Michigan By The Bottle

Podcast #96: Raftshol Vineyards 2011 Gewurztraminer

"Did I just say hankering?" In today's podcast, Shannon goes ballistic over Raftshol Vineyard's 2011 Gewurztraminer, a gift from MBTB fan Kathleen Swinehart. Are you a Raftshol and/or Gewurz fan? Come tell us about it.

Video features referenced in this podcast:
LPVA Media Weekend Travel Diary 

Feedback Friday: Good Neighbor Organic, Chateau Aeronautique, Raftshol

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:

Good Neighbor Organic
Chateau Aeronautique
Raftshol  

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: Northern Wine Loop's Wine Release Weekend

Want the short version? Watch the video. Want the long version? Read the recap. Want the full story? Do both! 

Keep reading for a meandering travel diary detailing our whirlwind weekend on the Northern Wine Loop, including where we stopped and (of course) what we drank ... Then stop by our Facebook page to chat about which Northern Wine Loop wineries are your favorites!

Northern Exposure: Northern Wine Loop prepares for New Release Weekend

If you've only ventured as far north as M-204 on the Leelanau Peninsula, you've only seen half of the county — and, in terms of wine, half of the story.

So says a group of Leelanau Peninsula wineries, which is redoubling efforts to ensure that visitors go the extra mile — or extra few miles — and see what they're missing at the peninsula's northernmost end. The Northern Wine Loop, a recently formed "collective" of 10 wineries, all north of M-204, encourages people to venture beyond the shop-lined village of Suttons Bay and into the more rural areas to discover hidden gems.

Michigan Meritage Merits Mention |

Still, the bulk of Michigan wineries  dabbling in the dynamics of the Bordeaux blend have chosen to go the thrifty route and coin their own  handle—and thus continue to handle their own coin.  Domaine Berrien uses ‘Crown of Cab’, since they consider it the ‘crown jewel ‘of their portfolio.  Pentemere’s goes by ‘Le Griffon’ for reasons known only to the untamed savages of Boondockia; i.e., Tecumseh.  Wyncroft Cellars calls theirs’ ‘Shou’—Chinese for ‘longevity’ which the wine indeed displays.  Accurately, if somewhat less imaginatively, Raftshol’s label reads simply ‘Red’.

via intoxreport.com

A tongue twister, indeed, but a good article.

Guest Blog: Leland Wine & Food Festival

Seeing as we're stranded in southeastern Michigan, MBTB fan Kathleen Swinehart volunteered to be our correspondent at the 2010 Leland Wine & Food Festival June 12 and kindly contributed a guest post detailing her experiences.

The 2010 Leland Wine & Food Festival, held near Fishtown on the Leelanau Peninsula, marked the annual event’s 25^th anniversary.  It was my first time attending and surely won’t be my last. 

After reading online that thousands of people make their way north to participate, we decided to leave early for the event, which ran 12 to 6 p.m. Being this was our first time, we weren’t sure what to expect.