Grape-Juice State Michigan Makes Rieslings Fit for Hemingway

Review by John Mariani

Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) — Ernest Hemingway once wrote, “Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the natural things of the world that has been brought to the greatest perfection.” Still, he wasn’t talking about the wines of northern Michigan, where he spent his boyhood summers.

Back then, before World War I, the best-known Michigan beverage was Welch’s grape juice, which Dr. Thomas Welch called the first “unfermented wine,” for use in church services.

If Hemingway could go back to Michigan today he would find a flourishing wine industry, with 56 vineyards spread over 1,800 acres throughout the state — a 60 percent increase in the last decade — and, with 425,000 cases of wine annually, 13th in the nation for wine production.

Some of that is still made from native, out-of-fashion labrusca grapes like Concord. Yet since the 1970s, more and more French-American hybrids such as vignoles and chambourcin and European varietals like chardonnay, merlot and, especially, riesling are now planted throughout the stunningly beautiful northern part of the state, around Traverse City, the Leelanau Peninsula and the Old Mission Peninsula. This is where the winter climate is somewhat more temperate than elsewhere in the state.

I recently spent a week in the region, astonished by the size of Lake Michigan and enchanted by the numerous lakes, bays, rivers and streams, where Hemingway’s hero Nick Adams lived and fished, around Charlevoix, Petoskey and Horton Bay. The first two, as well as Traverse City, are now largely gentrified, with gourmet delis proudly selling the local wines. Indeed, I only wish wine shops in New York, Texas and Virginia had more of that pride in promoting their own wine industries.

Michigan Republicans will send thousands of challengers to polling places on Election Day, but party officials said they won’t be using foreclosed home lists to contest voters.
Advertisement

Their comments followed allegations in a liberal blog, “The Michigan Messenger,” that the Macomb County Republican Party would use foreclosure lists to challenge voters who no longer live in their foreclosed homes.

Continue reading: The Detroit Free Press

The chairman of the Republican Party in Macomb County Michigan, a key swing county in a key swing state, is planning to use a list of foreclosed homes to block people from voting in the upcoming election as part of the state GOP’s effort to challenge some voters on Election Day.

“We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren’t voting from those addresses,” party chairman James Carabelli told Michigan Messenger in a telephone interview earlier this week. He said the local party wanted to make sure that proper electoral procedures were followed.

Continue reading: The Michigan Messenger

The Food
For the past several months, the HomeGrown Steering Committee has been putting together a line-up of restaurants and vendors who have created dishes made with food from some of our best local farms. Tickets are $2 each for these “tastes of local Ann Arbor.” Some of the small plates that will be served include Watermelon Soup, Spinach and Goat Cheese Pizza, Slow Roasted Pork, Michigan Sweet Corn Tamales, real BBQ Chicken Wings and PawPaw Gelato.

The Chef Demos

Each hour during the Festival, area chefs will be demonstrating how to make tasty dishes from food that’s available right here right now.
- At noon, Nick Seccia, a leading chef in the local food movement who has made it a priority to
bring food from Michigan farms to the Henry Ford, will be demonstrating how to make Cherry-Squash Chutney and Butternut Bisque.
- At 1pm, Plum Market’s Chef Nick Apone will be making Grass-Fed Michigan Buffalo Chili.
- At 2pm, if the concord grapes from his yard are ripe, Zingerman’s Deli Chef William Wallo will be making a Concord Grape Pie. Otherwise, it will be Gnocchi with Fresh Tomato and Eggplant Sauce.
- And finally, at 3:15, The Five Lakes Grill Executive Chef Steven Grostick will be preparing a beautiful Goat Cheese Croquette with Local Honeycomb and an Heirloom Tomato, Cucumber and Micro-greens salad.

Plus
Ann Arbor’s Mayor, John Hieftje, will open the HomeGrown Festival at 11:00am on Saturday at the main stage. There will be a few welcoming remarks and then the great-tasting food begins. Not only will there be food, there will also be bands playing each hour, fun kid’s activities, and lots to learn from local non-profits. What I’m really looking forward to (I can’t WAIT for this) is Project Grow’s terrific Heirloom Tomato Tasting where the top 10 winners will be identified and I’ll know what to plant next year.

Come and ENJOY!

Democrat Joe Biden has tapped Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to be the stand-in for Sarah Palin as he prepares for next month’s vice presidential debate.

Biden predicted that Palin would try to make their debate personal and said he wouldn’t respond in kind if she attacked him.

Continue reading at mlive.com