Support your local Chambourcin
Chambourcin is a hybrid grape popular in the Mid-Atlantic states, along with Ohio and Michigan. It makes deep-colored, aromatic, fruity wines. It's the grape that Michigan's St. Julian uses for Catherman's Port.
In Ohio for Mother's Day, I dropped by the Winerak in Zanesville, which has an amazing variety of wines and beers for a small town.
Owner Mike Alfman always carries Ohio wines, including a selection from nearby Terra Cotta in New Concord and Flint Ridge near Newark.
Looking for something dry and red, I picked up the 2006 Terra Cotta Chambourcin, $12.99, and 2005 Debonne Chambourcin, $9.99.
The Terra Cotta was not as big and rich as the previous vintage, which won awards in Ohio last year, but still pleased tasters, while the Debonne from up on Lake Erie was spot-on.
Chambourcin is a versatile grape, as entries in the recent Great Lakes Great Wine Competition showed. We tasted a rose, ice wine, port and traditional dry table wines made from it.
If you don't know the grape, don't be afraid to give it a try.
Great Lakes Wine Competition showed strengths of the region
The 15th annual Great Lakes Great Wine Competition held Thursday at Oakland Community College in Farmington Hills, Mich., had a record 500 entries. Judges who ranged from sommeliers at top restaurants to a winemaker, wine writers and other wine-industry professionals sniffed, sipped and evaluated the entries from the seven states and one Canadian province that border the Great Lakes.
Yours truly was one of the judges, and I can only speak for the wines at our table, but they showed some interesting trends:
Syrah is definitely a red grape that shows promise in these parts.
Proprietary white and red blends were wonderful, and gave wineries the license to do some creative blending for the best results.
Rieslings and other whites from the hot 2005 vintage did not always hold up, but the reds were spectacular.
Chambourcin, as port, a dry red or even ice wine, is a viable grape.
Aged reds, meaning previous to the 2004 vintage, held up nicely overall.
Creative fruit wines, such as the spiced apple I tasted with lots of cinnamon and nutmeg, are delightful. And they're great assets in cooking.
Cabernet Franc, Merlot and even Cabernet Sauvignon are certainly viable grapes in parts of the region, too. They are Bordeaux in style -- certainly not California.
See my new column May 15 for a list of the Double Golds and Golds and some insight into the competition.
Charles Krug keeps making headlines
Brothers Peter and Marc Mondavi, sons of Peter Mondavi Sr. and heirs to the Charles Krug Winery, which set off the Mondavi dynasty in California, are no longer on cruise-control.
The "other" Mondavi family is re-inventing Charles Krug, and the renovations to the wine program and the historic grounds are drawing notice.
On Monday, the Los Angeles Times ran this headline: "2 Mondavis strive to give a landmark winery a bigger place on the map."
In recent times, I produced this column about the changes from vineyards to cellar.
If you want to catch the flavor of the changes, try the latest vintage of Sauvignon Blanc. It's a New Zealand style SB, complete with screwcap, from Napa Valley!
Food and wine worth the long winter
Can't pass up telling you about a good deal for fine food and wine in Detroit: It's the special offering every evening throughout the month of May at the Rattlesnake.
For their May Wine & Food Festival, there is a three-course meal for $45 per person (plus tax & gratuity) featuring organic and sustainable ingredients, with wines from Justin Winery in Paso Robles, Calif., which follows biodynamic and organic growing practices.
Catch this menu: Asparagus salad with a mound of baby asparagus and sweet ramps, splashed with a tarragon and chervil vinaigrette with shaved Parmesan. That's followed by the main course, either Maryland soft shell blue crab or braised beef short rib, both with dazzling side dishes.
Dessert is a rhubarb and strawberry crisp, drizzled with caramel and paired with white chocolate ice cream.
For an extra $15 per person, you can enjoy two glasses of Justin wine, either Chardonnay or Syrah.
I like that!
Call the Rattlesnake at (313) 567-4400.
Eleanor and Ray Heald honored for 'freeing the grapes'
Everytime you join a California wine club, you should say thank you to Eleanor and Ray Heald, longtime wine writers based in Metro Detroit, who had the courage to file the lawsuit that led to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that freed up direct shipments of wine for residents of many states.
They will be honored May 1 by the Direct to Consumer Symposium at the Meritage Resort in Napa, Calif., and presented with the first annual "Grape Liberator" award.
The award recognizes individuals who play an instrumental role in improving consumer choices as well as the free trade of wine.
The Healds are contributing editors to Quarterly Review of Wines as well as Practical Winery & Vineyard magazines. They are wine columnists for the Observer & Eccentric Newspapers and regional correspondents for AppellationAmerican.com.
They are friends of mine, and I can tell you it was tough sledding to take on Michigan lawmakers and the powerful distributors, and finally win in the High Court.
They deserve medals.
Forty-Five North Riesling hauls down major awards
The 2007 Riesling from Forty-Five North Winery in Lake Leelanau, Mich., wowed judges at the 23rd annual Pacific Rim Wine Competition.
It was voted "Best White Wine" of the entire competition, and also got a Double Gold in the Riesling category at the event held last week in San Bernardino, Calif. "Double Golds" represent a unanimous, not majority, vote by a judges panel, which makes it rare indeed.
The new Michigan winery, which will open a tasting room by early summer, also won two other Double Golds -- for the 2007 Cabernet Franc, voted "Best Cabernet Franc," and for the 2007 Rose of Pinot Noir for "Best Rose."
Forty-Five North is owned by Indiana eye surgeon Steven Grossnickle. The winemaker is Shawn Walters, formerly of Leelanau Wine Cellars.
"I am so proud of Shawn," Grossnickle said in an e-mail.
The competition's chief judge, Don Galleano, proprietor of Galleano Winery in Mira Loma, Calif., commented to me in a phone interview that "if the competition would have had a 'best winery' award, the Michigan winery would have won.
"It was clearly impressive to me to see what this winery is doing, and they are to be commended for making wines like that."
It is also significant that one other Michigan winery did well -- Tabor Hill's Classic Demi Sec got a Double Gold in the category called "Best White Generic and Proprietary Blends, Non-Vintage."
You can check out all the results.
Partners in Mitten wine distributing company break up
Mitten Wine Logistics, Michigan's unique wholesale wine distributorship that only deals in Michigan wines and has done a credible job of getting them placed in stores all over the state, has come unraveled.
It's official: Partners Eddie Baur and Scott Fochtman have parted ways. Baur announced he has resigned from his own company.
"I don't believe Mitten can financially accomplish our goals," he said Friday. Baur, with a long history in the wine wholesale and retail business, said he will try to carry on and establish a new company.
Fochtman, contacted Friday, said, "Mitten will plow forward. I am not going to let it go away." He said he has hired salesmen for the west side of the state and the Detroit/Flint/Saginaw area.
Fochtman said he held a 60 percent interest in the company, Baur a 40 percent interest.
Let's hope for the sake of the Michigan industry that one or the other can continue to make it easier for state residents to buy Michigan wines.
True North Vodka brings home the gold
True North Vodka, made by Michigan's only dedicated vodka micro-distillery in Traverse City, won its second gold medal. The premium spirit, made from Michigan rye, was one of 13 vodkas awarded gold in the prestigious San Francisco World Spirits Competition. There were 83 vodka entries. The True North Vodka - Natural Cherry got a bronze.
Last year, the Beverage Tasting Institute in Chicago gave an exceptional "92" rating to True North. The vodka is produced by Grand Traverse Distillery, but if you have to ask a merchant to special order it for you, it is listed under its name, True North. (Usually it's the other way around.) Kudos to owner Kent Rabish!
Try Michigan wines at big tasting coming up
The biggest Michigan wine tasting held by any store in the state is the annual one at Champane's Wine Cellars, which benefits a local Cub Scout Pack.
The next tasting is Thursday, April 10, at 6 p.m., at the store in Warren, and dozens of wineries are participating and sending a representative.
Store owner Dean Champane champions the local wineries, and he also supports good causes. Cub Scout Pack 1477, based at Westwood Elementary School in Warren, will benefit.
Tickets to the the store tastings are always a steal, too. Just $15. Guests will have the opportunity to purchase wines.
Special guests at the tasting will be the authors of "From the Vine: Exploring Michigan Wineries," Sharon Kegerreis and Lorri Hathaway, who will sign copies.
The event is limited to 180 people. It's important to reserve a ticket online or call the store at (586) 268-4900 to save a place.
Champane's is at 7001 Chicago Road (13 Mile), between Van Dyke and Mound.
Get a whiff of this: Wine taster insures his nose for millions
Is Ilja Gort, 47, the famed winemaker and taster from Chateau de la Garde in Bordeaux, smelling trouble? The Associated Press reports that he insured his schnoz for $8 million with Lloyd's of London.
He said if he lost his sense of smell, he could not taste wine anymore. "Tasting wine is something you do with your nose, not your mouth," he said.
The insurance contract, the AP reports, forbids him from riding a motorcycle or being a boxer, knife-thrower's assistant or fire-breather.
His friends have joked about punching him in the nose so they can split the dough.
