Tag: Old Mission

Chateau Grand Traverse Late Harvest Riesling

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Maker: Chateau Grand Traverse, Traverse City, Michigan, USA

Grape: Riesling

Style: Late Harvest

Region: Old Mission AVA, Traverse City, Michigan, USA

Vintage: 2009 (different vintage pictured)

ABV: 9.5%

Appearance: Pale gold

Nose: Apple, peach, rhubarb, orange blossom, lemon thyme.

On the palate: full-bodied and sweet. Fruity, Golden Delicious Apple, Barlett pear, lavender.

Finish: Sweet and honeyed (wildflower to be specific) with a note of bitterness followed by a tart Macintosh apple note.

Parting words: This wine is not particularly complex but rich and enjoyable, especially after it opens up. This is a perfect cheese course wine. It would be a bit much with a full meal, though. Overall CGT Late Harvest Riesling is a very enjoyable wine, and a great example of Northern Michigan Late Harvest Riesling. Recommended.

Black Star Farms Cherry Wine

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Maker: Black Star Farms, Traverse City, Michigan, USA

ABV: 10%

Appearance: dark burgundy with broad, slow legs.

Nose: tart cherry, wild blackberry, walnut.

On the palate: Full-bodied, with a sumptuous mouthfeel. Mildly sweet and mildly tart. Bold, robust cherry flavors with a little clove and allspice.

Finish: slightly sweet, tart and tingly.

Parting words: Cherry wine and other fruit wines are looked down upon by many connoisseurs as pop wine or a representative of the bad old days of American wine. There are plenty of bad, sickly and cloying fruit wines on the market, granted. In the right hands, though, fruit wines and especially cherry wine (a northern Michigan staple) can be fine dessert wine. A cherry wine will probably never reach the heights of complexity of a decades old vintage Port, but a good one like this can give a ruby a run for its money. Black Star Farms takes what could be little more than a sop to the fudgies and transforms it into something worth drinking. Recommended.

Black Star Farms 10 year old Apple Brandy

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Age: 10 y/o

ABV: 42.7%

Appearance: Copper with thick clingy legs

Nose: alcohol, mulled cider, apple pie, cardamom, lemon juice, apple sauce with sweet cinnamon, brown butter

On the palate: full-bodied. Sweet brown sugar, a good amount of burn, cinnamon, coriander, cardamom and tart apples.

Finish: warm, dry, that sweet cinnamon again, reminding me of my grandmother’s homemade apple sauce.

Parting Words: This a fantastic spirit. The standard Black Star Farms Apple Brandy is a pleasant sipper that performs nicely in cocktails and in mulled cider. But this 10 y/o apple brandy reaches sublime hights. Black Star Farms’ 10 y/o apple brandy was aged in a new toasted oak barrel, like those used for wine. This results in a spirit that, even at 10 y/o, still has a lot of crisp apple character. It is on par with a fine cognac or Armagnac and is best sipped neat or with a little water in a snifter or Glencairn glass.

There are few micro-distilling outfits that have been in business long enough to offer a 10 y/o product that they made themselves. Even some that are approaching that number have not been putting any back for longer aging. Black Star Farms had the foresight to let this brandy lay. It’s not cheap, I paid $75 at the tasting room for my bottle, but unlike most $75 whiskeys, this stuff is worth every penny. Highly Recommended.

Chateau Grand Traverse Laika

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Maker: Chateau Grand Traverse, Old Mission Peninsula , Traverse City, Michigan, USA

Grape: Grüner Veltliner (GruV for short)

Region: Old Mission AVA, Traverse City, Michigan, USA

Vintage: 2010

ABV: 12.8%

Color: fairly dark gold.

Nose: Big, rich and peary. Surprising amount of fruit.

On the palate: Surprisingly dry and flinty, with a hint of tangerine. Full-bodied for a white of this type.

Finish: Lingering minerality with little sweetness.

Parting words: According to CGT, when their vineyard site on Old Mission Peninsula was first surveyed for grape variety possibilities, GruV came up as one of the suggestions. The 2009 vintage was their first shot at the variety, hence the name Laika, after the Russian Space Dog who was the first mammal in space. But this is no dog of a wine. If I had a complaint it would be that the fruity nose followed by the flinty dry taste are too jarring in the same wine. It does not have the elegant dryness of fine Austrian GruV, but on the whole Laika should be judged a success. It raises interesting possibilities for New World cultivation of this signature grape of Austria. Recommended.

Not many bottles of this were produced, so if you see some, get it! Better yet, buy one to drink now and one to cellar like I did.

Arcturos Cabernet Franc

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Maker: Black Star Farms, Sutton’s Bay, Michigan, USA

Grape: Cabernet Franc

Region: Old Mission AVA, Michigan, USA “Three Block Lot” (three vineyard blend)

Vintage: 2004 (different vintage pictured)

ABV: 12%

Appearance: Deep dark red, nearly black

Nose: Black Currant, plum, cherry, a bit of wood.

On the Palate: Light bodied for such a dark wine. A little sweetness, cherry and other stone fruit, with a touch of wild blackberries and black currants. Delicate, but not a pushover.

Finish: Not much in the finish. A little wood and cherry, and then a slow fade.

Parting Words: This a wonderful, subtle Cab Franc. It does well with food but take some time to sip and contemplate before digging into your meat and potatoes. At 7 y/o, it may be a little past its prime (this may account for its subtlety) but it’s still very good. Cab Franc does very well in Michigan and the Northeastern US. For those who turn up their noses at Eastern reds, this may be an eye-opening wine. Highly recommended.