Union Pier & the Lake Michigan Shore Wine Country

This past weekend, we spent a delightful few days with our good friends Steph and Matt in Union Pier.  The idea came about for awhile now as the Appels wanted to meet up somewhere between Birmingham and Chicago.  We landed on Union Pier so we could hit up the wine trail and the nearby beach from our bed and breakfast, The Inn at Union Pier.

Matt and Steph arrived early on Friday afternoon while Scottie and I made the trip out there after work.  After checking in, we decided to walk down to the closest and one of four restaurants in the area, the Red Arrow Road House restaurant for a late dinner.  It was a pretty much a no-brainer after seeing Baja-Style Grilled Mahi Fish Tacos on the menu.  In fact, I think we were surprised to see a few creative dishes like this for a small town.  While it's pretty hard to ruin tacos for me, the Road House gave a pretty decent plateful of food and the fish tasted as fresh as you can get for frozen mahi mahi.

The next morning, we woke up to hearty breakfast before heading out for a day of wine touring along the  Lake Michigan Shore Wine Country.  Using our trusty trail map, we started our tour at Karma Vista.
At Karma Vista, we probably were spoiled by the best scenery as it was located a few miles inland from Lake Michigan on a beautiful hillside vineyard above what seemed to be a small, farming community called Coloma.  Their site describes it best:

Somewhere between Napa and Bordeaux, yet 90 minutes or less from Chicago, South Bend, Grand Rapids or Kalamazoo. Join us at our tasting room as we watch traffic on the highway far below us and try to decide why everyone else is in such a big hurry. Wine with a point of view. 

We tried the following wines (bold ones received a check and a fist pump, red ones we purchased!):

• '08 Karisma
• '07 Cabernet Funk
• '04 UFO Merlot
• '08 Stone Temple Pinot
• Cote D'Loma
• Cherri Amour
• Razz M Tazz

While most of the wines received decent ratings by us, we realized that we might have been a little generous with our checks!  Our next stop was at Contessa Wine Cellars.

At Contessa, the tasting room was reminiscent of an Italian villa overlooking the rolling hills of their orchards.  We tried the following wines (bold ones received a check and a fist pump, red ones we purchased!):

• Cabernet Franc
• '07 Merlot
• Rosa D'Amore
• Lago Rosso
• Cherry
• Blueberry

Instead of returning to the trail, we decided to take a very fortuitous pit stop at The Chocolate Garden, which makes their own truffles.  After trying a few samples, we quickly loaded up on these flavors: Dark Chocolate Coffee Bean, Dark Chocolate Mint, Cinnamon Love, Dark Chocolate Cherry, and Milk Chocolate Hazelnut.  Yum!

Back on the trail, we headed to Domaine Berrien Cellars, which I think was by far one of the disappointing wineries on trail.  Maybe the chocolate tasting through off our tastebuds.  We tried the following wines (bold ones received a check and a fist pump, red ones we purchased!):

• '07 Pinot Noir
• '08 Lemberger
• '07 Cabernet Franc
• '06 Crown of Cabernet
• '07 Syrah
• '08 Wolf's Prairie Red
• '08 Cabernet Sauvignon
• '08 Merlot

By the time we made it to Lemon Creek Winery, there were quite a few more people along the wine trail.  We tried the following wines (bold ones received a check and a fist pump, red ones we purchased!):

• '07 Shiraz
• '07 Cabernet Franc
• '05 Cabernet Sauvignon
• '06 Cabernet Sauvignon
• '07 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
• '07 Meritage
• '07 Pinot Noir

Things seemed a little quieter though over at Free Run Cellars, and it might have been because this was the first spot where we had to pay for our wine sampling.  But the tasting did include free glassware, so we figured it was worth it.  They also convinced us to get 3 bottles of wine for a discount.  They definitely twisted our arms!  We tried the following wines (bold ones received a check and a fist pump, red ones we purchased!):

• '07 Cabernet Franc
• Union (Cabernet/Chamborcin)
• Zinfindel
• Syrah
• Balton Cherry
• Indulgence

On the way out, we picked up a flyer for the 18th Annual Harvest Party hosted by the Round Barn Winery, which was their sister winery.  We decided that would be a perfect spot for a late lunch, more wine tasting, and even some beer sampling!

At Tabor Hill Winery, we really enjoyed their signage, but we had a rough time getting through the lines of tasters for our sampling.  In the end, while this place has a nice presence, their wines couldn't back them up.  We tried the following wines (bold ones received a check and a fist pump, red ones we purchased!):

• Lake Michigan Red Arrow Red
• '07 Lake Michigan Cabernet Franc
• '08 Lake Michigan Lemberger
• '08 Lake Michigan Merlot
• '08 Lake Michigan Cabernet Sauvignon
• '09 Lake Michigan Cabernet Franc Rose
• '09 Lake Michigan Gewürztraminer
• Michigan Cherry
• Lake Michigan Shore Cabernet Franc Port

At this point, we were ready to head over to the Harvest Party for some munchies.  As we pulled up to park on a make-shift lot, we were surprised at the amount of people in attendance for this event.  We headed straight for the Round Barn Winery to sample their wines first.  We tried the following wines (bold ones received a check and a fist pump, red ones we purchased!):

• Vineyard Red
• Pinot Noir - Lake Michigan Shore
• Cabernet Sauvignon
• Red Demi Sec

While we struck out in the wine department, we scored big in the Round Barn Brewery side of the house with samples of Harvest Ale, Cocoa Stout, Kolsch Style, and the Summer Wheat in their beer barn!  

After a long day of sampling, we hit the beach for the sunset and then headed back to the Red Arrow Road House after a failed attempt at finding a pizza joint down the road.  The next morning, we relaxed at  the beach and then a little more at the B&B probably wearing out our welcome.  We played a little corn hole and a few hot rounds of spades.  Fun trip with a great couple, and we're looking forward to our reunion in the winter!

More pictures in my photo albums.