Leelanau’s Double Bubble (& Double Gold!) Winners

Bottoms Up

By Lynda Wheatley | Dec. 19, 2020

If you and your New Year’s Eve kiss recipient plan to toast 2021 with a bit of the bubbly, might we suggest selecting from two big-winning bottles from our own Leelanau Peninsula? Bel Lago Winery’s Auxerrois Brut 2019 and Black Star Farms’ 2018 Sparkling Riesling both won Double Gold, with 93/100 points awarded to each, at the recent American Wine Society Commercial Wine Competition.

The Auxerrois ($22) — pronounced “ah-sir-waa,” please, mademoiselle — is a complex and creamy brut, aromatic and expressive in both fruit and spices, with notes of star fruit, figs, gooseberry, apple, and cloves. (One sip, and you won’t wonder that it also nabbed Best of Class kudos for Best Sparkling Wine.)

Black Star’s Sparkling Riesling ($18), originally developed as a special release for wine club members, is only the second vintage Black Star has made exclusively from Riesling grapes grown on the Leelanau and Old Mission peninsulas, and they’ve clearly nailed it. 

Bright and unexpectedly, delicately sweet, with notes of pear and green apples, this crisp and exceptionally dry sparkling wine, well … truly sparkles. Pick up both wines from their respective tasting rooms or order (and find local retailers) online: bellago.com, store.blackstarfarms.com.