Harbor Springs – Weekend Destination!

Brain Dufek and I flew up and back to Harbor Springs for the Waterfront Wine Festival.  Abby Dart started the wine festival 10 years ago and asked us to attend and participate.  Many thanks to Abby for hosting us and many thanks to Brain for helping navigate our flight up there!

My job was to use my wine experience and knowledge to meet guests, offer wine advice and taste their wine selection…not a bad job!!!

During the weekend we had the chance to try two restaurants:  The Pier Restaurant and The New York Restaurant.  At The Pier Restaurant we had an amazing Lake Superior Whitefish paired with a French Muscadet white wine.  Muscadet is from the lower Lorie Valley and always goes well with fish dishes.  The two together were fantastic!  This was my second visit to The New York Restaurant and it is always a wonderful experience.  They have an impressive wine list because it features wines most people already know about but offers those hidden gems you must try at some point.  We had several bottles but the table favorite was a dark red grape from the Puglia region in Italy called Nero di Troia. This wine is hard to find but if you see it please try it.  It is a unique and wonderful wine!

The main event of the weekend was the Waterfront Wine Festival.  The weather was perfect and the people I had the chance to meet made the event a memorable experience.  I look forward to seeing them again!  I also want to thank all the restaurants and wine distributors for donating their food, wine and time to this event.  It was an incredible experience and I am very grateful to have been able to be a part of the wine festival this year!

http://www.harborspringschamber.com/waterfront-wine-festival-267/#.VZHQpvlVhHw

Napa Valley Wines

We visited two small boutique wineries for private tastings in Napa Valley. The first was Carter Cellars. Erin Arago was our vivacious hostess and let us experience the entire portfolio of Carter Cellars selections. These wines are the true definition of Napa Cabernets. All of them were 100% varietal Cabernets with the exception of one which was a Merlot Cabernet blend. These wines were bottled only two weeks earlier and were ready to drink now but will definitely benefit from years of aging. We want to thank Erin Arago for making our tasting experience something special.

The second winery we went to was Macauley Vineyard. An off the beaten path boutique winery that felt almost like you were in a hunting lodge in the mountains combined with the elegance and class of a sophisticated winery. Hailey Covey was our knowledgeable hostess who is clearly passionate about what she does. We were able to try their old world style Chardonnay, which I personally appreciate because it is fermented and produced in cement. I feel that captures the true characteristics of the terroir and the grape flavor profile. We also had the opportunity to taste their Zinfandel, Petit Sirah and Cabernet all of which were true Napa style wines with excellent balance. I am looking forward to sharing dinner and more wine with the owner when he is back in Michigan. We were very fortunate to have been able to visit Macauley Vineyard.

Medlock Ames

On yet another spectacular sunny day, we explored Medlock Ames, a small boutique winery in Sonoma AVA. The expansive property was not only beautiful but also close to being a working farm. Beyond the rolling vineyards, they had a large garden as well as mature olive trees where they produce their own olive oil.

On our first stop on the tour we visited the original Merlot vines planted there. The winemaker had planned to rip out the vines but did a DNA test and realized they were a unique Merlot clone dating back to Thomas Jefferson. The reds planted here are primarily Bordeaux varietals with small plantings of Pinot Noir and Syrah. The whites are primarily Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. If the wines are oak aged, they have chosen to use French oak.

Our tasting was outside in a beautiful setting overlooking the vineyards. Each wine was paired along with cheeses and salami that complemented them beautifully. All the wines were wonderfully balanced with good acidity and were not overly tannic. Of all the red blends, Merlot was the primary grape varietal.

Stacy Sheridan was our gracious tour guide and hostess. She was incredibly knowledgeable, engaging and full of life, which added to the whole experience. While this was an out of the way stop, Medlock Ames is a gem of a find!

Yorkville Cellars

The other winery we really wanted to visit in the Anderson Valley AVA of Mendocino County was Yorkville Cellars. Yorkville Cellars focuses on Bordeaux grape varietals. There were several unique wines, but one that caught my attention in particular was the Amber Folly 2013 which is made from Semillion grapes that are crushed with the skins for 10 days, which is traditionally a red wine style process. The other was their Petit Verdot, which is almost always used in small percentages as a blending partner but Yorkville Cellars does an incredible job at making a Petit Verdot varietal wine.

Last but not least, I’d like to send a very big thank you to Gary Krimont. Gary was helpful, educational and a true pleasure to spend time with during our tasting. He’s the type of person that would be fun to share a bottle of wine with or even travel with anywhere in the world.

If traveling in Mendocino County, it would be a shame to miss Yorkville Cellars!

http://www.yorkvillecellars.com/

Roederer Estate

First stop in California wine country was the Roederer Estate in the Anderson Valley AVA in Mendocino County. Roederer Estate focuses on making sparkling wines in the methode classique style, which is how champagne is produced. We were fortunate to be able to do a full tasting including their vintage 2004 Rose L’Ermitage and the 2006 L’Ermitage. All of the sparkling wines that we sampled were wonderfully balanced with excellent representations of wines made in the methode classique. In my opinion, the best value was the Brut Rose, which would go perfectly paired with food or as an aperitif. The still Pinot Noir we tasted had wonderful hints of porcini mushrooms with raspberries and bright cherries and also happened to be a fantastic value. In Mendocino County, and potentially in all of the North Coast Super AVA, this could be, in my opinion, one of the best sparkling wine producers.

California Pacific Coast

Driving south after leaving the Redwood Forest, it took us back to Highway 1 on the Pacific Coast. While I have seen the Pacific Coast in many places from Chile to Vancouver, I am always inspired. While driving down the winding coastline, we had a chance to stop at the Point Cabrillo Light Station. Lighthouses will always be meaningful to me and the vistas seen here were indeed very special. Following my character, it was important to enjoy the beautiful scenery with a sparkling wine from Oregon…and as always with my character, maybe I drank a little too much!

Next stop California wine country…

Redwood Forest

Witnessing the tallest living thing in the world was incredible. Growing up in Michigan, I have been around forests all my life but I have never seen anything like the Redwood National Forest. Pictures do not come close to capturing the magnitude and majesty of these gigantic trees. Like many things I have already written about, you simply must see this yourself to truly comprehend the impact and experience the sounds, smell and peace it brings. In a magical place like the Redwood Forest, pictures and videos only serve as a reminder to take you back to that moment in time.