Tabor Hill Winery Tasting Room - Saugatuck Tasting Room 7/13/08

Tabor Hill

In this winery, I noticed a trend present at all three we had been to – bougie women come in, try wine, bitch it's not sweet enough, and buy stuff that's on par with White Zinfandel....when you're at a small winery and are talking to someone involved in the winemaking process, part of them dies every time this happens. I've heard – from a winemaker in Illinois – that the most difficult part of his business is he can't spend enough time crafting good wine, because everyone in his area, who make up most of his business, like the sweet, blush wines....what can you do?

Anyway – the guy at this tasting room clearly didn't know what to make of us and seemed hesitant, but there's something about a youngish guy swashing around a mouthful of wine, discreetly spitting it into a plastic cup, and frantically writing notes that either wins you over with the person working or just plain pisses them off – this guy liked us.

Red Heritage – A bit of funk on the nose / smooth cigar box and cherry.

Red Arrow Red – earth and tobacco nose / easy drinking, earthy, mild oak, vanilla, mild/medium tannin, cinnamon and cherry.

Lake Michigan Shore Cabernet Franc – Mild cherry nose / lots of spice and oak on this one.

Lake Michigan Shore Merlot – Ultra soft, raspberry and cherry, some earth and medium tannings – a good, light wine with some nice depth.

Lake Michigan Shore Cabernet Sauvignon – a bit of “White Out” on the nose, light bodied, some bell pepper, and a lot of tannins – this would be an interesting one to put away for five to seven years and revisit.

Lake Michigan Shore Cabernet Franc Rose – a bit of stone fruit on the nose / fruity but dry, strawberry, an easy quaff – a good, genuine, rose.

Lake Michigan Shore Kerner – Honey, peach, and stone fruit – a Riesling cousin and it shows.

Gewurz – Floral and peachy nose / excellent balance of acid and sugar, peach pie filling is all over this.

Classic Demi-Sec – we weren't going to try this one but the guy working said it was their best selling bottle, outselling almost every other white combined so we should try it. A peachy nose mostly / extremely good, I'm glad we tried it, Auslese style, nearly ideal balance of acid, with peach and spice.

Special Select Classic Demi-Sec – if I'm not mistaken this is made slightly differently in that the grapes are not pressed...the bottle is more expensive by a few dollars but I think it's somewhat less interesting – a mild, grapey nose and a grapey palate, a bit sweeter with less acid, but by all means it's still a good bottle.

Tabor Hill is a must visit in Southwest Michigan!