March 29, 2024

Promise of Harvest and New Tasting Rooms Excite Local Wine Enthusiasts

June 3, 2016

Frigid winter temperatures, heavy snows, late frosts, and the wind and hailstorm last August all added up to two years with little to no harvest for area vineyards. With Mother Nature at last smiling down upon them, local vintners are looking forward to a successful growing season this coming year.

Asked what’s new, Marie-Chantal Dalese of Chateau Chantal Vineyards and the Wineries of Old Mission said, "We have grapes this year!" Her namesake winery also has added items such as Riedel tasting glasses, which are designed to guide each sip to the most appropriate spots on the tongue for tasting. But Dalese said the biggest news on the peninsula is the opening of a new tasting room at Mari Vineyards.

MARI VINEYARDS

Marty Lagina drew upon his family heritage when starting Mari Vineyards. The winery is named for his grandmother Nona, an Italian whose maiden name was Mari.

"He always said wine was in his DNA," said his son, Alex, who like his father is intimately involved with the innovative winery.

Marty was determined to push the envelope with varietals such as nebbiolo, refosco and teroldego. They are among the favored grapes in his ancestral home, but this region’s growing season traditionally had been deemed too brief for them to be successful here. To provide them with a longer growing season, Lagina constructed large hoop houses to warm the air in early spring and late fall.

"It was risky," admitted Alex, adding that he was surprised they didn’t lose any plants over the harsh winters.

The winery itself is a testament to Marty’s background in the energy industry. He purchased the windmill west of Traverse City for his electricity, and a small wood-burning furnace uses the property’s ash trees that were devastated by the emerald ash borer.

Then there’s the building itself, the bulk of which is underground. "The architecture lends itself to less energy usage. Ten feet down the temperature is 55 degrees. There’s no air conditioning needed in the wine caves. That’s a really big benefit: Wine likes to cool in a traditional way. It’s practical and sensible," Alex said.

The different levels of the building enable the winemakers to rely almost exclusively on gravity flow to move the grapes and juices from initial crush to processing to aging in oak barrels.

Mari’s signature wine is a mystery, even to the winemakers. When planting first took place in 2001, it happened in such a flurry that vines for the first seven rows were grabbed and planted without first determining which was which. Thus Row 7 is a blend – they’re just not sure of what.

Mari’s tasting room is open 11am–7pm Monday through Saturday, 11–5 Sunday. Its opening brings the number of stops on the Old Mission Wine Trail to nine.

TC WINE AND ART FESTIVAL

The annual Traverse City Wine and Art Festival, June 25 at the Village at Grand Traverse Commons, is a project of the Leelanau Wine Trail. Executive Director Lorri Hathaway said the festival’s emphasis is returning this year to the wine, rather than focusing on a big concert as they have in years past.

Music will still be a key part of the event, with performers Phillip-Michael Scales (formerly Briar Rabbit), Blake Elliott and the Robinson Affair, Carsie Blanton, and The Roomsounds.

Various food entrepreneurs also will be hosting booths; Hathaway specifically mentioned Traverse City’s The Cheese Lady and Morsels as preparing cheese and desserts, respectively, meant to complement the wines.

The festival will feature the debut of "Project 24," a series of 24 paintings of the trail’s 24 vineyards by landscape artist Stephanie Schlatter. It will also kick off "Project 26," for which photographer John Robert Williams will take photos of each of the now 26 vineyards.

And like Dalese, Hathaway said the opening of new tasting rooms will be a boon to the region.

FRENCH VALLEY VINEYARDS

Owners Steve Kozelko and Pam Leonard planted the first vines off French Road near Cedar in 2000. Vineyard manager Robert Walters said he sees this as a rebound year. He anticipates a harvest of around 20 tons, down from its peak of 38, but far better than last year’s crop of "¦ nothing. "It will take a couple years to get back to where we were," he said.

The winery’s tasting room is located in the former Corky’s Bistro, on French Valley Road just off M-22, a mile north of Suttons Bay. Kozelko said the owners always had in mind such a facility to go with the adjacent French Valley Inn, the vineyard, and their Crooked Creek Ranch overlooking Lake Leelanau. Both the inn and the tasting room overlook Suttons Bay.

Kozelko said among its best wines is a 2011 chardonnay, aged in oak barrels a little over a year. "It’s one of the most complete chardonnays," he said.

He also touts the 2011 Merlot, which he says is velvety smooth, and a 2012 cabernet franc reserve.

While Corky’s is gone, Leonard said they will be adding some small plates to the menu to complement the wine. The tasting room is open 11am to 7pm Monday through Thursday, till 8pm Friday and Saturday, and 12pm to 5pm Sunday.

ROVE ESTATE

Just four and a half miles west of Traverse City on M-72, Rove Estate showcases its wines from a new tasting room high atop a hill. "It’s one of the highest points – and the highest vineyard – in Leelanau County," said McKenzie Gallagher, who owns the winery with her husband, Creighton.

"You can see the Empire Bluffs and Manitou Islands. The sunset views are so beautiful," added tasting room manger Erin Britten.

The winery is open till 9pm on Friday and Saturday to take advantage of those sunsets. It closes at 7pm weeknights and 5pm on Sundays, opening at 11am each day.

The winery stems from a dream the two shared. Though armed with an accounting degree, Creighton, a fifth-generation farmer, longed for a return to the land. He became friends with fellow rugby player Coenraad Stassen, the winemaker at Brys Estate, and eventually worked there himself. McKenzie and Creighton’s first date was at a wine tasting dinner hosted by Brys Estate at the Boathouse Restaurant.

When offered the opportunity to purchase a portion of Creighton’s father John’s family farm, the couple jumped at it. A 15-acre block of old cherry trees needed to be replaced and, rather than replanting cherries, they opted for grapes. For her MBA thesis, McKenzie wrote the business plan for their winery.

Area winemakers are known for offering help and encouragement to those just starting out. "Walt and Eileen Brys have been mentors. Todd Oosterhouse at Bonobo has been making our hard cider. Money can’t buy these kinds of relationships," said McKenzie.

Gallagher said the cabernet franc, merlot, pinot noir, and reds are among the Rove Estate wines she recommends; Britten also suggests the 2014 riesling and chardonnay.

The opening of the two vineyards brings the number of Leelanau Peninsula wineries to 26.

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