Café Exalt Shifts with the Seasons

Brengman Family Wines leans into fall fare

The Brengmans are a third-generation hospitality family from the Detroit area. “Our grandfather and dad operated restaurants in the east side mostly of the Detroit area and downtown,” says Robert Brengman. “It was pretty cool to be able to go to all those places as a young man and experience and work in them. I left hospitality, but once it’s in your blood, it’s always in your blood.”

In 2000, an uncle moved up to the Traverse City area to plant a vineyard, and the rest is history. “Our son Matt and I, he was eight at the time, helped to plant the first block of riesling grapes,” Robert says. “I couldn’t believe it; I thought I’d have to go to Oregon or Washington to pursue that dream of mine, but it was right here in the backyard. My uncle Tommy educated me: you can grow world class fruit right here.”

Brothers Ed and Robert Brengman dove wholeheartedly into the wine business in 2003, purchasing a Crain Hill Vineyard and renaming it Brengman Brothers. This year, in honor of their 22nd anniversary, they renamed it to Brengman Family Wines.

Today, Brengman Family Wines’ vineyard and tasting room sits among the rolling hills of Leelanau Peninsula just outside Traverse City. The winery produces a variety of reds (Pinot Noir, Cab Franc, Merlot), whites (Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Reisling), sparklings, and pinks (not just rosé but their special wild ferment Viva Magenta made with Cabernet Sauvignon and Viognier).

While Robert Brengman is partial to white wines, he notes that September is a good time to shift seasonally to reds. The winery has four new wines from the 2022 vintage releasing this fall, including three reds.

Beyond the Wine

Before you sample the libations, let’s put a little food in your stomach. Nestled inside the winery is Café Exalt, where chef-prepared shareables, small plates, and pizzas await. The cold bar is also a seasonal summer favorite, with oysters, ceviche, poke, and carpaccio available on Fridays and Saturdays.

“The food end of it was always kind of there for us. We always liked food and wine—they’re parallel, they just go together,” says Robert.

Chef Josh Morrison was brought on board this past spring to bring new energy and ideas to the menu. This year also was the inaugural year of the winery’s vegetable garden, which Morrison has been using in his dishes and letting inspire him. Beyond tomatoes and the like, “we have Italian plums, which I’ve made fermented jus with, some cherry trees that I’ve been harvesting… there’s lots of cool stuff. I’m really excited that they brought me on this past spring. Summer has been amazing and next year will be even better,” says Morrison.

Going forward, seasonality will be the name of the game at Café Exalt.

“Myself and Matt Brengman have goals to increase the vegetable plot by about five times and install an irrigation system,” Morrison enthuses. “Next fall what’s going to happen is I’ll design some menus around what’s ripening around the garden in the time. There will be rotating dishes and items on the menu based on what’s available that week. That’s something that’s really exciting to me. I grew up growing vegetables with my father and grandmother.”

Last Taste of Summer

With the rapid approach of fall, change is in the air! When the fall color tour ends, Morrison will be switching up the menu. He recommends coming in to try these items before they go away:

Shrimp Scampi: “The scampi is made from scratch and made to order. We don’t make any of our sauces beforehand, and we’re using all our tomatoes and shallots from the garden from now until we run out of them. It’s fresh and light but filling. This one will definitely be going away at the end of summer!” Suggested wine pairing: “The sauce is made with our sauvignon blanc, so while it pairs great with any white, the sauvignon will go best.”

The Brengman Cut: “One I’m really in love with is our coffee rubbed filet mignon. It’s a nice coffee rub and it’s smoked seared to order and served with a honey whipped goat cheese and a blackberry gastrique and some coriander toasted pepitas. I’m debating whether to take it off because it’s selling so well!” Suggested wine pairing: “The merlot, absolutely.”

Incoming Fall Favorites

When the menu does change, Morrison is excited to share new dishes that will warm guests from the inside out. He also recently hired an in-house baker, who will be making everything in house including baguettes, focaccia, mini sourdoughs, and all the pizza dough.

“We’ll be introducing a hand-crushed tomato rigatoni dish that will have elk sausage, made with our tomatoes that we grow here in the garden,” he says. “It’s going to be perfect with any of our reds, but the merlot is always my choice for something like an elk with that gamier taste to it.”

A classic on the small plates menu is the Sea Scallops, which currently features white wine sauce, pea puree, carrot tuile, crispy prosciutto, fresh Parmesan, and microgreens.

“We’re also going to be changing the scallop dish to have a little more winter feel to it,” Morrison tells us. “We’re changing that one to have a butternut squash puree with a cranberry gastrique, some fried prosciutto, and dill-infused beurre blanc. It’ll pair very well with our sauvignon blanc.”

In terms of small bites, “I’ll be making a roasted carrot spread with some crispy fried chickpeas and za’atar seasoning,” he shares.

Special to Brengman

In addition to Café Exalt’s offerings, Brengman Family Wines regularly hosts events where attendees can experience unique food and wine pairings.

“These are all professionally paired dishes created by me and executed by my team here,” Morrison says. “The next one coming up is the Truth in Taste Harvest festival [Sept. 19 and 21], with four courses.”

Morrison is excited to play around with seasonal flavors for these fall events. “I’m doing some black tea and wine soaked cedar chip smoked quail and caramelized shallot and shiitake dumplings with black garlic shiitake kombu broth,” he shares.

He adds that the food and wine series will continue through the winter, with events happening at least once per month. Currently on the calendar is a fundraiser for the Uplift Mara Project on Oct. 10, described as “an evening of mingling and learning from a leading Kenyan change-maker while enjoying live music from TC Sings, a silent auction, a 50/50 raffle, and pairings of award-winning wine and African-themed appetizers.” Tickets are $35 per person.

Find Café Exalt and Brengman Family Wines at 9720 S Center Hwy in Traverse City. brengmanfamilywines.com

View On Our Website