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.
