Through social media, I ended up meeting the winemaker Matt Killman, who is a fan of Cold-hardy grapes, and is at Walloon Lake Winery.  My Bride and I had just left one winery, on our way to this winery and then we had dinner reservations.  A piece of cake, as they say, as every destination was not far from each other.  The best laid plans… as the old saying goes.  We were driving along part of the route of the Michigan AVA called the Tip of the Mitt.  You may not be aware, but Michiganders can identify the lower peninsula by showing the back side of their hand, and if you think of a mitten on that hand, you see where the reference to the top of the mitt(en) comes from.  We have driven this route often, but this time when we got to Charlevoix there was a massive traffic jam, as they were having their Venetian Festival.  As I had promised to meet Matt, we doubled back and drove around the lake or inlet.  A beautiful drive, but very time consuming.

In 1954, Bob and Dorothy Dennis and their newborn son Tim, began the Dennis Farms, a small dairy operation on forty acres.  In 2012 Tim was thinking about retiring and was researching Cold-hardy grapes and Dennis Farms Vineyard began.  They had their own greenhouse that was built earlier and from there, they started planting in 2013; Marquette, Frontenac, Petite Pearl and Sabrevois for red wines and Frontenac Gris, Frontenac Blanc, and La Crescent for white wines.  They also use locally grown grapes from the area.  In 2014, they began building a tasting room, using lumber from their own property as well as stones found on the grounds as well. In 2018, they built their own crush-pad and Walloon Lake Winery was coming to fruition.  They are part of the fourteen wineries that make up the Petoskey Wine Region.  They are also part of the large Tip of the Mitt AVA, which is the latest federally recognized designation in Michigan in 2016 and encompasses 6 counties in the northern Lower Peninsula.

The drive getting there, because of the unexpected detour and the demands for our dinner reservations created a very abbreviated tasting, and I still apologize for it.  I did have a chance to try three wines.  The first wine was Walloon Lake Winery Sunshine Daydream Tip of the Mitt 2021.  A dry blend of Frontenac Blanc and Frontenac Gris fermented on the skins and aged on spent yeast cells.  Frontenac Blanc is a genetic variant of the red Frontenac grape and was released in 2012.  Frontenac Gris is a pink-berried mutation of Frontenac and was released in 2003.  The wine was produced using a “low intervention style.”  This coppery-rose colored wine offered notes of tropical fruits and bit of foxiness.  On the palate tones of citrus and tropical fruits with an acidity and a short finish “dryness” which I how I would term it.  The second wine was Walloon Lake Winery Rosie Rosé Tip of the Mitt 2020.  This wine is a dry Marquette rosé wine and named after the winery’s mascot Rosie, a Mini-Aussie.   Marquette is a cousin of Frontenac and a grandson of Pinot Noir and is a French-American hybrid introduced in 2006.  This pink-hued wine offered notes of tropical fruit and florals.  On the palate there were notes of cherry, black fruit, tropical fruit, and a tinge of pepper.  The last wine that I tried as my Bride had by then started paging me and honking from the parking lot was Walloon Lake Winery North Arm Noir Michigan 2021.  This was a dry Marquette wine that was ruby-red in color and offered notes of dark fruits, tobacco, and pepper.  On the palate this wine had tones of cherry, currants, and pepper with suggestions of oak.  We will have to try to get back there and try the wines in a more leisurely pace.