Up North Wine

NORTHERN MICHIGAN — Michigan’s growing wine scene is home to wineries of all different sizes and designs. There’s a Tuscan-style villa perched on a hill on Old Mission Peninsula. A Kentucky-style plantation on the Leelanau Peninsula. Modern industrial-like structures here and there. And, of course, revamped houses and restored barns (even a chicken coop).

But an Airstream trailer may be a first in Michigan.

Outside Charlevoix, a restored 1973 Airstream serves as the summer tasting room for Blu Dot Farm and Vineyard. You can walk up to a window — the Airstream has been customized — and order a sampling of up to 10 wines or a glass of your choice.

Grab a chair under an umbrella-topped table, while you sip a glass of Party Girl Sparkling and enjoy views of ripening grapes and a former horse farm next door.

Blu Dot Farm and Vineyard is among the wineries belonging to the Petoskey Wine Region, home to about a dozen small, family-owned wineries growing wine grapes not far from the shores of Lake Michigan.

Fall is an ideal time to visit the Petoskey Wine Region. Most of the wineries are located in rural patches outside small towns and surrounded by farmland turning golden brown. Swaths of woods color the landscape in fiery reds, oranges and yellows.

Adding to seasonal fun are small farm markets and roadside stands loaded this time of year with pumpkins, apples, cider, donuts, and family-friendly activities. Both Pond Hill Farm and Bear Creek Organic Farm are worth checking out.

Petoskey wine country is very different from the Traverse Wine Coast or the Lake Michigan Shore Wine Trail in the state’s southwestern corner. You’ll find mostly hybrid grapes among the Petoskey-area wineries — grapes like Marquette, Petite Pearl, Frontenac and La Crescent. Some wineries have had success growing more-commonly-known grapes like Chardonnay and Riesling.

As you might have guessed, the weather here is much colder in the winter. The distinctive climate and soil types contribute to the region’s designation as the Tip of the Mitt, a federally designated wine region that stretches from just south of Charlevoix to the Straits of Mackinac and east to Alpena.

Blu Dot Farm and Vineyard is one of the newest wineries. The inspiration to renovate an Airstream into a tasting room came from the owners — Paul and Jennie Silva — wine travels. The couple became enamored of vineyards and winemaking after visiting Napa a few decades ago. Realizing a need for more Michigan wine grapes, they created their own winery.

Their property used to be an old horse training and breeding facility. Many of the original barns, stables and tracks have been restored and are used today. The Airstream is open during the summer season — from May to October.

Blu Dot is among the wineries producing Marquette. Developed to withstand brutal winters, Marquette is a long-distance cousin of Pinot Noir and often tastes fruity and earthy.

Several years ago, Walloon Lake Winery’s Marquette won the Best Dry Red in the annual Michigan wine competition. Other notable Marquette producers include Mackinaw Trail Winery, Boyne Valley Vineyards and Crooked Vine Vineyard.

Just south of Petoskey, Mackinaw Trail Winery is the largest winery in the region, offering a variety of red and white wines, craft beer and food. Some 15 acres are dedicated to growing cold-hardy varietals La Crescent and Frontenac Gris.

Mackinaw Trail boasts some of the best representations of Marquette in Michigan.  Currently, the winery is pouring its 202 Estate Marquette, barrel aged for 18 months, and described as a “true Up North Wine.

Winermakers here are as passionate about their craft as winemakers anywhere. Chances are, you’ll run into the owner or winemaker (sometimes one and the same) behind the tasting room bar or out in the vineyard.

That was the case at one of the region’s newest wineries: Folklor Wine & Cider, a boutique winery located off the beaten path south of Charlevoix.

The husband-and-wife team of Derrick Vogel and Izabela Babinska were behind the bar at Folklor on the afternoon I visited. Vogel is the winemaker and Babinska is business manager. Both tend the grapes. They describe themselves as “Northern Michigan enthusiasts, lake swimmers and dry Riesling devotees.”

Once a u-pick apple and cherry orchard, Folklor Wine & Cider is the couple’s wine dream. They began growing wine grapes here in 2021, planting vineyards on about two acres of the 52-acre farm. More vines were planted the following year.

“We want our wines to reflect the season and the place,” Vogel tells me, noting he is stepping outside some of the boundaries of traditional winemaking. Between the vines, for example, nature is taking its course wth grasses, plants and flowers blanketing the rows. He uses native yeast in fermentation and sprays no herbicides or insecticide on his grapes. “We felt the freedom to let these grapes speak for themselves.”

In the tasting room, you can sample “the season and place” in a variety of Rieslings, as well the red blends and ciders. I especially enjoyed Folklor’s 2023 Lake Swimmer, a blend of Blaufrankisch, Cabernet Franc and a bit of Zweigelt, which is grown on the farm. Lower in alcohol, this red blend was lighter and refreshing, especially on a warm fall day.

The winery’s name is the Polish spelling of folklore (Babinska is a Polish immigrant) and is the name for Polish folk art. The name celebrates more than Polish folk art, the owners say; it’s a connection between wine and storytelling.

And that’s part of the experience at Folklor — learning the stories of how this couple came to plant their roots in Northern Michigan, their efforts to grow grapes in a challenging environment and the way they’re making their wine.

But I’ll let them share those stories with you when you visit.

Greg Tasker is a Traverse City-based freelance writer.