Michigan Wine: Apple of My Eye

If you think good American wines can only come from California, you need to get out more. A couple summers ago while visiting my family in Michigan, I tasted some excellent wines in the Leelanau and Old Mission Peninsulas, near Traverse City. (If you're a Michigander, now is the time to hold up your left hand and point to the pinky area to show the location.) They make some delicious Rieslings and Gewurztraminers up that way--most of which are better than any I've had from West Coast wineries.

During my most recent visit to my homeland, I was introduced to a surprising new favorite: Gill's Pier Icebox Apple Wine ($10). If your eyes automatically roll back into your head at the mention of fruit wines, because you think they're all tooth-achingly sweet, think again. This one is refreshingly tart, with a crisp fermented apple aroma.

I've you've ever been to Barcelona and washed down your tapas with Sidra, the local sparkling hard cider, Gill's Pier's Apple Wine has that exact flavor (minus the sparkle). I'm an absolute junkie for Sidra, and you just can't find the stuff in the U.S. (at least, I haven't seen any). I'll definitely be placing an order with Gill's when my annual tapas party rolls around.

So, how do they make the stuff? 

Winemaker Bryan Ulbrich (who made excellent Rieslings for Michigan's Peninsula Cellars, and now has his own winery called Left Foot Charley), uses four different kinds of apples: Northern Spies, Golden Delicious, Rhode Island Greenings and Ida Red. It's made like a white wine in that it is cool fermented for four to six weeks and only aged on the light lees for about two months. They bottle it with about 2.5% residual sugar (yet it's surprisingly dry). The winery only bottles 250-300 cases per year, so get your hands on some while you can.

Comments

[Tish]

Someone asked me the other day why some coold-climate wineries make fruit wines but not apple wine.... and I didn't really know, but figured it was simply easier to make cider. In fact, I thought the only apple wine was Neige, the apple ice wine from Canada. Anyway, nice to hear about this.

[winebroad]

Tish, you should definitely try this one--it's yummy. Michigan has lots of cider mills, but I'd never tasted an apple wine from the region. They do a few hard ciders, but this was the first "wine" I'd encountered.

[Jeff]

Good stuff, Tina. Sounds like your trip back to Michigan was a good time. I love that area of Michigan around the lakes and the Leelanau Peninsula. It's incredibly free of development and a nice little oasis. And, as you note, the wines up there are pretty good, too.

[winebroad]

Doh! Kris at Gill's Pier just told me they're not licensed to ship to California... curses!

[Rachel North]

Nice post. I agree there are some lovely wines from this area ... I'm lucky enough to live on the Leelanau Peninsula and work in Traverse City, a foodie heaven. My husband is a sommelier and I get to work for Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine (a dream job for a marketer). That means that the food and wine of the area are part of my job--can you imagine! I'm writing because I thought you might be interested in our free email newsletter, Food & Wine Up North. That way you can stay in touch with wine news from Northern Michigan. Subscribe at traversemagazine.com. Our last issue discussed the locally made vodka from Grand Traverse Distillery. www.grandtraversedistillery.com/ They've just launched a cherry flavored vodka--some sense in that don't you think. Lovely blog, keep up the good work.

marketing geek at Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine.