Michigan By The Bottle

Video Feature: Flying Otter Vineyard & Winery

"Wine is sunshine in a bottle!" declares Bob Utter, who's come a long way since making his first wine as a college student "in a gallon jug from Welch's frozen grape juice and bread yeast." Now, he's making the kind of wines he can be proud of from super-cold hearty hybrids at Flying Otter, his Adrian-based vineyard and winery. Take a peek at the story behind this stop on the Southeast Michigan Pioneer Wine Trail. 

Podcast #86: Flying Otter Starboard

Piggishness abounds as we snarf through some truffles in conjunction with our tasting of Flying Otter's Starboard, a port-style dessert wine that smells like plump, juicy raisins (and not, as Cort clarifies, the dried out ones currently lingering in our pantry). Are you a Flying Otter fan? Come tell us about it.

Feedback Friday: St. Julian, Flying Otter, Willow

You may have at least heard of or seen our Michigan wine app for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Android — hopefully, you own it, use it and love it! Now, you have a chance to be IN it.

Welcome to Feedback Friday, our weekly feature that works like this: We solicit comments about a specific winery or wineries. You supply them. We pick some to include in our app. You become famous (at least in the Michigan wine community). The end.

Today's featured wineries:

St. Julian Wine Co.
Flying Otter Winery
Willow Vineyard & Winery  

Send your comments on these wineries to cort@michiganbythebottle.com or post them as a reply to today's Feedback Friday thread on Facebook. We'll be accepting Feedback Friday comments for these featured wineries until next Friday, when we'll introduce a new set. (Of course, feel free to come chatter on Facebook about the wineries you love just for fun any old time. We dig that.)

Read on for complete details...

Video Feature: 2012 Great Lakes Wine Fest

Engines were revving and wine was flowing during the 2012 Great Lakes Wine Fest at the Michigan International Speedway May 19. Winemakers and winery reps declared it a huge success, with cooperative weather and bigger-than-ever crowds. Take a peek at the action, and if you were there, see if you made it into the footage!

SUPER HUGE Michigan Wine Month Giveaway: April 11

Congratulations to RENEE RINGHOLZ! Renee was randomly drawn from yesterday's entrants to win a VIP tasting for two and a mesh-back hat from Bowers Harbor Vineyards. An additional five people were drawn to win mesh-back BHV hats: SUE MERRITT, MICHELLE WALK, SANDY LANE, EMILY HODGE and CHANDI VIGENSKI. Winners, please email us at cort@michiganbythebottle.com within 48 hours to claim your prize. (For prizes not claimed within 48 hours, we will redraw from the original pool of entrants to determine a new recipient, so be sure to check back daily to see if you're a winner!)

This contest is closed as of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, April 11.

Today's sponsor: Flying Otter Vineyard & Winery

Today's prize: A picnic lunch or dinner for four in Flying Otter Vineyard & Winery's vineyard in Adrian. Food and refreshment will be provided, along with all the necessary picnic settings.  

Please click through for restrictions and instructions on how to enter...

Podcast #57: Flying Otter Winery 2011 Northern Lights

In today's podcast, as we taste through Flying Otter Winery's 2011 Northern Lights white blend, Shannon takes a trip to Candyland with his descriptions and Cort tries to jam in so much background on the winery that half of the podcast had to be axed. So we'll just say, if you want to know more beyond the podcast about Flying Otter, which opened late last year in Adrian, check out our New to the Scene series from December!

New to the Scene: Flying Otter Vineyard and Winery

It's a great time to be a Michigan wine lover! Over the past year, multiple new operations have come on board throughout the state, adding offerings to the already excellent range of products coming out of the industry. Cheers, indeed!

In the next few weeks, we hope to shine a spotlight on some of these recent additions to the Michigan wine culture with a special Q-and-A series, "New to the Scene," that allows the people behind the wineries tell you, in their own words, what they're all about, what it took to get there, and what they hope you get out of their efforts. We kick it off today with Sarah Utter, marketing director for Flying Otter Vineyard and Winery, an Adrian-based operation that celebrated its grand opening Nov. 26.