Washington Street Wine House – A Petit Winery
Date Visited: August 25, 2019
Stop: #59
SPECIAL NOTE: Wine fans, dig in. This blog is the first of 32 straight blogs dedicated to visits we made to wineries over a 5-day period that spanned four months. The bulk of the visits were due to a wine tour we took in the Petoskey and Traverse City area in November 2019. More details on that coming. I tried to throw in some historical markers during our wine tour, but since I was not driving, I had no control and was overruled every time I suggested a marker stop. So, history buffs, bear with me as we endure the next 32 blogs – there will be plenty of historical markers to come!!!
One of the best things about our Michigan Wines and Signs
quest is visiting a new venue, with no expectations whatsoever, and then just
being blown away. But then there are
times when expectations are very high, and, instead, we are greatly
disappointed. This was the case with
Washington Street Wine House.
Kathy and I left Grand Pacific House and walked one block southeast
on Washington Street towards our next destination. Situated between Main Street and Front
Street, Washington Street Wine House was right in the middle of the Farmers
Market going on in the street that day. We
decided to browse up and down the street, visiting each of the vendors present
that day. There were a fair amount of
people doing the same, and it was fun being out in the sunshine, mingling, and
checking out the goods. We stopped
briefly at the Celtic Sisters Candles & Candies Gift shop. Since Kathy’s grandparents, on her mother’s
side, were both born in Ireland, we both have a soft spot in our hearts for
Ireland, so this was a must-stop. Of
course, we had to sit in the gigantic chair outside the store and take a selfie
before wandering into the store. We
spent a fair amount of time browsing, and memories of our trip to Ireland from
a couple years ago kept creeping into my thoughts. Finally, it was time to walk a short distance
up Washington Street to get to the Wine House.
The Washington Street Wine House opened its doors in July
2010. Cyndie and CJ are the owners, and
their path to winery owners grew from a hobby.
Cyndie and some friends had been frequenting a place where they could
bottle their own wine. After four years
of learning the art of winemaking, Cyndie and CJ decided to turn their hobby
into a business. Cyndie and CJ were
still in the midst of their respective careers, so Cyndie’s sister, Lisa,
agreed to run the store. CJ became the
winemaker, and Cyndie managed the business and shared creativity and marketing
duties with Lisa. These are the stories
we have heard time and again at many of the wineries we have visited. A hobby grows into a passion which leads to a
business. When the Wine House first
opened, the emphasis was on selling wine and some basic accessories. Over time, Cyndie and Lisa’s vision expanded
as they learned that wine lovers also love wine related “stuff.” Although their business has expanded to
include many wine-themed “gift” items, their core business is still making and
selling great wine.
There was so much to love about the Washington Street Wine
House – location (downtown New Baltimore just a few hundred feet from the
shores of Anchor Bay), a very warm and homey interior décor, and really good
wine. So, how could our visit be
disappointing? One of the things that we
really enjoy about our visits to the wineries in Michigan is meeting and
conversing with the wonderful owners and servers at each of the places we have
visited. We learn about each of the wines
served, the history of the winery and/or vineyard, and enjoy the fun anecdotes
usually shared with us about running a winery with its challenges and its
rewards. Unfortunately, we did not have
any of these experiences at the Washington Street Wine House.
Despite all the activity going on outside in the street,
the Wine House was not very busy. Yet,
we were treated like we were an inconvenience.
It took quite a long time for anyone to acknowledge us at the wine bar,
and when someone finally did, it really seemed like the server was agitated about
having to wait on us. There was no
conversation. All his answers to
questions we asked were one or two words.
We learned nothing about the wines we were sampling. The sample size was barely enough to even get
a taste, and we had to wait an inordinate amount of time in between pours. It was actually very shocking, because it was
so unexpected. Just like our visit to
Spicer’s (Blog Stop #16), we will chalk it up to our server just having a bad
day. But it did spoil what should have
been an amazing visit.
So, let’s get to the wine.
Poor service aside, the wine was very good. The Washington Street Wine House had a huge
selection of wines to choose from – 33 different kinds on that particular
day. Although the samples were very
small, the tastings were free of charge.
With so many wine selections to choose from, it was very tough to pick our
5 (each) choices. Since we did not learn
anything from our server about the wines we were trying, at least their wine
list provided some info to help us make our choices. As usual, I went with the semi-sweet and sweet
wines (Washington Street White, Enchanted, Water Tower White, Boardwalk Blend,
and Peechy) while Kathy went with a broader variety (Ciao Bella, Cheap Date,
Razzie Red, Bay Breeze, and Summer Lovin’).
Normally, with so many wines available, Kathy and I would have ordered
another flight each, but we were not willing to put up with the poor service
any longer so we decided, instead, to purchase some bottles and move on. We noted on the wine list that we could get a
10% discount if we bought six bottles, so we decided on the following:
1. Razzie
Red (no-brainer – raspberry wine!!!)
2. Enchanted
(another fruit wine with raspberry and dragon fruit blend)
3. Water
Tower White (white cranberry wine – YUM)
4. Summer
Lovin’ (anything with cherry in it is usually a no-brainer, but with lemonade
too? Oh yes!)
5. Boardwalk
Blend (OK – raspberry AND peach.
No need to say more)
6. Peechy
(peach wine is my favorite, and this was a very good peach wine!)
I think our whole experience would have been a lot better
if we had had the opportunity to be served by Lisa or Cyndie, and with so much
else going for it, I am sure we will visit Washington Street Wine House
again. In the meantime, the one anecdote
we learned about this winery came from its website:
The full name of the winery is
Washington Street Wine House – A Petit Winery.
Upon occasion, it’s been brought to our attention that we’ve misspelled
‘Petit’… not exactly. Indeed, it would
have an ‘e’ on the end if we were using the proper French spelling, however Cyn
& Lisa’s maiden name is ‘Petit’.
Licensed as a Small Winery, it seemed very fitting to incorporate
‘Petit’ into the name of the business, even without the ‘e’.
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