Can’t get away? Day-trip it to Michigan for vino goodness
My husband and I toured Napa for our honeymoon, and we try to do little mini-trips to taste the local vines wherever we are. We’ve done Missouri (pretty good sweet/dessert wines), Texas (definitely up-and-coming) and even Arkansas (not much to say there).
Recently, we received a tip from a friend to drive no more than two hours and see what Michigan has to offer. So, off we went. Like the other three I listed, we weren’t really expecting much. We really just enjoy the laid-back atmosphere of a day of tastings and walking through pretty vineyards. But we were happily surprised to find very tasty dry and semi-dry Rieslings and even some sturdy reds (great for a wine and pizza night) in our neighboring state.
Here was our itinerary if you’re interested. I hear the wineries futher north near Traverse City are also great, but that will have to wait for a long weekend.
It was probably the smallest winery we visited with a one-counter tasting bar. The man pouring the wine has been studying to open his own winery and has already purchased land to put down vines in Michigan. Great, quaint little winery with pretty vineyards. We bought a bottle of their (really good) Dry Riesling.
This is one of the largest and most popular wineries we visited. It also boasts a nice restaurant and bar with patio seating overlooking a beautiful vineyard. At least three servers were staffing the tasting bar, and the winery also had a nice gift shop stocked with wine gear. Tabor Hill had plenty of wines to choose from on the tasting menu (pick 5-6 to taste), all of which were pretty good. I really appreciated their 2007 Lake Michigan Shore Kerner (semi-dry white) and, of course, their Blanc de Blanc–can’t pass up the sparkling!
3) Round Barn Winery and Distillery
Round Barn was definitely a favorite. They do it all: make great wines, brew their own beer and distill their own vodka from grapes (DiVine Vodka — available at Sam’s and Binny’s). And the staff was super-friendly.
This was the only winery that charged for tastings, but it is no more than $5-$6, and it gets you four wine tastes, a taste of one of their fruit wines, beer tasting and vodka tasting (straight or martini-style mixed with one of their fruit wines).
The grounds are beautiful, and their round barn (tasting room is in a different building) hosts receptions. Another plus is the outdoor cafe overlooking the vineyards. Great pizzas and cheese and charcuterie plates (with by-the-glass wines) are pretty reasonably priced.
And another plus is your tasting ticket also gets you tastings at Round Barn’s sister winery, Free Run Cellars.