As Cassandra Poné describes it, Michigan’s warm days enable grapes to develop fruit flavors and sugar levels slowly, while cool nights help them maintain high acidity.
“It’s this balance between bright fruit and vibrant acidity that helps make a wine food-friendly,” says Poné, director of the wine club at St. Julian Winery, which is based in Paw Paw.
And what a friend food has in the wines produced here in Michigan. “Michigan has amazing food-friendly wines,” Poné says. “They’re finessed and balanced [and] have super-fresh fruit flavors and elegant tannins.”
Chef Randy Minish, who at one time worked for Michael Symon at Roast in Detroit and later co-owned Terrain in Bellaire, had come home to Michigan from California when he discovered “there’s a lot more variety in Michigan wines than people might suspect.” He began hosting wine dinners featuring Michigan-made wines and says he became partial to serving Pinot Blanc with vegetables: It was “something that had minerality and crispness to work with vegetables but wasn’t necessarily overpowering.” He also favors Blaufränkisch, which pairs well with duck or lamb or can be fruity enough to be served with dessert.
“One thing we do well here is sparkling wines,” Minish says. “They’re very versatile, because sometimes we’d use it as a wine with the first course or appetizers or with desserts. … Sparkling wine is great with desserts.”
Michigan is known for Rieslings, and Black Star Farms in Suttons Bay makes six different types that range from dry to sweet. Not only do they complement light meats, fish, and seafood, but managing owner Sherri Campbell Fenton recommends trying them with roasted turkey and appetizers like baked brie and creamy crab dip. “It can also hold its own with Asian cuisine, mildly spiced curry, and sushi,” she says.
Deborah Pallas, owner of Vineyard 2121 in Benton Harbor, says Michigan reds are typically lighter bodied than those that come from California and hot climates “because our grapes go dormant and theirs do not.”
“So you don’t have [those] real heavy tannins in most Michigan reds, but we still produce amazing reds and have won numerous international competitions with our reds and rosés,” Pallas says.
Vineyard 2121’s Merlot is fruity and, like a Pinot Noir, pairs well with beef, chicken, and pork. Pallas would serve steak with Cabernet Sauvignon or Cabernet Franc. The vineyard’s Seyval Blanc, a hybrid with “a nice light citrus and lemon at the end,” pairs well with fish, shrimp, chicken piccata, and lemon desserts.
Campbell Fenton says Pinot Noir is one of the most versatile Michigan red wines. She suggests pairing it with fresh salmon or roasted game birds or rabbit. “It would pair equally well with a good chicken or nice loin of pork, grilled herb-crusted lamb or salmon, portobello mushroom burgers, as well as mild and creamy cheeses,” she adds.
Kate Vilter Stassen, who owns Peninsula Provisions, a specialty wine and food shop in Lake Leelanau, gravitates toward local Rieslings and Gewürztraminers that have “a wonderful, heady nose” and go well with cheeses, charcuterie boards, and salads.
“Our Chardonnays, since they aren’t quite as big and voluptuous as the West Coast Chardonnays, really pair well with all sorts of fish dishes and pastas,” she adds.
Metro Detroit sommelier Kristen Carlson, aka Mrs. Vino, prefers to start with food first and then choose the wine. Take goat cheese: She loves to pair it with a Michigan Cabernet Franc. Gouda? Give her Mawby’s Gold, a Pinot Noir–based brut sparkling wine. “You get a 10- or 20-year aged Gouda, it’s got those little crystals in there, so you get the bite and pop of the cheese with the bite and pop you get with the sparkling wine,” she says.
Carlson also says the canned bubbly Brio wine from Shady Lane Cellars in Suttons Bay goes well with fresh fruit.
Ultimately, Michigan wine’s pairing potential is vast, and there’s no need to get hung up on whether a specific pairing is “correct.”
“People get all worked up in their head: ‘Does this wine go with this food?’” Poné says. “If it’s balanced and has some good fruit and acidity, it’s going to go well with a lot of different flavors. You want to pair the wine to you and take it from there.”
A version of this article originally appeared in the 2024 Michigan Wine Country magazine.
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