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By:
George Heritier A
Trip to Michigan Wine Country
“Well, we’re coming
up anyway,” we told him. “Not
a problem,” he responded, and so, we leisurely drove into the quaint
little town around 5 PM. We
went straight to The Bluebird to see if they might have lodging
recommendations, and hostess Sandy Tietje (sounds like T-G) made
a quick call to The Leelanau Country Inn, and we were in like
Flynn. We made the
15-minute drive back down the highway to the equally quaint Inn,
established in 1890. More
than a Bed and Breakfast with its full service dining room, but not
quite a hotel with its shared bathrooms, it was a fine place to hang our
hats for the night, at not a bad price for the area, even on a Monday.
We were back in Leland
by 6:30, and we showed Bree the sights, having been there several times
ourselves. Then, it was on
to The Bluebird for dinner. How can I put this
simply? We were treated
like royalty. Sandy
and our serving person Libby were there to see that our every
need was met, and they couldn’t have been more gracious and outgoing.
We were seated at a table looking out on the Leland River and a
handsome stone birdhouse that would look quite nice just off our back
deck. Allan was most
impressed and commented, “It’s a step back in time to come to a
place like this.” After a
good look at the menu, we placed our orders and were treated to a fine,
fine meal. We started with
a Leelanau Cheese Plate (featuring the Leelanau Cheese Company’s
creamy Fromage Blanc) and Stuffed Mushrooms Rene, both of which were
matched perfectly with a magnificent white wine. 1994 Kistler Sonoma
Valley Chardonnay Kistler Vineyard: This beautiful pale gold is
showing “extraordinary aromatics” in the words of califusa; I got a
big hit of buttery oak, pear and a little butterscotch.
Bree disagreed with my descriptor, saying, “it doesn’t have
the creamy quality that I’d expect.”
I retorted that “buttery” wasn’t meant as a negative in
this case, but rather a positive. “We
Californians get a little defensive when we hear that term,” he
replied stoically. Thick, rich and buttery
on the palate, there’s good acidity here as well, with a note of
“musk melon” according to Kim and some mineral to Allan’s taste.
This is one of the five best California Chardonnays I’ve ever
tasted, and one of those others was also from the shy and retiring Mr.
Kistler. While we were enjoying
the hors de oeuvres, Libby introduced us to one of Skip’s “old
soldiers,” compliments of the house.
She added that he had specified that we should try it before any
bigger red that we might be having, as it was bound to be rather
delicate. In fact, it was
quite delicious and went famously with Madame and Bree’s orders of
Roast Half Duckling (“…technically excellent; it keeps its moisture
so beautifully…” – califusa) and my Filet Mignon au Poivre, both
of which were prepared to perfection.
1987 Ridge Monte
Bello Santa Cruz Mountains; 92 % Cabernet Sauvignon, 5 % Merlot, 3 %
Cabernet Franc, 11.7 % alc. (?!): It was hard to detect any rust to this
dark garnet by the time we got to it, due to the low light, but there
was no doubt about the beautiful big cassis/plum/lead pencil flavors and
aromas that showed more and more cedar/cigar box/chocolate as it opened
with air. “It’s a wine in transition,” said Allan.
It was fiercely tannic and unapproachable in its youth.
Now it’s dense, almost jammy.”
There’s still mostly primary fruit here to my tastes, but the
tannins are sub-dude enough to make it quite enjoyable, with a long
lingering finish. A great
wine with a great future. If
there was one disappointment in an otherwise delightful wine and dining
experience, it was the absence of our host and benefactor, Skip T, but
we intend to rectify that in the very near future.
You have to know that anyone who tells us, “Every time I look
at a Ravenswood bottle, I think of 3
Dobies lying in a circle” is serious Gang material.
};^)> For
the record, we returned to The Leelanau Country Inn, and
reconvened in Bree’s quarters. He’d
gotten the key to “Peggy’s World,” a room almost twice the size of
ours (sniff), dedicated to their “all-time most regular guest” Peggy
Mensch, now deceased. The
proprietors were obviously very fond of Peggy, because the room is
decorated in a serious Disney/Mickey Mouse motif of various collectables
she accumulated during her life, as well as other personal affects
including Her Bed, Her Couch and Her Rocker, as we read in the one page
laminated Dedication lying on the night table next to said bed.
It provided a unique and fascinating setting for sitting,
listening to Nocturnes by Chopin and sipping one last wine.
1992 Ridge Dusi Ranch Zinfandel ATP, 15.6 % alc.: Typically dark garnet with typically rich, almost overripe sun baked Paso Robles fruit; a full spectrum of dark berries explode from the glass and onto the palate with a certain tarry element, some heat and still significant tannins and acidity. Bree said, “The fruit’s fading, exposing the tannins and acidity and throwing them out of balance. This wine was one of the best, if not the best of the Pasos of the ‘90s; it was a star, but now it’s just wrinkles and blotches.” Again, he may well have a point; he’s been fortunate to taste this a number of times. But I can report that with an hour of air, the fruit does come out more and more to stand up to the tan/acidic byte. |
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© Copyright Gang of Pour September, 2000 |
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For some time we’ve
been threatening to take Bree to the Traverse City area in
northwestern Michigan to show him what REAL wine country looks like, and
finally we did so on Monday, August 28th.
A few years ago, we
received an email from Skip Telgard aka Skip T, owner of 
1976 Muga Prado Enea
Rioja Reserva, 