Michigan By The Bottle

Podcast #77: Left Foot Charley 2011 Pinot Blanc

If Riesling is the king ... or queen ... of Michigan wine, is Pinot Blanc the prince/princess? We ponder royalty ranks as we taste through the grapefruity goodness of 2011 Pinot Blanc from Left Foot Charley. Also, if you're interested in more information about the Grand Rapids International Wine, Beer & Food Festival mentioned in the podcast, click here. Hope to see you there this weekend!

WIOG Weekly Roundup: Oct. 14, 2012

This edition of WIOG Weekly Roundup features wines we tried on the Leelanau Peninsula and in Traverse City over Labor Day. As we often stress, we're not wine experts, but we do taste a lot of Michigan wine. (You may have noticed.) WIOG is our attempt to give you an idea of some selections that you may be interested in checking out based on what we've been tasting. Cheers!

Feedback Friday: Left Foot Charley, Sleeping Bear, Lawton Ridge

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:

Left Foot Charley
Sleeping Bear Winery
Lawton Ridge 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...

SUPER HUGE Michigan Wine Month Giveaway: April 24

Congratulations to JOELLE MOSHER, SHARI PRAG and JERA GLOTFELTY! They were randomly drawn from yesterday's entrants to each win a pair of tickets to the Northport Wine Festival, courtesy of the Northern Wine Loop. Guys, 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!)

Also, one of our winners of a pair of tickets to the Lake Michigan Shore WIne Festival at Weko Beach June 16 has a schedule conflict, so he's asked us to give his tickets to someone else. We redrew from the original entrants from that day (April 19) and BRENDAN THOMPSON, you're the new winner! Please email us at cort@michiganbythebottle.com within 48 hours to claim your prize.

This contest is closed as of 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, April 24.

Today's sponsor: Left Foot Charley

Today's prize: A complimentary tour and tasting for up to four people.

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

MichWine - Victims of their own success?

This isn't something Michigan winery owners or winemakers are eager to discuss. Most of them built reputations on a commitment to locally-sourced grapes, frequently grown in their own vineyards. But sharply rising customer demand and shaky weather that's hammered yields for two straight vintages have forced some northern Michigan wineries to adjust their business strategy, at least short-term.

The adjustment: they're now buying out-of-state grapes, juice and pre-made wines to augment shrunken in-state supplies.

via www.michwine.com

Great article by Joel Goldberg about Michigan wineries sourcing grapes out of state because they can't keep up with demand.

Drinking takes center stage in Traverse City - chicagotribune.com

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — This idyllic northern Michigan town is fast gaining a reputation as a dining destination, but we need something to wash down all that fine cooking. Fortunately, Traverse City and its surroundings are also a hot spot for fine drinking. From beer to cider to wine — white grapes especially thrive here — you can spend days exploring the landscape and never go thirsty. These places particularly caught our attention.

via www.chicagotribune.com

Some nice out-of-state press for the TC-area wineries!

Michigan Wines : Michigan Wines Receive Prestigious Awards

Michigan wines and wineries have been in the spotlight throughout the summer; and it's not just in Michigan, it's happening across the country. The reason? Michigan wines have been winning a significant number of top awards at regional, national and international wine competitions.

In January, Chateau Grand Traverse won a Best of Class award at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition for their 2009 Lot 49 Riesling. This off-dry wine was produced from grapes harvested from a single vineyard -- located on a steep, west-facing slope on Old Mission Peninsula, in northern Michigan.

Judges evaluated more than 2,000 wines from around the world at the Pacific Rim Wine Competition, held in San Bernadino, Calif., in April, and declared a tie for Best Gewurztraminer: Tabor Hill Winery, in Buchanan, for their 2009 vintage, and Chateau Fontaine, on Leelanau Peninsula, for their 2010. Chateau Fontaine went on to win Grand Champion honors as Best White Wine of the competition.

via www.michiganwines.com

The awards keep piling up!

Mark Your Calendars: MBTB's Northern Birthday Bash is June 30!

We've been talking this up over on our Facebook page, but just in case you're not a "fan" on Facebook (which prompts us to ask, "Why not?!" but that's a whole other topic), we wanted to be sure you're aware of our upcoming Northern Birthday Bash at Left Foot Charley in Traverse City on Thursday, June 30.

We're celebrating our second (!!!) birthday as a website, and we want you to join in on the fun! We'll be hanging out at LFC, one of our favorite Up North hotspots, 6-9 p.m. The event is open to the public; there's no cover charge. Wine (of course!) and food will be available for purchase, with specials offered, including an "MBTB Faves Flight." We also plan to have some giveaways and hopefully gather some fodder for our "Proud to Be a Michigan Wine Lover" video project (so if you're not shy, step up and volunteer to be on camera!). 

If you'd like more information, visit the Facebook event page or drop us an email at cort@michiganbythebottle.com.

MBTB SUPER HUGE Michigan Wine Month Giveaway: Day 27

Congratulations to SCOTT MALIEPAARD! He was randomly selected from yesterday's entries to win a set of six wine glasses from Silver Leaf Vineyard & Winery on the Leelanau Peninsula.

Today's prize is a sweet "Grown on the OMP: Old Mission Peninsula" T-shirt and a bottle cooler from Left Foot Charley in Traverse City. (If you never been there, we strongly recommend you put it on your list — it's one of our favorite places to hang out when we're Up North! And is this an appropriate time to insert a shameless plug for our Northern Birthday Bash June 30 at LFC? No? OK, carry on...)

A Winter Interlude on the Northern Michigan Wine Trails

When we hit the wine trails, the beverages may be the stars of the show, but we also cherish the opportunities to try new restaurants and revisit old favorites, meet up with familiar faces and make new acquaintances. Here's a peek at what we were up to during our most recent trip to the Northern Michigan wine trails, Jan. 14-16. 

After a surprisingly smooth drive up the Lower Peninsula, we arrived in Traverse City Friday afternoon and I, being a total salad bar addict, had Schelde's on my mind. After a quick lunch, we headed on to the Leelanau Peninsula, ready to be dazzled by the Inn at Black Star Farms. As I mentioned in another post, we'd visited Black Star Farms' Suttons Bay main location many a time, but had never set foot inside the inn. We'd heard rave reviews, and we were champing at the bit to see it for ourselves. And we weren't disappointed, to say the least. (Check out our in-depth recap of the Inn here.)