Tag: Gill’s Pier

Gill’s Pier Semi Dry Riesling, 2013

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Maker: Gill’s Pier, Traverse City, Michigan, USA

Grape: Riesling (at least 85%)

Place of origin: Gill’s Pier estate, Leelanau Peninsula AVA.

Style: Semi-dry (verging on semi-sweet) Riesling.

ABV: 10%

Purchased for $18 (Michigan by the Bottle, 2015)

Appearance: Bright gold.

Nose: Apricot, lemon thyme, honey

Palate: Tart and medium bodied. Orange blossom honey, lemonheads.

Finish: Tart and clingy, with some lees influence.

Parting words: It’s the end of an era. This is officially the last bottle of wine from Gill’s Pier that I have in my cellar. Appropriately enough, 2013 was also the final GP vintage. I grew to love this little winery after discovering it through friends-of-the-blog Michigan by the Bottle. Gill’s Pier was one of the featured wineries at the Royal Oak location and I was a frequent buyer. It’s hard to say what I liked about them so much. I think it may have been that they were reasonably priced and well made with good terroir characteristics. The estate been an alpaca farm for over a decade now. I hope the alpacas have been enjoying it.

Anyway, this bottle once again proves that Michigan wines can stand the test of time. This was an $18 (around $24 in today’s money) Riesling from a small producer that is still tart and tasty ten years later. And in a screw-top, no less!

This is also our final entry in the wayyy too long 2012 Project series of reviews of ten year old and older Michigan wine. Almost all of them held up very well. Buying from a quality producer helps a lot, of course, but I think the acid in cool-climate wine like the ones produced in Michigan helps with age-worthiness. While I wouldn’t recommend cellaring White Heron for ten years, fine Michigan wines like the ones reviewed here on Sipology Blog will usually be suitable for the cellar, even if you didn’t pay top dollar for them!

Anyhow, 2013 Gill’s Pier Semi-dry Riesling is recommended!

2013 Cadia: Gill’s Pier

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Maker: Left Foot Charley, Traverse City, Michigan, USA.

Grower: Gill’s Pier, Northport, Michigan, USA

Grapes: 53% Merlot, 47% Cabernet Franc. Field blend.

Place of origin: Gill’s Pier estate, Leelanau Peninsula AVA, Northport, Michigan, USA.

Vintage: 2013 (final year for Gill’s Pier)

ABV: 12.5%

Purchased for $33 (Holiday Market)

Appearance: Dark purple.

Nose: Blackberry, blueberry, amaretto, tiny bit of oak.

Palate: Medium bodied. Dry with fruit jam. with some tannic grip on the back end.

Finish: Light, drying. Acid and oak.

Parting words: My first review of 2013 Gill’s Pier Cadia was a video review back in April of 2020. I liked it then and I like it now even more! Bottle aging has mellowed the tannins even further, allowing the fruit to become even more prominent, and the wine even more balanced. There were clear changes to the wine over three years, despite it being under a screw cap. This puts to rest any doubt in my mind as to whether screw top wine ages in the bottle or not. It clearly does.

Sadly, Gill’s Pier is now an alpaca and yak (!) farm, but I do still have a couple more bottles from them to taste as a part of the 2012 Project. I had planned for the project to wrap up around now, but 2023 was a very busy year for a variety of reasons, so I’m behind. Never fear, though, we will finish the project in 2024!

Left Foot Charley’s 2013 Gill’s Pier Cadia is recommended.

Gill’s Pier Riesling, 2012

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Maker: Gill’s Pier, Traverse City, Michigan USA (defunct)

Grapes: Riesling (at least 85%)

Place of origin: Leelanau Peninsula AVA, Leelanau County, Michigan, USA

Style: Semi-dry.

Vinatage: 2012

Closure: Screw top.

ABV: 10%

Purchased for $10 in 2016 (Michigan by the Bottle, Royal Oak)

Appearance: Pale straw.

Nose: Pear, stone fruit, limestone dust.

Palate: Full-bodied. Green apple, pear, ripe peach, lemon thyme.

Finish: Drying. coats the back of the throat.

Parting words: Gill’s Pier was one of my favorite wineries for many years before they closed down and sold the land to an alpaca operation back in 2013. That was the last vintage of wines produced there, making 2012 the second to last. If I recall correctly, Left Foot Charley’s winemaker made all of Gill’s Pier’s wines, but all (except one) were released under the Gill’s Pier label.

This will probably come as no surprise, but I have reviewed this wine before. That was the 2011 vintage, also a very good one in Michigan. Michigan’s variable weather makes vintage even more important here than in regions like California with a more consistent climate.

When the property was sold, I bought up as many GP wines as I could, reserving some for this project. I’m very glad I did. They’ve held up amazingly well, better than some reds under cork of the same vintage. I’m not sure why that is, but to me it proves that well-made wines with screw caps can hold up just as well as ones with cork. It also shows that well-made Michigan Rieslings can age just as well as their German cousins.

This wine is long gone from shelves but was a steal at $10 even back in 2016. The 2012 (semi-dry) Gill’s Pier Riesling is recommended.

Semi-dry Riesling Head to Head: Chateau Grand Traverse vs Gill’s Pier

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Chateau Grand Traverse (Traverse City, Michigan, USA)= CGT20160531_195230-2.jpg

Gill’s Pier (Traverse City, Michigan, USA)= GP Now defunct.

Place of origin

CGT: Old Mission Peninsula AVA, Traverse City, Michigan, USA

GP: Leelanau Peninsula AVA, Leelanau County, Michigan, USA (estate)

Vintage: 2013

ABV

CGT: 11%

GP: 10%

Appearance:

CGT: Medium gold.

GP: Pale gold

Nose

CGT: Rich. Slightly musty, old Riesling aroma when first opened, then peachy all the way through.

GP: Crisp yellow apple, Meyer lemon, lemon thyme.

Palate

CGT: Full-bodied, old Riesling feel. Mandarin orange, sage.

GT: Bracing, but still sweet. Tangerine, bottled lemon juice.

Finish

CGT: Dry, with a little bitterness.

GP: Cheek-filling tartness. Fades slowly.

Parting words: I got the idea for this head to head when I pulled a wine out of our liquor cabinet to put in our china cabinet for near term-consumption (we have an overly complex three-part staging system for wine in our house). I pulled out the CGT Semi-dry Riesling and then went to move up the bottle below it and noticed it was the Gill’s Pier Semi-dry of the same vintage. I’ve done a lot spirits head to heads, but not many wine ones so I thought this was the perfect opportunity.

I didn’t expect there to be much of a difference between these two, honestly. I was quite surprised at the contrast between two wines made from grapes grown a few miles apart in the same style and year. It’s a testimony to the varied terroir of northwest Michigan and the flexibility of Riesling. CGT is lush and decadent where Gill’s Pier is focused and elegant. If I had to choose one over the other, I would probably opt for Gill’s Pier, but just by a hair. Both are recommended. Unfortunately, Gill’s Pier estate is now an alpaca farm, but Chateau Grand Traverse is still going strong and readily available all over Michigan.

Gill’s Pier Riesling

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Maker: Gill’s Pier, Traverse City, Michigan, USA
Gill's Pier 2011 Riesling

Place of origin: Leelenau AVA, Michigan, USA

Style: Semi-dry

Vintage: 2011

ABV: 10%

Online from winery: $17

Appearance: Pale straw.

Nose: Ripe pear, Golden Delicious apples, gravel, a pinch of thyme.

On the palate: Full bodied and medium dry. Bosc pear, more Golden Delicious, white grape juice, flint.

Finish: Slightly tart and dry. Get more tart as it fades, but the faint mineral background remains.

Parting words: The first product I reviewed from Gill’s Pier was their tasty cherry wine. This is the first grape wine of theirs I’ve tried. When introducing myself to a Michigan winemaker, I always go for a Riesling first. I love Riesling and, like it or not, it’s Michigan’s unofficial signature grape and it has been for a while. Gill’s Pier passed the Riesling test with flying colors.

When I read “semi-dry” on a wine bottle, I usually expect something sweet. For once a semi-dry actually tastes semi-dry to me. It has a robust mouth feel and orchard fruit notes typical of sweeter Rieslings but without their sappiness and weight and with the minerality of better drys. It’s good with food, but is best on its own. If any aspect of this wine could stand improvement, it’s the nose. I would have preferred more intensity. That said, this is a good wine and worth the price I paid. 2011 Gill’s Pier Riesling is recommended.

Cheerio Cherry Wine

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Maker: Gill’s Pier, Traverse City/Northport, Michigan, USAIMG_20130920_145824

Place of origin: Michigan, USA.

ABV: 10%

Purchased for: $15

Appearance: Dark burgundy.

Nose: Black cherries, blackberry, hint of leather and clove.

On the palate: Medium bodied and slightly tart. Black cherry, black raspberry, allspice.

Finish: More tart and long-lasting. Tart cherries, touch of mace.

Parting words: I’ve reviewed cherry wines before but it’s been a while. I have never reviewed anything from Gill’s Pier though, so when I saw this in my local grocery store I bought it and gave it a spin.

I’ve never been to Gill’s Pier and don’t know much about it other than what is on their website. It was founded in 2002, is located on the Leelanau peninsula and is owned by Ryan and Kris Sterkenburg. Judging by the wines on their website, their emphasis is on white blends with a couple reds as well. The winery was named after a nearby former Czech settlement, which included St. Wenceslaus Catholic Church, now a parish Sutton’s Bay, Michigan.

The wine drinks very nicely. It is well balanced and fairly complex for a cherry wine.  It’s not quite sweet enough for a a dessert wine, but it’s too sweet and dry to drink with a meal. It probably works best as an after dinner chitchat wine or with a cheese course. It’s not cheap, but it’s one of the better cherry wines I’ve had. Cheerio is recommended.