OT: Michigan related alcohol

Submitted by Inflammable Flame on
My wife asked (see: told) me to try drinking more wine and less beer. I said I can try it for one month. Since I know almost nothing about wine, I hit the interwebs. In doing so, I found that there's a Bo Schembechler Wines? Has anyone tried this? Has anyone tried a Charles Woodson wine? Or any other famous person wine? I saw there's Joe Montana and Dan Marino wines as well... I'm not only stuck on football player wines, I just got sidetracked when googling....
MGoBoard

Go Blue Eyes

January 10th, 2017 at 8:21 PM ^

Never tried the Woodson wine.  I have always liked Fess Parker (Davy Crocket and Daniel Boone on TV) and the movie "Sideways" was filmed at his winery.  Kurt Russell has a winery, Gogi from the same Santa Rita reigion as well but is impossible to get in Michigan.  Both do Pinot Noir really well.

There are probably dozens of celebrity owned wineries and taste in wine is always subjective.

Joined: 12/04/2010

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Cali's Goin' Blue

January 10th, 2017 at 8:51 PM ^

I'm only 22 but been drinking wine with the family for 6-7 years now. There is no point in wasting money on good wine until you have built up your pallet. I'm young, but I love Rose as a starting wine and J Lohr is a good wine to buy until youve built a pallet. Try the sauvignon blanc with some cheese and crackers. Just keep in mind you will want to pass out after a couple hours. Just some stupid tips from a young'n

Joined: 02/02/2015

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James Burrill Angell

January 10th, 2017 at 8:39 PM ^

Ok... Here's some help.. 1) Woodsons wines are very good but they are pretty expensive. Your wife wants you to drink more wine (likely to somewhat replace your beer intake) then you probably need to find more affordable options for day to day drinking. 2) may I recommend AtoZ winery for a mid weight Pinot Noir. The Michigan connection is UM alum owners. 3) for a State of Michigan connection, try white wines. The land here is not terribly well suited for reds and I've rarely had a very very good one. That said our whites are really good and reasonable. You may find some solace in your beer to wine translation by trying sparkling wines I particularly recommend a Michigan vintner named Lawrence Mawby. Very reasonable and his stuff stands toe to toe with any California sparkling. EDIT: Willakenzie Estates in Oregon is also owned by UM alum Ronnie Lacroute. Good wine. EDIT 2: to your earlier point, unlike Woodsons wines, those old bottles of Bo Schembechler wine were a novelty bottling. They're not worth drinking.

Joined: 08/12/2009

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GoBlueNorth

January 10th, 2017 at 8:25 PM ^

Bo Schembechler wines are a novelty, nice souvenir but not a great drinking wine.  The Charles Wodson wines are actually pretty good but pricey.   The CW Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc are both good.  I haven't tried the Cab Franc....at $600 a bottle.  If you get a chance take her to a Charles Woodson wine tasting.  Good Luck and Cheers

Joined: 06/03/2011

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wigeon

January 10th, 2017 at 8:31 PM ^

Michigan wines are not good vs. the world. The very best thing you can do is do a weekend in Napa - taste a hundred and pick 10 that you like, and order/go from there. At some point, trips to Bordeaux, Spain and Argentina would be in order, but you can grow into those.

Joined: 07/05/2008

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MichiganG

January 10th, 2017 at 11:17 PM ^

Think you got that backwards. Germany is much better known for whites and Italy for reds. But just going by a region (or country) and assuming it will be good is a bad idea. Go to a wine store that has tastings, try different things and see what you like. Just like beer, hard alcohol, and everything else in life, people have individual preferences.

Joined: 05/20/2012

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Two Hearted Ale

January 10th, 2017 at 9:01 PM ^

Napa is a great but expensive way to learn about wine. Local tastings are the best way to go if you can find them.

Before my wife and I were married there was a wine shop near here apartment in Columbus which had tastings every Friday and Saturday nights. For $7-$9 you could taste five or six wines and often people would buy something and share it with whomever was there. We learned far more about what we liked from those sessions than we ever would have had we bought a bottle and drank it at home.

Another option is to host a wine tasting group weekly or monthly. If you can put together a fun group of people who want to learn about wine and have everyone bring a different bottle each meeting you will learn what you like quickly. The key is tasting different wines next to each other.

I'm partial to big, earthy, dry wines from Mendecino, Sonoma, and Napa. My wife has been pregnant or breast feeding for the past three years so I've been primarily on beer. I've lost most of the knowledge I had but that's a good excuse to go back to Napa.

Joined: 06/10/2011

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BlueMan80

January 10th, 2017 at 9:21 PM ^

Now, I'm not going to compare those wines with Napa/Sonoma, but the wine growing region around Niagra-on-the-lake produces some nice wines. It's also a great little town to visit and there are some very nice restaurants in the area, too. Some large estate wineries and some little family operations, too. A great place for a long wine weekend in the summer. They actually produce good red wines, too. We found Big Head winery last summer and were impressed with their Big Head Red wine. I got an unoaked Chardonnay from there that was wonderful. Great summer drinking wine. You'll hear about the regions wines as mainly dessert wines (they have mastered ice wine), but today that's only part of the story.

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