Grapes you won't find everywhere

MAY 4 -- Ever spot an unusual wine in a winery tasting room -- a varietal that almost no one in Michigan grows? It's likely the winemaker has a special passion for the grape, or wants to see how it fares in our climate. These "orphans" -- varietals like Auxerrois, Kerner, Lemberger, Syrah or Viognier -- only rarely make their way to retail shelves or restaurant lists.

The MichWine Tasters sampled 14 wines from vinifera (European) grapes, plus a hybrid varietal dessert wine. We review 12 of them, and Master Sommelier Claudia Tyagi suggests how to pair food with a group of different wines.

Our top wine, 2007 Domaine Berrien Cellars Marsanne, comes from a white grape native to France's Rhone Valley. The warm 2007 vintage provided just the conditions to ripen it fully. At 91 points, it made our "Excellent" category; several others followed just behind.

"ORPHAN" VARIETALS:  TWELVE WINES REVIEWED
        REVIEW NOTES by Sally Goldberg and the MichWine Tasters
        FOOD & WINE PAIRING by Master Sommelier Claudia Tyagi
        FAQ about MichWine's review procedures and tasting panel

Credit where it's due: Domaine Berrien provided samples of six different grapes, four from the Rhone Valley. They're clearly hard at work trying to establish new varietals in Michigan -- and judging from several of their scores, the work is paying off.

From the same French neighborhood, we tried two samples of Viognier, the grape of Condrieu. We very much liked the 2008 version from Domaine Berrien Cellars. Leelanau Peninsula's Chateau Fontaine sent a non-commercial sample from 2007; they plan to plant on a commercial-scale this year.

Among the reds, two wineries across the street plant the same grape, but one (Lemon Creek) calls it Shiraz, like the Australians, and the other (Domaine Berrien) calls it Syrah, like the French. We preferred the 2004 from Lemon Creek. We were also wowed by their 2007 Kerner, a Riesling cross from Germany. This seems like a natural for other Michigan wineries to try.

Two up-north wineries make wine from the Alsace varietal Auxerrois. For the second year in a row, Chateau Fontaine came up a winner, though we may have tasted a flawed bottle from Bel Lago.

Also tasted, but not reviewed:
2007 Lemberger, Domaine Berrien Cellars, Lake Michigan Shore
2006 Syrah, St. Julian "Braganini Reserve", Lake Michigan Shore
2007 Viognier, Chateau Fontaine, Leelanau Peninsula (not a commercial release)

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