Wines to Watch Part 1

There are several interesting areas that received good press reports over the last several months. What I am about here is to summarize some of these items and give you ideas for further pursuit of some good wines.

MICHIGAN: Never in my wildest fantasies did I think Michigan would be getting national recognition for their wines. Cherries and cherry pie? Sure. Great blueberries? Sure. Gas guzzling car? Well......

But now the state's burgeoning wine industry is racking up positive press left and right. What does best here are grapes that like a tough climate or can be shown to advantage with less ripening than others. The varietals that come to mind are riesling and pinot gris, AKA pinot grigio. Riesling seems to actually like lousy weather, which is why it does well in Germany. Alsace is is more user friendly but at the 48th or 49th parallel that can mean different things to different grapes. In Michigan the wines produced have lots of structure and a mouth filling tartness coupled with a ripe fruit nose and palette that belie their place of origin.

Pinot grigio can show well if picked early, as many Italian growers do voluntarily. In Michigan, the cooler temperatures can be a blessing in that a consistency of style is not difficult to achieve due to more problematic ripening conditions than in the Veneto region or even Trentino/Alto Adige.

With an aggressive and informative professional association, these wines are making headlines on a regular basis. Look for more news from Michigan in the next couple of years and vines achieve maturity and new wineries get started.