We picked up several bottles of this Sleeping Bear Winery Merlot at Cherry Creek Cellars. (The owners produce both labels.)
It is very nice: dry, soft, with tastes of cherry and vanilla. An excellent Michigan red.
Sleeping Bear Winery Merlot
July 30, 2007 — -Cherry Creek Cellars
July 4, 2007 — -
We tasted excellent Cherry Creek Cellars wines today in their beautiful tasting room in a restored 1870 one-room schoolhouse in the Irish Hills in Michigan.
We’ve written before about Cherry Creek Cellars’ wonderful, award-winning Montage 2003, a big, BIG red blend. It is Melody’s great favorite and she guards the last several bottles of a case that we bought at Christmas 2005 with her life.
We bought a mixed case of their Montage (a new 2005 vintage), cabernet, merlot, and one bottle of “Proprietor’s Reserve,” which had a one-bottle limit per customer. We’ll be writing about each one individually, but here are some impressions from our tastings.
o The 2005 Montage is delicious: tannic, tasting of dark cherries. To Tom it tasted not quite as all-out big as the 2003 (we compared the 2003 to a Corvette), but nonetheless excellent.
o The 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon is tannic and dry, very nice.
o The 2005 Merlot has a very nice soft taste, fruity (black cherries), and dry.
o We focused on the big reds, as we always do, but we tried several of their other wines. Dune is a white wine from the Auxerrois grape. It has excellent tastes of apple and other light fruits, not super dry. We drink very little white wine but this tasted quite good.
o Ninja Red is a semi-dry red, similar to a Lambrusco. It is slightly sweet, as it is intended to be, light, and very easy drinking.
o Fetter Hahn is their black raspberry dessert wine; it has wonderful black-raspberry flavor, is quite sweet, and would be wonderful with chocolate at dessert.
Melody: We had a lot of fun today tasting wine at Cherry Creek Cellars. Brandon was behind the bar doing an excellent job of serving the wine. I learned that he is a Siena Heights college student with about 30 credits remaining before he’ll receive his business degree. He let me ring the school bell! Very loud and reminiscent of the little two-room brick school house that I attended from kindergarten through third grade. That school was called “Inverness” and it was located on Polish Line Road in Cheboygan, Michigan. But, I digress. . . I found the dry, red wines to be delicious. I was pleasantly surprised by the Merlot. I was inspired by the Cabernet! It was everything I had hoped it would be. I am eager to try the one bottle of their reserve, which we were unable to taste due to their low supply. We will describe the wines more fully and completely as we open and enjoy them in the very near future! We are quite eager. . .
Chateau Leelanau 2004 Pinot Noir
April 24, 2007 — -
This Chateau Leelanau Pinot Noir 2004 is different than what I am used to tasting. It is not a big, bold, dry red but rather it is oaky, thin and astringent. The color is transculent; the body is light. This is not at all mellow but instead it is sharp, with a bite. Although it is not the wine I am used to drinking, it is quite wonderful! It is the kind of wine that grows on me with each sip. I did not relish the wine on my first taste, but after a few sips, I am growing fond of its complexity and earthiness. Actually, I can almost smell the northern Michigan woods in this wine. I would rate this as very good.
Tom: This wine is unusual compared to many of our recent wines. This is certainly partly due to the fact that we haven’t had many pinots lately. It has a medium body, medium tannicity, and an austere fruit flavor. I tasted it blind, originally guessed it to be one of the mysterious Italians in our collection, then correctly named it as a Michigan pinot. It certainly matches the New Zealand pinot we tried yesterday. An interesting and different wine for us. I would rate this as good.
Cherry Creek Cellars Montage 2003
March 19, 2007 — -
As I have said before, this is my all-time favorite Michigan wine. I have been on the wine tours in Southeastern Michigan and tasted a lot of local wines and this is, hands down, the best. This Cherry Creek Cellars Montage is a big red with a wonderfully luscious blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Chancellor Noir. This wine has aggressive tannins and legs on the glass. There is a prominent aroma of black cherry on the nose. A long and satisfying finish. This is a wine that (I think) any red-wine lover would love. Tom bought me a case for Christmas and it never disappoints me. Every time I taste it, I fall in love with it.
Tom: This award-winning blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Chancellor Noir is big. It has big tannicity, a big fruit taste (blackberry), and a big alcohol taste. It’s a Corvette for big red drinkers: revving on all cylinders. When we tasted this at the Cherry Creek winery they paired it with chocolate and that was a great match; the big red flavor stood up to the strong chocolate flavor. If you consider yourself a big red drinker, Michigan has made a high-quality wine to test you.
Shady Lane 2004 Pinot Noir Leelanau Peninsula
March 9, 2007 — -This Shady Lane Pinot Noir 2004 from the Leenlanua Peninsula in northern Michigan is lush, soft, and elegant. Aroma of cherries and cranberries and an oaky and earthy finish. This is a delicate wine — almost watery — but the elegant smoky and spicy nose is refreshing. We bought this wine for about $16 on a tour of the Leenlanau Peninsula wineries.
Tom: After drinking mostly cabernets lately, the switch to this pinot noir is definitely different. It’s a lighter, less tannic taste (and the color is lighter as well). There’s a pleasant berry fruit taste but it’s not the deep, rich fruit of the big reds we’ve had lately. It’s nice to see Michigan producing pinot noirs and this is an interesting diversion from our usual.
Cherry Creek Montage 2003
February 18, 2007 — -My favorite Michigan red! Complex, tannic, big. Chocolate finish. Tom says you would guess it is a big, fruity, tannic Australian Cabernet or a French wine. Tannic, but with extra fruit. Very comparable to European or California wines. (Tom bought be a case of this for Christmas and we try to make it last.) I love Cherry Creek Montage!!
Tom and Melody
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