WTN: 5 from Left Foot Charley (Mich)

How’s this for an audacious proposal? Build an urban winery in Traverse City, with no vineyard holdings of your own, sell 80% of your production from the tasting room and mailing list, focus on Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Grigio, and Gewurztraminer with the unabashed goal of producing the best wines from those varietals in America, and make money doing it. Sound crazy? Maybe so, but that’s exactly what they’re shooting for at Left Foot Charley, and when you consider owner-winemaker Bryan Ulbrich’s vision of the “Left Foot Charley lifestyle,” encompassing bottle look, presentation and winery ambience, right down to the music played in the facility, it’s an entirely new model for Michigan.

Left Foot Charley is the nickname that Ulbrich earned as a klutzy kid, but happily, any ungainly qualities that may have held over from his youth don’t manifest themselves in his winemaking. He first gained notoriety as winemaker for Peninsula Cellars on Michigan's Old Mission Peninsula, winning many awards in state and national competitions. After several years there, during which time he also established Ulbrich Wine Cellars as an umbrella operation for side projects, he and his wife Jen decided to start their own winery.

We visited with Bryan Ulbrich on a crisp, drizzly Saturday morning, at the site of his new winery, presently under construction in the building that once served as a laundry facility (originally built in 1959) for the Traverse City State Hospital, which is a fascinating story in and of itself.

Bryan has strong ties with the growers that he’s come to know and trust over the years; he pays them premium prices for their grapes, telling us, “We’re trying to take it up a little in intensity. The vineyards are getting to be 10-12 years old and they’re starting to change and produce more layered, complex fruit.” Based on what we tasted, that plan is already paying dividends.

2006 Left Foot Charley Old Mission Peninsula Pinot Blanc Island View Vineyard Tank Sample, 13% alc.: Pale straw color, with piney green apple flavors and aromas, underscored with nice minerality; medium-full body, with good cut and viscosity and excellent intensity. Rich, round and quite tasty; I’ll happily buy this when it’s released.

2006 Left Foot Charley Old Mission Peninsula Riesling Tank Sample, 9% alc., 2% residual sugar: Pale straw color, with lovely aromatics of honeysuckle and red apple, following through on the palate with some added minerality and good acids; medium bodied and almost delicate, but with excellent intensity, a great mouth feel and a long finish.

2005 Left Foot Charley Old Mission Peninsula Pinot Grigio, 12% alc., $15.29: Pale straw in color, with green apple and citrus flavors and aromas shaded with a hint of herb and an undertone of mineral; good cut and concentration and decidedly dry. A very satisfying white, and on this occasion, a fine match for some roast duck. More, please…

2004 Left Foot Charley Old Mission Peninsula Riesling, 12% alc., $17.69: Medium straw color, and showing excellent varietal character, with stony mineral and just a hint of petrol over rich apple-like fruit shaded with a hint of lime. Medium to medium-full bodied and decidedly dry, with more weight, complexity and concentration than the vast majority of Michigan Riesling and a long, lingering finish. Rich, pungent and delicious, this is as good as, if not better than, the 1999 Wyncroft Lake Michigan Shore Riesling Avonlea Vineyard, our previous standard for dry Michigan Riesling. Drinking beautifully now, with great promise for further development.

2005 Left Foot Charley Old Mission Peninsula Semidry Riesling, 11% alc., 375 ml, $12.99: Pale straw color; rich and ripe, with red and green apple flavors and aromas underscored with nice minerality and with a sweetness that falls somewhere between Kabinett and Spatlese levels. Medium to medium-full body, with excellent balance and acidity and good length; very nice with panko and crushed walnut encrusted Tilapia. I wish I could drink every one of these wines on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, the last three will be pretty hard to find, as they were made in small quantities and are mostly sold out at the winery. Bryan tells me that he'll be bottling anew in the next few weeks, and those tank samples we tried have me chomping at the bit. I may not have followed Left Foot Charley from the VERY beginning, but it's close enough, and I'm geeked at the prospects for the most exciting new Michigan wine project I've come across since Wyncroft.

- from Left Foot Charley: A New Model for Michigan Wineries

Reporting from Day-twah,

geo t.

Thanks to OW Holmes, we enjoyed Left Foot Charley Riesling at NiagaraCOOL last year. Very nice stuff.

Thanks for the feedback, Howie. This is definitely a winery to watch.

Cheers,

geo

Bryan has strong ties with the growers that he’s come to know and trust over the years; he pays them premium prices for their grapes, telling us, “We’re trying to take it up a little in intensity. The vineyards are getting to be 10-12 years old and they’re starting to change and produce more layered, complex fruit.” Based on what we tasted, that plan is already paying dividends..

I guess the mad-dash for grapes is easier in Michigan than in, say, California for example?

How big is the wine industry in the State? Are there lots of people fighting to make a living and jockeying for access to prime sites? Are there prime sites that have been identified?

Thanks for the feedback, Howie. This is definitely a winery to watch.

Cheers,

geo

We are watching, geo. I love the work Brian is doing in Michigan. And so does your friend Jim Lester of Wyncroft, another Michigan star, who speaks very highly of Brian and his work. Do you know, is Brian still making wine for Peninsula Cellars, too?

Bryan has strong ties with the growers that he’s come to know and trust over the years; he pays them premium prices for their grapes, telling us, “We’re trying to take it up a little in intensity. The vineyards are getting to be 10-12 years old and they’re starting to change and produce more layered, complex fruit.” Based on what we tasted, that plan is already paying dividends..

I guess the mad-dash for grapes is easier in Michigan than in, say, California for example?

How big is the wine industry in the State? Are there lots of people fighting to make a living and jockeying for access to prime sites? Are there prime sites that have been identified?

Rahsaan, you'll find some good background information on the Michigan wine industry here.

I don't think I would characterize what's going on in Michigan as fighting and jockeying; there seems to be a very good sense of camaraderie among most of the wine people here. There are certainly several very good vineyards around the state that have proven track records for producing high quality fruit, but in many ways the industry is still in a fledgling state. There is a veritable explosion of new vineyard plantings in Leelanau County alone, some of it as high as 1,200 feet above lake level, and while they're carefully selected for their soil types, only time will tell what they'll produce. There's still a lot of so-so to downright poor wine being made here, but more and more there are people like Bryan Ulbrich and Jim and Rae Lee Lester who're doing really good things. It's exciting to see, and I plan to watch a lot more closely from now on.

Cheers,

geo

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[Robin Garr]

you'll find some good background information on the Michigan wine industry here.

Also <b>here</b>.

Thanks for the feedback, Howie. This is definitely a winery to watch.

Cheers,

geo

We are watching, geo. I love the work Brian is doing in Michigan. And so does your friend Jim Lester of Wyncroft, another Michigan star, who speaks very highly of Brian and his work. Do you know, is Brian still making wine for Peninsula Cellars, too?

Agreed OW, Jim has said very nice things to me about Bryan AND his mentor, Lee Lutes as being two of the very best winemakers in the state. Bryan is no longer making the wines at PC, as he is now devoting himself full time to LFC and his consulting work.

I assume you're familiar with Joel Goldberg's new web project, MichWine?

Cheers,

geo

you'll find some good background information on the Michigan wine industry here.

Also <b>here</b>.

Thanks Robin, you beat me to the punch.

[Robin Garr]

Thanks Robin, you beat me to the punch.

Wasn't trying to one-up ya, buddy. Just making sure Joel gets a little credit for all the work he's done on that site!

Thanks Robin, you beat me to the punch.

Wasn't trying to one-up ya, buddy. Just making sure Joel gets a little credit for all the work he's done on that site!

No hey problema. It was because Joel and Sally invited Kim and me to join them that I was able to compile the information for my report. We're big supporters of MichWine; it's a great project.

Best,

geo

I don't think I would characterize what's going on in Michigan as fighting and jockeying; there seems to be a very good sense of camaraderie among most of the wine people here. There are certainly several very good vineyards around the state that have proven track records for producing high quality fruit, but in many ways the industry is still in a fledgling state.

Camaraderie sounds good.

Thanks.

no, bryan is not still making pen. cel. his sister and a consultant named chris guest are.

the mi industry is about 1500 acres of grapes and 50 wineries using them. nearly every winery is doing quite well - reporting double digit increases in sales nearly every year.