As much as I love Detroit, sometimes you need to get away. You know, go on a holiday. Or, as we say here in Michigan, go up north. Last weekend, the husband and I hit the highway and went to Traverse City…

Friday afternoon found us tooling around Michigan’s wine country and visiting three wineries. I haven’t been up north in ages and had never driven through this little part of Michigan. This is the stuff in the commercials; this is Pure Michigan.

Read on for great photos from the wineries and a recounting of her adventures!

Artists of both the palate and palette persuasion will come together Aug. 21 for the second annual Traverse City Wine & Art Festival, a celebration of creativity in many forms.Twenty-two wineries, more than 60 artists, 10 local restaurants and an impressive lineup of musical performers will join forces for the festivities, set for 3-10 p.m. on the sprawling front lawn of Building 50 at the Village of Grand Traverse Commons.

The wineries hail from throughout northern Michigan — Leelanau Peninsula, Old Mission Peninsula and Traverse City proper — and the event “offers you a chance to taste almost 100 wines, from Rieslings and Chardonnay to Pinot Noirs and Cabernet Francs,” said Andrew McFarlane, spokesman for the Leelanau Peninsula Vintners Association.

Well-known local eateries The Cooks’ House, Phil’s on Front, Bourbons 72, Chez Pères, Lil Bo’s, Zakey’s, Maybings, Silver Tree and Morsels will be serving up their specialties, available for an additional charge, alongside the wine.

“Because our wines work so well with food, we’ve brought in a diverse collection of restaurants … who will be offering a range of foods for sale to meet every palate,” said McFarlane.

On the art side of the spectrum, “we worked with three of the region’s arts organizations” — Art Center Traverse City, Crystal Lake Art Center and the Leelanau Community Cultural Center — “to bring in work from over 60 artists, presenting painting, pottery, sculpture, jewelry and more,” said McFarlane. “We have three big gallery tents and also artist booths, and I think the festival offers an amazing chance to view and purchase work from some of our region’s leading artists, including Bill Allen, Glenn Wolff and Rufus Snoddy.”

The appeal will be auditory as well as visual, with stage performances beginning at 3 p.m.

Song of the Great Lakes Trio and Sue Wood will kick things off with their regional folk music, followed by folk duo May Erlewine and Seth Bernard. Later in the evening, W.C. Handy Award-nominee Greg Nagy of Lansing and Larry McCray, billed as “Michigan’s premier blues artist,” will take the stage.

“It’s not a party without music, and this year we’ve got a great mix, including several dance troupes, who will perform between our musical acts,” said McFarlane.

Admission tickets are $20 each or four for $60 in advance, or $25 each at the door. Two wine tickets are included with admission; additional are available for $4 apiece.

Wine & Art Festival attendees also will have a chance to win pairs of tickets to other upcoming wine-related events, including the Leelanau Harvest Stompede, Sept. 18-19; the Wineries of Old Mission Peninsula’s Romancing the Riesling, Feb. 19-20, 2011; and the next Traverse City Wine & Art Festival, Aug. 20, 2011, along with two nights of lodging at the Holiday Inn West Bay.

“All the prizes will be given away by 6:30,” said McFarlane, “so be sure to come early.”

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.traversecitywinefestival.com. Tickets also are available at participating wineries, Turtle Creek Casino and the Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The opening was a night of coffee, art, wine, and Northern Michigan celebrities including Doug Stanton, Paul Hramiec, and Harry Goldson. In addition to the wine, guests enjoyed coffee from Roast & Toast (Petoskey), pastries from Cuppa Joe (Traverse City) and Crema (Traverse City), and hors d’oeuvres courtesy of City Park Grill (Petoskey) and Three Pines Studio & Gallery (Cross Village). The highlight of the evening was the premier of Café Society: coffee house portraits, a collection of 30 original pastel portraits of Northern Michigan baristas by Bill Hosner.

Hosner, an internationally recognized pastel artist and avid coffee-lover, chose to paint baristas at his favorite coffee houses after years of getting to know them. Most portraits were completed within the coffee houses in one hour. While painting the baristas, Hosner listened to their hopes and dreams. Hearing their stories reminded him of his own youth, and he was compelled to do something to help fuel their drive and ambition. He wanted others to see their unique “coffee house culture” the way he did, and so the Café Society was born.

Café Society: coffee house portraits will continue to be displayed at the Little Traverse History Museum through at least September 10. The Museum is open Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm and Saturday 1pm-4pm. Admission is $4 per person over age 18, $1 for children age 5-17, and free to members and children under 5. The Little Traverse History Museum is located in the historic train depot on the Petoskey waterfront.

A Master Pastelist, Bill Hosner’s work is solely dedicated to the art of plein air painting. For Bill it all makes sense; “A photograph freezes a moment in time. While, over a painting session everything is moving, changing… the artist as well as the subject. During that experience the work evolves, is dynamic and can take on the energies of life. Painting en plein air lifts my spirit. And in so doing, it amplifies my recognition of a God given value and uniqueness in the world that surrounds me.” In the Midwest, Bill’s art is available exclusively at Suttons Bay Galleries in Suttons Bay, Michigan. To learn more about Bill’s work, visit www.williamhosner.com.

Join us Saturday, September 4 for our annual New Release Party! Be among the first to try the newly-released 2008 Royce, a recent Silver Medalist at the International Eastern Wine Competition. This wine is a classic blend of lightly oaked Chardonnay and Seyval with subtle hints of grapefruit and green apple. Also, enjoy wine-by-the-glass specials, surprise discounts and an all-around good time!

Join vintners Kris and Ryan Sterkenburg to a special Vertical Tasting event at the tasting room located between Leland and Northport on Leelanau Peninsula. This unique opportunity to discuss and taste five vintage years of Rieslings or three vintage years of Cabernet Franc / Merlot will be offered on Friday, September 3 and Friday, November 5. Intimate one-hour tastings are available for a Riesling flight at 6 p.m. and a Cab Franc / Merlot at 7:15 p.m. Each seating is limited to twelve and advanced reservations are necessary. Gill's Pier Winery won Best in Class for two of the Riesling vintages and one for the Cabernet Franc / Merlot. The cost is $50.00 per person and must be prepaid. Call the tasting room at 231-256-7003 and ask for Jill to secure your spot today.

Photo credit: Gill's Pier by lpwines

Michigan wines impress at Leland festival

The agro-tourism season near Grand Traverse Bay once again got a jump start when the village of Leland hosted its annual Wine and Food Festival.

I was curious to see if there would be many wines from the challenging 2009 vintage, and how they would show, but most of the wines continued to be 2007 and 2008 juice. It was impossible to taste all the wines, or even evaluate wines from all the wineries (especially while enjoying cuisine from the area’s finest restaurants), but a representative sampling suggests that lovers of Michigan wines will not be disappointed by current offerings, including the 2009 whites starting to hit the market.

Read the entire Lansing City Pulse article: The grape escape

Photo credit: Tasty by farlane

• Sparkling: Black Star Farms Arcturos
• Dry Whte: 2009 Black Star Farms Pinot Gris
• Rose: 2009 45 North Blanc de Pinot Noir (2nd consecutive vintage winner)
• Semi-Dry White: 2009 Black Star Farms Arcturos Riesling
• Semi-Dry Red: NV Lawton Ridge "AZO" Chancellor / Chambourcin
• Dry Red: 2007 Bowers Harbor Erica Vineyard Cabernet Franc
• Fruit: Uncle John's Franc-N-Cherry
• Dessert: 2008 "42" Ice Wine, Fenn Valley (2nd year winner for the same wine)
• Judges Merit Award: 2009 Chateau Fontaine Woodland White (Auxerrois)

You can download the complete list of 2010 winners from the Michigan Wine & Grape Council.

Photo: Black Star Farms -0604 by photoshoparama – Dan

Cherries are to Traverse City what slot machines are to Las Vegas—lifeblood. But when a community’s lifeblood starts sapping its life force, it’s time for a rethink. According to Good Harbor winemaker Sam Simpson, the cherry industry has had a rough decade. Battered by weather woes and oppressive GAP certification requirements, the growers remain far down a food chain overlorded by cherry packers and cherry distributors.

Simpson believes that over the next ten years, you won’t see as many Traverse City cherry tree replants.

“You get thirty to thirty-five years worth of production from a typical cherry tree,” he says. “There was a big push to expand in the Seventies and Eighties; those trees are currently running out of steam. The only farms I see gung-ho these days are big cooperatives—thanks to economies of scale—and very small operations where the owner has a day job and works the orchards on his own time without necessarily accounting for what that’s worth. For mid-sized companies, it makes sense to plant the land to something more profitable—or sell up.”

Read the entire article "Good Harbor Vineyards and the Dialectics of Cherry Wine" on examiner.com

Photo credit: Good Harbor Vineyards by photoshoparama

Northern Michigan is home to 27 Michigan wineries dotted mostly throughout Traverse City, Leelanau County and the Old Mission Peninsula. And the numbers are growing. Now, as a new generation of Northern Michigan winemakers settles in, we check in with three to see how their ideas are likely to shape the future of wine in Northern Michigan.

Continuing reading the article at MyNorth.com

Stan Fellows has been an illustrator for thirty five years, painting for magazines, corporate clients, and children's books. Clients from the past two years include: Martha Stewart Living, Harper's Magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, Smithsonian Magazine, Audubon, National Geographic, Field & Stream, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, NYU, Notre Dame, United Airlines, Delta Airlines, Southwest Airlines, (what’s with all the airlines?) Kiplinger's, Arts & Antiques, Simon & Schuster, and for six years he has worked monthly for the Wall Street Journal's Friday wine column. In his native Minneapolis he taught watercolor painting and illustration at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and has also taught watercolor workshops in Iowa City, where he lives with his daughter.

Once again the festival takes place at The Village at Grand Traverse Commons (rain or shine) under the big tent. This year three area arts organizations: ArtCenter Traverse City, The Leelanau Community Cultural Center and Crystal Lake Art Center are showcasing artists and we'll have over 60 standout artists!

Our musical lineup is headlined by legendary Michigan blues musician Larry McCray along with folk favorites May Erlewine and Seth Bernard, blues phenom Greg Nagy and Song of the Lakes Trio with Sue Wood. Add original dance and other performance artists and you have one of the hottest musical tickets of the summer!

Head over to traversecitywinefestival.com for all the details!

Had a lovely evening in Leelanau Wine country last night. The occasion was the Leelanau vintners small plate dinner–a progressive dinner where each small plate was served at a different Leelanau winery and paired with a house wine. At Shady Lane we sat at the vineyard's edge (in the shadow of the vineyard's charming stone buildings) and ate Asian pork buns prepared by chefs from Red Ginger, paired with a 2007 Semi-Dry Riesling. Fun to meet Gill's Pier owners Kris and Ryan Sterkenburg there, taking a break from their work in their own vineyard.

From Shady Lane we moved on to the Sterkenburg's Gill's Pier where a private tasting room was decorated magnificently in glowing red candles and Japanese lanterns to celebrate the Asian spring rolls prepared by local caterer Kristin Karam of K2 Events and Edibles. Delicious and loved having Kristin tell us about them. The spring rolls were paired with Gill's Pier's award-winning 2008 Riesling. Wonderful!

Then the drive home to Glen Arbor: M-22 on a June evening. Need I say more? Okay, I will–passed a fox, a mother deer and her fawn who could barely make it across the road on its skinny, shaky legs, the sun sinking over Lake Leelanau, wild lilies in full bloom, blue flashes of Lake Michigan through the tree, the Wyeth-esque barns of Port Oneida …

Photo: Untitled by [DennisT]

Similarly, if you ordered tickets to the LPVA Small Plates, your name will be at each of the wineries that you are visiting. Most of the LPVA events are handled this way.

While tickets for all of our events are non-refundable we can transfer them into another name. Just notify us with the original purchasers name and the name that they will be picked up under. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

If you have any questions regarding ticketing for these events, please feel free to contact us at info@lpwines.com or 231.421.1172.

Come enjoy a day near the Leland Harbor and Leland's historic Fishtown tasting wines from local wineries and tasting the specialties from local restaurants and vendors.

Listen to live music in the park all day and enjoy the beautiful views of Lake Michigan and the Manitou Islands.

Admission is $12 and includes an etched wine glass and two tickets for wine tasting. Additional wine tasting tickets are available.

Food vendors accept cash only.

Participating Wineries and Food Vendors

Wineries
Bel Lago
Black Star Farms
Chateau Fontaine
Ciccone Vineyards
45 North
Gill's Pier Winery
Good Harbor Vineyards
Raftshol
Silver Leaf
Willow
Bowers Harbor
Chateau Chantal
Chateau Grand Traverse
Peninsula Winery
Circa
Chateau de Leelanau

Local Beer: Shorts Brewing

Food Vendors
Bluebird Restaurant
Leland Lodge
Corky’s (Vineyard Inn)
Plevas
Kejara’s Bridge
Village Inn
Drive Thru BBQ
The Cove
Martha’s Leelanau Table
Leelanau Cheese
Village Cheese Shanty
Stone House Bread

View Photos from the Leland Wine & Food Festival

For more information on Leelanau County's wineries, visit the Leelanau Peninsula Vintner's Association site at LPWines.com

Photo credit: On the Lawn by farlane

We will only be printing up 130 of the very cool Anniversary Swine and Dine T-shirts. Be sure to snap yours up as this is a one-time deal from a very talented New York artist.

"LPVA Small Plates", held on Saturday, June 19, from 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm, will give wine patrons a chance to try tapas dish from local chefs paired with choice pours from our vintners. There will be three seating's at each participating winery, 6-7, 7-8 and 8-9. Tickets are $10 per seating and very limited for each time slot.

We apologize if you were looking forward to Premium Pour, but we assure you that both of these events will be worth your time.

Tandem Ciders is one of the most unique stops on the Leelanau wine trail. Tandem Ciders specializes in artisanal hard ciders and some very interesting small plates. Tandem Ciders is trying to establish the European tradition of hard cider in Leelanau County. They use Michigan apples in their ciders and work closely with neighboring growers that produce the fruit.

Read Part One and Part Two of Bill Ging's Who needs Napa when you've got Leelanau?

Read the praise that he gave all the wines that he tasted at Bel Lago and Black Star Farms From Leelanau with love at City Pulse.