THEWINEMONOLOGUES.COM: Tweet and Taste Michigan Wrap Up

Tweet and Taste Michigan Wrap Up

With much anticipation, clean wine glasses, good food, nimble fingers and three wonderful bottles of wine from Black Star Farms, we began the 1st Tweet & Taste Michigan last night. What. . . a. . . night!

The idea of Shannon Casey of Michigan by the Bottle (www.michiganbythebottle.typepad.com/my-blog/), 66 "tweeps" participated and tweeted 863 times about the three great bottles of Black Star Farms wine. It was a great time, a lot of information and tasting notes were exchanged and I can't think of a better way to spend a Monday night. One of the best parts of the evening was that I did not have to drive home after the tasting, just clean up and turn off my computer.

The three wines sampled were:

The Arcturos Dry Riesling on the nose, is full of grapefruit, gooseberry, and hints of apple. This is truly a "food-friendly" wine. On the palate, the Riesling's acidity is fantastic. It is razor sharp with complex tastes of citrus, including grapefruit, oranges and clementines! This wine would be wonderful with spicy foods, seafood and vegetarian dishes.

The Arcturos Barrel Aged Chardonnay is full fermented and aged in new French and American oak barrels. On the nose, this Chardonnay initially had interesting and distinctive notes of vanilla, buttery popcorn, caramel, apples and a hint of spice. As the wine warmed in the glass though, I got a smokiness a kin to an outdoor fire during the summer in northern Michigan. On the palate, I initially tasted rich butter, caramel with hints of apple and spicy pear. This profile became "creamier" as the wine in the glass warmed. This barrel aged Chardonnay would go wonderfully with roasted or grilled pork, duck or turkey.

The Arcturos Pinot Noir is a blend of different clones from three different vineyards for Black Star Farms. This blend produces a wonderful wine. This Pinot in the glass is "traditional" Pinot. . . meaning that the red color is translucent and you can almost see through the wine. On the nose, I got layers of earth, cherries and red berries. This profile followed through to the palate. This is a medium bodied wine that provides you with complex tastes of earthiness, cherries, raspberries, spice and hints of pepper. I enjoyed the Pinot last night with some bacon (a fave of mine with Pinot!). It would also pair well with many foods including roasted pork, lamb, veal and grilled fish.

The Pinot was my favorite wine of the night and would have also paired well with some chocolate to finish off the evening had I thought of it! Next time. . .

I want to thank Shannon Casey of Michigan by the Bottle for inviting me to this event. I also want to give a special thanks to Lee Lutes, the winemaker at Black Star Farms and Coryn Briggs, the Winery Promotions Coordinator at Black Star Farms for providing the wine for the event and for continuing to produce wonderful wines in northern Michigan! Cheers!