Joel Goldberg

For a brand-new Michigan winery that’s only put out one wine – under someone else’s license, no less – Old Shore Vineyards is getting a lot of buzz.

Vinology owner Jon Jonna made first contact during the crush of WineFest’s Wine Crawl.

“You need to taste this Pinot Gris,” he said, pouring liquid into my glass from the bottle he was clutching.

He was right. Despite sub-optimal tasting conditions, the wine impressed.

A couple of weeks passed. Wyncroft Winery owner Jim Lester blew through town for last month’s Chronicle rosé tasting. “Did you hear about Old Shore?” he asked. “And did you know that Dannielle is from Ann Arbor?”

No, I didn’t.

Then a Tweet fluttered by from Andrew Gorsuch, The Produce Station’s wine loving general manager. His follow-up email raved that the 2008 Pinot Noir (a test run, not available to buy) flaunted “an amazing balance of fruit and tannins … Although it was not for retail sales, it gave me a preview of what is to come …”

OK, time to find out what all the excitement’s about.

Let’s start with the bottom line: that single Old Shore wine – a 2009 Pinot Gris from the southwest’s Lake Michigan Shore – is a thing of beauty salvaged from a seriously deficient vintage.

Ripe tropical fruits, tangerine and a touch of honey combine with a luscious, round mouthfeel and just enough acidity to remind you that the wine indeed hails from Michigan. Uncorking a bottle for a group of wine lovers brings a series of double-takes, followed closely by a chorus of “Let me see that bottle.”

Wise choice, to look at the label. Buried in the small print on the back lies a surprising pedigree. The grapes were trucked 300 miles north, where they became wine at 2 Lads Winery, under the skillful hand of Cornel Olivier, one of the state’s elite winemakers. More on that later.

(You’ll find it locally on the wine list at West End Grill along with Vinology, where it’s also available to take out. Or get it from the winery, where it retails for $18. But don’t dawdle; they only made 93 cases, and just 25 or so remain.)

WTF??? All that buzz over just 93 cases of an $18 wine? The scales fall. Some marketing guru must lurk behind the scenes, pulling strings.

Dannielle Maki: "Targeting an audience who are genuine fine wine lovers." (Photos by the writer.)

Meet Dannielle Maki, a 20-year Ann Arbor resident who, until she left last year to develop the Old Shore brand, headed advertising for locally-based Avfuel, a nationwide supplier of airplane fuel and ancillary products.

For several months, she’s been quietly building a social media following on Facebook and, more recently, Twitter, as well as marketing her wines to a few selected restaurants in Ann Arbor, Chicago and the Lake Michigan Shore region.

“We’re targeting an audience who are genuine fine wine lovers,” Dannielle says.

They’re also taking a page from the marketing playbook of some of the more successful boutiques in Napa Valley and France’s Pomerol: nothing attracts genuine fine wine lovers more than the notion of getting their hands on a scarce bottle. Like 93 cases worth of scarce.

“To have something that’s limited quantity and premium quality – you want to make sure you get some,” she says.

Scarcity “ideally lets you push the price a little bit more, too,” observes David, her husband.

To both of them, using scarcity as a marketing tool leads to important decisions about retail distribution.

“We’re in-between that whole mantra of ‘Do you want the wine to be too accessible? Do you want to be able to go to The Produce Station and pick up a bottle?’” says David.

David Maki also comes with an Ann Arbor connection: He earned an MBA at the University of Michigan in 1988 before moving on to a career with Deutsche Bank in Chicago, for whom he still works in real estate finance.

They married last year, after several years as a couple. The result? They commute among three homes: David’s place in Chicago’s River North. Dannielle’s over-the-coffee-bar loft on Main and Liberty in Ann Arbor, where she spends “three days out of seven.”

And the white clapboard farmhouse atop a rolling hill in Buchanan, Michigan, where the three of us, along with Sofia, the winery’s Labradoodle, are splayed on the porch, trying to stay cool.

Apart from a dearth of mature landscaping, you might suppose that the house had settled harmoniously into these surrounds nearly a century ago. Not so. David, whose undergraduate training was as an architect, designed and built it in 2006, on 65 acres of vacant farmland he’d bought the previous year.

The in-ground pool beckons bluely on this steamy late spring afternoon. Rows of grapevines, verdant with early season growth, run downslope from the house to complete the tableau.

Dannielle Maki with the winery's Labradoodle, Sofia.

Life can be good here in southwest Michigan wine country, down the street from Hickory Creek Winery, around the corner from Tabor Hill, and seven miles from the shore of Lake Michigan.

And guess what? Dannielle and David would like to share it with you. Their audacious business plan: to create an upscale Michigan boutique winery with a whiff of exclusivity, market it through social networking, encourage customers to partake in its lifestyle and seasonal events and, not incidentally, develop a demand-driven market for its premium-quality wines.

Everything flows from a single, simple premise: “People love to be in vineyards, they’re happy when they’re in vineyards,” says David.

“It’s what we see as the experience,” says Dannielle.

“Marketing is not just the package and product. It’s the experience,” says David.

As we explore elements of their shared passion for the winery, the excitement level rises on the porch. They begin to tag-team each other’s thoughts and sentences. Frequently.

Old Shore will be a place “where you can host events, where you can merge the social aspects of wine that everyone enjoys with a facility that lets you do that,” explains David.

Consistent with this vision, the winery, due to start construction later this year and open in the spring of 2011, won’t resemble the production facilities and open-seven-days tasting rooms typical of most wineries. Winemaking at the facility will play second-fiddle to tastings and event hosting.

And Old Shore’s tasting room will only be accessible by prior appointment.

“Our concept is to go on a little different tack, to stick with something that’s a little more private in its orientation,” says David. “You’re not waiting for someone to drive up, you’re preparing for someone to come in. You’re giving them a much more focused experience.”.

“There’s something missing with most tasting facilities,” continues Dannielle. “We’ll have a 16- or 20-foot farm table. You’re sitting down and chatting, and the wine is flowing and there’s appetizers to go with the wine, and it’s an experience at Old Shore, and afterward maybe you buy some wine.”

Activities will move outdoors when weather cooperates.

“We envision doing yoga in the vineyard,” says Dannielle. “We have 16 to 25 people come in, they do yoga in the vineyard for 90 minutes with a yogi from Chicago in the middle of a vineyard break, then you come and have a picnic in another vineyard break, with a healthy salad. And you walk away with a bottle of wine.”

Dannielle and David Maki at the Old Shore Vineyard. Of tasting in the vineyard, Dannielle Maki says: "It's a lifestyle approach."

“It’s a lifestyle approach – people who love wine, love food, love travel – it’s engaging them on so many levels. We have 20 people already signed up to come to harvest and help pick grapes. Those are things we can do for our customers who truly want to come and experience things.”

This approach might seem obvious in Napa, where many small wineries thrive with private tasting rooms, upscale events, and sales primarily targeted to mailing list customers.

But Michigan wine struggles with its image, a problem both Makis want to correct.

“We – Michigan winegrowers – have vineyards that look just as amazing as they do in California, settings that are beautiful. It’s just the right way to showcase what you can do, put it in a package that feels upscale,” says Dannielle.

Their six acres of vineyard – planted in 2006 and split evenly between Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir – does look pretty spiffy this time of year. To David, they represent a natural extension of his decision to build a “getaway home” in southwest Michigan.

Young Pinot Gris grapes, from the upcoming 2010 harvest.

“The home was designed to be in the context of the farms around it. To me, the concept made sense: I’m going to be in wine country, so I might as well put grapes in.”

They made one smart decision: hiring neighbor Mike DeSchaaf, the quality-oriented co-owner of Hickory Creek and operator of a vineyard management service, to plant and maintain the vineyard.

“Michael thinks we got the cream of the crop as far as the vineyard site here,” says David.

DeSchaaf supervised selection of individual grape clones and planted the vines at a closer-than-normal four-foot spacing, with the goal of decreasing each vine’s yield to improve the quality of its grapes.

DeSchaaf has another incentive to take good care of the Makis’ vines: he buys their surplus grapes to use in Hickory Creek’s wines. That’s right; the 93 scarce cases of Pinot Gris represent only a small portion of their grapes.

They’ve already mapped out eight additional acres to plant, and will start next year. They’ll be planting mostly Cabernet Franc and Chardonnay in the next batch, because those grapes do well in the area.

Plus a small patch of Cabernet Sauvignon, which “is going to have its challenges,” observes David.

The second vineyard section has been a source of contention between Dannielle and David, who says dryly, “I tend to be a little more immediate gratification.”

Indeed. A couple of years back, he actually ordered and paid for 8,000 vines to plant on the additional acres. “I’m used to making quick decisions. You place the order, then you move on.”

David Maki: "Do you want the wine too accessible?"

That didn’t set well with Danielle, who pointed out that David was “doubling down” when they hadn’t yet made any wine from their existing grapes, and didn’t even have a winemaker lined up. “We don’t even know what our product is yet! We didn’t know what these grapes would produce.”

After adding up the costs of posts, wire and labor to plant vines and construct the trellises, they decided to delay. Fortunately, DeSchaaf was able to sell the suddenly-orphaned vines to other growers in the area.

This time around, they’re feeling more comfortable. In large part, that’s because they’ve got one of Michigan’s top winemakers on board.

Cornel Olivier seems like an odd choice to make wine for Old Shore, considering that 2 Lads lies five hours away, on Old Mission Peninsula. He’s also never made wine from Lake Michigan Shore grapes, and never made wine for another winery since starting his own. Selecting him also caused some sotto voce grumbles among the Makis’ neighbor winemakers, who felt they were up to the task of making Old Shore’s wines.

But for David and Dannielle, it was love at first taste. While touring wineries in the Traverse City area in 2008, they stopped in at 2 Lads and met Olivier and the other lad – his winery partner, Chris Baldyga – a meeting they call “serendipitous.”

“We found another group of people in Michigan that have the same philosophy, the same core values,” says Dannielle.

They fling adjectives about to describe Olivier. “Brilliant man. Amazing chemist. Passionate about wine and everything wine.”

Although their new facility will have the ability to make “some” wine on the premises, the bulk will still be done at 2 Lads, according to the Makis.

“It won’t change our relationship with Cornel,” says David.

“It’s working smoothly, so why change something?” asks Dannielle.

Olivier concurs. “If the weather cooperates, they can do well.”

Part of the weather concerns in southern Michigan vineyards include worrying about botrytis, a grape-eating fungus that isn’t usually a problem up north but is endemic in the south, with its higher humidity and more frequent showers.

“It’s a challenge with late rains,” Olivier says. Both of Old Shore’s 2009 grapes suffered from some botrytis infection.

Label from the upcoming Pinot Noir: an August date with the bottling machine for 100 scarce cases.

The 2009 Pinot Noir is currently resting in a tank at 2 Lads, after a restrained seven months in second-fill French oak barrels. Approximately 100 cases have an August date with the bottling machine, for release later in the year.

“The color isn’t as deep as the 2008,” he says, referring to Old Shore’s non-commercial trial run. “And it’s a little softer.”

David and Dannielle credit Olivier with much of the success of their 2009 crop, saying that he told them not to panic when botrytis set in.

“Around here, everyone picked two or three weeks before we did. Everyone saw grapes breaking down and panicked. Cornel held our hand; he kept saying, ‘Wait, wait.’ That’s a very big key.”

The results are in the numbers and the wines’ taste; while other wineries from their area harvested many less-than-ripe grapes in 2009, Old Shore got brix levels of 23 in their Pinot Gris, 24 in the Pinot Noir.

As with many of their other choices, Dannielle and David eschew the conventional route to marketing their wines.

Southwest Michigan’s smaller wineries traditionally face toward Chicago, just 90 minutes away, displaying a different part of their anatomy to the Ann Arbor and Detroit markets.

Roses at the end of the rows don't really serve any function – but they add a nice touch.

But, in addition to Chicago, Dannielle is working her local contacts, hoping to establish a strong beachhead for Old Shore in the Ann Arbor area.

“We hope to share our area with Ann Arbor, hope that more people come out to Lake Michigan Shore,” she says.

They’re also uncertain about retail distribution – in part because they’re concerned with the stigma that lingers from a time when Michigan “came in as a price point wine,” says Dannielle.

She notes pointedly that the wine list at West End Grill – not a restaurant noted for its past friendliness to Michigan wines – doesn’t mention where Old Shore Pinot Gris comes from, but simply lists it among the other whites.

“Our mission is not to compare ourselves to other Michigan wineries. Let’s compare the varietal – a Pinot Gris from Michigan, Oregon or Alsace,” says Dannielle.

David concurs, saying they would sell it at “a place where it’s not under a ‘Michigan’ sign. I would sell it at a place like Plum if they’d put it with all the Pinot Gris. I don’t want it with the Michigan wines.”

Follow-up: The Talented Mr. Rodenstock

Remember Hardy Rodenstock, the German wine impresario fingered for peddling counterfeit Thomas Jefferson bottles and other high end collectibles, as Chronicled in April’s Arbor Vinous?

Last month l’affaire Rodenstock took a bizarre turn. Mike Steinberger reported in Slate that a pair of large-living, see-no-evil New York wine merchants served as Rodenstock’s U.S. conduit for hundreds of elderly bottles of suspect provenance.

But more significantly, the pair also played matchmaker between Rodenstock and wine critic Robert Parker.

Parker subsequently planted a big wet kiss on Rodenstock’s already suspect integrity, writing in the Wine Advocate in 1996 that they tasted together “several times” in 1994 and 1995, and that any “unkind remarks I had read about him were untrue. A man of extraordinary charm and graciousness, Rodenstock is a true wine lover in the greatest sense of the word…”

While not implicated in the fraud, Parker may have unwittingly facilitated its execution when he awarded 100 points to one of Rodenstock’s rarities – a magnum of 1921 Château Petrus. Soon after Parker’s accolade, additional magnums began to appear on the collectibles market in suspiciously large quantities.

Parker (recently deposed) and his tasting notes on Rodenstock’s wines (recently subpoenaed) have now emerged front-and-center in the scandal and attendant litigation.

I remember reading Parker’s paean to Rodenstock in 1996 and thinking, with a twinge of jealousy, how tasters of their rank do indeed drink differently from you and me. But now, with benefit of hindsight, Parker appears surprisingly credulous, even tone-deaf in failing to perceive how his prodigious palate and stature might be hijacked to serve the commercial – not to say nefarious – schemes of others.

Wine lovers who believe that only bankers and politicians engage in high-level footsie to the detriment of the pigeon class should take 15 minutes to read Steinberger’s piece in Slate. It’s first-rate investigative journalism of a sort seldom seen in the trade-supported wine glossies.

About the author: Joel Goldberg, an Ann Arbor area resident, edits the MichWine website and tweets @MichWine. His Arbor Vinous column for The Chronicle is published on the first Saturday of the month.

Joel Goldberg

Visualize the Ann Arbor Art Center’s WineFest as the Châteauneuf-du-Pape of fundraisers.

The annual wine-and-food extravaganza, on tap May 6 through 8, bears a surprising resemblance to the multi-grape assemblage of the flagship wine from France’s southern Rhone, blending supporters of the century-old arts institution with a panoply of local glitterati out for some innocent merriment, plus a dollop of area wine cognoscenti keen to sample and acquire some hard-to-find bottles.

So it’s a good fit that Honorary Chair Laurence Féraud, the first French winemaker to chair WineFest, comes from first-tier Châteauneuf winery, Domaine du Pegau.

And just as some Châteauneuf producers (but not Pegau) have adapted their wines to changing customer preferences for early-drinking, more fruit-driven styles, so the 28th annual WineFest sports a different look from years past.

“We’ve thrown everything up in the air and had it come down in a new format,” says Art Center president Marsha Chamberlin. “It’s going to be this bright, colorful upbeat format in a very stylish location. We’re trying to make this an event that people can enjoy on lots of different levels.”

The makeover starts with new digs for Saturday evening’s main event: the former Pfizer facility on Plymouth Road, lately demedicalized into the University of Michigan North Campus Research Complex. Kalamazoo-based BIGThink arts collaborative will create a series of supersize installations designed to generate a sense of community throughout the space.

Hardcore bidders can hunker down for the live auction in a new, Vegas-style “bidders’ pit.” This way, explains Chamberlin, “people who aren’t into the auction don’t have to be forced to be quiet and sit and listen. They can enjoy the wine and food and each other, while the bidders can keep focused.”

Focus-worthy auction lots include two sets of Bordeaux out of the cellar of über-collector Ron Weiser, from the outstanding 1961 and 2000 vintages, a ten-bottle assortment of 1998 and 1999 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, donated by Honorary Community Chairs Rich and Karen Brown, and a ten-year collection of the ever-popular Marilyn Merlot.

Also on offer: a half-dozen travel packages, home-prepared meals by local chefs Craig Common and Scott MacInnis, and dinner at The Lark – with a bottle of 1989 Château Margaux thrown in.

On Thursday, May 6, Féraud will pour five of her wines for a Winemaker Dinner at Mediterrano. This will be the only chance during the weekend to taste two vintages of Pegau’s upscale Châteauneuf, Cuvée Laurence.

A sold-out “Wine Crawl” joins the weekend mix for the first time on Friday evening, May 7. Participants will start at the Art Center on Liberty Street to meet the Honorary Chair, then wind their way through a series of downtown drinkeries – Babs Underground Lounge, Café Felix, Gratzi, Mélange and The Chop House – sampling a small food and wine pairing at each.

Ticket pricing also receives a facelift, with the introduction of a second tier for Saturday’s event. The new General Admission ducat ($100) buys entry to the strolling supper, wine sampling and the rare wine bar, along with open seating at the live auction.

Those who spring for the Patron level ($200) receive the traditional WineFest perks, which include a custom wine glass and reserved seats for the live auction. They also get in the door an hour earlier for a reception with Féraud and an early-bird chance to snap up silent auction lots at “Buy It Now” prices.

Chamberlin said that signups were running about 50-50 between the two ticket levels.

Whether or not the new format and prices succeed in boosting interest in WineFest, many observers feel that change is long overdue in the face of a long-term slide in attendance and revenues for what was once the area’s premier charity event.

A decade ago, WineFest’s Saturday event regularly sold out more than 500 tickets and raised upwards of $250,000 for Art Center programs, representing as much as 1/3 of the organization’s annual budget.

This year’s take is projected at a mere $70,000, and the current rate of signups suggests that Saturday’s event may have difficulty reaching its goal of 400 paid attendees.

Chamberlin acknowledges that the Art Center has been forced to “wean itself off” dependence on WineFest for operating funds, and today counts on the event more to fund new projects.

The area’s economic travails account for a large chunk of the decline, especially in the area of corporate support, which Chamberlin says “has dried up.”

But critics also suggest that the event’s organizers failed to adapt to the proliferation of competing charity circuit wine events and a steady decline in the once-generous level of auction donations from left coast wineries and area collectors.

“No one was proposing anything new for years,” one WineFest insider put it succinctly.

“Part of the issue for me is whether there is an audience for WineFest any longer, in the form we currently know it,” Chamberlin said. “One of the things we’ve tried to do this year is create a broader appeal for it.”

Some of that appeal arrives in the person of the charismatic Laurence Féraud. I caught up with her while she multi-tasked at home in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, preparing a Thai green curry dinner for her two children as we chatted on the phone.

Féraud – petite, dark and intense, with a ready laugh and strong entrepreneurial bent – graduated from oenology school in Paris and returned to Châteauneuf as the region’s first female winemaker in 1986. A year later, she and her father, Paul, extracted their 17 vineyard acres from the Féraud family holdings to make their own wine under a new label: Domaine du Pegau.

She was in a celebratory mood when we spoke, saying she’d just signed “a big check” to purchase three additional acres in Châteauneuf, bringing Pegau’s current holdings to just over 50. Better still, the new vineyard comes planted with excellent vines, in the prime “La Crau” section of the appellation.

Our conversation (she’s bilingual) began with her family’s long-term ties to Ann Arbor, thanks to her father’s friendship with retired UM Professor J.C. Mathes and his wife, Rosemary, who began to spend summers in Provence about 35 years ago.

At almost the same time that Féraud and her father struck out with their own winery, Mathes begat J et R Selections to import southern Rhone wines into Michigan.

It was a match made in Provence.

Joel Goldberg: Tell me about your family’s history with J.C. Mathes.

Laurence Féraud: He’s a very close friend to us, like a member of the family. All of his life, he spent two months minimum in the south of France, and he was very close to the people. Then one day, he decided to import the wine.

[Robert] Parker started to speak about Châteauneuf-du-Pape – that was in 1992 – and everything expanded so fast. J.C. was our importer, and his business grew so fast. Like me, he was so happy about this increasing enthusiasm for Provence.

JG: You had your own property before you created Pegau, but you didn’t bottle wine under your name?

LF: I was studying, and my father worked with his parents and his brothers and sister; it was the family domaine. But when I arrived, I worked for one year with all the family, which was not very convenient for me [laughs]. So I proposed we create our own name.

JG: What does Pegau mean?

LF: It’s a clay wine pitcher. The original was found around the Pope’s palace [in Châteauneuf]. They did some excavations and some antique research; this clay pitcher is from the 14th century, from the Pope’s period.

JG: When you started out, you were the only woman running a domaine in Châteauneuf. Even though you had an education as a winemaker, was it hard for you to have people take you seriously?

LF: Yes, in the beginning it was a bit difficult. Sometimes the men clients wanted to visit only with my father. And my father really insisted; he said, “No, my daughter knows more than I do because she studied enology and she speaks English. He always tried to convince people to visit with me.”

Laurence Féraud, dressed for the harvest: Not her sister. (Photo courtesy of Laurence Féraud)

Also, I worked in the vineyard. At the beginning, the people – they didn’t laugh, but they said, “This is work for men.”

But I knew how to work in a vineyard, and dress like the men in the vineyard. But I also knew how to have a shower and how to be dressed like a woman, with high heels. When I come to an auction in Michigan, I know that I am not in a vineyard. So I am dressed different. I know how I have to be.

The people here, they didn’t understand that we can have a different face. When I am working during the harvest, making wine, picking grapes, because I have a scarf around my head, people would think I was Fatima. [roars with laughter].

Or people would say, “Oh, we met your sister at the wine fair.”

And I’d say, “No, I haven’t got any sister. It was me.” They were so shocked; they couldn’t believe it.

JG: So do you have any advice for women who are trying to make it in the wine business?

LF: My advice is to be strong, because we are better than men. [laughs]

No, our palate is quite developed, because for centuries we stay at home, we do the cooking, we have a sense of taste.

JG: There are many different grapes that can go into Châteauneuf-du-Pape. What blend do you use?

LF: It’s a blend of all the vineyards we have. About 45 acres of the vines are more than 45 years old.

There is already what we call co-planting. So the blend is already in the vineyard. Because 45 years ago, they planted blended. In fact, they still do.

The blend of Pegau is 80% Grenache, 15% Syrah, 4% Mourvedre and 1% mixed types of grapes.

JG: The newer properties you’ve bought in recent years, were those already planted?

LF: They were already planted, and in good condition, and in La Crau, in the best place. I can tell you that I paid more, but the result is the more I pay in the beginning, the less I have to work after. Because when you want good quality, a good vineyard will give you good grapes without too much working.

1990 Domaine du Pegau: Robert Parker started to speak. (Photo by the author)

JG: How many bottles of Châteauneuf do you make?

LF: I produce 80,000 bottles of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the Cuvée Reservée, and 6,000 to 8,000 bottles of Cuvée Laurence.

JG: And Cuvée da Capo? [The estate’s top wine, made in small amounts in better vintages. The 2007 got a pre-release score of 98-100 points from Robert Parker.]

LF: When I do the Da Capo, I’m not doing the Cuvée Laurence. The Cuvée Laurence is easy to do every year; it’s an extra aging of the Cuvée Reservée. When it’s a perfect harvest and a perfect vintage, then I am doing the Cuvée da Capo, not the Cuvée Laurence. So the production is exactly the same.

JG: You also have a second line of wines under your own name.

LF: Starting in 2001 and 2002, I created another company called “Selection Laurence Féraud.” I’m not buying or producing wine, but I do the selection. I go to different cellars, different producers, I taste the different wines and I blend.

I created a Vin du Pays d’Oc [from the Languedoc] called “Pegau Vino,” and I have a Séguret [a less-known Rhone village].

“Plan Pegau” [a non-appellation table wine] existed under Domaine du Pegau, but the quality was not consistent. So I decided to have more consistent quality, and to blend in a big volume in another place. We could not do that at Domaine du Pegau.

I blend 50% of the Plan Pegau from the Domaine, with some other wine – enough to have the quantity for 60,000 bottles in one bottling. We sell that wine for export, with a screw cap.

JG: So you’re becoming a negociant? [merchants who buy wine produced by others and sell them under their own brand]

LF: If I look at my job name, it’s blender [laughs]. In French, we say assembleur, which is nicer.

JG: How many countries does Pegau distribute in today?

LF: Thirty countries, 80 wine importers around the world.

JG: What wines will you be pouring in Ann Arbor for WineFest?

LF: On the 8th, all the people will have a cocktail of Pegau Vino. Then we’ll have the Séguret, then the Plan Pegau, and then the Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Domaine du Pegau red.

JG: Are you serving either the Cuvée Laurence or Cuvée da Capo?

LF: Cuvée da Capo? For over 100 people? No, it’s impossible. [Roars with laughter] But what I’m giving for the auction is Cuvée da Capo in a magnum, three Cuvée Laurence, a weekend at a B&B I have in Châteauneuf, a day with me in the vineyards, and lunch or dinner at my place.

WineFest tickets are available at the website, or by phoning the Ann Arbor Art Center at 734-994-8004, x101.

About the author: Joel Goldberg, an Ann Arbor area resident, edits the MichWine website and tweets @MichWine. His Arbor Vinous column for The Chronicle is published on the first Saturday of the month.

Joel Goldberg

Eat your heart out, John U. Bacon. While the football Wolverines plummet weakly toward the depths of the Big Ten, a very different Michigan eleven just beat up big time on its arch-rivals from Ohio.

This squad doesn’t strut its talents in the Big House or cavernous Crisler. Its slightly smaller – but decidedly more refined – field of combat lies a couple of miles north on Main Street, around a crystal-bedecked tasting table at Vinology Wine Bar.

Earlier this week, the second annual Ohio vs. Michigan Wine Clash turned into a rout, as eleven of Michigan’s finest wines drubbed a like number of Buckeyes during back-to-back judgings in both Ann Arbor and Columbus.

It wasn’t really a fair fight with the amazing red wines from Michigan’s 2007 vintage, the finest in the state’s history. The lopsided results: the best wine overall, and four of the top five, were proudly Wolverine – though Ohio provided the lone bargain among the bunch.

Wine Clash logo

The Clash is the brainchild of Ohioan Andrew Hall, and sponsored by Slow Food Columbus. The event was designed to promote “drink local” and coincide with the annual release of air-shipped French Beaujolais Nouveau and the UM-OSU football game – last year’s Chronicle article detailed its origins.

Last Sunday, I sat down with four other Michigan judges to taste from 22 bottles cloaked in brown paper bags – half from Michigan, half from Ohio. A few days earlier, a team of Ohio judges went through the same exercise in Columbus.

Our host, and one of the judges: Vinology owner Kristin Jonna. Other local tasters included Master Sommelier Claudia Tyagi, Rochester Hills collector Errol Kovitch, and Wyncroft Winery owner/winemaker Jim Lester.

(For an Ohio view of Clash results, see the article by Dayton Daily News wine writer Mark Fisher, who judged at the Columbus tasting.)

A word about prices: flying in the face of both recession and flagging market demand for ultra-premium wines, price tags among Michigan’s best producers have skyrocketed in the last couple of years. Top 2007 reds sell for $35 to $50, while medal-winning ice wines can fetch $60 to $90 – for a half-bottle.

As with limited-production wines elsewhere, these prices can reflect not only the very real quality inside the bottle and added costs of hand-crafting tiny batches – often under 100 cases – but also an indeterminate “scarcity value.”

So who came out on top at the Clash?

#1: MICHIGAN: 2007 “Winter Ice” – Longview Winery, Leelanau Peninsula. $60 (375 ml bottle)

The Clash’s top dog came from Longview Winery – located in the off-the-beaten-track Leelanau Peninsula town of Cedar – where owner Alan Eaker and consulting winemaker Shawn Walters teamed to create Michigan’s first-ever ice wine from the Cayuga grape, a hybrid developed at Cornell for its cold-weather hardiness.

Ice wine originates with ripe grapes left to hang on the vine and slowly desiccate, long past normal harvest season, when the leaves drop and the vine enters its winter hibernation. When nighttime temperatures hit the 15- to 20-degree range and freeze the grapes solid – think: small marbleized pellets – they’re picked and pressed while frozen, preferably at 6 a.m. on an absurdly cold December morning.

Wine Clash organizer Andrew Hall, behind a gaggle of paper-bagged wines. (Photo by the writer.)

In the interim, just about anything can go wrong. Grapes can turn moldy or otherwise rot on the vine, fall to the ground, or become the dish-of-the-day for birds and animals. Even when things go right, each pellet yields just a couple of drops of ultra-concentrated juice. That accounts for ice wine’s tiny quantities and typical stratospheric pricing.

But why Cayuga? Call it a leap of faith on Eaker’s part.

“I noticed it hangs well,” he told me. “The grapes don’t break down after the leaves come off the vine. And there’s a good acid-to-sugar balance. I felt I could gamble a row.”

So he left a single row of Cayuga vines unpicked – at the front of the vineyard, as he explained, “so I could take the snow blower and blow off the fruit.”

Eaker got that right. If your idea of ice wine revolves around thick syrup and an unadulterated sugar rush, get ready for a surprise. Cayuga grapes yield an ice wine that’s lighter in body and alcohol, with intense honeydew flavor and enough acidity to provide a mouth-puckering counterpoint to all that sweetness.

In addition to its Clash victory, Longview’s Winter Ice scored a double gold medal at last August’s Michigan Wine Competition. You’ll have to decide for yourself about the quality-to-price ratio: it’ll set you back $60 for a half-bottle, from the 65 cases produced.

#2: MICHIGAN: 2007 Reserve Cabernet Franc – 2 Lads Winery, Old Mission Peninsula. $40

2 Lads is Michigan’s hot winery du jour, with streams of tourists trekking north through Old Mission to its industrial-design facility overlooking the east arm of Grand Traverse Bay.

Winemaker Cornel Olivier calls Cab Franc his signature grape, and this marks the second time his flagship red played runner-up; it also nabbed second place, among 24 wines, at the Harding’s Cup Cabernet Franc Challenge last summer.

Be forewarned: this brooding, ultra-concentrated tannic beast isn’t your grandpa’s idea of Michigan red wine. But it is indicative of the best that the state produced in the unique 2007 vintage – especially if you give it license to improve in the cellar for up to a decade.

#3: OHIO: 2007 Cabernet Franc – Kinkead Ridge, Ohio River Valley. $18

The only repeat-winner winery in either state from last year’s Clash, Kinkead Ridge makes its home southeast of Cincinnati, near the Ohio River.

They scored this time with the lone under-$30 wine among the top five. It provides the yang to 2 Lads’ yin; instead of a hulking bottle to lay down for years, you’ll be hard-pressed to keep your hands off this, with a berry nose that jumps from the glass and silky, fruit-driven palate that seduces your taste buds with a serious “yum” factor.

Top 5 Wine Clash bottles. (Photo by Andrew Hall)

Co-owner and winemaker Ron Barrett – who formerly owned a winery in Oregon – explains his pricing as “part of our philosophy. Our whole objective is to show we can be competitive in the marketplace. If we priced higher, we’d still sell out – but at the same time we’d turn off some people to our wine.”

Unfortunately, you can’t find Kinkead Ridge in Michigan – and the winery doesn’t have a shipping license, since it sells almost exclusively through Ohio retailers. But the other co-owner, managing partner Nancy Bentley, says that if you email her she’ll try to get you a few bottles from the mere 40 cases that remain. At the price, it’s a steal.

#4: MICHIGAN: 2007 Cabernet Franc/Merlot, Gill’s Pier, Leelanau Peninsula. $35

No surprise in this top-five finish. Gill’s Pier, another out-of-the-way Leelanau winery just north of Leland, took home the Best Dry Red trophy at the Michigan Wine Competition with this wine, from grapes grown in its lakeside vineyard, adjacent to the winery.

Bryan Ulbrich, who makes wine for Gill’s Pier owners Kris and Ryan Sterkenburg, is better-known for the trophy-winning whites he’s crafted at Peninsula Cellars and his own Left Foot Charley. But this highly-extracted youthful red exudes blackcherry fruit and massive tannins in equal parts. Again, stash it away for several years for maximum enjoyment.

Michigan judges Kristin Jonna of Vinology and Jim Lester of Wyncroft Winery. (Photo by the writer.)

#5: MICHIGAN: 2007 Pinot Noir – Avonlea Vineyard, Wyncroft, Lake Michigan Shore. $45

Tiny, high-end Wyncroft Winery, from the equally small southwest Michigan town of Buchanan, makes wines more talked-about than tasted. With no retail distribution or on-site tasting room, you’ll find its wares only through its website and mailing list.

Don’t expect an ultra-ripe fruit-bomb; while Wyncroft is known for highly-concentrated wines, the style here is dark and focused, the Pinot fruit more like Burgundy than California. As with the 2 Lads, it’ll be lots better if you can put it away for a while.

Yes, Wyncroft’s Jim Lester was one of the Michigan judges. While it’s fair to presume that he recognized his own wine during the tasting – and may even have ranked it highly – all the other judges who put it in the top five tasted and scored it blind.

***   ***   ***   ***

Next month, the Vinous Posse will sniff, sip and spit its way through a roundup of bubblies from around the globe, designed not to bust your holiday budget. If we didn’t taste your favorite under-$25 sparkler in last year’s assortment but you think it coulda been a contender, let us know by email: bubbles@michwine.com.

About the author: Joel Goldberg, an Ann Arbor area resident, edits the MichWine website and tweets @MichWine. His Arbor Vinous column for The Chronicle is published on the first Saturday of the month.

Joel Goldberg

Ann Arborite Bill MacDonald makes some of the best Michigan wines you’ve never tasted.

There’s a good reason his “MacDonald Vineyard” label never appears on retail shelves or restaurant wine lists. As an amateur winemaker, he can’t peddle his wares commercially.

But you might envy those fortunates on his holiday gift list. For three straight years, from 2006 through 2008, the Michigan State Fair’s wine judges awarded him the large blue ribbon that denotes the state’s top amateur wine.

The number of years he entered? Three, 2006 through 2008.

Retiring undefeated this year, he stepped up several weight classes to enter the Indy International Wine Competition, which draws hotshot amateurs from around the country. His 2008 Pinot Gris – made from grapes grown in the small Old Mission Peninsula vineyard he and his wife bought in 2003 – took home a Double Gold medal.

Unfortunately, while MacDonald’s vinous talents were impressing judges, his day job was teetering. Last year, after 26 years as a real estate appraiser, he found himself downsized as collateral damage from a bank merger.

Never missing a beat, he quickly leveraged those blue ribbons into a first wine industry job, as winemaker for Spartan Cellars, the non-commercial winery where grapes from MSU’s experimental vineyards go to ferment.

We sat down at Vinology over a glass of Riesling to talk about growing grapes and making wine, and began with a quick spin in the Wayback Machine.

Joel Goldberg: Tell me about the first wine you ever made.

Bill MacDonald: I was 16 or 17, and had just learned about fermentation in science class. So I made a wine out of Welch’s grape juice and a little packet of Red Star Yeast. When the bubbling stopped, I just capped it. I think I used an old vodka bottle.

JG: How’d it turn out?

BM: Awful. It was sweet and mildly alcoholic.

JG: It’s a long way from that to becoming a vineyard owner and winemaker…

Bill MacDonald checks on the ripeness of grapes for the 2009 vintage.

BM: My sister and her boyfriend have a place in the Russian River [Sonoma County, California] where they grow grapes. The first time I crushed grapes with them, I said, “I want to do this.”

In 2003, my son was going to Northwestern Michigan College, in Traverse City. When we went to see him, we visited Peninsula Cellars, on Old Mission. Right next door to their old schoolhouse was a seven-acre parcel of land for sale.

We bought the property. It already had about 1,000 grapevines on one acre – 50% Pinot Gris, 50% Lemberger – that were planted in 2000.

Now, I knew nothing about grapes. Fortunately, we had a vineyard manager and I knew they’d be properly cared for. So I said, “OK, I’ve got a vineyard. I’d better learn how to make wine.”

JG: How did you start?

BM: The first year, 2003, the weather was a disaster; there was no crop. But we went to the Finger Lakes and bought 10 gallons of Seyval Blanc juice.

The next year, I went to a wine supply place in Dundee and bought some five-gallon pails of juice, some red and some Pinot Gris.

JG: You didn’t make wine from your own grapes?

BM: No, we sold them to Peninsula Cellars. I didn’t have the equipment to use fresh fruit. The next year I bought the crusher/destemmer, press and other equipment.

JG: Where do you make your wine?

BM: Right here in Ann Arbor, in my garage.

JG: So you’re a real garagiste?

BM: Exactly!

JG: Do you age any wine in barrels?

BM: I used a 15-gallon barrel last year for a Lemberger/Cabernet Franc blend.

JG: You’ve also made wine from Pinot Meunier. [A red grape grown in Champagne, closely related to Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris.]

BM: In 2007, our vineyard manager, Jim Thompson, said, “If you want free grapes, a vineyard up the road has some Pinot Meunier – help yourself, pick all you want.”

I said, “Free grapes? Sure!” It was mid-November when we picked it – myself, my wife and my daughter. We drove up, picked, and came back to Ann Arbor in one day. The grapes were around 25 or 26 brix. [A measurement of sugar content; at 25 or 26, they were extremely ripe.]

At first I didn’t like the wine, so I put the carboys in a corner of the basement and forgot about it. I tried it again in February and said, “Wow! This is like another wine! So I bottled it.”

JG: Every winemaker has a horror story, when something went terribly wrong. What’s yours?

BM: My first year, when I bought those 10 gallons of Seyval Blanc. I had two five-gallon glass carboys. I’d heard somewhere, “Oh, you should raise them a little bit off the floor.”

So I put them on paint cans – and one of the cans slipped. Crash! Five gallons of wine, 50% of my total, all over the basement floor. I think my swear words are still echoing around the house.

After that, I put the carboys on the ground and didn’t worry about extra aeration.

JG: What wines are you currently making?

BM: Of course Pinot Gris and Lemberger, and a Lemberger rosé. I always make rosé – love rosés! This year, I’m hoping to find some fairly ripe Pinot Noir, maybe do a Pinot Noir rosé.

JG: How much wine do you make?

BM: About 300 bottles a year, total.

JG: Did you ever have any formal winemaking lessons?

BM: No. I subscribed to Winemaker magazine, read some books. And talking to the northern winemakers has really helped. Recently, Lee Lutes [winemaker at Black Star Farms] has been really helpful.

JG: Tell me about all those medals.

BM: My first competition was sponsored by Winemaker magazine. I sent in my 2005 Pinot Gris and got a gold medal! So I was encouraged.

Then I heard about the State Fair, so I sent in my Pinot Gris and Lemberger. They were the only two wines I made, and I got two blue ribbons. They select Best of Show from the blue ribbons, and I got that for the Pinot Gris.

After three years, I got all blue ribbons and Best of Show each year. So I thought I’d better retire.

Label from a bottle of MacDonald 2008 Pinot Gris. The wine took home a Double Gold medal at this year's Indy International Wine Competition.

JG: Was it Pinot Gris that won each year?

BM: Pinot Gris the first year, then Chardonnay. Last year was Cab Franc, some grapes I bought from Leelanau County.

JG: After this year, the Michigan State Fair won’t be there any more.

BM: That’s pretty sad; it’s the oldest state fair in the country. I keep hoping we’ll get bailed out, but who knows?

JG: Which wine won your double gold at Indy this year?

BM: It was my 2008 Pinot Gris. This year I gave it a little residual sugar, but it had acid that offset it. Kind of like a Riesling, where you’ve got a little bit of sugar, but high acidity, too. That gives it a good balance.

JG: Earlier this year, we ran into each other at a seminar for people thinking about starting a winery. Where are you on that?

BM: That was a great seminar for me. Everybody thinks, “Oh, I’d like to be a winemaker and have my own place.” But for me, it made me think, “I don’t want to own a winery.”

JG: Really?

BM: At this stage of the game, I’ve been working for 30 years. I’m afraid that if I owned one, it wouldn’t be fun any more.

JG: If you’re not going to start your own winery, do you see yourself in a second career as a winemaker somewhere?

BM: That’s really my goal, to make wine up north.

JG: Do you plan to plant more of your vineyard?

BM: I’d like to. We have some area up above, we can increase our Pinot Gris if we want.

We have some low areas, too, where we’d like to build a house. So we’re figuring, “If the house is here, where can we put additional vines?” We can maybe plant another acre if we work it right.

JG: The rest is too low to plant?

BM: Right. The cold air just goes right through there, through part of the Lemberger and a little of the Pinot Gris. Just in that first row, you can see where the cold air flows.

JG: At what point do you take over running your own vineyard?

BM: When we move up there. We love Ann Arbor and we love Traverse City, which has all the restaurants, the film festival, and so on. I don’t know that we could leave either one of them.

We’re talking about having some kind of structure, maybe a pole house or a barn with a finished second floor. Right now, I’ll just go up there and throw a tent up. But the last couple of times I did that, I’d be asleep and they decided to come through with the tractors and do spraying at two or three in the morning. That’s the best time for them, because the air is still.

JG: A lot of the things you enjoy up there are also things that people like about Ann Arbor.

BM: Absolutely. They’re the two best cities in the state, as far as I’m concerned.

JG: Do you still sell your grapes to Peninsula Cellars?

BM: No, this year it’s Bryan Ulbrich at Left Foot Charley. I can learn a lot working with him; he’s a great winemaker.

JG: This has been an extremely cool summer up there. What are you doing differently in the vineyard this year to help ripen your grapes?

BM: A lot of it is canopy management. We’ve really pulled off a lot of leaves to open up the fruit zone to the sun. I was up there a few weekends back and dropped a lot of the green fruit. I know it’s not going to ripen, so we can let the energy go into the rest of it.

Bryan was thinking about making a Cab Franc/Lemberger rosé, so maybe if we don’t get the ripeness for red wine he can use it for the rosé.

JG: Do you think you can actually get good fruit this year?

BM: I’m always an optimist, but this year will be a challenge.

I’m basically a minimalist in my winemaking. Ideally, you get the grapes right from the vineyard and they’re perfect. But there are always things you can do in the cellar – add sugar, reduce acid a little bit. I don’t like to do anything, but I’m not afraid to.

JG: Old Mission wineries have done well in some recent wine competitions, like the Michigan Cabernet Franc Challenge. Is there something special about the climate or soil conditions there?

BM: I think it’s a combination of location and maybe the winemakers are doing things a little differently. Riesling does really well there, while I haven’t had any really great southwestern Rieslings.

JG: How did you land your job making wine for MSU?

BM: I talked to [MSU viticulture professor] Paolo Sabatini and he said, “Yes, I need a winemaker for the variety trials.” I’ve also been working in the vineyards, mostly southwest but a little bit in the northwest.

JG: Even though you’re not an academically trained winemaker?

BM: Yes, but a lot of it is experimental wine. It’s not necessarily the wines I would make.

For example, we grew Riesling and Cabernet Franc at three different crop levels, so they could test the difference. You make all the wines the same way. There’s no adjustment.

JG: Because they want a totally controlled experiment.

BM: Exactly. And that’s a problem for me. Will they let me make the best wine I can? No, because that’s the protocol.

JG: Is the vineyard work part of the job description, or just something you’re interested in?

BM: A good winemaker has to know what’s going on in the vineyard. It sounds clichéd, but everything really does start there.

JG: Have you been a wine drinker your whole life?

BM: I really have. Even in my twenties, I had an old book where I collected labels and made comments about them. And the same wines I was drinking then I’m drinking now.

JG: What wines do you drink at home?

BM: I used to drink mostly whites; now I’m shifting toward reds. And rosés during the summer.

I like Sauvignon Blanc, such as those from New Zealand; it has the same crisp acidity as Michigan wine. I like to experiment a lot. Any new varietal I see, I’ll say, “Ooh, let’s try it!”

JG: If an aspiring amateur winemaker wanted to get started, what would you recommend?

BM: You can start off making “kit” wines. They’re like a recipe, but you can get the basic chemistry and learn about racking. I’ve had some kit wines that are pretty darn good.

But I wanted to jump right into juice. There are a few good basic home winemaking books you can read through. I read everything I can lay my hands on, over and over again. There’s a lot of chemistry to learn.

Bryan Ulbrich says that a lot of what I do is intuition, sort of “I think I should do it this way.” So far, that’s worked out.

JG: Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good?

BM: In my case, I think luck has a lot to do with it.

______________________________

At a time when many local charities and nonprofits are feeling the pain of Michigan’s economy, it’s difficult to single out any for special attention.

But a wine writer would be remiss not to mention that area chapters of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation build their fall fundraising around a series of “Wine Opener” events in several Michigan cities.

The Foundation’s Ann Arbor’s Wine Opener happens on Friday evening, Oct. 9, at the Lake Forest Golf Club. Details and ticket information are available from the Foundation website.

About the author: Joel Goldberg, an Ann Arbor area resident, edits the MichWine website and tweets @MichWine. His Arbor Vinous column for The Chronicle is published on the first Saturday of the month.

Joel Goldberg

It’s a summer weekend. The household to-do list is out of the way, or else you’ve set it to “vibrate only” for another week.

So what now? That’s easy – it’s time for a winery road trip.

Luckily for us, four wineries have taken up residence within an hour’s drive south and west of Ann Arbor; a fifth opens its tasting room later this summer. You can plot a circle route to visit all of them in a single day, with time left over for lunch in Jackson or Tecumseh, or a picnic under Cherry Creek Winery’s new pergola. Alternatively, target one or two wineries for an easy afternoon jaunt.

The wineries in our area belong to southeast Michigan’s Pioneer Wine Trail. I’ve linked local maps to help you find each of them, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to print the full trail map before you hit the road.

Sign for the Southeast Michigan Pioneer Wine Trail.

Unlike the southwest corner of Michigan, or the peninsulas bordering Grand Traverse Bay, the federal government hasn’t designated an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in this part of the state. In practical terms, that means area wineries can only use generic “Michigan” labels on wine from locally grown grapes, instead of the more specific AVA appellations you see elsewhere, such as “Lake Michigan Shore,” “Leelanau Peninsula” or, for that matter, “Napa Valley.”

But that’s primarily of academic interest. These are genuine, from-scratch wineries, not the ersatz “make-your-own-wine” storefronts popping up like toadstools around the state.

If you haven’t sampled Michigan wines recently, you’re in for a surprise. They’ve improved dramatically in the past decade, as state winemakers learn which grape varieties perform well in our climate, and how to coax the best wines from each.

Still, don’t expect the Pioneer Wine Trail to replicate a drive through Napa Valley. Just plan to enjoy your visits at several welcoming wineries, sample a number of well-made local wines and, if you’re so inclined, chat up the pourers to glean some information and grab a few bottles to take home. I’ll mention a few medal-winners and personal favorites as we go.

Winery tasting rooms can turn rowdy on weekends, especially as boozers behaving badly disembark at their fourth or fifth stops of the day. So if you’re a winery noob, or want a quick refresher course, herewith a few tips on tasting room etiquette:

• Tasting rooms are great places to try different styles of wine without the need to buy a bottle. So don’t hesitate to experiment.
• But you can’t taste everything, so tell the pourer your likes and dislikes. If you hate sweet wines, don’t waste time and wine with the Late Harvest Riesling.
• You’re not required to slurp down everything they pour – that’s why tasting rooms provide empty containers (technical term: dump buckets) on or behind the counter. Feel free to request and use one.
• Tasting rooms may be the sole venue you encounter in daily life where it’s considered polite to spit. Take advantage of the opportunity to polish your technique. But avoid the floor; instead, consider the dump bucket as your personal spittoon.
• Also avoid comments about “pig swill” at top voice in front of other visitors and employees pouring you free wine. If the pourer asks your opinion on a wine you detest, brutal candor isn’t mandatory. A quiet “it’s not my style” should suffice. Then dump it out and request a different sample.
• Consider a weekday visit if it fits your schedule. Crowds diminish substantially and pourers have more time to talk shop, if you’re so inclined.
• Tasting rooms aren’t public charities designed for your entertainment, but important income and expense centers for small wineries, like those in our area. Consider making a purchase if you find wines you enjoy.

OK, ready to go? Head west on I-94. First stop in 25 minutes, just off Exit 147.

LONE OAK 

The first thing you’ll probably notice as you drive up to Lone Oak’s winery/tasting room? The vineyard that surrounds the building, planted in 1997, features some of the most butt-ugly grapevines in the state.

The vines aren't pretty, but they make it through the winter.

But proprietor Kip Barber, former owner of a Detroit-area woodworking business, doesn’t worry about aesthetics. His unique, low-to-the-ground design lets him cover those vines with straw to survive the winter. And that, in turn, lets him grow varietals, like Cabernet Sauvignon, not commonly seen in this part of Michigan.

You’re likely to find Kip’s wife, Dennise, pouring behind the tasting room counter when you arrive. She knows lots more about wine than you do, and will gladly share – so ask!

Two to try: 2005 Vin du Roi (Wine of the King). Just released, a dry Bordeaux-style blend of four estate-grown varietals: 30% each Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot, plus 10% Petit Verdot; it’s a dark, brooding wine with the ability to age. $25.

Kip ferments his Red Raspberry wine from ripe Michigan berries, not the juice or concentrates some places use. Even if you’re not crazy about sweet fruit wines, you may want to try this gold medal winner; tart undertones nicely balance the sugar content. Perfect accompanist for dark chocolate desserts, albeit somewhat pricey for a fruit wine at $19 the half-bottle.

Lone Oak Vineyard Estates    MAP

8400 Ann Arbor Road, Grass Lake

517.522.8160.

Tasting room open 12-7 p.m. daily.

SANDHILL CRANE

Located just east of Jackson, a couple of miles from I-94, Exit 145, Sandhill Crane is one of my favorite user-friendly Michigan wineries to visit. On busy weekends, it seems like everyone in the buzzing tasting room knows everyone else, and just dropped in to socialize over a glass of wine.

Sandhill Crane winemaker Holly Balansag, daughter Pauline, and some Late Harvest Riesling.

Sister team Heather Price and Holly Balansag run the show, with an extensive supporting cast of family members, pourers and hangers-on. Winemaker Balansag clearly learned little about self-restraint while growing up; Sandhill Crane offers a lineup of wines that far exceeds most wineries twice its size. Whatever your vinous proclivity, they’ve got something – and, more likely, several somethings – for you to taste.

(By the way, don’t be surprised if some of their wines or staff seem familiar; Sandhill Crane also operates a tasting room much closer to Ann Arbor, inside the Dexter Cider Mill, during fall cider season.)

Two to try: Legacy commemorates the Washtenaw Land Conservancy’s recent expansion into Jackson County, and its new moniker as the Legacy Land Conservancy. A dry white blend of half Vignoles from the winery’s vineyard and half Chardonnay from a grower near Lake Michigan, it recently took a gold medal at the Great Lakes Wine Competition. The winery donates $4 from each $20 bottle to the Conservancy.

Another gold medal winner, the 2008 Late Harvest Riesling isn’t cheap at $25 for a half-bottle, but it’s an extremely enjoyable after-dinner sipper – and just the thing to impress out-of-state guests who don’t believe Michigan produces good wines.

Sandhill Crane Vineyards    MAP

4724 Walz Road, Jackson 49201

517.764.0679

Tasting room open 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 12-6 p.m. Sun.

CHATEAU AERONAUTIQUE

Note: Tasting room will open late summer, so call before you go. Not on the trail map – go west on I-94 to Exit 138, then north on US-127 to Rives Junction. 

Chateau Aeronautique is taking off in late summer.

First came France’s garagiste (say: garage east) wineries, tiny boutiques that handcraft wine in the owner’s garage. But later this summer, Michigan will present its first hangariste. Yup, that’s a winemaker who crushes grapes in his home’s attached airplane hangar in an airpark just north of Jackson.

Lorenzo Lizarralde, a pilot for Delta at Detroit Metro, is getting ready to release nine wines, some from grapes grown in the Lake Michigan Shore wine region, others – surprisingly – from a small vineyard north of Brighton.

The winery officially opens Sept. 26, to coincide with his neighborhood’s annual fly-in, but Lizarralde plans a “soft” opening once he finishes the tasting room, currently under construction.

One to try: Lizarralde made just 50 cases of his stunning 2008 Cabernet Franc Reserve from grapes grown in our backyard, near Brighton. Bright cherry aromas, ripe, dense fruit with just a hint of toasty oak.

Chateau Aeronautique    MAP

1849 Rives-Eaton Road, Jackson 49201

517.569.2123

Tasting room open weekends, starting late August or September.

CHERRY CREEK

Unquestioned champion for the area’s coolest winery building, Cherry Creek houses its tasting room in a beautifully respiffied 1870 brick schoolhouse along busy US-12, just west of Michigan International Speedway.

Cherry Creek's tasting room is housed in a former 1870 schoolhouse.

Owner/winemaker John Burtka recently added a pergola out back; picnic tables invite you to lay out your own spread or, on weekends, order from the winery’s tapas menu while you enjoy a glass or bottle of the house juice.

Two to try: If your summertime wine diet includes well-chilled dry rosé – and it should – don’t miss sampling their 2008 Riviera Rosé, made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, selling for $16. Bright cherry and strawberry flavors abound; it’s a warm weather favorite at the Goldberg house.

No, it’s not wine, but you’ll see one wall of the tasting room lined with showcases of homemade fudge, at six pieces for $10. If you’re a non-traditionalist, give the Cayenne Chocolate a try. Think of it as you might a high-alcohol Napa Cabernet: rich and mouth filling when it hits your palate, followed by a noticeable burn on the back end.

Cherry Creek (Old Schoolhouse Winery)    MAP

11000 Silver Lake Hwy (corner of US-12), Brooklyn 49240

517.592.4663

Tasting room open 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. daily (wine can’t be poured before noon on Sunday).

PENTAMERE

It took work, but Pentamere crafted its name from a unique mangling of the Greek and Latin for “five seas” – in other words, the Great Lakes. When it opened in 2002, Pentamere became Michigan’s first entry in the “urban winery” trend, locating its production facility and tasting room in a downtown storefront while contracting to purchase grapes from growers elsewhere.

The winery's in the basement: Pentamere winemaker Dan Measel.

(Trivia: their first choice for a winery site was Ann Arbor, but they found downtown real estate here too pricey. So our loss became Tecumseh’s gain.)

True to its name but unique among Michigan wineries, Pentamere buys grapes from growers around the entire Great Lakes region, trucking them to downtown Tecumseh where winemaker Dan Measel sets out the crusher in the back alley and pipes the juice directly into the fermentation tanks in the basement. If they’re not busy when you visit, ask for a quick tour!

Two to try: You’ve bought their fruit, now try the wine. Pentamere makes its Harvest Apple wine from apples grown by longtime Ann Arbor Farmers Market fixture, Kapnick Orchards. Crisp, flavorful and just slightly off-dry, it makes a perfect summertime aperitif alongside fruit, cheese or lightly spiced meats. $11.

Michigan isn’t as well known as Ontario for Ice Wine, one reason Pentamere bought the grapes for its 2005 Vidal Eiswein from a grower in Niagara-on-the-Lake. This is a double gold medal winner – rich, syrupy, honeyed apricot and relatively cheap for Ice Wine, at $35 for a half-bottle. At the very least, pay ‘em a buck for a taste – it’s worth it.

Pentamere Winery    MAP

131 E. Chicago Boulevard, Tecumseh 49286

517.423.9000

Tasting room open 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. Tues.-Fri., 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. Sat., 12 – 5 p.m. Sun.

About the author: Joel Goldberg, an Ann Arbor area resident, edits the MichWine website and tweets @MichWine. His Arbor Vinous column for The Chronicle is published on the first Saturday of the month. If you’d like to keep up with local wine events, visit MichWine’s Ann Arbor wine calendar. To list an event on the calendar, submit it here.