It’s been a colossal year for Michigan wines in wine competitions all across the country. To date, Michigan wines have won an amazing 119 Gold Medals in wine judgings from New York, Indiana, Florida, Michigan, Washington, D.C., and several wine competitions in California.

Michigan wines are making a name for themselves all across the country.

The biggest selection of Michigan wines entered in competition is always at the Annual Michigan Wines & Spirits event, formerly a part of the Michigan State Fair, but now independent and under the auspices of the Michigan Department of Agriculture.

This year there were 340 entries from 33 of the 47 Michigan wineries. It was, without a doubt, the finest selection of Michigan wines ever experienced at one time. Wine judges from across the country, wine writers for major publications, three Master Sommeliers, wine makers and other wine professionals made up the judging panels.

They all commented on the amazing collection of wines and as to how Michigan wines have continued to improve year after year and, with the outstanding 2005 vintage, have reached world-class in quality.

Several new wineries, in their first Michigan competition, walked away with honors. Longview Winery, in Cedar, Mich., won a Double Gold and Best of Class-Fruit Wines for their Cherry Wine and also received the Judges’ Special Award and a Gold Medal for their 2005 Cabernet Franc.

The Judge’s Special Award is not awarded every year, only when the judges vote to give special recognition for a wine that, in their judgment, should be singled out for this special honor. In this case, the judges felt that Longview’s effort in taming the difficult Cabernet Franc grape merited that honor.

Other new wineries receiving first time awards were the new Mackinaw Trail Winery in Manistique, which won a Gold Medal for their 2005 Cabernet Franc, and Karma Vista Vineyards in Coloma, which won a Gold Medal and Best of Class-Dessert Wines for their Razz M’Tazz Raspberry Dessert Wine.

The other Best of Class winners are:
Dry Red Wine — 2005 Brys Estate Pinot Noir
Dry White Wine — 2005 Peninsula Cellars Manigold Vineyard Gewurztraminer
Semi-Dry White — 2005 Shady Lane Semi-Dry Riesling
Sparkling — 2002 Chateau Grand Traverse Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut

Many of the judges also commented on the quality and array of red wines at this event. Michigan has not regularly been cited as producing outstanding red wines. Our climate has generally worked against us, but everything worked perfectly in 2005 and the red wines of Michigan shone.

Riesling has been the grape variety that has usually put Michigan on the world wine map, and it continues to do so. Eleven of the 43 Gold and Double-Gold Medals went to Rieslings. Michigan simply produces some of the finest Rieslings in the world, as was proven in the international competitions, where many of these wines also won Gold, competing with the best of Germany, New York and California.

The single most-honored wine in Michigan, however, is a sweet dessert wine. The St. Julian Solera Cream Sherry has won more awards than any other Michigan wine. Produced nearby in Frankenmuth, the St. Julian Solera, a wine aging system of interconnected barrels, was set up in 1973. Since then the Solera Cream Sherry has received more than 75 gold medals and countless other awards. This year alone it received seven gold medals (at last count), winning at the Michigan Wines & Spirits in East Lansing, the Florida State Fair, the Great Lakes-Great Wines, the International Eastern in New York, the Riverside International and the San Francisco International in California and at the Tasters Guild International in Grand Rapids. But close on its heels for medals this year is the St. J Riesling (produced by St. Julian) with five gold medals at some of these same judgings.

Michigan has come a long way from the time it produced only sweet wines from the native American grape varieties like Concord, Catawba, Delaware and other such grapes. The future of Michigan wines is golden — there will be more and more gold medals in future years. It’s time to pick up a few of these wines, enjoy the quality produced here in Michigan and support our own wine industry.

Dave’s Picks:
Many of the wines cited above are available only at the wineries, or through their websites. Other award winners that may be available locally are:
• 2005 Chateau Grand Traverse Dry Riesling
• 2005 Chateau Grand Traverse “Ship of Fools” White Table Wine
• 2004 Brys Estate Gewurztraminer
• NV St. Julian Blue Heron White Table Wine
• 2004 Black Star Farms Arcturos Cabernet Franc
Special Note: The largest selection of Michigan wines available locally is at the Oxford shop, Great Lakes Mercantile at 8 S. Washington (M-24). They have many of these and dozens of others.

Dave Ethridge is a nationally known wine writer, certified wine judge, and the Director of the Lapeer Chapter of Tasters Guild International

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