Chateau Grand Traverse – Traverse City 7/1/09

Check out their site here.

(Please note: I am really bad at taking photos, and I distinctly recall thinking: "meh, there are photos on the blog already" - guess what, there aren't of this place. Their site has some though).

This was the first place we hit up in Traverse City because we had time to kill and because - and I apologize for the slightly backhanded praise - but they sell this incredible mustard:



They don't make it, but they sell it, and man, is it worth it - seriously. I have never felt even an inkling of what I'd describe as "passion" for a condiment before, but this mustard is...well, if you smear it on a penguin, I'm taking a bite out of him, even if he's frozen through and through. Put it on a crocodile along the river Nile, I'll tell you I will take a bite and then I'll surely smile.

I digress.

CGT lets you taste six wines for free and the winery seems to lean heavily on whites - their site features eight Rieslings. Here's the notes:


2007 Ship of Fools - fairly dry, apricot notes with orange or maybe grapefruit zest, all with a nice hint of spice.

2008 Pinot Grigio Festival Time - Cantaloupe/melon nose. A typical PG, fruity, balanced, with miscellaneous Italian melon notes dominating.

2007 Gamay Noir Limited - I nearly flipped over how much I dug the 2006, so I was dismayed to find that I found this to be a less than stellar offerng, mostly dominated by cherry and strawberry with enough of the dreaded banana coming through to really bum me out. Not terrible, but not up to expectations.

2006 Pinot Noir - Candied cherry on the nose with cherry and cola coming through on the palate - light in body and an easy drinking wine to be sure.

2006 Gamay Reserve - Black pepper, cherry, cola, sassafras - many of the qualities I loved about the regular 2006 Gamay - I guess I just prefer this vintage. Full bottle review will be coming eventually.

2006 Edelzwicker - A sweeter white - honey dew nose, with a nice balance of fruit - pear, peach, apple - and a touch of spice.


So there you have it - go for the mustard, stay for the wine.