Shady Lane Cellars History

"After searching for many years, we purchased a 100 year-old fruit farm on a hilltop outside  Suttons Bay in 1987. The goal was to join the growing number of grape growers in northern Michigan, and possibly produce some noteworthy wine.This beautiful property had everything needed to grow excellent cool-climate fruit. The combination of well-drained sandy soils,southern exposures, good air drainage and altitude were all there. This was the dream that became Shady Lane Cellars.

Inspired by a handful of growers who pioneered vineyards in the region, planting began in 1988 with just over 11 acres of Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Vignoles. In 1992 we produced our first wines, a pair of methode champenoise sparkling wines. The quality of these wines was immediately evident. The 100% Chardonnay Blanc de Blancs and the Brut produced from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay were released in 1996 and quickly earned medals in several national and international wine competitions. Plans were made to increase production from the estate grown fruit to include a sparkling Riesling and several still table wines. In 1999 construction was completed on the conversion of a nearly 100 year-old field stone chicken coop into a beautifully elegant tasting room appointed in copper, Douglas Fir, Italian tile and granite.

In 2001 we built our present winery and outfitted it with the latest in state of the art winemaking equipment. All of our equipment is designed to handle the fruit as gently as possible while allowing our winemaker the control to extract and build upon the all of the desirable elements present in our fruit. Built onto the winery is a temperature-controlled warehouse for the final aging of the wines.

Since 2001 we have expanded our total acreage to 150 and our vineyards to just over 52 acres with additional plantings of Riesling and Pinot Noir, as well as Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Blue Franc (also known as Blaufrankish or Lemberger), Gewurztraminer and others." www.shadylanecellars.com/about/

On Tuesday night we tasted three wonderful wines provided to us by Shady Lane Cellars and their wonderful winemaker Adam Satchwell: the 2008 Dry Riesling, the 2007 Pinot Noir, and the 2008 Blue Franc.




The 2008 Dry Riesling started us off with wonderful scents of green apple and citrus on the nose.  The palate also gave tastes of citrus and green apple but I also got nice subtle hints of pear to round out the fruit.  The acidity on this wine is fantastic! A great wine to pair with food or drink on its own.  I had a glass the next day and can say that it actually got better! 




The 2007 Pinot Noir on sight looks like a "real" Pinot Noir.  It has a translucent red color.  If you put your fingers behind the glass and look through, you can see them. No Syrah added here! (some winemakers will add a bit of Syrah to "bulk up" their Pinots. . . an act that I think is almost shameful).  On the nose I got lots of cherries, candied strawberries and a bit of spice.  I tasted candied cherries with some licorice aspects.  Unlike other tweeters last night, I did not get alot of "dirt" or "baryard" which is typical of a Pinot Noir.  I got alot of pleasant fruity flavors.  This is a well balanced Pinot and retails for about $22.00 per bottle. . . not a bad price for Pinot these days!

Blue Franc?!?!? What is that?  Well, its Lemberger. Or its Blaufrankish if you live in Europe.  The 2008 Shady Lane Blue Franc was, to say, a bit disappointing to the group I was with.  It was disappointing to me because I have had it before and LOVED it, so it may have just been our bottle.  I can tell you that the other 53 tweeps had great things to say about it Tuesday night.  Our bottle showed signs of blueberry and blackberry on the nose and palate.  But that seemed to be it.  The bottle had been opened for about an hour when we got to it but it just seemed a little "tight".  I should have saved some for a second day's tasting but the group finished it (so it was not that       awful ).  Having had this before and really liking it, and having read the feedback of the others on Twitter, I can recommend that you go out and pick up a bottle and see for yourself how wonderful Lemberger is!