Waters of Lake Michigan from most of the vineyards on the Old Mission Peninsula
Mari Vineyards’ new cellars are an imposing piece of Italianate architecture of the kind that wouldn’t raise any eyebrows in Napa Valley, California, but it makes a bold statement for the winemaking in the state of Michigan. Mari’s first wine was made in 2006 and the substantial investments made since then by owner Marty Lagina are a sign that the industry is maturing. Developments of this kind persuaded us it was time for an initial report on the region.
The question our blind tastings of Michigan wines sought to answer was how much progress has been made here since the first vinifera vines were planted back in the mid-1970s by Sean’s father Ed O’Keefe at Chateau Grand Traverse, now the biggest winery on the OMP. Back then local farmers ridiculed him as the “ayatollah of riesling”!
Coenraad Stassen, the winemaker of Brys Estate
It was no surprise that a dry riesling was our highest-rated wine and 93 points for the concentrated, beautifully balanced 2016 Block II from Spencer Stegenga’s Bowers Harbor Vineyards on the OMP says everything about how far the region has come during the last years. The remarkable thing about this achievement is that Bowers Harbor is just a collection of vineyards and a tasting room with all the winemaking sub-contracted. Stegenga’s drier style rieslings are made by Bryan Ulbricht of Left Foot Charley a winery housed in what was the laundry of the Northern Michigan Asylum for the Insane until it was closed in 1989! The story behind the 2015 Arcturos dry riesling from Black Star Farms that rated 91 might seem conventional in comparison until you realize that winemaker Lee Lutes talented assistant Vladimir Banov is from Moldavia! I rated many other whites 91 and 90 points in the tasting. Michigan is a real premium wine producer!
One of the three reds that rated highest, the delicious and plush 2007 Signature, a cabernet franc and merlot blend that rated 91, was made by South African Coenraad Stassen. His 2012 Artisan Series was also the highest-rated pinot noir in the tasting; its depth and finesse earning it 92 points and putting it clearly ahead of the field. Some might find it too light but it shows class.
Sean O’Keefe, the winemaker of Mari Vineyards
If pinot noir often seems to struggle on the sandy soils that dominate in the region, then our tasting suggests that cabernet franc thrives on them. The 2012 Row 7 from Mari Vineyards, another cabernet franc and merlot blend, rated 91 and has the kind of richness you expect from a California cabernet Even more radical was the nebbiolo-based 2013 Ultima Thule blend from Mari, which you could easily mistake for a high-end Piemonte red! Some of the grapes for both these wines were grown under so-called hoop houses, open-sided plastic greenhouses that straddle the vine rows.
“We’re on the 45th parallel like Barolo in Piemonte, but so is Ulan Bator in Mongolia,” says Sean O’Keefe, the winemaker of Mari Vineyards on the Old Mission Peninsula (OMP). “We’re right on the climatic edge where in late fall miraculous things can happen, but sometimes we also slip over that edge.“
For example, in 2003 Northern Michigan had no grape crop because of extremely cold winters, and it was the same in 2015 when the crop was greatly reduced. Winegrowing is a high-risk business here, but there are positive factors too.
The OMP immediately to the east of Traverse City is a very similar size and shape to Manhattan Island while the Leelanau Peninsula (LEEP) to the west of town is broader; both benefit from lake effect. This means the spring the cold waters of Lake Michigan and Grand Traverse Bay delay bud break, reducing the risk of frost damage to the young shoots. Later in the season when they’ve been warmed by the summer the same waters extend the season of the fall. As long as the lake doesn’t freeze over in winter, it can also help prevent hard frosts that can damage, or even kill the vines. “Although we’re so far inland, we have an almost maritime situation,” O’Keefe explains.
Until recently the wine country of Michigan with 1,235 hectares under vine was almost unknown, but that’s now changing fast due to a tourism boom in the north of the state driven by the beauty of the Lake Michigan shoreline, Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival and the improving wine quality. The state’s wine industry now boasts two million visitors per year! I expect they will have more and more good to outstanding wines to drink in the future. －Stuart Pigott, Contributing Editor
