#WineStudio – Michigan Wines

A few years back, I had the opportunity to participate in a great online event.  It’s called #WineStudio and its run by the lovely Tina Morey.  Tina is the liaison between the wineries and the individuals participating in her online events.  The concept of #WineStudio is this; producers send out a few bottles to the participants who drink them and talk on Twitter together.  It’s not just the participants talking online, but the producers and Tina as well.  We get a chance to comment on the wines, ask questions about the company, varieties of grapes, or whatever else we think is relevant.

When I saw that Tina had lined up Michigan producers to be on for the month of February, I jumped at the opportunity.  Being from Michigan myself, I know what great alcoholic beverages we make.  My background is more in the cider side of it, but I’ve taken then trip up Traverse City and went on a wine tour through the years.  I was even married at Black Star Farms, an amazing winery by Traverse City.  If you are looking for a giant flavored red wine, you might not find it in Michigan (although, there are exceptions.)  That being said, our white wines taste awesome and the prices make them highly attractive.

We tasted seven different wines over the three nights.  These include an estate Riesling and Gruner Veltliner from St. Julian, a Chardonnay from Amoritas Vineyards, a reserve Chardonnay from Chateau Chantal, a Pinot Grigio from Fenn Valley Vineyards, a canned white blend from Big Little Wines, and a bottle of sparking Blanc de Blancs from L. Mawby.  All of them were very nice white wines.

During the sessions, I committed an act that I try never to do.  When I saw that St. Julian was participating, I was pretty underwhelmed.  Sure, I’ve had their Concord wine before and the Gunga Din Cider (now called Forbidden Fruits) but was acting like a hipster and disregarding them for no good reason.  Then, I tasted the reserve wines and was blown away.  They were complex and delicious which I hadn’t experienced (probably more like ignored) when I previously drank their stuff.  I capped both bottles on that night and took them to band practice later in the week.  The drummer in my band likes wine but was really “ho-hum” about drinking wines from St. Julian.  After he tried it, he had almost the same reaction as I did.  Sometimes, it’s good to revisit something you thought was just OK.  St. Julian is the Grand Daddy of Michigan wines and has been in business since 1921.  It was in 1935 that they moved to Paw Paw and started their vineyard.  They wouldn’t still be in business if they didn’t make fantastic products.  We drank two of their products; a Riesling and a Gruner Veltliner.  I had never tried a Gruner before and was quite taken with it.  High acid ciders are among my favorites so a high acid white wine played nicely to my palate.

The group of people involved in this Winestudio was from many different areas of the country.  This is great because Michigan’s wine scene can fly under the radar as compared to Napa Valley or Finger Lakes.  The idea that kept being repeated was along the lines of amazement of the quality of wine from Michigan.  For us here in the Great Lakes State, it’s no secret.

Like I said earlier, many of us have taken wine tasting trips around the state.  We know the quality of wine that is produced.  Many of those high quality wines are Rieslings.  One thing that came up during our discussions was hybrid grapes like Traminette, for instance, and how they grow here.  Those wines aren’t always that popular because casual wine drinkers have never heard of those specific grapes.  Michigan does grow some red wine grapes as well.  Cab Franc is a popular red variety that is grown in the northern part of Michigan.  Down in the Lake Michigan viticulture area, they do grow more traditional red varieties like Syrah and Pinot Noir.

I think the overall February Winestudio went very well.  Many people who had never tried Michigan wines were exposed to our region and wines.  The further we got through the month, the more chatter there was about visiting Michigan and hitting up some of the wineries.  People that have never been here don’t understand all that Michigan has to offer; beaches, wine, the arts, wine, hard cider, wine, sports, beer, nature, good food, and friendly folks.  Did I mention all of our world class booze?  Pure Michigan could run a campaign of “Come for the booze, stay because it’s awesome!”

I think there will be more collaboration in the future among the Michigan alcohol companies through the newly reshuffled and rebranded “Michigan Craft Beverage Council.”  This group gives a voice to wine, cider, beer, spirits and agricultural products (like hops or barley for instance.)  There is crossover between the wineries and cider for sure.  Beer is BIG business here as well.  Spirits are just getting started.  Then add in the agricultural products and it seems like a winning recipe to me.

This Winestudio was a lot of fun.  The person who runs the Twitter account for the Michigan Wine Collaborative did a fantastic job.  Whether it was leading up to the event, during the event, or after, the MWC was quick to respond with a fun response or a funny .gif.  Social media was on point for sure!  The folks from the different wineries were very friendly with great insight or history of their places of business.  I felt like I could help them with explaining some things, but they were more than up to the job themselves.

I’m very glad I was able to participate.  It gave me a chance to rediscover St. Julian for one.  Another thing was the fun interaction with the other participants.  I always love chatting with people online whether it’s a political debate or talking cider, if you go in with an open mind, you will take something from it.  That’s what the February Winestudio about Michigan did; brought people together and opened their mind to a lesser known wine region.

Update January 2018

Another year in the books!  It was an alright year in the orchard.  Most of the trees had apples on them.  The two newer ones (Kingston Black and Dabinett) did not, nor did the Ashmead’s Kernal.  The AK went biannual on me this year, unfortunately.  I ended up having to throw away a bunch of apples from the other trees because of the worms as well.  Hopefully this year I will be ready and can get on a spraying program to keep them from the bugs.

I didn’t get a chance to press my own apples this year.  Picked them and put them in the fridge for a while, but I was going to take them and press them at Forgotten Ciders, but didn’t and they rode around in my car until after Christmas.  My car did smell pretty good though!  haha.  Got to go to Forgotten Ciders and press nearly 200 gallons with them.  Took us most of the day but we had a good time.

Again this year I put up the fencing.  Cobbled a few pieces together and had one giant fence around all the trees.  Used some old stuff around the newer cider apples.  Glad I got it done when I did, because a week or so later it turned really cold and I would have had a tough time driving the posts into the ground.

Last year, I pruned the Hauer Pippin pretty good.  There were some low hanging branches that made it difficult to mow around.  Cut them off and it wasn’t as bad this year.  It did cause some root suckers to grow.  I’ll take care of them when I prune this winter.

 

December 2016

Another year is in the books.  The harvest was a bit weird this year.  Usually, Cox’s Orange Pippin does well and I have a bunch of apples.  This year, I had three.  Then, when I went to pick them, they were gone!  I think either the deer or a neighbor kid got to them before I could.  My Northern Spy had one apple that got beaten up and fell early.  Newton Pippin did pretty well and had a decent harvest for the first time.  Hauer Pippin was awesome, as per usual.  White Pearmain had about it’s usual crop of 10-15 apples.  The one that was crazy though was the Ashmead’s Kernel.  It is pretty biannual, but this was it’s “on” year.  There were TONS of apples.  That’s even after I picked a bunch that had worms.  They are such a delicious apple.  One of these years, I want to make a single variety cider with them.

I also planted two new trees this year.  Both of them are cider apple varieties.  Kingston Black and Dabinett.  They both were purchased online from Cummins Nursery out of Ithaca, New York.  Both of them, like the rest of my  trees, are on MM111 rootstock.

I took a slightly different route this year with the fencing for the trees.  For the two cider apple trees, I did the same old routine; fencing with posts to hold them in place.  For the other trees, I used the old piece of fencing that I had around my long gone blueberry bushes to go around three trees on one side.  I still have to get the other piece of fencing ready to go and put it around the other trees.  It got dark before I could finish.

Leap Day 2016

I’ve not been very good at keeping up this blog.  This year was a fun year.  I was able to get some crab apples from my buddies over at Eastman’s Antique Apple Orchard.  I foraged some apples from the East side of the Saginaw River and some from the West side of the Saginaw River.  I blended those with the apples that I had picked from my trees.  Made about five gallons of cider with somewhere around 42 varieties.  Not sure on the exact amount because I had to buy some cider from Lehman’s Green Apple Barn to top off my carboy.  I know of 30+ varieties that I put in.  Also, I acquired five gallons of bittersweet juice from Mike Beck at Uncle John’s during their bulk cider sale.  I really like the Beck family; Mike and Dede are great people.

The trees did pretty well this year.  All of them had fruit, including the Northern Spy which I didn’t expect to have anything for another 5-10 years.  The beat up Newton Pippin had a few gnarly apples on them.

Ordered a few cider apple trees again this year.  Same kind of trees…Kingston Black and Dabinett as well as a Spitzenberg for Aunt Dee and Uncle Tim.

Spring 2015

Well, I tried to order trees.  Ordered a Dabinett and a Kingston Black for myself and a Spitzenberg for Aunt D and Uncle T.  The Spitzenberg was back ordered.  The other two were fresh grafts that hadn’t even lived a year yet.  It was unacceptable.  I want trees that are healthy and something I won’t have to worry as much about.  These were not it.  Mailed them back and am awaiting a refund.

My trees are doing quite well this spring.  I have apples on ALL of them!  Even the Northern Spy has two apples.  The Newton Pippin has a few this year after nothing at all.  The one tree that has gone down in production this year is the Ashmead’s Kernal.  It only has one apple.  I noticed that it didn’t have a ton of blossoms and it was blooming during the time we had multiple days of rain.  Two nights ago I thinned it out a bit.

As far as issues with the trees, I had to kill a bunch of worm looking things.  My uneducated guess is that it was leafrollers.  They had pulled in tight a bunch of leaves and were eating the leaves as well as some of the fruit that had set.  Smashed them with my fingers…those dirty rotten bugs!  How dare they try to mess up my fruit?  hahaha.  Hoping to make some cider from all the apples I harvest this year.  Maybe I can get a gallon or two.

I pruned the trees in February.  I also went to my mom’s house and trimmed their trees as well in hopes that I can get some apples from them.  Want to make some sort of foraged apple cider.

Early Fall Update

This was a bad year in the orchard.  Half the trees produced nothing.  Part of that was expected, as Northern Spy doesn’t typically fruit for something like 10-15 years.  The other was beaten up pretty bad by deer, so it was a year for it to gain some ground.  My other tree that didn’t produce was the White Pearmain.  This surprised me a bit.  It had been my earliest flowering tree in past years.  Not this year!  Then, in late July, I was taking a close look at my apples and noticed many holes.  CODLING MOTH!  NO!  So it was either pick the apples right then and there or worry about the worms getting into the ground and getting more codling moth.  Away with them right then and there.  When it was all said and done, I had three apples left, all on the Hauer Pippin tree.  

It was just not a good year.  The japanese beetles ate many of the leaves.  Ground moles tore up the ground trying to eat the japanese beetle grubs.  Next year I need to do something about both.

Spring/Summer Update 2014

This past winter was incredibly cold.  One of the coldest that I can ever remember.  That being said, I think it affected the trees.  There weren’t very many blossoms this year.  The Ashmead’s Kernel did well and the Hauer Pippin is doing alright.  The Cox’s Orange Pippin, after the awesome crop for a 2nd year tree last season, has two apples on it.  The White Permain has zero.  The Northern Spy has zero.   The Newton Pippin is recovering from being eaten by the deer and being in a low spot.  The Braeburn tree died.

This year is more about maintenance than anything.  It’s busy around the Cottrell Orchard in regards to family.  I did trim the  trees in March.  That might have had some affect on the trees.  Nothing else planted in the orchard because it all died last year.

Fall Update

Well, fall is here!  The trees did pretty well this year.  The Cox’s Orange Pippin had a bunch of apples on it.  Actually, four of my seven trees had at least one apple.  I waited a bit too long to harvest my Cox’s Orange Pippin apples and they were starting to get mealy.  Another round of deer nibbled on my trees, but left the apples alone.  I thought that was kind of weird.

I’ve spent some time at Moore Orchards this fall.  Was able to pick some Yellow Transparent apples for my grandma late in the summer.  Been hitting up the orchard every Saturday for the past few weeks to get more apples.  My wife has also been eating a lot of apples and together, we have eaten over a bushel in less than a month.  Her favorites are 20oz and Jonathon.

May Update

May was an interesting month.  The trees bloomed for the first time.  They also had their first fruit set.  Here is a picture of the Hauer Pippin with a growing apple.

The Cox’s Orange Pippin had TONS of flowers on it and looks like it might have some fruit.  I’ll have to make sure the apples don’t get too heavy on the branch and bust it.  That’s the last thing I need on that tree!  A few weeks ago, I tilled up the soil again and prepped it for the pumpkins and watermelons I planted among the trees.  Going to plant some blueberries just north of where I planted the apples.

Two trees did not bloom this year.  One was not a surprise.  The Northern Spy isn’t a big surprise.  It has been known as a tree that takes its time to get ready.  The other one was the Braeburn I transplanted last year.  I hacked it back a bit.  It had this ugly curve and some dead branches.  It’s leaved out and hopefully next year it will be happy.

Stupid Deer!

Yesterday was probably the nicest day we have encountered so far this spring.  After I let the dog out, I walked over to the mini orchard to look at the progress the trees have been making.  That’s when I made the discovery I didn’t want to make; deer had been there.  They bit the tops off of almost every branch on my Cox’s Orange Pippin.  That’s bad news to me because it’s the smallest tree and the one i’m most worried about.  They had bitten the buds off of a few other ones.  The ground was wet and I have somewhat of a ground mole problem, so you could see the deer tracks plainly.

My best guess is that because of the flooding we have had this past week, the deer finally found their way into my front yard.  Dave, my neighbor, commented on my facebook rant that he has seen deer tracks in his front yard.  The only thing I think saved me is that a car probably drove by and scared the deer.  I had to put my fencing back up around the trees to protect them until the flood waters recede and stuff starts growing back in the national wildlife refuge so they will leave my trees alone.