Family, Friends, Wine, Hockey, Restaurants.... Michigan! (G's Tasting Series)

Happy Holidays!  I must admit that I am a little behind on writing, so here is a recent trip to Michigan and Michigan wine tasting to cover the Wednesday G's Tasting Series!  Enjoy.

I recently ventured to the mother land known as Michigan to taste more wine, see family, see friends, partake in the Big Chill, and to check out one of the boldest restaurants/wine bars I have seen in Michigan, let a lone West Michigan.

I arrived in Grand Rapids, escaping the giant snow storm hitting Minneapolis.  I got in pretty late so I just went back to my Dad's and went to bed.  I went to bed giddy, feeling like a kid going to bed on Christmas Eve.  I knew that Friday would be a day filled with wine and food!  We left for Reserve (Reserve, Grand Rapids) around 3 in the afternoon in order to get there before the after work rush and traffic.  It was a success.  The menu was unlike anything I have seen in Michigan.... ever.  Cheeses, smoked fish, cured meats, pork fat fries, just the craziest stuff you could possibly imagine.  Definitely for those who are culinary explorers and want something out of the box... so I hate using this word... but, well it's for the "Foodies."  I'm not going to get into my tyrad about Foodies, well maybe a little.  I believe everyone, yes everyone is a Foodie, even if you don't know it.  If you like food in any way, you are a Foodie, if you like to try new food, you are a Foodie, if you eat food, you are a Foodie... you get my drift.  Foodie, Foodie, Foodie, blah.

Back to Reserve, the place was very modern, sleek but cold.  When modern is over done, for whatever reason, it feels cold to me.  The food was amazing, we had a couple cheeses, some prosciutto.  We also place an order for the Smoked Fish Trio which consisted of Lake Superior White Fish, Lake Michigan Trout, Wild Alaskan Salmon and was served with Kohlrabi and German Butterball Potato Salad, two words, Smokey Deliciousness!!  I also had to have an order of the Pork Belly, which is hard to mess up..... it was rich, fatty, and yumyum.  Sooo good!  Just melted in my mouth.  The food was absolutely superb!

View from out table on balcony.

Of course since it was a wine bar/restaurant I ordered some wine.  Had the below in the picture, since I was out with family and just wanting to enjoy myself I didn't really take any tasting notes on the wine just sipped and sort of decided in my head what I thought of them.  I do remember that the star of this "Western Pinot" trio was the Vision Cellars out of Sonoma County, very interesting (Vision Cellars).

From left to right, Scherrer, Ghost Hills Cellars, and Vision Cellars, all Pinot

I was also impressed with their 100+ by glass wine options.  How is this possible you ask?  Well they have the largest Cruvinet (Cruvinet Link) Wine Bar System in Michigan and the first and largest I have seen in person.  It basically preserves a opened bottle of wine for much longer than just opening a bottle and putting one of those stoppers in it.  This allows the wine bar to offer slightly lowers prices (if it chooses to) and also offer a wider selection as the chance of the opening a wine and it not being drank is lower.

Cruvinet System

Overall, this place is a great place to out and adventure into wine and food in Grand Rapids, MI.  I will warn you that it is expensive for what you are getting as it is probably the only place in the state that is like it.  Well worth it in my opinion

After Reserve we headed back to my Dad's for some Michigan wine and dinner.  I selected three wines at a local wine shop and that were recommended to me by a friend that works at one of the wineries up in Northern Michigan.  I wanted to revisit Michigan wines after tasting my way through many of California's wineries over the last 4 or 5 months.

Since it is Wednesday, here are some brief tasting notes for G's Tasting Series.  I have high hopes for Michigan wines as I hope to one day maybe return to open a winery.  I hope that as the years go by the wine gets dialed in.  I havent really tasted any Michigan wine of superb qualitiy however I have had some that were interesting and show serious promise.  I am still in the infancy stages in tasting and also tasting Michigan wine so here we go!

2009 Chateau Chantal, Pinot Gris, Old Mission Peninsula
consumed Friday, Dec. 10, 2010, with family, Retail $21

A nice wine.  Aromas of freshly cut apples erupt out of the bottle.  The wine is crisp, acidic, a little tart.  It has a nice mouth feel and was very pleasant.  I could only see myself sitting on a deck in the summer relaxing with this wine.  Unfortunately as I tasted it I was starring out to the Michigan winter!
***
2009 Chateau Chantal, Pinot Noir, Old Mission Peninsula
consumed Friday, Dec 10, 2010, with family, Retail $16

Another nice wine from this producer.  It has some out of a harsh nose open open but settled in after breathing some oxygen.  There really wasn't much going on in the bottle off the first sniff but want on to reveal some tart cherry and some what of an earthy aroma.  Also, apparent was what seemed to be a little smoke.  Overall, again, a pleasant wine from the region.
**

The white wines from Northern Michigan seem to fair much better than the reds.  One thing is for sure, I will continue my quest to find amazing wines in Michgain.  I have found good wine but not that wine that just says, WOW!!!

Saturday was spent with family and friends in Ann Arbor to watch the "Big Chill" which was an outdoor hockey game played at U of M stadium between Michigan State and U of M.  It was great to be a part of it.  The game set the world record for attendance at an outdoor hockey game and it set the record for highest attendance at Michigan Stadium ever!!  A hockey game set the record for attendance (113,411, I think) at a football stadium, being a hockey player, I love it.

Have a great New Year!  Coming up on G's Tasting Series, will be the highly regarded first growth Bordeaux's!!!  As one of my friends told me, "A cork tease is someone who constantly talks about the wine he or she will open but never does."  I love that saying, but it's not me, I drink the stuff.  Look out for these two tasting notes!!!