A write up on Cellar Tracker
If you have not tasted our 07 Shiraz yet you should stop by and try it soon. We got a nice write up on cellar tracker and there is a limited supply so it will start to disappear quickly. Click here to read the write up for yourself.
The grapes were grown not only within the Lake Michigan Shore AVA, but in the vineyard next to our tasting room.
It's time for a wine and food festival!
The Grand Rapids Wine & Food Festival is just around the corner so set aside a day or two of Nov. 12-14. There is a ton of cool stuff going on besides wine tastings, like food seminars and wine, beer, & spirits seminars. There will also be local, national and international wines and beers for sampling. It's best if you just click on the link and browse the official web page for yourself.
Here are the basics for the festival:
Where: DeVos Place, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Cost: $15 entry/person, no one under 21 allowed (add'l $ for sampling tickets & some seminars)
When:Nov. 12 5-9pm, Nov. 13 3-9pm, Nov. 14 noon-9pm
As we promised, we have two more wines added to our wine list. We've added our 08 Rose' and 08 Zero Oak Chardonnay. Stop by and give them a taste.
Here is our complete wine list: Tasting notes Oct09
Don't forget, we will be releasing our 08 Ice Wine, 08 Gewurtz., 08 Estate Riesling in the not too distant future so stay tuned.
I would also like to let everyone know that we are gearing up to bottle our 07 Melange, 07 Cab Franc Reserve, 07 Cab Sauv. Reserve, 08 Dry Riesling, 08 Semi-Dry Riesling and 08 Gentil. I am excited about all of these wines coming up as they are tasting great and fit well with the rest of our wines.
It was another fantastic dinner. Everyone enjoyed the great food and wine pairings throughout the evening. The conversations were laid back and easy going with interesting folks from all around the area. Even a chef from Ireland was among the diners. Several bottles of wine were emptied and a few people stuck around well after the dinner for more casual chit chat
We asked Chef Drew to impart a few words about the event and here's what he had to say...
"The wine dinner was a smashing success and a small step in creating a Michigan wine harvest culture. We live in the middle of one of the finest fruit producing regions on earth and yet no-one ever celebrates the harvesting of such a special resource.
By partnering with Hickory Creek it was the goal of Two Turnips LLC to serve exciting and innovative fare with wines that we respect and enjoy drinking; in short, Mike's wines!
We had a wonderful time and felt as if we were spending time with friends and family, rather than another local business and our respective clients. We look forward to our next event with Hickory Creek and have high hopes for not only another great evening, but for the area as a whole as well.
Best,
Chef Drew Turnipseed
TwoTurnips.com"
Thank you Chef Drew for the fine words and mouth watering food and thanks to everyone else who participated in the event. If you would like to see Chef Drew in action and other photo's from the event you can find them in the right hand column.
Exploring Michigan Wineries
Many of you have seen 'From The Vine' in our winery or maybe you have a copy of your own. Now that we are coming into harvest and a lot of you may be planning to tour Michigan wineries it is a good time to take another look at it or pick up a copy. You can buy an autographed book right from the authors at their web page www.michiganvine.com.
This book is fun and easy to read. It explores each of the wineries in Michigan and gives a story behind them. The authors, Sharon Kegerries and Lorri Hathaway, did a great job of talking with the winemakers and/or owners and sharing what they had learned. With words and pictures alike they have done a great job of capturing the character and energy of the people who are behind all the great wines.
Besides a great web page, Lorri and Sharon also have a facebook page that is worth checking out. You can link to it from here. And if you didn't know we have our own facebook page as well... click right here.
I hope you enjoy the read and we will see you soon tasting some wines.
As you would probably suspect we have been adding some wines to our tasting sheet and others have been removed as we sell out of them. So we've decided to try and post the latest and greatest tasting sheet as wines and prices change.
Here is our tasting notes as of Sept. 12, '09: Tasting Notes
The 2008 Pinot Gris has been added to the list, but several others have been bottled and will be showing up on the tasting sheet in the near future. So keep an eye out for an updated tasting sheet with our 08 Estate Riesling, 08 Gewurtztraminer, 08 Rose', and 08 Ice Wine.
Did you know Hickory Creek's winemaker is also the vineyard manager for our vineyards and several others in the area? Are you curious as to what is going on in the vineyard? Do you have questions about techniques or impact of the vineyard on wine quality? Well you can get "tweets" from our winemaker/vineyard manager at LMSWineGrowers.
Celebrate Harvest Season with Two Turnips & Hickory Creek Winery
Chef Drew of Two Turnips In-Home Catering has created a dinner menu paired with Hickory Creek wines, all to be served in the comfort of the Cottage at Lindah, next door to Hickory Creek Winery. Our own winemaker, Michael de Schaaf will be hosting the evening.
The cost is $85 per person and includes all food, wine and gratuity. Seating is limited to the first 16 reservations. Call Hickory Creek Winery at (269) 422-1100 to maker your reservations.
When: Saturday, September 19, 2009 @ 6pm
Where: Cottage at Lindah, 750 Browntown Rd, Buchanan, MI
Cost: $85
For any of you foodies out there the Epicurean Classic is an event you will be kicking yourself for if you cannot make it. It is taking place over a three day period beginning Friday Aug 28 and ending Sunday August 30. There will be numerous seminars and demonstrations going on through each of the days on wine, beer, cheese, chocolate and tastings. There will also be guest chef dinners, receptions and cooking demonstrations from many well known local chefs such as Jean Joho, chef/owner of Everest and Brasserie Jo's in Chicago and Andy Pforzheimer from the Bistro on the Boulevard in St. Joseph. In addition to all of the eating opportunities, there are also over 50 domestic and international wines/winery's participating in the event. I cannot even begin to scratch the surface of everything going on, your best bet is to set this weekend aside to be in St. Joseph, Michigan and take a look at the link to the Epicurean Classic. Like always, we hope to see you there!
Wow! What a great day to be on the beach drinking wine and listening to live music. If you weren't there you missed a memorable event. Our table was fortunate enough to be the first booth people came to once they get through the entry, so we met a lot of people right off the bat.
Six bands played throughout the day starting with the B4 Band, and on to the Katie Todd Band, the Keith Scott Band, Reverend Right Time, the Nicholas Tremulis Orchestra, and closing with Lady Sunshine & the X Band. They were all great to listen to, had the different styles and played great for the crowd. My personal favorite was the Katie Todd Band. After I was done working my shift under the tent I wandered back by where the bands were hanging out to see if they have any CD's available. Luck was on my side and I caught the band before they headed back to Chicago for another gig that night and they had a few CD's available for sale along with them. I ended up buying their Make Some Time for Wasting CD and listened to it twice on Sunday... it's fabulous. Before they left I was able to chat with Katie Todd herself and a few of the band members; they were as easy to talk to as your friends down the street. I hope they make it back next year to play. Or better yet, if Hickory Creek hosts a music event of our own, maybe they will play at it. If you'd like to check out photo's of the Katie Todd Band, or any of the other bands click on the 2009 Weko Beach Wine Festival on the right.
In between each of the bands there was a cooking demonstration performed on a sweet KitchenAid grill that had something like eight burners. The thing was a monster and would be the envy of any backyard griller. Unfortunately, with all that was going on I was only able to catch one of the demo's.
It wasn't until about 8:00 pm when it had cooled off enough so that people were able to hang out at the festival rather than head down to the lake to cool off every 30 minutes. And that was when everyone started getting out of the chairs and hitting the dance floor. For the rest of the evening there were all sorts of people out dancing to Lady Sunshine & the X Band.
Lastly I want to give a special thanks to all the friends and family that helped us out at our booth throughout the day. I'm assuming from two empty cases of volunteer wine that fun was had by all!
