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!