Wine Tasting: Pure Michigan Style

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Hi guys.  Are you starting to think that I work for the Michigan Board of Tourism?  I don't, I promise.  But I just have to share Michigan wine country with you. 

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The first weekend of October my Mom, sister, and I took a little trip up North to the Traverse City area.  Traverse City is located at the base of two peninsulas (Old Mission & Leelenau) and is a beautiful part of the state.  Wineries are plentiful on the two peninsulas.

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See all those red spots?  All wineries.  Now that's a lot of wine tasting!

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{ A little fun fact: Mario Batali spends the Summer in Northport. And he's not even from Michigan! If it's good enough for him it must be good, right?)
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Traverse City is about a 2-1/2 hour drive from where we live in Grand Rapids.  The sun was shining and it was a great day for a drive.  Our first stop was along side of the road on the Leelanau Peninsula for a few photos.  The water is so blue is almost looks like the Caribbean.
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The Fall colors were starting and were so beautiful.
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For this trip we decided to hit the wineries on the Leelanau Peninsula.  There are so many we didn't even get to all of them.
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First stop of the day...Leelanau Cellars.
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I could look out these windows all day long. View is of Grand Traverse Bay.
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After we finished tasting, we ate lunch next door at Knot Just A Bar.  We all had the Lake Perch Sandwich.  Yum.
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Had to stop for this photo.:
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Next up:  Circa Estate Winery.
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Next we drove over to the other side of the peninsula and made a stop in Leland at Verterra Winery.
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Delicious wines!
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We also made stops at Good Harbor, Shady Lane Cellars, and Ciccone Vineyards.  Recognize the Ciccone name?  Madonna's Dad owns the winery.
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On to one of our favorites - L Mawby.  Mawby only makes sparkling wine and boy, they are delicious.
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Love the name of this one:
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Mawby is my sister's favorite, so she stocked up.
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Last stop of the day is another favorite, Willow Vineyard.  Not only is the wine delicious, but the views are stunning.
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And the winery is so pretty:
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We had dinner that night on the Old Mission Peninsula at The Jolly Pumpkin.  The next morning we took a drive over to Sleeping Bear Dunes.  I was going to include that in this post but I have too many photos.  I'll have to save that for a separate post!

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If you are interested in Wine Tasting in Northern Michigan, here are a few great resources:

Traverse City Visitors & Converntion Bureau

Leelanau Peninsula Wineries

Wineries of Old Mission Peninsula

Pure Michigan Website

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