Michigan's oldest winery, one of its newest, and Northern Michigan's sparkling wine pioneer all brought back gold medals from the 2008 San Francisco International Wine Competition, among the nation's most prestigious wine judgings.
Leelanau bubbly specialist L. Mawby took gold for its non-vintage Wet Sparkling Sec in the "Sparkling Wine" category. Wet carries the "M. Lawrence" brand label used by Mawby for its tank-fermented wines.
Paw-Paw based St. Julian won gold for its sweetish, non-vintage White Heron in the "Native American White Varietal" category. The grapes used in the wine come from the Lake Michigan Shore appellation.
And Two Lads Winery -- just open since last year -- earned a first-ever SF gold for its 2007 Pinot Grigio, made from grapes grown on Old Mission Peninsula.
San Francisco ranks among the nation's premier wine competitions. More than 1200 wineries from a dozen countries submitted 4200 wines for tasting at this year's event. Of those, only 305 wines -- about 7% -- won gold or double-gold medals.
They pop up like mushrooms, usually at holiday gift season: oversized glossy paeans to one wine region or another. While often text-shy, they're replete with intensely-colored photos of ripe grapes hanging from rows of verdant vines and oak barrels stacked in romantically underlit cellars.
At first glance, From the Vine seems to slip comfortably into this "elegant coffee-table wine book" niche. But a closer look reveals a number of subtle departures from the norm. And these departures make it a worthwhile addition, even for those with stacks of wine books already spilling off our coffee tables.
Attention Phil Gramm: don't read this. Lots of whining follows.
It all started as a brief hiatus for MichWine, while we planned and took a long-promised China trip that included (of course) a couple of winery visits. "Unavoidable" delays and plain old procrastination stretched this out, to the tune of several months.
Then, just when MichWine was set to go this spring, the deluge hit.
Michigan's oldest winery, one of its newest, and Northern Michigan's sparkling wine pioneer all brought back gold medals from the 2008 San Francisco 
International Wine Competition, among the nation's most prestigious wine judgings.
FROM THE VINE:
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Ode to the Leelanau Winemaking pioneer Larry Mawby pens a poem about his home
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