Traverse a vibrant wine trail

Fall colors surround the Chateau Grand Traverse vineyards, which overlook West Grand Traverse Bay in Northern Michigan. / Photos provided by Traverse City Convention & Visi

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- 

We went to Traverse City for the food.

We went back for the wine.

The first time there was no specific plan, just a loose schedule for a road trip that would be easy on the budget. When a friend raved about a restaurant in Traverse City, we put it on the itinerary.

Traverse City turned out to be a foodie paradise (Iron Chef Mario Batali has a home in the area). That wasn't the big surprise, though. It was the wine.

The resort town earned its reputation thanks to its geographically elite position on Lake Michigan. Grand Traverse Bay sits northwest on the state's lower peninsula, surrounded by forest, sand dunes and farmland.

On a map, two peninsulas -- Leelanau and Old Mission -- splay out on the east side of the lake like skinny fingers. In the middle is Traverse City. It's the location that allows the area to host a wine trail that, although small by California standards, can meet even a wine snob's expectations.

During the first trip from our Wisconsin home, we went in with only a half-baked plan and a restaurant name -- Cooks' House. It was early June, about a week before the start of tourist season.

The Beach Haus, a vintage hotel with a private beach on the north end of town, had rates so cheap I asked why the room could be had for under $80 a night when most other beachside hotels started at $100 or more. The clerk gave two reasons: It was a preseason rate, and the hotel's decor was old. But it was clean, and the staff was friendly.

We brought the family -- three grown daughters, a significant other and a dog -- for our second visit over Memorial Day weekend. It cost $1,500 a week to rent a four-bedroom house on one of the area's smaller lakes that we found on www.vacationrentals.com.

We timed the wine tours for the drizzly cold weather, which left the nicer days and nights open for cooking paella on an open flame, kayaking, taking in a minor-league baseball game, shopping and more eating.

Cooks' House had moved to quarters bigger than the tiny storefront that we dined in on our first trip. The restaurant manager set the hospitality bar high by giving us suggestions for wineries to visit and other restaurants we might like, including one set on the grounds of the former state hospital.

We couldn't afford to take the entire family to Napa or Sonoma, but we knew they could make a weekend of the Grand Traverse area wineries. They were skeptical at first, as were we. We've gotten excited about being in wine country before, only to be disappointed when we got home. In Napa and Sonoma, it was clear we didn't bring back enough bottles of the wines that we liked. In Canada, it was clear we brought back at least one too many. This time, we wanted to try the wine on our own before getting caught up in tastings.

We stopped at the Blue Goat, a small liquor store carrying hundreds of local wines. The clerk recommended the 2008 Grand Traverse Chardonnay. Our mistake was not buying enough. Not only can you not get Michigan wines in Wisconsin, but the winery, Chateau Grand Traverse, sold out of the vintage before the end of summer.

That's how our personal wine tour began. We then ended up cruising up and down country roads, visiting a variety of wineries. Chateau Grand Traverse is the most commercial-looking building of them all, while Bowers Harbor Vineyards looks like a fruit stand on steroids.

The area is known for its Rieslings, sweet white wines that pair well with food, but 2 Lads, a contemporary-looking winery with a vista view of the lake, boasts a couple of strong red wines, including a Cabernet Franc.

Lee Lutes, winemaker for Black Star Farms, said vineyards were planted 40 years ago, but the wine industry has been a solid part of tourism in the area for 30 years. Lutes, who is from Traverse City, returned to the area in the 1990s after a stint as an assistant winemaker in Italy.

Black Star has two wineries a short drive from Traverse City: One is a tasting room with a vineyard view just outside the city limits; the other is on Suttons Bay and includes tours of the winery, an inn and a horse farm on property surrounded by vineyards.

Thanks to prevailing winds and a maritime climate, foliage stays green in Grand Traverse through December, and although on a map the peninsulas appear to be directly across from Door County, the winds and plenty of snow keep the grapes from freezing in winter.

The wine trail is still in some transition. This year, wineries were allowed to charge for tastings. Black Star Farms had been charging $5 for a keepsake glass to use at tastings. Patrons who brought their glass with them on future visits or to the other Black Star tasting rooms received free samples. Lutes said they found they were "giving away in excess of $50,000 a year" in free wine.

A typical fee for the area wineries is $5 for four to six samples.

The recession has actually helped draw tourists to Michigan's wine country, primarily because it's less expensive than going to the West Coast for people in many parts of the country. Cars from Alabama to New Hampshire can be spotted in the parking lots.

But you don't find the state's wine country by traveling through. You find it because you want to, Lutes said.