Great Lakes Wine: Michigan Wine Country

Well... back to Detroit.  Last time I visited this city I found myself exploring a bit of the brewery culture in the outlying suburbs.   This time, due to time constraints I couldn't explore more of the Detroit area, but on my way out of town I found a great opportunity.  Driving east on I 94, I soon found myself in Michigan wine country.

Obviously this blog is about beer.  Beer is in the title, the vast majority of the posts have to do with beer and the word 'hops' probably ranks in the top 10 word count.  This is about all sorts of local drinking culture through this country.  So we will take a break from the industrial world of brewing and the vast urban decay of Detroit and head out to the serene countryside for the agricultural world of wine making.

Lawson Ridge Winery:

This was the first of two smaller wineries that I visited.  First, a word about the wine tasting experience in Michigan.  The wineries I visited allowed a free sample of up to six wines from their selection with some small costs for some of their special releases.  The staff at the tasting rooms were all friendly and made for a great afternoon out in the wilds of Eastern Michigan.

Out of the highlights I will start with the Cherry Red.  This is a fruit wine made from the local cherries.  It was perhaps a little sweeter than I normally like, but it was served with some dark chocolate.  When combined with chocolate, this wine provided just a hint of tart that cut through the chocolate and added layers to the flavor.

My personal favorite was the AZO semi-sweet red.  It was one of those wines that has an aroma that is as wonderful as the flavor itself.  It is just the right amount of sweet with dark cherry and strawberry flavors.  Their Two Handed Red was pretty good, but lacks the body and the dryness that draws me to red wines.  Their chardonnay is un-oaked, so it had a lot more light citrus and pear flavors, but lacked a lot of the smoothness.

Cody Kresta Winery: 

I drove deeper into the forests and farmlands of Michigan.  My next stop was a red farmhouse off a small country road.   As compared to Lawson Ridge, this winery featured a lot of drier, tart wines.  They have a selection of rose's that range from very sweet to almost bone dry.  I tried something in the middle of the road and really enjoyed it.  It had lots of light fruit flavors and a light honey dryness at the back of the palate that makes this a perfect drinking wine.   Also of note was a blueberry fruit wine.  It had just the right amount of berry sweetness that makes this really enjoyable.  Those that prefer a sweeter fruit wine probably wont enjoy this as much, it's surprisingly dry and complex.  Lastly, was introduced to the Traminette grape.  This is a varietal that grows only in this particular area of the country.  (There seems to be some debate on this.  The staff at my next stop claimed Traminette was a blend and not a grape in and of itself.)  The wine was something that I like to call a 'breakfast wine,'  slightly sweet with light citrus, grapefruit and light fruit that just seems like it would go really well with some toast and eggs.

Warner Vineyards:

As I drove back towards the Interstate on my way back onto the Road, I stopped in Paw paw, the unofficial capital of Southeast Michigan wine country.  This is the second-oldest winery in the state and probably one of the biggest.  Their selection of wines is so expansive that being forced to pick six out of the list is almost cruel.  I had their Traminette as well, it was similar to Cody Kresta's although I think it might have been just a little more tart.  

Throughout my tour I had a hard time trying to find a really nice, heavy red wine.  Michigan wines seems to stay on the lighter, sweeter side when it comes to their reds.  Warner came through, however, with a decent merlot and a blend they call Veritas.  Veritas has just the slightest hint of sweet, dark fruit that adds to the big body and spice of this wine.

One more wine I want to mention from Warner, the Grapes of Love.  This is one of those overly fruity sweet wines that, lets face it, is more or less tailor made for a girls night out.  I tried it for two reasons: First, it was their best selling wine, so I was curious.  Second, I think the winery's description says it all, "A silky smooth white wine with great legs and excellent body."

Things I admire in a.... er.... wine?

Cheers

Riding out the storm: Syracuse, NY

I'm reporting in from Northeast where they are currently experiencing the first freeze-your-balls off storm of the season.  Thankfully it is staying south of my current position so I might get lucky and avoid the snow all together for this trip.  All Syracuse, New York is something of a refuge from the insanity of the rest of the region, something I think most locals would admit that they don't hear a lot.

Speaking of locals, I was working with a crew from Syracuse and we soon found out that we had a common love for fermented barley and hops.  Once we finished our tasks for the day, it was suggested that we all go down to Walton Street in downtown Syracuse.  There is quite a vibrant microbrewery scene here because, as one of my crew members said, "It's Northwestern New York.  There's nothing to do but drink beer."

Fair enough, even if that is my choice activity wherever life happens to drop me.

Three pubs were pointed out to me as choice establishments for the exploration of New York beer.  I only had time to visit two out of the three, but I will mention the third here.  The Blue Tusk is one of those bars that apparently has a ridiculous amount of beer on tap.  I talked about one such bar a few months ago, the Falling Rock pub in Denver, CO.  I always mean to include more beer bars in this blog, but I always seem to get sidetracked... much like a am today.  So anyway, it is up to another wandering soul to seek out this particular site for now.

Instead we opted to go in for dinner at Empire Brewing Company, suggested because it supposedly had the best food.  Without having a couple meals at each establishment, I don't think I can confirm that, but I will say that the food was pretty awesome.  It was mostly Cajun and southern inspired dishes often taken one step beyond their traditional ingredients.  To put it another way, one item on their menu is a pheasant sausage po-boy sandwich.   Enough said.  Personally, I went with the grilled fish tacos, and they were excellent.
I only had a couple of beers at this bar, opting to actually enjoy a beer in a social setting as opposed to my normal habits of getting a small sample of each and then consuming myself with making notes.  I started with the Empire Cream Ale.  It was a nitrogen beer so it had an incredibly smooth and full mouthfeel.  The sweet creamy flavor is punctuated by herbal hops and a slight lemon flavor. 
Keeping with a theme, I had their other nitrogen offering, the Black Magic Stout.  This is a traditional dry Irish stout very much in the spirit of the quintessential Irish drink, Guinness.  This, however, had a very sharp flavor from the dark roasted grains.  That, in and of itself, is not a bad thing, but when combined with the heavy herbal hop load in this beer the result was a very full, creamy beer with long, unpleasant aftertaste.

I bid goodnight to my new friends and made one last stop before I called it a night, the Syracuse Suds Factory.  The difference between the two microbreweries is striking.  By looking at the menu and their beer selection, it looks like Empire is one of those brewpubs that specializes in the subtle art of pairing food and beer flavors.  Syracuse Suds is the place to grab a pint and watch the game.  This is also probably due to the fact that it is Halloween weekend and Syracuse Suds is gearing up for a party.  As I type this, ghouls, ghosts and goblins are piling into the bar for the part of the night that they will remember.  There is a DJ rapidly setting up, and all I can do is sigh and quickly down a few pints before bed.
That being said, the beer available at Syracuse Suds is weirder than they give themselves credit for.  I started with the Blackberry Lambic.  Not a true lambic, in that it is not spontaneously fermented, but not one of those overly sweet wine coolers posing as a lambic either.  It had a dryness and a aroma made me think of a carbonated Merlot.  There was just a hint of bitterness at the back that came as a bit of a surprise, but was not an unwelcome addition.
Next was the Irish Red, and this is where it gets a little strange.  I picked up a lot of strawberry or cherry in this particular beer.  It was slightly tart with almost no detectable hops.  At first I was convinced that the Lambic had ruined my palate, but as I worked my way through the pint, those flavors never faded.  About halfway through I started detecting some roasted malt flavors, but it was mostly dominated by a light fruit sweetness.
Finally I had their Pale Ale.  After one taste I swore the woman working the bar had misheard my order and brought me the wrong beer.  The smell was heavy on clove and banana.  The flavor was the same with some malt sweetness that melts to spicy hops that complement the clove and banana flavors and ended with a banana-nut aftertaste.  It was pretty good, but it had more in common with a Belgian whit beer than an American Pale.  The bartender confirmed, however, that this was their pale ale.  Overall this beer was like Syracuse Suds itself: very good, just not what I was expecting.

Quick turnaround this week.  I'm heading back to Detroit next weekend.  I have no idea if I will have time to add to this blog or not.  I guess we will have to wait and see.
Cheers!