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.
