bottle #8: Sleeping Bear Winery, Albion, MI

On a trip to Detroit for Chris' birthday to catch a Tiger's game, we stopped at a few wineries along 1-94 with our friend, Steve, who is a guest wine-taster for these next few posts in our blog. Sleeping Bear Winery and Taste of Michigan Store is a little shop right off 1-94 in Albion, MI, so it's a convenient stop for travelers and locals alike who want to get a taste of a sweet refreshing Edelzwicker or an oaky, complex Cabernet Sauvignon (Erin and Chris' favorite!). Nick, our wine-pourer, also informed us that they are also working on some beers to add to their collection of delectable drinks. We sampled the Pinot Grigio, which Chris really enjoyed - it had a nice smooth, peary taste. Steve's favorite was the Edelwicker, meaning "Noble Blend" - he liked it for it's sweet, refreshing taste (it's a blend of a Gewurztraminer and a Riesling). Erin's favorite was tied for both the Cab Sauvignon (has that oaky taste and long finish that I love!) and the Merlot, which was nice and spicy. Sleeping Bear is worth the stop if you're cruising down 1-94!

bottle #7: Peterson's Winery, Galesburg, MI

Wow! You haven't tasted wine the "authentic way" until you've visited Peterson & Son's Winery in Galesburg, MI. It's the closest winery to our house, and also, a winery that my (Erin's) Uncle Dave and Aunt Juanita went to on their honeymoon! And this is a wine tasting experience like no other. This wine not only is sulfates free (no added sulfates, so more sugar is added in order to preserve the wine), this wine is also hand-crafted by the "Wine Notsee" himself - self-proclaimed "Wine Notsee" that is. They boast all natural wine with strong fruity tastes, as opposed to wine with sulfates (chemicals/preservatives) added. They also WASH their grapes before crushing them, which is, apparently, a rare process in wine-making. Duane, the wine-making extraordinaire, began making wine in 1982 in his basement, and when he lost his job in March 1983, he turned this passion into his business. When we entered Duane's tasting room, we were struck by the pure, authentic wine tasting experience we were about to have. Duane welcome us and first showed us the rules of wine tasting, which included instructions such as rinsing your glass and sipping water between each taste (which Duane poured for us and we graciously sipped), and not saying "ew, I don't like this," rather, "this wine isn't my taste." Polite wine-tasting is a must here at Peterson & Son's! When we began sipping this sulfate-free vino, we immediately noticed the difference in Duane's wine and every other wine we have ever tasted. It was indeed sweet and fruity! Sweet and fruity isn't always my taste, but we did find a delicious Chardonel Dry wine we enjoyed and bought a bottle. What a neat experience!

bottle #6: Fenn Valley, Saugatuck, MI

After tasting at Tabor Hill, we needed a break before heading to our last tasting room in Saugatuck: Fenn Valley, whose vineyard is located in Fennville, MI. With several flights of wine in us and a long car ride and pit stop at the Antique Shop, we needed to get some food in our systems! Saugatuck is filled with charming shoppes and restaurants, so we had no problem finding some grub so we didn't get too tipsy! We choose a sweet little Greek restaurant called Hercules. It was right off the main strip and was just the break we needed before tasting at our last stop for the day. The Fenn Valley tasting room was staffed by a few friendly, knowledgeable wine guides. This family owned and operated vineyard creates estate-grown wine, meaning that their wines are made from grapes that are grown on their estate, not shipped in from others'. While two of the favorites from Fenn Valley are their Meritage and Riesling, our favorite was their 2009 Pinot Noir. The label has a picture of a red lighthouse on the front, but the real beauty is what's inside: this Pinot Noir has a delicious cherry and blueberry flavoring and has a robust, full taste.

bottle #5: Tabor Hill, Saugatuck, MI

Across the street and down a few blocks from the Round Barn/Free Run tasting room is the Tabor Hill Tasting room. Tabor Hill Winery and Restaurant is located in Buchanan, MI. They've got two other tasting rooms, one in Benton Harbor and one in Bridgman. After a short walk in the humid, Michigan summer air, we walked into the cool tasting room and were greeted by several friendly wine guides. We each tried a few reds and a few whites each and found that our favorite was their Red Arrow Red, named after the Red Arrow Highway. It is a dry red table wine and is a blend of their Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot. It's finish was just the right amount of spice without lingering too long. Truly a Michigan Wine, named after a Michigan Highway!

bottle #3 & #4: Round Barn Winery & Free Run Cellars, Saugatuck MI

Our first trip up to Saugatuck, one of Michigan's premier tourist destinations, led us approximately an hour north west of Kalamazoo on the shore of Lake Michigan. On our way there on the outskirts of Saugatuck, we spotted a huge antique store. Since Chris was driving, he pulled the car in and we perused through shelves and shelves of old trinkets and ancient dishes, books, records, anything you can think of. Our treasures, depends who you ask. After this detour, we rolled into downtown Saugatuck and parked on a nearby side street to the lovely downtown. All four "wineries" we visited on this particular day in Saugatuck were actually just tasting rooms, they weren't the actual vineyard. This has it's advantages, mostly being that we could hit four wineries in the matter of minutes (well, a little longer than that, but quite quickly). The disadvantages, however, are that we lacked the real experience of seeing the grapes, meeting the winemaker, and getting a feel for the vineyard itself. However, our first stop was a combined tasting room for both Round Barn Winery from Baroda, MI, and Free Run Cellars from Berrien Springs, MI. Here there were limited options in the area of red wines, but we tasted a few reds and whites that we really enjoyed. We settled on purchasing a bottle of the Vineyard Red, which is a dry red table wine from Round Barn.

bottle #2: St. Julian Winery, Paw Paw, MI

Hovering in the background with a massive presence, St. Julian Winery stands behind the quaint tasting room at Warner's Vineyard. Literally next door to one another, we headed over to St. Julian's tasting room right after our Cabernet Franc was bagged in those infamous brown wine bags at Warner's. When we walked into the tasting room and store, we had the expectation of seeing the colorful wine labels that we see at our local grocery store. We were not disappointed. The shelves and refrigerators were packed with those, plus some. This tasting room was huge, plus had an extensive retail section to purchase wine, glasses, clothing, etc. We were given the opportunity to try some of the reserve labels as well. Because 2011 is their 90th year in business, St. Julian just released a celebratory wine called "Founder's Red." This wine was poured for us by one of the founder's decendents. (If we remember correctly, she is the niece of someone, but we aren't certain.) That wine was our favorite as a dry, slightly fruity red with the oaky taste. This plesanetly surprised us because we are used to those sweet, simple wines from St. Julian that you can find in the grocery stores. But this complex, dry, oaky red was a welcome surprise.

bottle #1: Warner Vineyards, Paw Paw, MI

Warner Vineyards in Paw Paw, MI is known for being the 2nd oldest winery in Michigan, for their perfect Cabernet Franc, and for having a charming, family-owned vineyard and tasting room. On a recent summer Friday afternoon after a long week, we ditched work early to head 20 minutes west of Kalamazoo to make it to Warner's tasting room before they closed at 6pm. Our favorite, of course, was their Cabernet Franc, a smooth, slightly sweeter Cab. The Pinot Gregio also caught our attention with it's dry, pear-y finish. (If pear-y isn't a word, it should be.) After we bought a few bottles and cleansed our pallets with those disgusting cardboard crackers, we headed next door to bottle #2...