It’s that time again, in conjunction with one of the most enduring races on planet earth, the Tour de France, our annual up north camping trip at the very tip of the Leelanau peninsula combined with biking The Old Mission wineries. Tour de wine is the annual meeting of best friends enjoying some the best places of Northern Michigan has to offer. As my best friend Matt describes, smack dab in the middle of Northern Michigans cleavage, east and west bay being the breasts…long saggy breasts…gross. I know many, even born and breed Michiganders, find driving up any part of I-75N a task. Well, for those who may be reading, let me just say that during the summer, there are many places I wanna be, things I wanna do, places I wanna stay…but Northern Michigan most certainly wins out. Yes, it’s busy. There are tourists – people from Chicago (come back to Michigan for crying out loud), but to explain the atmosphere wouldn’t hardly do it justice. You just have to go for yourself, find that inner kid who stuffed his/her face with smores, lay on the beach, and swam in the cold Lake Michigan waters. You need to drive just a little further to discover why we are spending so much damn money on the “Pure Michigan” ads. Leelanau state park is yet another one hour north of Traverse City. Amazing views of Lake Michigan at the lighthouse, and only 5 miles down the road a hiking trail leading how to white sandy beaches where one can engage in past time activities like throwing rocks at each others heads and ducking under water before it hits you in the face. Or how about thinking you are the only people on the beach then changing after taking a lake bath only to have someone show up just to see your white ass as you balance yourself putting on your underwear…good times.  A bit farther south of the campground, small little towns such as Suttons Bay, a summer home to celebrity chef Mario Batali, and Northport provide the feel of some small east coast towns. You have the old fishing village of Leland on the western part of the peninsula, almost an island in itself, wedged against beautiful Lake Michigan shores to the west and massive Lake Leelanau to the east.

This year’s trip coincided with the last weekend for the Traverse City Cherry festival, so extra crowded. On the way to the campground we stopped at Meijer to pick-up items for making dinner and breakfast. You get excited to make food over the fire you built or finding an adequate stick for burning the hell outta of your mellows for smores ( or not that your an adult you can widdle one with a sharp ass knife if you so chose).  We decided to make dinner for ourselves the first night – Salmon brushed with olive oil and mixed fresh herbs from my urban herb garden. Sweet corn and a sweet potato to complete the plate. Minus the people walking up in the middle of the night screaming “raccoons are in the tent”, it was a perfect, relaxing day preparing us for tomorrows start of Tour de wine.

We had no prior of goal of trying to hit every winery on the peninsula but just enough to get that “energy” buzz that you think you have but quickly realize that your legs feel like weights and its just energy to get some grub and a couple of beers at Jolly pumpkin, then ride back. We usually park not too far from the beginning of the peninsula, giving us a good 40mile round-trip ride, plenty of time to take in the rolling hills with surrounding Lake Michigan views along with the camaraderie of who is going to either the Old Mission beach or lighthouse first.
Two Lads is our fist stop and not an easy one. A decent incline to get to the top while on looking wine tasters wonder who the heck who bike in 90deg weather then drink. From here we plan out the rest of our stops as the refreshing Reisling quickly disappears. Our in between stops this year was Bry’s and Bowers Harbor (a must every year as its our favorite)
I don’t know much about Bry’s but the wines were pretty damn good..maybe that is all you need to know. Our sommelier was awesome, even at times sampling some wine with us, reassuring that her tastes align with here descriptions. Conversely, I can tell you about Bowers Harbor. I think, it is the best winery on the peninsula. The wines are good, reasonably priced, and always live music you can enjoy on the beautiful grounds just outside of the tasting room. Plus, you can enjoy some pre-Jolly Pumpkin food as they offer some amazing Whitefish pâté that only get the tastes buds salivating for some of that clean aged sour beer they are so famous for. It’s at Bowers we take our time; buy a bottle, usually a dryer Riesling to pair well with the pâté.
All in all, we put in about 6-7 hour day. Enough to get a good buzz when you need it, but sweat it out in between only to start over again. Many may argue, especially those who have been out west, how good can Michigan wines really be. Well, a couple facts. The Old Mission peninsula shares the same latitude as parts of Germany which are famous for it’s Rieslings and Gewürztraminer wines. The peninsula is in a position that helps shield it from drastically changing climates during peak growing times allowing consistent grape growing. As for the scenery; we often talk about that if someone where to blindfold us and drop off us at the top of Chateu Chantel winery unknowingly…Napa or Sonoma Valley – even  maybe parts of Tuscany would be my first guess…its that beautiful.