My wife and I were enjoying a wonderful wine pairing dinner last night at Bonobo Winery in Traverse City, Michigan. A little bit of background, Bonobo Winery is a vineyard on Old Mission Peninsula owned by the Oosterhouse Family. The vineyard is focused on experience and removing any pretenses.
At a certain point in the night Cornel Olivier, the estates winemaker introduced one of their new bubblies. A Chardonnay and Pinot Noir blend from 2019, they called their Brut Cuvée. It was a fantastic delicate experience with Peach on the noes, notes of birch and raspberry. Brioche was strong in the finish.
To get to my point, Cornel explained his focus on making a strong Champagne-like wine as he feels the climate in northern Michigan is perfect for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir used in that manner. He expressed that Northern Michigan could become the Champagne-like region of the United States.
I wanted to get everyone’s thoughts on this? Do you think he may be on to something? Are there other regions in the US where you have found great bubbles?
For 15 years, Athan Zafirov has traveled the vineyards around the world and worked with some of the greatest chefs including Francois Duc and Alan Brown.
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