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In this issue
- A Little Piece of Wine Country — in Detroit
- Michigan: The Great Grapes State
- Q&A with Gina Shay of Tonnellerie Cadus French Oak Barrels
- Michigan Wine Competition
- Cards for Restaurants
- In the News
- Recipe: Baba Ganoush from Pentamere Winery
- Upcoming Events
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|  | Photos by Erica Soroka and courtesy of Detroit Vineyards/Kroo Photography
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A Little Piece of Wine Country — in Detroit
By Erica Soroka
Detroit Vineyards recently opened its doors in the historic Stroh’s Ice Cream Factory on Gratiot Avenue in Detroit.
The 15,000-square-foot facility features a 175-capacity tasting room, production area and a private tasting room that can be reserved for parties of 20 or more.
Owner and founder Blake Kownacki has been making wine for almost 15 years. A Detroit native who began his journey as an organic farmer in Paso Lobos, Calif., he quickly fell in love with wine and wine culture. After working for many years in California, Kownacki moved to Australia to study under renowned winemaker Philip Shaw.
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| “I kept having this thought about Detroit and why can I not take this knowledge back to where I’m from,” Kownacki says. “I wanted to bring a little piece of wine country to the city of Detroit.”
In 2014, Detroit
Vineyards was formed and Kownacki relocated to Detroit full time. After scouring the city multiple times and striking out when it came to finding the right place for his winery, Kownacki decided to convert an old garage into what he calls a “micro-winery.” Necessary approvals in hand, Kownacki produced Detroit Vineyards’ first vintage in 2016.
Then he discovered the Stroh’s building, where visitors can immerse themselves in wine culture with options such as Riesling, Traminette, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc Rosé and Pinot Noir. Dry and sweet ciders are on tap alongside floral and fruit aromatic meads that are produced with fresh honey from Detroit Vineyards’ beekeeping farm. Charcuterie boards and finger foods are planned, as is entertainment.
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Predominantly sourcing grapes from vineyards across the state, Detroit Vineyards has partnered with Michigan State University viticulture to develop a community outreach program for creating small grape-growing plots in the city. Equipment, plants and training are provided at no charge to help participating metro Detroit residents start a vineyard on their property.
The crop should yield a harvest in the third year, when residents growing the crop have the opportunity to sell the grapes to Detroit Vineyards.
“For us, it’s how do we take this business model and spread it out throughout the community,” says Kownacki. “We’re helping to raise property values, teaching people lifelong skill sets, and creating additional economic opportunities for people who actually live here in this city.”
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 | Photo courtesy of DaleBrock/Gravity
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Michigan: The Great Grapes State
From dry to sweet, wines reflect terroir
By Cortney Casey
If you like elegant Rieslings, delicate Pinoit Noirs, robust Cabernet Francs and a host of other delicious wines, Michigan is the place to look.
In terms of the state’s specialty, “Riesling is the obvious answer,” says Karel Bush, recently retired executive director of the Michigan Craft Beverage Council. “We grow more of this variety than any other, and nearly every winery makes at least one Riesling. Many produce several, ranging from very dry to very sweet. It’s versatile and delicious.”
At 675 acres planted, Riesling far surpasses its vinifera counterparts in Michigan, according to a 2016 U.S. Department of Agriculture report. It’s trailed by Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, all in the mid-200s for acreage.
Riesling and Pinot Noir in particular fare well in Michigan due to their cold hardiness and enological adaptability, says Paolo Sabbatini, associate professor of viticulture in Michigan State University’s Department of Horticulture.
“Our summers are very variable,” he explains. “You can fully ripen fruit some years, and in others, you need to use fruit with low sugar concentration and high acidity because of the short, cool summer. With Riesling and Pinot Noir, you can produce fantastic wines, completely different in style, with both kinds of fruit.”
To continue reading the full article, click here.
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Roll Out the Barrels
Q&A with Gina Shay
Business Development Manager, Burgundy (France)-based Cadus Cooperage and Board Member, Michigan Wine Collaborative
Gina Shay sells wine barrels. She’s a certified sommelier. And she has immersed herself in the Michigan wine industry as an active member in the Michigan Wine Collaborative (MWC), dedicated to enhancing the sustainability and profitability of the state’s wine industry. Barrels are in some ways the unsung heroes of the wine process — not often discussed in consumer circles, but oh-so central to the process. Here, Shay offers some insight into her job and work with MWC.
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| What types of barrels work best here in Michigan?
Shay: Michigan is a cool-climate growing region, meaning that we have fewer grape-growing days than warmer climates. After working for a California cooperage that was building barrels well-suited to Napa Cabs and Lodi Zinfandels, I started my own company in 2015 to provide Cadus barrels to cool-climate wineries that would play more of a supporting, structural role with a more elegant aromatic profile so that the subtler aromatic and flavor qualities of our grapes and fresh acidity could shine through.
How are barrel designs changing?
Shay: Overall, barrel designs were developed as long ago as 100 BCE and have remained the same design for hundreds of years. Modern coopers focus instead on improving wood selection, seasoning methods, quantification of aromatic compounds, cooperage automation and production consistency, aroma/flavor consistency and faster integration options (so wines need less time to age and can be ready to drink — and therefore sell to consumers — sooner).
You have experience in corks as well. Any thoughts about how the options there have evolved?
Shay: When I started selling closures in 2002, my company only sold natural corks and technical corks (cork granulate held together by adhesive and extruded into a cork shape and with cork disks on either end). Later on, we offered natural corks, technical corks, synthetic closures and screw caps, which was a huge relief. I believe that there’s not one perfect closure for all wines, but that each wine should have a closure that fits its price point, target audience, winery budget, marketing profile and average consumption timeframe. If I owned a winery, all of my wines would be closed with a screw cap — with a few exceptions that would be closed in high-end, TCA-screened natural cork.
Why did you get involved with the Michigan Wine Collaborative?
Shay: Having worked in emerging regions my whole wine career, I am passionate about the “wine outside of California” narrative. Many areas on the East Coast and in the Midwest make very acid-driven, food-friendly wines (which I love to drink!) whose only problem is that the rest of the country doesn’t really know about them. I chair the Membership and Communications Committee, so our job is to spread the word about not only the Michigan Wine Collaborative to interest new members and maintain current members, but to help elevate awareness and perception of Michigan wines in general.
What do you see ahead for the Michigan wine Industry?
Shay: A lot of potential! There is already a shortage of wine grapes vs. wine demand in our state. Any budding (pun intended) grape farmers out there? My hope is that sommeliers and restaurateurs will continue to discover the food-friendliness of our cool-climate wines so that they want to include them on their wine lists. I’d also like to see us gain more traction nationally and internationally, but it’s important to convince the people in our own backyard first since the wineries depend heavily on tourism and foot traffic into their tasting rooms.
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Class Act: Students Help with Michigan Wine Competition, Reception
Hospitality business students at Michigan State University are getting hands-on experience in a collaboration to help put on the 42nd annual Michigan Wine Competition this summer.
The Michigan Wine Collaborative and Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development have partnered with MSU’s Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center and a School of Hospitality Business event management class at MSU to host the competition on July 30, and the Gold Medal Reception following on Aug. 8. Students will play a large role in executing each event, from setup and cleanup to observing how wine flights are prepared.
“We want them to be actively engaged with the execution of the event, but we also want them to have the experience of what goes on behind the scenes at a wine competition,” says Emily Dockery, project and marketing director of the Michigan Wine Collaborative.
Carl Borchgrevink, director of MSU’s School of Hospitality Business, says the project “will provide our students with a fabulous opportunity to apply and hone their skills and education through learning while doing.”
Watch the Michigan Wine Collaborative website for reception ticket information at http://michiganwinecollaborative.com/news/. To find out more about entering Michigan wines in the competition, contact Lucretia Mansfield, Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center, Banquet Operations Manager, 517-884-8129, gramlic3@msu.edu.
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In the Cards: Michigan Wines, Please
The cards originally developed by the Michigan Grape & Wine Industry Council to leave in restaurants encouraging the addition of more Michigan wines have been given a makeover.
The Michigan Wine Collaborative asks Michigan wine fans to leave them behind in restaurants where more Michigan wines could be served — in the state and beyond. See about purchasing your own supply here.
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| Recipe of the Month:
Baba Ganoush
Courtesy of Pentamere Winery
INGREDIENTS
1 large eggplant
1 teaspoon salt
2 cloves garlic
¼ cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon tahini (recipe follows)
Preheat oven to 425°. With a fork, punch several holes in the eggplant and place it on a baking sheet. Cook for about 45 minutes, until the eggplant is all sunken in. Remove from the heat and let it cool until you can peel it safely. Peel the eggplant and put it in a food processor. Add the salt, garlic, lemon juice and tahini. Process until smooth. Serve with toasted pita chips.
Tahini
To make tahini, sesame seeds are soaked in water for a day, and then crushed to separate the bran from the kernels. The crushed seeds are put into salted water, where the bran sinks, but the kernels float and are skimmed off the surface. The kernels are toasted and ground to produce their oily paste. There are two types of tahini, light and dark, and the light ivory version is considered to have both the best flavor and texture.
Maria Measel, owner of Pentamere Winery, suggests pairing with Pentamere’s Bow Wave, a semi-sweet white wine she says “has a real affinity for garlic.” She also suggests a Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Gris with citrus notes, or a sweet Rosé.
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| We hope you find Michigan Wine Country is a welcome addition to your inbox and look forward to receiving your feedback. We invite wineries to send information for articles, notices of upcoming events and photos that help tell the story of Michigan’s wine country here.
For advertising opportunities, please contact Jason Hosko at jhosko@hour-media.com. View the digital edition of the 2019 Michigan Wine Country Magazine here.
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