Check out this video, narrated by Black Star Farms winemaker Lee Lutes about the 2007 ice wine harvest. After two hours of pressing, the grapes must be removed by hammer, pickax and chisel. Talk about a labor of love!
Winemaking is known to be an expensive game of chance. No matter how much control we can develop in the winery, we are still at the mercy of weather. Among the things that we cannot control are how fast the fruit will ripen, how much precipitation, and how cold or hot the air temperature outside will be. This final variable of temperature is the name of the ice wine game.
It is truly a gamble, because you leave your beautiful crop out to the elements in the vain hope that it might get better. So there it sits for months, it was ripe and could have been picked to make a fine wine on its own, but now we have decided to see how much abuse it can survive and avoid, should the weather comply.
Black Star Farms and Chateau Chantal each saved a few acres of grapes this harvest, hoping conditions would be right for ice wine, a sweet wine made from grapes that have frozen while still on the vine. The gamble paid off last week for Black Star when they harvested about 8,000 pounds of grapes.
Check out the 2007-08 Winter Wine Guide (PDF) from Chateau Grand Traverse for descriptions of each of their wines, suggested food and wine pairings, tips for serving wine, and more.
The Village at Grand Traverse Commons recently welcomed TASTES, a tasting room from Black Star Farms with a twist.
Continuing along in the local gift giving vein, why not pair a local wine with a copy of the new book From the Vine: Exploring Michigan Wineries
Chef Myles Anton entertained a full house Thursday night at the first class of the "Soup to Nuts" cooking series offered by Left Foot Charley winery. Deftly whipping up four delicious soups while passing along his methods for doing so, Trattoria Stella's executive chef blended humor, technique and his penchant for "matching foods," as in, using parsnips instead of carrots in a chicken soup because "white goes with white." He can put together whatever he wants, because it all tasted great, including his surprise soup in honor of the night, Riesling Apple. Rounding out the evening were three wines from Left Foot Charley, the 2006 Pinot Grigio, 2006 Riesling and Murmur 2006. Chef Anton kindly agreed to let us share his recipes here.
Cari Noga writes in her column the November Traverse City Business News about two new research projects underway, led by the new head of viticulture at Michigan State University, Paolo Sabbatini. The goal is to identify grape varieties best suited to Michigan's cool climate and short growing season; and to map potential places to plant them.
A number of restaurants in the Leelanau & Traverse City area will be participating in the Toast the Season wine tour by donating 5% of your meal cost to charity when you show them your Toast the Season ticket stub. Get a great meal and support some wonderful charities! The first weekend has sold out, but limited tickets remain for the second weekend - November 17 & 18, 2007. Order yours now. The weekend event features holiday gift basket with each ticket and an ornament, special wine pour and holiday-themed gourmet food at each of the 13 wineries that are members of the Leelanau Peninsula Vintners Association.
Four area winery owners sat down with Traverse City Business News publisher Luke Haase to talk about the 2007 harvest, trends and their observations about the regional winery scene. Their conversation is captured in "The Winemakers," an interesting article in the October 2007 issue of Traverse City Business News.
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