wines and ciders, and their current business hours.  http://www.twokfarms.com/

 

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A Special Connection

Ciccone Vineyard & Winery

Date Visited:  November 9, 2019

Stop:  #68

This was the first “official” day of the Toast of the Season wine tour through the Leelanau Peninsula.  It would only make sense to describe what this all entails before I get into each of our winery visits.  We bought two tickets a couple of months ahead of the event which gave us access to the 25 wineries on the Leelanau Peninsula participating in the wine tour.  You pick one winery to be your start point, and at 11:00 am on Saturday, you check-in at your start point and are given a gift bag that contains a wine tumbler and a few other small gifts – a bag of chips, discount tickets, etc.  Then, you get your small food sample and a sample of the featured wine paired with the food.  After enjoying the food and wine, most wineries will also include a couple additional pours of their wines - your choice (anywhere from 2 to 5 additional wine samples).  At that point, we typically buy some wine and then head on to our next destination.  At this point, you can go to any winery you want in any order.  Since our objective is to hit as many wineries as possible, we do not linger for long around any one winery.  This trip is not about the quality of our visit more than it is about the quantity of wineries we can visit and explore where we want to return.  Kathy and Christie meticulously map out the most efficient routes that allow us to maximize our winery visits.  The event covers two days – 11 am to 5 pm on Saturday, 12 noon to 5 pm on Sunday.  We have yet to visit every winery on the list, but we usually hit 23-25 over the two days, so the challenge is always to outdo the year before.

Our starting point for this weekend was Willow Vineyards.  However, we found out the morning of the event that, due to the horrible weather from the day and night before, Willow Vineyards would not be open for the weekend.  Ice buildup made entry into their parking lot impossible to navigate.  So, we were redirected to Ciccone Vineyard and Winery, which was just a short distance up the road.  Ciccone Vineyard and Winery sits atop a hill on East Hilltop Road with a beautiful view of the surrounding area, including the west arm of the Grand Traverse Bay.  Since the number of people now using Ciccone as their starting point was doubled, there was already quite a crowd when we arrived.  We got in line, received our gift bag, our featured wine, and headed back to the west room for our food pairing. 

If the name Ciccone sounds familiar, then you may have already figured out that the owners of this vineyard and winery are the father (Silvio “Tony”) and mother (Joan) of Madonna (one of 8 children raised by Tony and Joan).  The winery holds a special place in our hearts not only because of the great wines we’ve had there, but also the family’s connection to Rochester Hills.  In fact, some of the kids went to the same high school as one of our friends (and years later, our own kids). 

When Tony retired as an optical engineer, and Joan sold her business, the two headed north with hopes of fulfilling their dream of owning a vineyard and winery.  Tony, being a first generation American from Italy, had grown up making and drinking homemade wine.  In 1995, they acquired their current land and the Ciccone Vineyard and Winery was established.  The following Spring, the first five acres were planted by hand with Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, and Gewürztraminer.

Tony and Joan have passed on the Ciccone tradition of making wine to their son, Mario, and their daughter, Paula.  Mario is the vineyard manager, making sure the grapevines are tended to and thrive, and Paula is the winemaker – one of only two female winemakers in Leelanau County.  Between the two of them, they have grown and produced many award-winning wines.

During prior “Toast the Season” events, we’ve enjoyed the opportunity to have a brief conversation with Joan as she personally helped serve. Being able to meet an owner and hear a bit of their story transforms a visit from a couple of sips of wine to a special occasion.  For our pairing today, we enjoyed a Chocolate Dessert from the Great Lakes Chocolate Company paired with the 2018 Grazie (a fruited vinifera).  It was a very good pairing, but we did miss Joan’s delectable Italian cuisine (she has the most amazing meatballs!) and conversations she always shared with us and her patrons.

Once we finished our pairing, we headed back into the main tasting room.  I really love this room – a very sturdy oak bar topped with large wood posts and a pergola, matching wood posts and beams supporting the vaulted ceiling, a stone fireplace with leather couch fronting it, an ornate metal cross hanging over the massive wood mantle to the fireplace, old wine barrels serving as tables, and just an overall cozy feeling on a very cold winter day.  However, the warmth in that room was probably due to the huge number of people gathered in it and not from the fire in the fireplace.  We had to wait a bit to move our way up to the bar.  On this day, the winery offered two additional free samples.  In short order, we chose the following:

Kathy’s selections:

1.     2018 Rosé

2.     2017 Dolcetto – A varietal from Northern Italy.

John’s selections:

1.     2017 Pacentro – Off-dry blend of Pinot Blanc and Golden Muscat.

2.     2018 Sweet Caroline – Concentrated sweet Chardonnay.

We enjoyed our samples – I was partial to the Sweet Caroline and Kathy favored the Dolcetto.  But, we had agreed that, due to the large quantity of wine we already had at home, that we would not go crazy this year buying up cases of wine.  Since we had limited samples to try, we decided not to buy anything this year from Ciccone.  In hindsight, I wish we had since the pandemic made a return trip to Ciccone in 2020 an impossibility and we have since depleted our inventory of Ciccone wines. We missed the ticket sales for Toast the Season this year, so we're going to have to look for another opportunity next year!

For REFERENCE, the following is the wine selection currently at Ciccone (as of October 13, 2021):

Estate Bottled White Wine

   2019 Pinot Grigio

   2020 Riesling

   2020 Chardonnay

   2019 Gerwurztraminer

   2018 Nectar (blend of Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay)

   2020 Pacentro (Off-dry Blend of Pinot Blanc and Golden Muscat)

   2019 Sweet Caroline (Concentrated Sweet Chardonnay)

 Estate Bottled Red Wine

   2020 Pinot Noir

   2019 Cabernet Franc

   2020 Novanto Dolcetto (Celebrating Tony's 90th Birthday, Novanto (90 in Italian) is dry, tannic, and wonderfully smooth)

   2019 Ridge Red

   2020 Tramonto Red (Unique blend of our signature Dolcetto, and four different French Hybrids.  Off-dry)

   2020 Lee La Tage (Bordeaux Blend Cab Franc, Cab Sav, Merlot & Malbec)

   2020 Dolcetto (Varietal from Northern Italy)

Estate Bottled Rosé & Blush Wines

  2020 Blush

   2019 Rosé De Pinot Noir

   Soirée (A classic Champagne blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir)

  2020 Romato

   2020 Frankie (Ice Style Wine made from Cabernet Franc Grapes)

 Specialty Wine

    Grazie (Pinot Noir, Cherry and Apple)

   2017 Starboard (Port-style wine. Fortified blend of Chardonnay, Balaton Cherries, and peach)

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The Newbie in the Region

Boyne Valley Vineyards

Date Visited:  November 8, 2019

Stop:  #67

Kathy, Randy, Christie, and I continued our quest through the Petoskey wine region, leaving the Resort Pike Cidery and Winery and heading to our final destination of the day, Boyne Valley Vineyards.  It was 4:45 pm when we pulled out of the Resort Pike driveway, and according to our GPS, we were 4.8 miles away from Boyne Valley Vineyards.  We made a left hand turn out of Resort Pike and headed back to US-131 via Williams Road.  Once there, we made a right and drove about 3.4 miles to the entrance to the vineyard, which was located on the west side of US-131.  The driveway to the tasting room was a winding, uphill drive totaling 1,100 feet.  From the outside, it was easy to see that the building was very new.  Just how new, we would soon find out.

This was absolutely a beautiful place.  Sitting on top of a hill, the tasting room was long and tall – at least two stories high – and is a “monitor barn”-style architecture.  It had a couple of clear garage doors that could be opened up during nice weather to allow customers to move easily between the indoors and the outdoor seating areas.  There was also a smaller, window-sized garage door that was above a counter top that, when opened, could allow a party of eight to sit with four people inside and four people outdoors across the counter top from one another.  Very cool.  The outside area also included a large lawn area surrounded by flower gardens, and their property borders a 113-acre nature preserve.

The inside was very big – 1,500 square feet in all.  The building is comprised of two halves.  The front half extended the full two stories to a peaked ceiling, all made of wood with lots of wood beams providing support, and serves as the tasting room.  The sides of the room were all wood from the base of the windows up, and corrugated metal from the base of the windows down to the concrete floor.  The back wall of the room was comprised of stone from the floor to the halfway point up the wall, and then wood from that point to the ceiling.  There was a metal staircase at the back wall that led to a second floor supported with very large wood beams.  This was the back half of the building and this is where things are going to get even cooler.  Customers can walk upstairs to a balcony where there’s a door that currently leads to nowhere — for now. The plan, which is already in motion, is that the door will lead to an outdoor tree house tasting room, 600 square feet in size, nestled amongst three maple trees behind the building, and scheduled to open in August, 2021.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME???  How awesome will that be?

Continuing with the tour of the main tasting room, there were cushioned chairs and coffee tables in the front and right side of the room, and tall tables and stools on the left side of the room.  The bar was three-sided, wood on the bottom, and a black (possibly marble) countertop.  I kept imagining how fun this place must be in the summer time when all the garage doors and windows are open, with people moving between the outdoors and the indoors. 

There were only a couple other people in the tasting room at the time, so we were able to get seats at the bar.  We were greeted by Christi, who just happened to be one of the four owners of the vineyard.  She and her husband, Tom (Mahaney), and Tom’s twin sister Mary Anne and her husband Marc (Lippe) are the owners.  They bought the vineyard property in 2015, planted grapevines in 2016, and produced over 1000 gallons of wine in their first year.  Currently, they have nearly 6,000 vines planted on two of the Boyne Valley Vineyard properties - a 14-acre parcel in Boyne City with 6 acres of Marquette and Petit Pearl vines, and four acres planted on the property adjacent to the tasting room, where Marquette, La Crescent, Itasca, and Frontenac Gris are grown.  Boyne Valley Vineyards does not currently make their wine onsite.  The actual production of their wines takes place in Boyne City. The Mahaneys and the Lippes plan to move wine production operations to the tasting room property in 2022, at which time public tours will be offered.

Christi told us that the tasting room had only been open for 4 weeks (opening in October, 2019).  Christi told us that, like so many winery owners we have met, she, her husband, and the Lippes turned their passion for wine into a business after holding careers in totally unrelated fields.  Christi told us that she was an environmental engineer for 20-plus years.  Mary Anne managed a restaurant, golf course, and banquet center for more than 25 years.  Now, the two of them manage the day-to-day operations of the vineyard, winery, and tasting room.  Their husbands are still working at their careers in medical sales, but they handle all the construction projects on the property.

Christi handed us their wine menu and explained that a tasting included our choice of 4 wines, and at the time of our visit, they had seven wines on their menu.  So, to make the wine selection easy, Kathy and I decided that I would order the white wines (of which there were 3) and she would order the red wines (also, 3 different kinds) and we both would order the Rosé.  With that major decision out of the way, here was our selections:

Kathy’s selections:

1.     2018 Short’s Hill Red – This fruity dry red wine is a blend of Frontenac and Chancellor grapes grown in northwest Michigan.  The wine has aromas of red currant and fresh strawberries and has a smooth finish with low tannins.

2.     2018 Marquette – This dry and medium-bodied red wine is the first estate-grown vintage of Marquette grapes from our Aggie Vineyard in northwest Michigan.  This wine is lightly oaked and has notes of cherries, black currants, and blackberries with a hint of pepper.

3.     2018 Foxhole Red – This sweet red wine was made with Marquette grapes grown in northwest Michigan.  Fresh raspberries and blueberries on the nose develop into a juicy and sweet finish.

4.     Sunset Rosé – This pleasantly pink semi-sweet rosé has notes of sweet maraschino cherry and finishes with a hint of sugar.

John’s selections:

1.     Cayuga White – This dry white wine has notes of lemon zest and green melon with a pleasantly acidic finish.

2.     2018 Frontenac Gris – This seme-dry white wine, made from grapes grown in northwest Michigan, tastes summery and fresh and has notes of honeysuckle and fresh oranges.

3.     SnowCat White – This sweet white wine was made from Vignoles grapes and has notes of honey and ripe tropical citrus.

4.     Sunset Rosé – This pleasantly pink semi-sweet rosé has notes of sweet maraschino cherry and finishes with a hint of sugar.

Overall, Kathy and I enjoyed all of the wines offered at Boyne Valley.  We decided we needed to take home at least one bottle from each type of wine.  My favorites, of course, were the sweeter wines.  I think Kathy would have been happy with any of them (seeing as she has a more mature wine palate than I do), but she agreed to get the sweet wines.  So, we got a bottle of Foxhole Red, a bottle of SnowCat White, and a bottle of Sunset Rosé.  We took advantage of the 10% discount per bottle being offered that day and cashed out 15 minutes before closing time.  I would definitely rate this place one of the top wineries/tasting rooms we have ever visited.  The atmosphere was out of this world, the service was exceptional, and the wines were fantastic.  It was hard to believe that they had only been open for 4 weeks.  But I could imagine the incredible potential this place possesses, especially when the weather is warmer and we could take advantage of the outdoor space.  They currently have entertainment every Saturday night, which just adds to the ambience of the place.  Throw in the Treehouse tasting room and bar coming later this year, and one would have to think, this will be one of the most popular places in the northern reaches of Michigan.  I truly cannot wait until we can come back and visit.

But for now, we needed to concentrate on making our way down to Traverse City.  It was about 5:45 pm and we had an hour and 15-minute drive ahead of us.  Besides needing to check into our hotel, we also needed to grab some dinner.

The drive down was uneventful, which was good compared to the last couple of years.  We got ourselves checked in at the hotel so now it was time to decide on dinner.  We noticed a place not too far from where we were staying, so that became our choice.  The restaurant was the Smoke & Porter Public House, which specializes in wood fire cooked foods.  In fact, their website says they wanted the theme to be based on cooking meat over a wood fire and the restaurant would smell like a late-night campfire.  Which, it did.  They had repurposed an old fast-food restaurant, so our challenge was to guess what fast food restaurant used to be here.  They had an atrium in the front, which kind of narrowed our choices – Wendy’s, Taco Bell, Big Boy.  My money was on Wendy’s but Randy nailed it – the restaurant used to be an Arby’s – at least that is what our waitress told us.  In any event, they had a full bar and carried several craft beers, one of which was called Pilsner Urquell, a beer made in the Czech Republic just a few short miles from where our daughter’s fiancée grew up.  So, of course, that was my beer of choice – probably the easiest choice I had to make all weekend.  Overall, this was an excellent experience.  The food was truly fantastic (and smoky), and the service was awesome.  And, of course, the beer was pretty darn good, too.  It’s always a bonus when you stumble upon pleasant surprises, and that is how I would describe our visit to the Smoke & Porter Public House.

We drove back to the hotel and took nearly a one-hour break before the four of us reconvened to play some cards.  We were all pretty tired, so we could barely muster playing one game of UNO.  Why UNO?  Well, that is a story for another day, but we have been playing this game with Randy and Christie for 40 years, so it’s become a tradition to try and sneak in a game anytime we have a chance to get together, no matter where we may happen to be.  

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This is Carbonation Country

Resort Pike Cidery and Winery

Date Visited:  November 8, 2019

Stop:  #66

 Once we (Kathy, Randy, Christie, and I) piled into the truck after our visit to the Mackinaw Trail Winery and Brewery – Petoskey, the big question on our minds was whether to stick to our original plan and head to Boyne Valley Vineyards, our last scheduled stop for the day, or take a flyer and visit Resort Pike Cidery and Winery after the recommendation we got from Laurie Stabile, the co-owner of Mackinaw Trail.  After looking at the time and doing some quick logistics calculations, we decided to take the challenge and squeeze in a trip to Resort Pike.  I am really glad we did.

We turned left out of the driveway to Mackinaw Trail Winery and made a quick right onto Williams Road.  Less than two minutes and 1.4 miles later, we turned right into the driveway leading to the parking lot in front of Resort Pike.  The building is relatively new, small, and sitting on top of a hill overlooking the beautiful countryside.  Walking inside, I was instantly smitten with the place.  I really enjoy the intimacy of smaller wineries and tasting rooms, and Resort Pike fell right into that category.  The first thing you see when you walk in is the three-sided, all wood bar, which dominates the room.  The wall behind the bar looked like the side of a classic red barn, and prominently painted on that wall was a large U.S. flag.  Under the flag was a lineup of hard cider taps – 20 by my count.  We were under an all-wood slat and wood beam vaulted ceiling, and a large marker board dominated the left wall of the room with a complete list of all hard ciders, specials, and wines available for that day.  Behind the bar was Tim, who greeted us and invited us to sit at the bar.  We were the only customers in the place.

Tim was very cordial and welcoming, and we were fascinated to learn that he was a film director by trade.  An independent film-maker, he mentioned that he was wrapping up his most recent project and was excited about its upcoming release.  Tim also filled us in on the history of Resort Pike.  The tasting room itself opened on July 11, 2017, but this was basically Phase 2 of a two-phase project.  Phase 1 was focused on preserving the farmland, with an emphasis on completely restoring the historic barn that sat on the property.  The date on the barn says 1889.  Once the barn and the surrounding land was restored, the owner, Dustin Stabile, decided that he wanted to create something a little special, and what better way to do that than to share his passion for carbonation!!!  In fact, their byline at Resort Pike is “This is Carbonation Country.”  Since wineries are plentiful in the area, including his family’s Mackinaw Trail Winery just 1.6 miles away, Dustin focused his craft on hard ciders and sparkling wines.  Back when we visited, Resort Pike was offering 12 hard ciders, 6 sparkling wines, and 6 still wines (non-carbonated).  Today, according to their website, their menu consists of 9 hard ciders, 7 sparkling wines, and 3 still wines.  So, as you can see, the menu fluctuates over time. Also, at least when we were there, they had a couple of special ciders and wines that did not appear on their menu at the time.  It was like limited editions and experimental concoctions were made available to let customers try some interesting new flavors.  I would guess that if they got enough positive feedback, these wines and ciders might find themselves in larger production batches and on the main menu.

So, Tim gave each of us a menu and we set about trying to make our selections from the numerous available ciders and wines.  We could each get a flight of 5 samples for $10.  The following is what Kathy and I settled on:

Kathy’s selections:

1.     Sea Salt and Lime – A special blend not on their menu

2.     MK’s Ultra – Brown sugar, caramel apple hard cider.  This project is straight from the CIA mind control experiments in the ‘50s.

3.     William’s Elixir – Cinnamon molasses apple hard cider.  Tastes just like apple pie!

4.     Pink Frizzante – A semi sweet sparkling pink wine made from the winemaker’s proprietary blend of grapes.

5.     Marquette – Dry red aged on French oak.  Made with grapes from Gabriel Farms in Petoskey Michigan.

John’s selections:

1.     Cherry Popper – A 75% apple 25% Cherry cider blend.  Tart with just the right amount of sweet.

2.     Honeycrisp Iced Cider – Made using 100% Honeycrisp apples.  This cider is decadently sweet.

3.     Riesling – A semi dry sparkling Riesling.  Crisp acidity with ripe tangerine aromas.

4.     Pike Demi-Sec – A still semi sweet white wine.

5.     Peach – A still wine that was not on the regular menu.

The Sea Salt and Lime Cider was very unique – to me, it was like drinking a carbonated margarita.  The MK’s Ultra and William’s Elixir were very good and probably our favorites, but the Cherry Popper and Honeycrisp Iced Cider were very close behind.  Honeycrisps are my favorite apple, so tasting a hard cider made of that apple was a treat.  I also enjoyed their Peach wine, but then again, I have not met a peach wine that I did not like.  At the end of the day, all of the choices were good, but we definitely had our favorites. 

Kathy and I decided we needed to take some of the MK’s Ultra home with us, so we put in our request for a bottle of that hard cider.  A check of the time told us we needed to get on the road if we wanted to get to our next stop while they were still open, so we cashed out, waited a few minutes for Randy and Christie to do the same, and then thanked Tim for his hospitality.  We all agreed that it was worth the trip, and I would love to revisit Resort Pike during warmer weather when we could order a nice cold glass of hard cider and sit outside enjoying the scenery and the weather.  Maybe someday!!!

#michiganwinesandsigns #michigan #history #michiganhistory #wine #michiganwine #winetasting #lovemiwine #historyisbetterwithwine

Northern Michigan Winery Pioneers

Mackinaw Trail Winery & Brewery - Petoskey

Date Visited:  November 8, 2019

Stop:  #65

The snow began to fall again as we left Walloon Lake Winery and headed east on Intertown Road.  We drove for 1.8 miles to US Highway 31, then turned right and headed south for 0.9 miles.  On the left-hand side was a long driveway leading up to a large brown building, home to the Mackinaw Trail Winery and Brewery - Petoskey.  We knew this stop would be different from our previous stops if for any reason because it was by far the busiest of the ones we had visited so far.

As soon as we walked in through the main entrance, we saw an impressive sight – the green and white Mackinaw Trail Winery sign hanging on a stone wall behind a huge semi-circular bar.  The ceiling is vaulted with huge beams, and to the left of the bar is a wall dedicated to all the medals won for their wines.  The tasting room itself was by far the biggest of any we had been to up to now, with plenty of seats for everyone.

We found some spots at the bar and were greeted by Laurie.  We got to chit-chatting and found out that Laurie happened to be one of the owners of the winery.  She and her husband, Ralph (Stabile), founded the Mackinaw Trail Winery in Manistique in 2004.  The Petoskey winery opened in 2009.  Laurie was very sweet, and given how busy they were, we really appreciated that she took the time to make us feel so welcomed.  After she moved on to greet other customers, our server provided us with menus and slips of paper to write down our wine selections, and we took a seat at a table next to the checkout counter. 

The menu was huge – not quite War and Peace huge, but definitely huge by winery standards.  It included:

• 2 sparkling wines (one of which was unavailable on this day)
• 8 dry white wines (one was not available)
•   8 dry red wines (again, one of them was unavailable)
• 5 semi-dry wines
• 3 hard ciders
• 8 sweet wines (2 of them were unavailable)
• 4 fruit wines
• 3 Tier One beers (one unavailable)
• 4 Tier Two beers (one unavailable)
• 3 Tier Three beers (two unavailable)

(The list of available wines from our trip is posted below). 

Once again, we were faced with tough choices.  We could get a flight of 5 tastes for $10, so that meant we would only get to sample 10 of the 35 wines available on this day.  Ugh.  Well, Kathy and I pondered this for a few minutes, being careful to choose wines that would not duplicate what the other one was getting.  Here is what we decided on:

Kathy’s selections:

• Big Red – This is our Flagship red wine.  Similar to a Chianti.
• 2017 Estate Grown Petite Pearl – Went through a Flash Détente.  Barrel aged for 24 months in Hungarian Puncheons.
• 2018 Estate Marquette Rosé – Sweet cherry jam aromas.
• North Shore Red (PORT) – Barrel aged in bourbon barrels for 12 months.Razzberry – Raspberry fruit wine.

John’s selections:

• 2015 Unrestricted Riesling – Medium dry Riesling.
• 2018 Select Harvest La Crescent – Candied peach aromas.
• 2018 Late Harvest Riesling – Crisp with a balanced sweetness.
• Süssreserve – Ice wine style dessert wine.
• Strawberry Rhubarb – Strawberry and rhubarb fruit wine.

We took our slips up to the bar and struck up another conversation with Laurie.  She told us that the winery had been a life-long dream for Ralph, who used to press grapes with his grandfather when he was a young child.  But interestingly, Ralph and Laurie knew very little about growing grapes in cold region areas like Manistique or Petoskey.  Most of the wines they made in the early years were made from grapes shipped to them from elsewhere.  But flying in the face of “experts” who claimed you could not grow good wine-making grapes in cold northern regions, the Stabiles proved them wrong.  So much so that their success led to expansion into Mackinaw City before expanding again into Petoskey.  The Stabiles were basically wine-making pioneers in northern Michigan. 

Ralph continued to be the chief wine maker at Mackinaw Trail until 2010 when he turned the job over to their son, Dustin (who happens to be a Michigan State graduate – GO GREEN!!).  Their winery in Petoskey sits on 30 acres of land, 15 of which are planted with grapes.  Mackinaw Trail has enjoyed much success in wine competitions, as demonstrated by the wall of medals I mentioned earlier.  Kathy and I were fortunate to get to hear firsthand from an owner the history of this fine winery.  So cool.

We rejoined Randy and Christie at the table and our flights arrived soon afterwards.  We were enjoying our selections when one of the hostesses stopped at our table to see how we were doing.  She was a beautiful young lady with strawberry golden hair.  She didn’t say much, but she did take a shining to Randy.  Her name was Syrah and we soon learned that her official title at the winery was Chief Apple Inspector.  She also happened to be a Golden Retriever!!!  Syrah sat next to Randy for many minutes until she decided to go visit another table.  She was such a sweet dog.

We finished up our tastings and were quite satisfied with what we chose.  All of our wine selections were very enjoyable.  For the past several months, we have learned a lot about growing grapes in Michigan.  We have also learned that Michigan produces very unique wines.  Relying on cold hardy varietals, Michigan wines stray from the typical wines found in historic wine regions, like NAPA Valley.  Marquette and La Crescent wines are unique to vineyards in colder regions so Mackinaw Trail’s focus is on producing these types of wines as opposed to your typical Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs.  Having said that, I was glad that we had tried a Marquette and a La Crescent because they were the two wines we liked the best and were the two wines we decided to take home with us. 

As we were getting ready to leave, Laurie said goodbye and asked us if we were going to go to Resort Pike Cidery and Winery.  We were curious about why she would ask that but soon found out why.  Resort Pike Cidery and Winery is owned by Mackinaw Trail, the latest addition to their burgeoning business.  Laurie mentioned that Tim would be working there and that we should mention her name if we decided to make a stop.  Resort Pike, although on our list, was not a place we had initially planned to visit, but after Laurie’s recommendation, it was quite possible that that was about to change.

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A Family Affair

Walloon Lake Winery

Date Visited:  November 8, 2019

Stop:  #64

We were now on our way to our fourth winery as our Michigan Wines and Signs tour of the Petoskey area continued on this snowy day in November, 2019.  We had just left Rudbeckia Winery heading north on Lake Grove Road, traveling the 1.9 miles to our next destination, Walloon Lake Winery.  The Walloon Lake Winery is located on Intertown Road, about 1.08 miles east of Lake Grove Road.  It was approaching 2:30, so we had to pick up some time to hit all the wineries we wanted to visit on this day.

We arrived at Walloon Lake Winery and were pleasantly surprised to see that we were the only ones there.  It seems like Kathy and I have the most interesting visits when there are no other people present, so we were excited to have that personal interaction with the staff.  On this day, the staff consisted of one person – Marta Dennis, one of the owners of the winery, and, according to their website, the Greenhouse Guru.  Marta was a wonderful host who took great care of us and engaged us in lots of interesting conversation. 

One of the first things we learned was that the winery was truly a family affair.  Marta’s husband, Tim, and their son Connor and daughter Britta, are co-owners of the winery.  The property on which the winery resides has been in Tim’s family for over 65 years.  His parents, Bob and Dorothy, purchased the 40 acres of land in 1954 and ran a small dairy on it.  When Bob retired, he converted it to a produce farm with greenhouses. 

We learned that both Tim and Marta had careers as teachers and around 2012 they began to think about the farm as a retirement business opportunity and established the Dennis Farms Vineyard.  They planted their first grapevines in 2013 with the goal of expanding the vineyard to 15 acres with seven different varieties of grapes.  That same year, the Dennis’ began converting an equipment barn into their winery, which opened in 2014.  The most impressive feat was the tasting room itself.  Tim and Connor built the Tasting Room using wood harvested and milled from the farm itself.  Marta told us that the beams were made from red pine that Tim and Marta had planted themselves back in 1973.  Even the stone used around the foundation and the interior fireplace came from the farm.

I really loved the atmosphere of the tasting room.  A lot of wood.  Unique wall construction – looks like slices of tree trunks and thick branches held in place between wood beams with what looks like concrete (called cordwood construction).  A stone fireplace.  A wood slat bar.  Tables that have wood barrels as the base and a thick slice of tree trunk as the tabletop.  A wood staircase leading to a second floor that serves as an office.  A great view of the surrounding countryside through the windows.  Just a very pleasant space to sit and enjoy sipping on some wine.

Speaking of sipping on some wine, it was time to do just that.  We took our place at the bar and Marta provided us with a slip to record our tasting selections.  On this day, we had 8 white wines to choose from, 7 red wines, 2 rosés, and 4 fruit wines (see complete list below in the data sheet).  Marta explained that we got 4 tastings for $6.00, and we all set about making our selections.  Kathy has gotten more adventurous in her selections as her palate has adjusted to being more tolerant of drier wines.  I, on the other hand, have stayed predictable and focused on the sweeter wines.

Kathy’s selections:

1.     West Arm White - Riesling – semi dry, ripe apples, lime and lily notes

2.     Smooth Sailing - Frontenac Gris – semi dry, honeysuckle and melon

3.     North Arm Noir – Marquette – dry, black currant and smooth oak tannins.  This wine was awarded Best Dry Red in the state in 2017.

4.     Regatta Rosé – Blend – semi sweet, delightfully pink with tart cherry nose

John’s selections:

1.     Between the Buoys – La Crescent – semi sweet, apricots and peaches

2.     Village Blanc – Frontenac Gris Blend – sweet, honey and fruity nose

3.     Boathouse Red – Marquette – sweet, blackberry aromas and jammy finish

4.     End of the Pike – Sparkling Peach – sweet, bursting with peach aromas

As usual, we enjoyed all of our choices – some more than others.  Kathy really enjoyed the North Arm Noir.  Although a dry wine, it was smooth and was not overpowering in its dryness.  I really enjoyed the two sweet white wines – Between the Buoys and Village Blanc.  We both really liked the Boathouse Red.  As usual, I enjoyed the peach wine.  When it comes to choosing what bottles to buy, we try to take stock of our inventory and get wines that are very unique, or wines that we do not have a lot of.  With that being said, my two sweet white wines did not make the cut – we have lots of sweet white wines in our inventory.  We do not have many dry wines, so the North Arm Noir made our buy list.  Kathy and I really enjoy Marquette wines ever since we had our first of that type at Youngblood’s Winery a few weeks ago, so with Walloon Lake’s Marquette being sweeter than most, we decided to get a bottle of that.  The Walloon Lake Winery accepts the Vintage Michigan wine discount card so we got an additional 5% off of our purchase.

I think Kathy and I would have stayed and had another flight apiece if we were not on an aggressive schedule.  With so many wines to choose from, only getting to sample 8 seemed like a sin, but that is the sacrifice we have to make in order to maximize the number of wineries we visit.  It just gives us an excuse to come back!!!  So, after we made our purchase, and Randy and Christie made theirs, we said goodbye to Marta and thanked her for her hospitality.  It was time to make our way to the next stop.

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