Michigan By The Bottle

We'll Be Right Back - Don't Go Away!

We'll be incommunicado through Sunday, Sept. 11, so you won't be seeing any new posts from us for a few days (and our Thursday morning event listing, This Weekend in Michigan Wine, will be on hiatus until Sept. 15). But rest assured, we'll be back in a few days and we have more articles, videos and giveaways in the works! If you're an MBTB fan on Facebook, you'll be seeing some auto-posts of "Michigan Wine Rewinds," Links to past content we want to make sure you've seen, and nightly inquiries about what you're drinking so we can read when we get back what everyone was enjoying! Until then, have a wonderful, safe and Michigan wine-filled Labor Day weekend!

2011 Michigan Wine & Spirits Competition Medal Winners

The 2011 Michigan Wine & Spirits Competition medal winners have been announced. Congrats to the following Best in Class Winners:

• Dry White - Chateau Fontaine 2010 Dry Riesling
• Dry Red - Fenn Valley Capriccio
• Fruit Wine - Garden Bay Winery Raspberry
• Dessert Wine - Black Star Farms 2008 A Capella Ice Wine
• Rosé - Forty-Five North 2010 Rosé of Cabernet Franc
• Sparkling - L. Mawby Cremant Classic
• Semi-Dry White - Fenn Valley 2010 Riesling and Tabor Hill 2010 Gewurztraminer

Download a list of all the medal winners.

And the Name That View winner is...

Congratulations to GINA KITTLE, winner of our Name That View contest from earlier this week! Gina was the only player to get all six correct; several others were right on her heels with four and five right. Gina, please email us at cort@michiganbythebottle.com to claim your prize: your choice of an MBTB "I Support the State with Every Sip" T-shirt or a copy of our iPhone/iPad app, a complete guide to Michigan wine country!

Thank you to everyone who participated! Don't worry; we'll have plenty more contests coming up. Curious how many you got correct? Click through for the answers! 

Five Things I Learned About Michigan Wine in 2010

2010 was a great year for Michigan wine. New wineries opened, the national press has started recognizing the region, and Michigan By The Bottle has been flourishing. On a more personal note, it was a year of learning and discovery for me. Here are five things that I learned/realized in 2010:

• Michigan is a great sparkling wine region. We all know that Larry Mawby reigns supreme in this venue, but I was pleasantly surprised to learn more about other Michigan wineries putting up some great Michigan sparklers. In addition to the classics from L. Mawby, we had some fantastic sparklers from Tabor Hill (Grand Mark is to die for!), 2 Lads, Black Star Farms, and Brys Estate (although their “Bubbly” was so popular that it sold out).

• The Southeast and Southwest Michigan wineries play second fiddle to no one. We were more than impressed with some of the red wines coming out of this region. Domaine Berrien blew us away with its Crown of Cab and Syrah. I would argue that Lone Oak’s Merlot is one of the best in the state. Fenn Valley and St. Julian Braganini Reserve Meritage were some of our favorite wines all year. The Cabernet Franc from Free Run Cellars deserved the Harding’s Cup it won earlier this year.

Tweet & Taste Michigan Transcript

Last night's Tweet & Taste Michigan featuring L. Mawby was a huge success. We had over 600 tweets and 37 participants.

In case you missed it, here is a link to the transcript.

Grand Rapids International Food & Wine Festival This Weekend

The 3rd annual Grand Rapids Wine & Food Festival starts this Thursday at DeVos Place. Over 1200 wines, beers, and spirits from around the world will be featured. Most importantly, over 24 Michigan wineries will be in attendance. 

• Thursday     Nov 18     5pm-9pm
• Friday         Nov 19     3pm-9pm
• Saturday     Nov 20     12pm-9pm

We will be there on Saturday afternoon. We hope to see you there!

Here is the video feature we did for last year's event.

 

Welcome, new MBTB visitors!

If you're checking out Michigan By The Bottle after the kind shoutout by Linda Jones of the Michigan Grape & Wine Industry Council at the 2010 Michigan Wine & Spirits Competition Gold Medal Reception tonight, WELCOME! 

Gill’s Pier 08 Riesling Wins Double Gold

Gill's Pier Vineyard and Winery won a double gold medal at the International Eastern Wine Competition, held in Watkins Glen, NY for their 08 Riesling (semi-sweet.) 

The International Eastern Wine Competition is one of the oldest wine competitions in the United States and is held each May in the Finger Lakes region of NY. There were over 2,200 wines judged from 16 countries and 24 states.

The 08 Semi-Dry Rielsing retails for $19.95.

Transcript for Tweet & Taste Michigan featuring WOMP

If you missed the Tweet & Taste Michigan featuring Wineries of Old Mission Peninsula, you can view the transcript and relive the action!

A belated thank you to the LMS wineries!

Once again, we need to thank all of the people who made our latest weekend wine trip (April 30-May 2 on the Lake Michigan Shore wine trail) possible! Without you, we could have never gotten all of the great info, photos and video for the site! Stay tuned as we parcel it out over the next several weeks...