My Wine Tour Through Southwest Michigan

What started out as a girls trip with friends, ended up being a single gal trip with lots of wine.  I am a go with the flow type of person, if something interesting comes up and I do not already have plans, count me in for a good time.  In this case, I received a group text message about a one day bus tour exploring wineries in southwest Michigan.  We agreed to purchase tickets by a certain date.  Well, the date came and I was the only one who ended up purchasing a ticket, life happens.  I eased on down the road and met the chartered bus in downtown Chicago for my winery adventure with a very lively band of winos and our allotment of twenty tastings .  There was singing, couples wearing matching golf attire, dancing, and people sharing snacks.  We also had a woman celebrating her 56th birthday and I know for a fact, she had a very good time.  It was like a grown up field trip, I had so much fun.

Two hours later, I was at Lemon Creek Winery.  They boast of “award-winning wines that are 100% estate-grown and bottled to this day by the Lemon family.”  The bus pulled up and our lively crowd was ready for our wine tasting.  I really enjoyed their semi-dry white wines, semi-sweet white wines, and their specialty wines.  I even enjoyed the semi-sweet red wines and I am normally not a fan of anything red.  My favorites from this winery were the Peach Spumante, ’15 Riesling, and ’14 Chardonnay Reserve.

We next traveled to Founder’s Winery.  This was where we had our lunch break and tasting together.  In a way, I felt rushed at this location.  I know they were trying to keep on schedule, but it probably was not a great idea to try and serve hot food and do a tasting and tour at the same time.  I am trying to eat, and before I can get a good taste of the first wine, another wine is coming at me.  So I did not feel like I got to explore what they had to offer as a winery and it would have been better for them to have done nice sandwiches, cheese, and fruit platters.  This is a location I would have to come back to and visit to give a fair review of their wines.

Round Barn and St. Julian Winery were the final two wineries on the list.  They were actually right next to each other so everyone could go back and forth exploring.  I fell in love with all the wine accessories in St. Julian.  If you ever need to find the perfect gift for the wine lover in your life, this place has you covered.  Again, I enjoyed all things semi-dry or sweet.  My favorites at these locations included the BR Traminette from St. Julian and the Artesia Spumante from Round Barn.

I am not a person who is going to visit the local grocer for wine.  In fact, all of my wine purchases are done through excursions like this.  I am just not interested in buying a random bottle of wine from the liquor store, so I try to keep good notes in case I do not feel like lugging home a bunch of bottles.  Most of these locations will ship and offer savings for bulk purchases, so you get to enjoy yourself and not worry about how you are going to make it home.  This was a great day trip, where I got to have a lot of fun and try some great wines.