Looking for en route wineries to interview: MO, IA, MN, WI, MI, OH, NY, PA, VA, KY

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CathleenVought

CathleenVought

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Hi y'all,

It's your friendly neighborhood freelance writer! I'm planning a trip this July and was wondering if anyone was near my route who would be willing to let me take an hour or so of their time to do an interview concerning their vineyard practices, varieties grown and how they're managed, any special tips or tricks they're willing to share with the forum, honors they've received and any other neat tidbits? These would end up on the forum in article form.

I'll be coming up I49 from Joplin, MO, to Kansas City, then I-35 to Duluth, MN, Highways 53 and 169 on the Iron Range to Tower, across northern Wisconsin out of Superior on Highway 2 to Ironwood, MI, some undetermined route to US 41 into Marquette, MI, US 41 back to Highway 2 down to St. Ignace, I75 to 23 outside Flint, MI, and down to I-90 across northern Ohio, then across I-86 to Horseheads, NY, up highway 13 to Ithaca and Dryden, NY, some undetermined route from there to Gettysburg, PA and from there to Arlington, VA, I-66 to US 29 near Manassas, across to I-64 to St. Louis and down I-44 back to southwest Missouri.

We'll have overnights pretty regularly along the route, with longer stays on the Iron Range in Minnesota, the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York and the greater Washington, DC area. If you're not comfortable replying to the thread, pop me a pm through the forum and we'll talk. Hope to see some of y'all while we're out and about!
 
I live just outside Manassas, but don't have a vineyard or winery. I'd be happy to recommend a few of my area favorites though.
 
Looking for en route wineries to interview: MO, IA, MN, WI, MI, OH, NY, PA, V...

If you can plan to spend some extra time on the north shore of superior. It is the most beautiful part of Minnesota. I don't think you will find much for wineries in the area though. Try to stop at gooseberry falls if possible.
Most of the wineries/vineyards in Minnesota are in the south east. in the Mississippi or st. croix river valleys. I would consider that the 2nd most scenic part of the state.
 
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What a fantastic trip!

Looking at this map, let me try my sleuthing skills and infer two things (please correct me if I am wrong):
-you have friends in Tower, MN
-you do not have a passport.

chancetrip.jpg
 
Looks like a nice trip.

There are a number of wineries in MN along your route. Make sure you stop at one south of Minneapolis in Hastings, MN - Alexis Bailey http://www.abvwines.com. They are one of the oldest in MN and have been growing grapes there for years. I believe the owner's father started the business and she learned more of the trade spending time in France. But the wine industry is really growing and you'll find quite a few over there.

Check out: http://mngrapegrowers.com/wineries

Your route across Wisconsin takes you past one of my favorite meaderies - White Winter Winery. He's just 30 miles east of Duluth on highway 2. http://whitewinter.com

All Sisters Winery is in Bayfield, a little jaunt north of Highway 2. They are only a couple years old but is a nice place to stop. http://www.allsisterswinery.com

After that I think your route is very sparse on wineries until you get down to Ohio. The UP of Michigan has very little and the route down towards Flint is pretty bare of places too. Although I would suggest the UP for it's beauty. There is one tasting room near Manistique but their winery is in northern lower peninsula.

Most of the wineries in Michigan are on the west side of the state. I would suggest you plan to spend a couple of days in the Traverse Bay area. There are WORLD CLASS wines and million dollar tasting rooms up there in beautiful settings. Two peninsulas - Leelenau and Old Mission are two viticultural AVA areas. There are more than 30 wineries up there now doing amazing things. In my opinion, some of the best wines from the midwest. You should take a day on each peninsula.

On Old Mission Peninsula my top 2 would be: 2 Lads Winery and Brys Estate.
On Leelenau: Chateau Fontaine and 45 North would be my must see places. The first for the wine (awesome), the 2nd for the wine and tasting room.

The other area is on the southwest shores Michigan near lake Michigan near the Baroda area. My absolute favorite for red wines is Domain Berrien in Berrien Springs, MI.

It would be a tragedy if you went through Michigan and did not stop in these regions.

Here are more websites for the Michigan Wine Regions:

http://www.lpwines.com
http://www.wineriesofoldmission.com
http://www.lakemichiganshorewinetrail.com

After that I am less familiar and will let others comment.
 
By the way, I noticed your signature says you are a shepherdess.

My wife is also a fiber artist. She hand dyes fiber and yarn. And she is now working on weaving arts (the looms are taking over). (Flickertail Fibers on ETSY. And Flickertail Studios for weaving).

If you are ever coming through the Fargo area, let me know.
 
Boatboy24 said:
I live just outside Manassas, but don't have a vineyard or winery. I'd be happy to recommend a few of my area favorites though.
Click to expand...

That would be awesome! We're probably going to be in the Arlington or Alexandria area for a few days, so might be able to make a daytrip out in that direction.
 
calvin said:
If you can plan to spend some extra time on the north shore of superior. It is the most beautiful part of Minnesota. I don't think you will find much for wineries in the area though. Try to stop at gooseberry falls if possible.
Most of the wineries/vineyards in Minnesota are in the south east. in the Mississippi or st. croix river valleys. I would consider that the 2nd most scenic part of the state.
Click to expand...

sour_grapes said:
What a fantastic trip!

Looking at this map, let me try my sleuthing skills and infer two things (please correct me if I am wrong):
-you have friends in Tower, MN
-you do not have a passport.
Click to expand...

I grew up in Tower and my parents still live there and no, we're not trying to deal with customs this time around. When I lived up there, you just showed your driver's license, declared what you needed to and popped up to Fort Francis for the day. Now? Yeah, right!

I like the North Shore area, but have seen it several times and so we'll be taking the south shore across instead. My grandparents lived in the St. Croix Valley - if we weren't trying to make so much happen this trip, we'd probably go up that way, but at least the husband has been through there before (when we announced our engagement at a family reunion eleven years ago (holy cow, where did the time go??!!)).
 
GreginND said:
By the way, I noticed your signature says you are a shepherdess.

My wife is also a fiber artist. She hand dyes fiber and yarn. And she is now working on weaving arts (the looms are taking over). (Flickertail Fibers on ETSY. And Flickertail Studios for weaving).

If you are ever coming through the Fargo area, let me know.
Click to expand...

All excellent suggestions on the wineries! Thank you for the information on them.

We raise Shetland sheep on our farm and just love them - lovely long, fine fiber, relatively easy to handle and hardier than a northern Minnesota native. I've often made the comment that you can toss them on pasture with sufficient grass and water, come back in a year and they'll be fat with gorgeous fleeces and adorable babies.
 
Wow, I stepped away for a couple days and y'all have come up with a ton of fabulous suggestions! I'm still looking for a couple around the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, but otherwise think I've got some pretty good ideas of where to head - thanks y'all!
 
CathleenVought said:
and no, we're not trying to deal with customs this time around. When I lived up there, you just showed your driver's license, declared what you needed to and popped up to Fort Francis for the day. Now? Yeah, right!
Click to expand...

I was actually referring to the Michigan-to-NY section of the trip...
 
sour_grapes said:
I was actually referring to the Michigan-to-NY section of the trip...
Click to expand...

Yeah, by that point I wasn't too worried about spending a few hundred bucks trying to get all the passport stuff done quickly, having to worry about CCW issues and similar concerns to not just drive an extra hundred miles or so and go around the south side of the lake. I like your signature quote, BTW!
 
Let me know when you're going to be in the area. I work for the oldest winery in PA. and can make suggestions for other wineries to visit and areas for photo shots.
 

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