Traverse City Food and Wine Festival
We’ve been to a lot of wine events over the years. Both Alice and I really enjoyed ourselves due to ease of access to both the food and wine booths. Many hundreds of people were there, but it did not feel crowded.
About the only criticism I’d make is that there is scant opportunity to sit in the shade unless you buy the VIP ($369) ticket which has very ample seating and shade. It seems like a rather odd delineation between the cheap entry ($175) and the VIP to be who gets skin cancer. If we go again, I’ll see if one can bring their own chair to sit in the shade.
Aside from that, the overall experience was great. There is a constant stream of chef presentations on the main stage and whatever dish they make, there is ample servings individually plated for whoever wants to try it. Throughout the grounds, I would guess there are over a dozen food booths offering plated samples of many delicious treats. Our favorite was the meat balls from Cellar & Flame Steakhouse. Many internationally notable chefs participated on the main stage including Ann Arbor’s own Ji Hye Kim (Miss Kim) who produced a tasty morsel of marinated Korean beef served on a lettuce leaf with local seasonal embellishments. All of the food was included in the price as well as 30 digital drink tickets!! Alice and I can pack it away pretty good but barely used half of our drink tickets. For me the takeaway was that Northern Michigan makes wonderful wine. I don’t know if it is the warming climate of just five decades of learning how to make wine in a cool northern climate, but the whites were brilliantly flavorful, fresh and racy and I found the rich body, full texture and long finish on the reds remarkable and quite honestly, unexpected. I had expected to see mostly Cab Franc among the reds, but found a bounty of Gamay, Blaufrankisch and Teroldego along with staples such as Pinot Noir and Merlot. All were bigger structured than anticipated.
My favorites of the afternoon were:
??? Gilchrest Farms ??? Contains ??? and Teroldego; black smooth, ripe, with Syrah like body and texture.
2022 Bowers Harbor Claret, La Familia which is a Merlot/Cab Fr blend showed very dense red fruit and a very fat ripe finish. 2022 Bowers Harbor OMP Barrel Red has the most appetizingly fresh bright fine fruit one could ask for. It is what I call “desert island” style as in if you spent your life on a desert island, you will never get bored with the vitality it brings sip after sip.
2023 O’Brien Burbank (Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewurz) really launches out with so much fruit purity that one hardly notices that this wine has body and depth too. 2023 O’Brien Ard Ri Pinot Noir again surprises the palate with very rich texture for a Pinot. It possesses the tension and style one might expect from Burgundy or Oregon, yet the sheer size makes one want to compare it to California.
2019 Bel Lago Blaufrankisch like the Bowers Harbor OMP above, just lives and breathes bright fresh vitality superimposed on ripe full texture that shows clearly that which we typically find in the best Mediterranean climate wines.
2017 French Valley Vineyard Merlot Reserve shows what a bit of cellaring can do for a wine. Still vibrant and fruity but with age has gained remarkable depth and complexity with very satisfying balance.
We had a great time and would definitely recommend this event for the way so many delicious things were going on constantly for the entire four hours.
Enjoy in Good Health,
A Brian Cain, the Michigan Vintner
