MICHIGAN VINTNER LIBRARY

I am such a pack rat that I still have at least a few bottles of every wine I’ve ever made. This review could be labeled “Brian’s life’s work project” as I taste, sort out and discard the dead ones.

My friend and publisher, Scott Walker, recently opened a bottle of 2005 Michigan Vintner Cab Franc and proclaimed it the best Cab Franc he’d ever had! Scott and his wife Ruth are grape growers and very knowledgeable and current regarding the Michigan wine scene. Scott made that pronouncement right in front of my wife Alice who has a very low regard for Michigan Vintner wines. That inspired me to do a couple of things. First, to immediately see if I had any more 2005 Cab Franc in the cellar, and then start a blog posting of any of the older wines from my extensive library of Michigan Vintner wines.

What I found in the cellar were three Michigan Vintner wines from that vintage. The 2005 Michigan Vintner Estate Red (aka Driveway Red) is a wine made completely from grapes grown along our driveway and our neighbor’s driveway. It is mostly Leon Millot and Marachal Foch and could contain a small amount of Chambourcin and maybe even a little Seyval. I honestly don’t remember much about making that wine but do clearly remember that it was a hot early vintage so I was able to get the Millot and Foch picked before the hordes of birds descended on our small vineyard. With fewer than 100 vines, one good hungry flock of blackbirds can eat an entire vintage in minutes. They must be photoperiodically-driven because they did show up a week later when the grapes would normally be almost ripe. By the chatter, it was clear that a degree of anger enveloped them when they discovered that I had beaten them to the punch. At the time, I recall being pleased that the wine was better and more abundant than any of my previous estate wines. Normally, I got so few grapes after the birds left that I simply added the leavings into one of my blends sourced from grapes grown in the Nitz, Fenn Valley or Lawton Ridge Vineyards. Time has not been good for this wine, however. Though still possessing very deep black-red color, bracingly fresh acidity and abundant fruit, basically it still seemed pretty lean and mean. Because it was a relatively small batch (way less than 53 gallons) it was not barrel-aged. This is a wine that may never die, but it may never be particularly pleasant to drink either. I’ll try another one in five years.

The second wine I opened was a 2005 Michigan Vintner Blend Lake Michigan Shore. 2005 would be the last Leon Millot vintage at Lawton Ridge Vineyard. Because it is an early hybrid, it screwed up their spray and harvest schedule. There wasn’t enough of it to dictate its own regimen so it just created more work than it was worth to the proprietors. Unfortunately, in my opinion, it was the grape most suited to that vineyard. It made great wines though that winery’s subsequent success with Chambourcin and Cabernet Franc could beg some Michigan wine aficionados to differ. This particular wine also contained 20-25% California Zinfandel field blend. I did this back then to lower the acidity of the Millot. This wine probably had some Chambourcin and Marachal Foch in it as well. Like the estate wine, it still has wonderfully deep color. Unlike the estate wine, it also sports a rich chocolate-like toasted oak nose. The fruit is very up front, rich and ripe. When this wine was young, the fruit was so powerful that it seemed fat; not any more. Though still very youthful, the baby fat is gone and a sturdy if rather angular and unbalanced wine remains. Hard to say if this wine has a future, but I do have a few more so we’ll see.

Finally, I opened up the aforementioned 2005 Michigan Vintner Cabernet Franc Lake Michigan Shore that Scott had praised. It is made entirely from Cabernet Franc grapes grown at the Lawton Ridge Vineyard. The color was much lighter and more transparent than the previous wines though brilliantly ruby showing no sign of age whatever. When I say lighter, one must realize the others were black as ink. In all fairness, this Cab Franc might be the deepest colored Michigan Cab Franc that I’ve seen. The nose is both varietally correct and possessing a delicately exotic orange rind / candied cherry liqueur-like fleeting waft creating intrigue and a strong desire for another sniff. It has a good barrel aged feel without tasting oaky. This would have aged in a fairly neutral third or forth-use barrel. I am stunned at how vibrantly both the aroma and subsequent mouth-feel greet the senses. This wine has much more structure and tannin than the other wines too. It is not big or opulent but rich, silky, deep-flavored and compelling. Scott is right. This might be the best wine I’ve ever made. I can still taste it minutes later.

Having gotten the inspiration and necessity with moving to pare down my collection of what are no doubt mostly dead old wines I have opened a bottle of everything older than 2011 which I still drink often enough to know that those from 2011 to present are still good. I’m calling it my LIFE’S BODY OF WORK. See below. Here I go, breaking my own intention about this history of Michigan Vintner wines. I said I wasn’t going to write about 2011 because, of course, they are still good. Well……. until today, I didn’t know they might be this good! With my Dad’s favorite pasta recipe (blog dated 8/24/2021 with a post at the bottom of that story dated 3/17/2021) I opened up a 2011 Spicy LeRoux which consisted of some local Frontenac and some Foch (maybe a little Cab Franc?) and Chambourcin from Lawton Ridge. 2011 was a difficult vintage. Nothing was ripe, but, it was picked late enough in the season that there was plenty of flavor. It was so unbalanced at the time that we never even bottled a Michigan Vintner wine that year; hence the fictitious “Spicy LeRoux” moniker. By the time we realized that 2011 was a wash, the 2012 was in and proved to be one of the best vintages in recollection. We chose not to blend some 2012 into the 2011 to attempt to rescue it. Instead, we bottled the 2012 as a single vintage and proceeded to drink every last bottle by the end of 2014. So, by then the 2013 was ready to bottle and the 2011 was old enough to add some nice flavors regardless of the lack of balance. In the near future, I’ll review the 2011-13 blend. But for now, let it be said that we only bottled a few cases of 2011 just to tie us over until the wonderful 2012 were ready to drink. Too bad. The 2011 has turned out to be one of the very best wines I’ve ever had a hand in making. The color is as pretty as a Chianti Classico Riserva and the nose is a gigantic melange of earth, cinnamon, cloves and reduced boiled cherries. The palate has grip but no hard acid to interfere with soft silky vinifera-like mouthfeel and slightly resinous finish. What a great wine. Sadly, it is the last bottle. But, the good news is that as I was digging around looking for more 2011, I did find a bottle of 2012 Cab Franc!!! So, we did not drink every single bottle seven years ago. Boy am I looking forward to opening that one. Stay tuned, I’ll pop it soon. .Yes, very soon. I’m tasting as I write. For dinner we just enjoyed a “poo poo platter” which included Willi’s of Frankenmuth famous summer sausage. So I couldn’t resist opening the 2012 Michigan Vintner Cabernet Franc probably grown by Dan Nitz just up the road from Fenn Valley. My premonition was spot on. Still after nine years as easy to drink as it was at two yet the complexity that maturity brings is astounding. I sure wish there was a way for you all to actually taste it. You’re probably thinking that the old slobbering winemaker is just too sentimental. Maybe so, but this is superb! The nose isn’t much different than the 2011 though maybe showing a tad more vigor and a slight road tar* subtlety. The palate is still so juicy, soft and balanced that it just disappears from the glass. No wonder we drank the entire vintage before the next one was bottled. Tobacco, forest floor just at the right level add finesse to a plump easy strawberry tea-like palate that lingers for several seconds. And, I am now certain that this is the last bottle!

*Road tar! Now that’s a descriptor isn’t it? Actually one of my very favorite red wine smells is that slight whiff of road tar. Think great Burgundy, Northern Rhone, Right Bank Bordeaux.

2010 TLR Reserve Cab Franc / Chambourcin from Lawton Ridge Vineyard Lake Michigan Shore has a nice bricky red maturing color and a nose of cherries and orange peel. The wine has good balance now, but I can see the acid creeping up over the presently soft berry mid palate and clean dry fruity finish. FROM MAGNUM it is about the same maybe with just a tad more fruit.

2009 Cabernet Franc grown at Lawton Ridge Vineyard Lake Michigan Shore is one of the very few straight (not blended with Chambourcin) Cabs that I made. Color is starting to fade but the nose is full of ripe red jammy liqueur-like fruit. The palate is extremely soft with a hint of cinnamon and a pleasant memory of grape jelly. FROM MAGNUM this wine seems lighter albeit younger and less complex. A decent glass of wine nonetheless.

2009 Chambourcin grown at Lawton Ridge Vineyard Lake Michigan Shore is not bad but the overtly weedy canned spinach-like flavor dominates everything and the beautiful red fruit this wine once had is all but gone.

2009 Blueberry Wine grown in Holland MI still has very appealing rosy red color and as a bonus surprise, it is sparkling! I’m surprised that none of the bottles have blown up over the years. The nose is a combination of Robitussin cough syrup and geranium. The finish is ginger ale and blueberries. I’m surprised it isn’t worse. Time to pull out a blueberry “port” to see what’s going on with that.

2008 Blueberry Port grown at Vineyard LeRoux in Holland MI is a very special small batch that the Cain’s and LeRoux’s made from very late harvest hand picked berries left on the bushes after the harvest was long over. Though the color isn’t nearly as appealing as the 2009, the flavor is pure delicious blueberry liqueur with just a hint of real port-like flavors. This is a beauty!

2008 Chambourcin RESERVE grown at Lawton Ridge Vineyard Lake Michigan Shore FROM MAGNUM must have been pretty special at one time because I still have eight magnums of it. It’s not dead in fact the color suggest some vitality, but, I can’t see myself drinking this very tired old wine with a cellar full of delicious wines so, here goes eight mags into the vinegar culture. REGULAR BOTTLING FROM MAGNUM is almost identical with just a bit more (too much) acidity dominating the fruit.

2007 Four Amigos (hybrid blend) grown at Lawton Ridge Vineyard Lake Michigan Shore was a blend of all of the grapes we purchased that vintage which certainly included Chambourcin and Cabernet Franc, probably Foch too. The four amigos are Tom and Kim LeRoux and Alice and I. The label also depicts the young puppy Corky who is now very old and much more pleasant than this wine. Though not really over the hill, the acidity is still fierce and there is not nearly enough fruit to support it. It will be blessed with eternal life when it ascends to Scott and Ruth Walker’s vinegar culture.

2006 Red Blend grown at Lawton Ridge Vineyard Lake Michigan Shore has a somewhat disappointing light color that is browning brick to be generous. It does have plenty of rich hybrid fruit and a memorable finish that in spite of significant acid feels soft and ripe. Still alive but not a lot longer.

2006 Red Blend Winemakers Reserve grown at Lawton Ridge Vineyard Lake Michigan Shore is basically the same wine with extended lees contact. Other than Marshall, all of my other winemaking cohorts always wanted to throw this portion away. Like many things in winemaking, easier is not always the best way. Somehow I was able to squirrel away a bit of what I refer to as the “winemakers reserve” or as my friends would say, the dregs. The color is about the same but this is much smoother and more composed. Like the whole false wine debate, I’m completely convinced that lees aging and recovering the lost wine from the lees is a very good way to improve the outcome of most wines. This is a winner!

2006 Cabernet Franc grown at Lawton Ridge Vineyard Lake Michigan Shore is, again, rather brickish with a burnt Sienna meniscus. But, the fruit is much purer, very clean and classy with less lingering acidty.. I LIKE IT!

2006 Don’t Sell my Monkey (mixed white hybrids) from Lawton Ridge Vineyard Lake Michigan Shore was a crazy concoction of grapes I felt obligated to buy to stay in good standing with the Lawton Ridge folks. There was nothing wrong with it when we bottled it one cold winter day after seeing a great little cover band at Fenn Valley whose bluesy theme song was “Don’t Sell my Monkey”. I’m guessing it has a decent amount of Ravat in it because it is almost identical to the 2002 Ravat below. It is a little darker and a little older tasting, but otherwise a wonderful old Michigan classic. Who’d have thunk it?!

2005 Traminette made from grapes grown at Taylor Ridge in West Michigan was another of the Knights of the Wine Table projects that I participated in. This wine has lost it bright apricot-like bouquet but has not oxidized at all. It is still a very pleasant dry white wine with a toasty rich finish.

2005 Reliance made from grapes grown at Taylor Ridge in West Michigan is more Knights wine but this one is clearly over the hill. It was quite nice for a decade but has become old and canned flavored.

2005 Chardonnay from grapes purchased from Woodbridge, California was one of the Knights of the Wine Table projects which I participated in. The nose is still fresh though starting to show very ripe jam-like fruit smells and not much lemon, butter or other characteristic Chardonnay varietal identifiers. I’s a pretty simple wine but not bad for its age. I’ll set this one in the fridge and employ it the next time I make chicken stock.

2005 various red wines, see introductory remarks

Ancient Elderberry Wine grown in our back yard in Grand Rapids was way more work to make than it was ever worth. The one redeeming quality of elderberries is that they have a lot of tannin and resveratrol for those who are on a health kick. A very small amount added to hybrid wine is a good thing to give it a bit more texture but by itself, it is just too much to take. The smell is so bad I’ve really got to draw some courage to taste it. Here goes…….. lots of texture, strong volatile acidity and a bit of throat burning tartaric acid. Yum…..

Old Maple Syrup Wine made from the Martinus Sugar Bush in West Olive MI is a real testament to the longevity of maple wine. The color is still very pale straw with just a hint of effervescence. It is an absolutely delicious off dry white with clear maple syrup nuances. It is not harsh with just enough of the resinous tree sap flavor to make it interesting. Bravo!

2004 Seyval / Muscat made from California Moscato and Lake Michigan Shore Seyval seems to be hanging on but much more tired than it was. I’ll need to drink the remaining two bottles soon or use them for cooking. The flavor is still very nice though not apricot-like as it was 15 years ago. Still fresh feeling in the mouth but the color and fruit is now a bit toasty and not as fresh as it feels.

UPDATE: 2003 Red Hybrid just surfaced after many years in the cellar maintained by Durk and Kathy Piersma. It is actually a spoof label from Joe and Linda Czarnik’s molefest party called “Chateau Morgon / Cabernet Franks American Wine for American Food”. The color is amazingly rich, dark and evolved. The aroma has a very clean classy blackberry component along with typically earthy, forest floor composty nuances one might associate with hybrids. My guess is that it is a Leon Millot based wine because of its class, color and because that is what I had access to in 2003 along with some Foch, Chambourcin and who knows what? Maybe even a splash of Cabernet Franc. There is still a bit of an acidic hybrid edge though the rich palate texture and tannin (did I just say tannin and hybrid in the same sentence?) makes it very drinkable; no Tums needed. The bottle is absolutely stained. From where the level of the wine starts to the bottom, it is opaque! This sort of chemise can only come from Millot. This is one of the best 20 year old Michigan Vintners that I’ve encountered.

2003 Moleberry grown from various back yards in Grand Rapids is actually mulberry but a friend, Joe Czarnik used it one year to celebrate with at his Mole Fest party so it was christened Moleberry. This was never one of my favorites, but, at one time it did taste like mulberries. No more; just a stale medicinal essence of bad jelly.

2002 Ravat (Vignoles) grown at Lawton Ridge Vineyard Lake Michigan Shore was one of my very few success stories with white wine. Michigan wine is high acid to begin with and I rarely found a way to mitigate the increased acidity in white wine. This is an exception. From the beginning it was good and now some 19 years later, it is terrific! Fine maturing color shows age but no brown notes that might suggest deterioration. The nose is as bright and complex as a mature White Burgundy Cru. The slight cocoa-like flavor adds to the very satisfying finish. We’ll see what else is in store over the next few months, but at this point, I’d say this is still the best white wine I’ve ever made; a Michigan classic! Update: As luck would have it, Alice had a hankering for Lake Perch. In spite of the price, we caved in and with my traditional “slap yo’ mamma” very light but flavorful coating enjoyed fish and chips (fries) tonight. I served myself (Alice still doesn’t believe anything home made could be good) a glass of this wonderful wine with the perch. I’m in Heaven! As of this writing, this is the very best of the old Michigan Vintner wines.

2002 Red Hybrid grown at Lawton Ridge Vineyards Lake Michigan Shore was my staple back then. When we had the time to make a “false wine” (see ‘99 Red Hybrid no oak added below) it came out well and had some longevity well beyond its youthful fruitiness. I’m guessing this wine was without false wine because the acidity completely dominates the fruit leaving an unpleasant balance that doesn’t get better with age. FROM MAGNUM the same, maybe worse.

2002 Pinot Grigio grown at Lawton Ridge Vineyard Lake Michigan Shore presented all kinds of problems for me but, in the end it was a really nice medium bodied Pinot Grigio. Its pleasantly fruity demeanor is long gone now and only a lean acidic shell reamains.

2002 Rosary Red grown at Lawton Ridge Vineyard Lake Michigan Shore is a wine I used to make specially for a family friend who was (deceased many years ago) a retired nun who lived at Marywood. It was simply my red hybrid with apple juice added to sweeten it up. Though very dense in color, everything else is long gone and replaced with a nasty chemical-like smell that transitions into a very bitter celery-like palate. Sorry, sister.

2001 Reserve Red Hybrid grown at Lawton Ridge Vineyard Lake Michigan Shore is much like the 2002. All the delicious fruit of its youth overwhelmed by hard dry acid. I opened two bottles and although both are certainly alive that is, no oxidation or spoilage of any kind, the acid level is just plain annoying.

2001 Pinot Noir grown at Shady Lane Vineyard Leelanau County goes back to when Shady Lane grew grapes but had no winery. I have two versions, the hands off approach and the deacidified version. Both are alive and well but I believe the hands off is a bit fresher. The color is lighter on the hands off but the fruit is stronger and actually the ample fruit better balances the wine. Ironically, the deacidified wine actually tastes more acidic due to the fact that the fruit has faded significantly. Both clearly abound in good Pinot varietal characteristics especially the hands off which still has a nice bright cherry nuance.

2001 Plum Wine grown at a farm near Rockford MI was the result of a trade I made with one of our produce suppliers when we owned Erika’s Delicatessen; he’d give me some plums and I’d make enough wine for both of us. I bottled it all in Champagne bottles because I bottled it really early to keep the fruit flavors vivid and felt that it was probably still fermenting a tiny bit. Over the years, I’ve opened many of them and none were sparkling until this one. I’ll be damned! Although all of the previous bottles were pretty bland and tasteless, the bright effervescence on this one gave the palate something on which to focus. But, after a couple of sips, this bland wine still became quite boring. It will make a sprightly contribution to the vinegar culture.

2000 Leon Millot grown at Lawton Ridge Vineyard Lake Michigan Shore FROM MAGNUM was , emphasizing “was”, one of my favorite wines. It still possesses that exotic spicy amaro-like character but the once intense black fruit is long gone replaced by earth and composting leaves. Farewell, old friend.

1999 Red Hybrid no oak added “false wine” grown at Lawton Ridge Vineyard Lake Michigan Shore must have been some kind of early experiments with what we call false wine. False wine is chapitalized (sugar added to increase the yeast’s alcohol production) reconstituted grape pomace which after a few experiments, added to all my wines up until we moved to Holland and it just seemed like too much work. Grape pomace by the way is all the skins, seeds and stems that are left after pressing. Lots of good bitter tannins in there, but not much else. Hybrids are notorious for being short on tannin and grip. The false wine satisfies that need and as long as you don’t put more than 5-10% of it into your finished wine the overtly herbal flavor stays in the background. This 1999 is one of the most voluptuous reds that I think I’ve made. Its fruit is fading, the color is browning, but it is still a very nice wine to enjoy.

1999 Red Hybrid grown at Lawton Ridge Vineyards Lake Michigan Shore is not the same as the wine above nor nearly as good. I remember this version was a big hit at a wine makers celebration held in Elkhart IN about 10-12 years ago. I don’t think even accounting for its age, anyone would have nice things to say about it today. Not only did the “false wine” (see above) add some structure, the fact that false wine is very high pH also deacidifies. This wine is much more acidic and does not let what is left of the fruit show through. I’ll dump these and keep some of the ones (above) treated with false wine. FROM MAGNUM is a totally different wine. The color is black red just starting to brown out a little. The nose is huge with loads of black fruit and green herbs. On the palate, ripe mouth filling fruit persists though the acid is starting to assert itself. I’ve got several more of these mags that need to be drunk pronto before the acid completely overwhelms the fruit.

1998 Pinot Noir (not sure of appellation though probably Leelanau Peninsula) is another mystery wine that I do not remember making. It was probably a small batch from the Steele Crossing vineyard. Surprise surprise, with its deep red hue, this is quite nice with bright cherry scents still inviting one to enjoy the nicely balanced soft plummy easily enjoyed fresh finish.

1996 Leon Millot grapes grown at Lawton Ridge Vineyard Lake Michigan Shore was a really full flavored sturdy wine once upon a time. Still has good body but everything one likes in wine is pretty much gone.

1995 Leon Millot Signature Reserve grown at Lawton Ridge Vineyard Lake Michigan Shore was a wine made by the late Marshall Geasler and myself at Rogue River. At the time, it was one of our best efforts ever. Today, fading fast with little to recommend it for other than my publisher’s vinegar culture. This was one of the wines that caught the attention of the authors of the Oxford Compendium of the Wines of North America who gave our wines glowing reviews back in the ‘90’s. As they say, “that ship has sailed”. Too bad.

1995 Chancellor grown at Lawton Ridge Vineyard Lake Michigan Shore was one of my favorites 20+ years ago. The wine has held up well. Though browning around the edges, it is still finely balanced with rich oak and sweet black fruit showing nicely. This one will not go to the vinegar culture; it is alive and well without any of the composty grassy green flavors Chancellor is known for. 1995 was a long warm summer in which even grapes grown close to the lake ripened fully with high sugars (alcohol).

1995 Pinot Noir (not sure of Appellation, probably Leelanau Peninsula) is not a wine I ever remember making. It has the Rogue River tasting room label on it so I’m guessing it came from the Steele Crossing vineyard in Northport MI which was our only source of vinifera back then. There is nothing that would say “Pinot” any more.; a strange melange of carrot juice and shoe polish. It will return home in a vinegar culture.

1995 Chardonnay grown at Steele-Crossing Vineyard Leelanau Peninsula was my first white wine where I had enough grapes to make a full barrel. It was another of the wines Marshall and I made at Rogue River and in its day was a big buttery oaky chard. Today is is still lively, that is no sign of spoilage, but the fruit is long gone and all that is left is a kind of odd butter cake-like finish.

1994 Chardonnay grown at Steele-Crossing Vineyard Leelanau Peninsula forerunner to the wine above was a small batch of a few cases from what I believe to be the Walker’s first vintage. Though the wine is not spoiled, it has a very strange bouquet of room deodorizer and an odd gummy finish. I wouldn’t be surprised if, in an attempt to bottle the wine early, I may have added potassium sorbate as a stabilizer; bad idea, I’ve learned by trial and error.

1992 Red Hybrid grown at Lawton Ridge Vineyard Lake Michigan Shore was a wine that Marshall and I had made at Rogue River Winery in Rockford for them to sell in their tasting room. It also was entered into what was then the Michigan State Fair where it took a GOLD MEDAL. ‘92 was a lean year and it was the first year that I made an effort to de-acidify the grapes during fermentation with some advice from Doug Welsch at Fenn Valley. The result was a very balanced wine that at age 29 still has rich fruit and a very silky mouth feel. Though starting to show a tiny bit of leaf compost found in most hybrids, this Leon Millot / Chancellor / Chambourcin blend has held up marvelously.

1992 Cherry Wine grown in the Grand Traverse area was a product I made at the Rogue River tasting room. The once bright cherry-red color is now a dull brownish orange. Never a good sign. We made this wine in used plastic Coca Cola barrels that they use for shipping syrup from Atlanta to Grand Rapids. When this wine was young the bright cherry pie flavor was tempered nicely by a barely perceptible whiff of Coca Cola. Needless to say it was very popular. Today, all that is left is a very volatile medicinal peppery essence with a hint of cherry and only a vague memory of Coke. Long dead.

1991 Chancellor grown at Lawton Ridge Vineyard Lake Michigan Shore is actually a wine made by Lew Carlson, one of the proprietors of Lawton Ridge. He gave it to me about 20 years ago so I could see what a 10 year old Chancellor tasted like. I guess it was just one of those treasures that I never got around to opening. Today, the color is remarkably dark black red with a bit of browning on the meniscus. It offers up a big hybrid nose of green herbs, forest floor and brandied fruit. Clearly it is a very old wine but the balance is good and it is quite drinkable but with all the wine I need to drink, it is destined to the vinegar culture.

1989 Blend of Seyval/Rayon d’Or (Lawton Ridge Vineyard) with homegrown Vidal had a cork that was completely saturated and fell into crumbs. However, the color is bright straw with a tad of amber and the nose is astonishingly fresh; smelling like the very early Tabor Hill Demi Sec. On the palate, the wine is fresh with lemon peel-like flavor. Unfortunately, the acid is still off the charts allowing this otherwise delicious wine to earn a 5 Tums rating.

1989 White Hybrid grown in Grand Rapids MI is another driveway white that has darkened and though not entirely dead, possesses precious few redeeming qualities. It is so thin that you’d think it contained part water. I know that I positively did not add any water but, the grapes were probably not very ripe either.

1989 Red Hybrid grown at Lawton Ridge Vineyard Lake Michigan Shore is not a wine I remember anything about. There is nothing to it today either other than a very light slightly oxidized shell of what was best drunk 30 years ago.

1989 Baco Noir grown at Lawton Ridge Vineyard Lake Michigan Shore is a wine that Marshall made for himself. I remember it having hard bright black red fruit 30 years ago. Today…….not so much. The rather dark brown color belies the fact that it is still balanced and pleasant; very very old but not dead yet.

1987 Catawba grown in Grand Rapids Mi by Jack Cross who was one of our neighbors when we lived in GR. The wine has much the same character as the 87 White Hybrid (below). There is no native Catawba flavor just a vinuously complex melange of earth, pecans and toffee. Still quite drinkable and could also be useful as a stock base.

1987 Sparkling Niagara grown in Grand Rapids MI is another of Jack Cross’ wines. The color is the perfect color of an RD* with big Muscat and Marachino-like scents typical of Niagara. Though still a very viable wine, the tiny trail of bubbles really doesn’t give much of a sparkling palate impression. Though not a good representative of a bubbly, it is indeed a remarkable souvenir of days gone by and with soft shells** and ripe mango, it was perfect.

*Like most home winemakers, Jack does not disgorge his sparkling wine so, in the spirit of a true RD, I disgorged it just before serving.

**Another reason we like Ann Arbor is the seafood at Plum Market. Last time I was in the store, I kid you not, the soft shell crabs were so big, I though that they were live Dungeness. I have never seen a live Dungeness crab but imagine that is what one would look like. Today they weren’t quite as big but still monsters compared to the little baby spider-like crabs sold frozen in most supermarkets. And, speaking of soft shell crabs I’d like to note one of our favorite restaurants in Ann Arbor is Zola’s located in the same building that the the Cracked Crab was located (my favorite restaurant back when I was in school). Alan Sakalik, the true Renaissance man who owns the place pays homage to the history of the building by offering up a monster soft shell crab hanging out of a bun all over the plate!

1987 White Hybrid grown at Lawton Ridge Vineyard Lake Michigan Shore was made by Scott Walker. He did not sulfite and bottled the wine in Champagne bottles. I recall that it was a very nice natural wine 30 years ago but today, it is the color of Amontillado Sherry and has a pleasantly oxidized flavor of nuts and raisins not unlike a sherry. I believe it will make a nice wine to add to the stock pot when making French onion soup.

1987 Leon Millot grown at Lawton Ridge Vineyard Lake Michigan Shore represents a major turning point in my life. This wine is what set me on a life long course of wine making. I had made wine prior to this, but this was my first large batch and it came out so well that I was encouraged to make wine every fall since. It would be nice to keep a bottle or two in the cellar as a marker, but, it is so completely out of balance that it really isn’t any fun to drink. The acidity overwhelms what little fruit is left. Bye Bye!

1986 White Hybrid (mostly Seyval) grown in Grand Rapids MI is the earliest version of “driveway white” made entirely from the grapes growing along our driveway. I have two bottles left. The color is starting to gain some amber tones but still bright. The nose is great; very complex with melon, mango and marmalade. The balance is not unlike a good white Burgundy with enough acid to keep it fresh and with enough lemon-like fruit to keep it interesting. I would not be surprised at all if this wine out-lives me

1982 Delaware grown in Western Michigan is a bottle of wine given to me and made by Bob Long very possibly from grapes he grew on his very steep hillside vineyard in North Muskegon. I am astounded that it is still fresh and clean with lots of sweet ripe fruit flavors and is just starting to show an amber hue. Well, it certainly outlasted Bob could have easily outlasted me. Thank you Bob!

Enjoy in Good Health,

A Brian Cain, the Michigan Vintner