SAVE THE DATE: Traverse City to Host 2nd Annual City of Riesling (Sunday, July 26 - Monday, July 27)

What: 2nd Annual City of Riesling

Where: Traverse City, Michigan

When: Sunday, July 26, 2015 — Night of 100 Rieslings @ Clinch Park Pavilion

VIP Admission: 5-6pm | $100 per person

Includes early and complete access to the wine, food and entertainment, as well as access to visiting winemakers and sommeliers, including those items that will be available for purchase only during the main event.

General Admission: 6-10pm | $50 per person

Includes 13 tasting tickets for the Bar of 100 Rieslings, food from two stations and live entertainment, as well as access to visiting winemakers and sommeliers.

Featuring Music from The Go Rounds, from Kalamazoo. The Go Rounds are furious live act and progressive recording unit fueled by the history of its diverse lineup and collaborative spirit. Equally inspired by their record collections as the beauty of the Great Lakes State, the band explores soul music, baroque folk, art rock, country and classic rock n' roll. The four-piece will release their latest full-length record "dont go not changin" in May 2015.

Monday, July 27, 2015 — Salon Riesling @ The Franklin

An all-day symposium with sessions featuring the energy and insight of Riesling leaders from all sides of the wine trade, including curated tastings of difficult to find Rieslings from around the world.

Sessions will be held from 10:00-11:00am, 11:30am-12:30pm, 2:30-3:30pm and 4-5pm. A Rare Riesling Luncheon will take place from 12:45-2:15pm.

Cost is $50 per session; the Rare Riesling Luncheon is $100 (inclusive of tax/gratuity). Advanced registration is required, space is limited to 20 per session.

The specific session topics and presenters will be announced at the beginning of June.

History: City of Riesling is the brainchild of winemaker Sean O’Keefe of Chateau Grand Traverse and Villa Mari Vineyards; restaurateur and sommelier Amanda Danielson of Trattoria Stella and The Franklin; and wine writer and Riesling evangelist Stuart Pigott.

During its inaugural year in 2014, more than 300 people attended the festivities in Traverse City—a waterfront community recognized as the culinary capital of Michigan and the Midwest’s most active wine region, specifically for world-class Rieslings.

Why: This event features not only a diverse range of award-winning Riesling from around the world. Michigan is perfectly situated in the heart of the Great Lakes Region, which creates a cool climate environment ideal for vineyard development—especially for Riesling grapes. Combine that natural element with the talented and passionate winemakers that call this area home and you’ve crafted a winning combination. That’s why Traverse City has earned the privilege of hosting an event of this magnitude!

More Info: www.CityOfRiesling.com
www.facebook.com/CityOfRiesling
www.twitter.com/CityOfRiesling (#TCRiesling15)
www.instagram.com/CityOfRiesling

Contact: Dianna Stampfler, Promote Michigan
269-330-4228 | Dianna@PromoteMichigan.com

St. Julian Named Riesling Champion at 2014 International ‘East Meets West’ Wine Competition

Vineyard & Winery Management combined two of its oldest and most established wine competitions into one by creating the first International "East Meets West" Wine Challenge, February 19-20, 2014 in Sonoma County, CA. The 2012 Reserve Riesling from Michigan-based St. Julian Winery was named “Riesling Champion” – and received one of 964 medals presented during the competition.

Along with this award, the Riesling also took home the “Best of Show” white wine and “Best of Class” – the latter requiring unanimous agreement among judges. In addition, St. Julian also brought home a “Best of Class” for Red Heron and a “Double Gold” for the Braganini Reserve Traminette.

“We are more than proud and honored to be the first Riesling Champions of the International ‘East Meets West’ Wine Challenge,” says Head Winemaker Nancie Corum-Oxley. “Michigan Riesling continues to prove that they are world-class wines. Grown in Southwest Michigan, our 2012 St. Julian Reserve Riesling is a classic semi-dry style that will impress even the most sophisticated palate.”

The Wine
The winemaking technique used to produce this wine begins in the vineyard – specifically, the Burgoyne Ridge Vineyard. With farming roots coming from Germany, the Nitz family started growing juice grapes in Southwest Michigan in the 1940s as a grower for Welch’s and home winemakers. In 1971, the farm started planting wine grape varietals. Dan Nitz, the fourth generation grower in the family, currently manages over 250 acres of juice grapes and 260 acres of wine grapes, while employing more than 20 year-round staff. As the farm continues to focus on wine grape varietals, Dan’s passion for grape growing is evident in the wines that St. Julian produces.

The grapes for the 2012 Reserve Riesling are harvested in the early morning hours, so the fruit is cool when it reaches the winery. After harvesting, the fruit is crushed and destemmed. The juice is pressed to a tank, chilled and settled for 48 hours. The juice is then racked to the jacketed fermenter tank, where the wine underwent a long, cool fermentation at 58 to 62 degrees, Fahrenheit. This process extends the fermentation, which contributions to preserving Riesling’s fresh and fruity character. A special strain of yeast was used in order to “arrest” the fermentation, meaning that cold temperatures were used to inactivate the yeast, giving the wine retained natural residual sugar.

According to Oxley, St. Julian’s 2012 Reserve Riesling is “absolutely pure in flavor, harmonious and well-proportioned in its architecture, this Riesling seems crisp and light, yet packs intense flavors of super-ripe peach, mango, lemon zest and mineral. Its vivid acidity jammed with fruit leaves a wonderful sensation on the palate creating a luscious, food-friendly style. Literally, like liquid fruit.”

This is a bright, clean wine designed to be consumed shortly after release. There is no oak aging to weigh it down. All the aging that took place in chilled stainless steel tanks before bottling to preserve the fresh fruit character.

The Competition
Since 1982, the West Coast Wine Competition has annually recognized wines produced and bottled in the West. The International Eastern Wine Competition, started in 1975, is one of the oldest and longest-running wine competitions in the nation. This year, the competitions merged into one large event.

Wines were simultaneously judged in two established regional divisions: International Eastern Wine Competition and the West Coast Wine Competition. Traditional awards were given in each division. “Best of Show” winners moved on to compete in the “East Meets West Taste Off” to see which wine was best overall. This afforded each entrant two chances to win medals: one in its own division and one in the Taste Off. A Riesling Championship was also held for Eastern wines.

“This challenge allows eastern and western wines to compete in their own right while allowing each to contend on a national scale. We've gotten great feedback from everyone involved,” said event producer and Vineyard & Winery Management magazine publisher Robert Merletti.

According to Director of Wine Competitions Debra Del Fiorentino “Keeping these established brands intact and adding a twist like the East Meets West Taste Off put an exciting spin on the challenge.”

The International Eastern division garnered 34 best of class, 25 double gold, 94 gold, 285 silver and 151 bronze medals. The West Coast division collected 18 best of class, 7 double gold, 38 gold, 179 silver and 133 bronze medals.

For over 93 years, St. Julian Wine Co. has produced award-winning products. From the first shoots of the Michigan spring through the harvest and barrel tasting of late fall, the family tradition that has flourished transforms grapes to wine, fruit to nectar, as passion and science converge bottle after bottle, case after case. St. Julian Winery is Michigan’s largest, oldest and the Midwest’s most awarded winery.

St. Julian Winery
716 S Kalamazoo Street
Paw Paw, Michigan
www.StJulian.com
www.facebook.com/stjulianwinery
www.twitter.com/stjulianwinery

Michigan's Award-Wining Left Foot Charley Winery Expands Distribution into New York

The 2011 Dry Riesling from Left Foot Charley Winery in Traverse City has been placed on the “Summer of Riesling” wine lists at Paul Grieco’s Hearth Restaurant and three Terroir Wine Bar locations throughout Manhattan. The promotion kicks off June 21 (the first day of summer) and runs through September 21 (the first day of autumn).

"We been honored to receive numerous medals and trophies in competitions for our wines over the years, but the market is the real competition and in a city with such a vibrant wine scene as New York, earning a spot with the world's best is the ultimate gold medal,” says proprietor/winemaker Bryan Ulbrich. “Having a restaurant with quality and vision like Paul Grieco's choose your wine for their list is humbling and exhilarating. Our farmers work diligently for quiet satisfaction and a splash like this is a great recognition of their close relationship with their vineyards."

Grieco created the “Summer of Riesling” concept in 2008. That year, the ONLY white wine that customers to his restaurants could get was Riesling – 30 different wines by the glass and 100 by the bottle – a radical move that has paid off handsomely. Now, more than a dozen other restaurants have jumped on board with the promotion.

With only 500 cases produced, Left Foot Charley’s 2001 Dry Riesling it is a rare find for anyone in NYC. It is being distributed by Bonhomie Wine Imports – a well respected importer and distributor of fine wines in Manhattan.

The fruit for this award-winning wine is grown in three vineyards that exemplify viticulture in Northern Michigan. Spread out along Old Mission Peninsula, Leelanau Peninsula and Antrim County, these vineyards surround the deep water of Grand Traverse Bay.

Ulbrich says he’s also in discussions with distributors in Chicago and Minnesota interested in showcasing Left Foot Charley wines. With wines that consistently sell out, many may question Ulbrich’s reasoning for looking outside of Michigan when it comes to placement.

"We are telling a story that is bigger than a single wine or economic event,” Ulbrich says. “It requires patience to make wine and grow markets. A small step like this is really about the next five to seven years, not this quarter's financial statements. We want our wine to be tasted on the real-world stage because it reflects the beauty of our land and environment. As the world gets their opportunity to taste rare Michigan wine, they will begin to seek us out and reputation will grow. Like most decisions in the winery, this is about the future. We can survive without multi-state distribution but where's the fun in that? Michigan swings above its weight and it is time to let the world know it."

With more than a dozen years of winemaking to his credit at a handful of Northern Michigan wineries, Ulbrich launched his first 200 cases of Riesling under the Left Foot Charley label in 2004. He and his wife, Jennifer, opened Northern Michigan’s first urban winery in tasting room in 2007 on the grounds of the historic Northern Michigan Asylum, now known as The Village at Grand Traverse Commons – noted as one of the largest historic re-use and re-development projects of its kind in America. Today, Left Foot Charley produces about 4000 cases of wine from small vineyards in the Grand Traverse region.

Left Foot Charley also functions as a custom crush facility, producing wine for other area wineries. Since 2004, the winery has expanded is custom case production from 170 cases to 11,000 cases in 2012. Working with 25 regional farms, Ulbrich has continued to reinvest in equipment and personnel over the years – doubling their full-time staff to seven in an effort to provide a more consistent hospitality experience for tasting room visitors.

www.LeftFootCharley.com
www.facebook.com/LeftFootCharleyWinery
www.twitter.com/LeftFootCharley