Category: Updates
November 13, 2008
Steve Grossnickle, Owner
Although we had originally intended for the resurrected barn to be the tasting room, the structural integrity has been questioned, rebutted, and headache-produced on a Biblical proportion. Because the overall intent of this project was to be positive, fun, and productive for the citizenry of Leelanau, it has evolved into anything but that. For that reason we will side and roof the resurrected barn as an Ag structure and possibly an event center in the future. Randy Mouw of the Barncats of Rockford, MI will be back on the job and in charge of this project; they will be re-structuring many of the old timbers to the specifications of Robert Meyer, head of the Leelanau County Construction Code Authority in hopes of fulfilling our dream. A new post and beam, rough hewn, Amish made kit barn from Beam Barns, LLC and…
Continue reading “Barn and Winery Update” or Leave a comment (9)
August 7, 2008
Steve Grossnickle, Owner
Although I’ve searched the Mormon family tree website, I can find no documentation of an Amish-Grossnickle connection; however, this weekend I felt the DNA connection with the raising of our tasting room barn. My good friends, John Clay and Steve Curley, helped as we assisted David Ciolek and his able bodied aide, Cody, in the setting of the major end beams for the barn, all done without aid of a crane. It was an exhilirating experience as we climbed ladders, swung ropes over beams, set diagonal braces, and fit it all together with an ingenious device called a “come along”. One can…
Continue reading “Barn Raising!” or Leave a comment (7)
July 27, 2008
Steve Grossnickle, Owner
The Michigan Liquor Control Commission defines a tasting room as any approved area where wine may be sampled without cost before purchasing. The sampled wine is not taxed and the winery can act as a distributor as well as a retail outlet. Fine, our tasting room is a 120 year old barn that was disassembled in Wyoming, Michigan, transported to the vineyard and is now in the process of being raised as a rustic, nostalgic remembrance of the past. The completion date will be sometime this fall.
Ah, but in the meantime our production facility at 8580 E. Horn Rd. has doubled as tasting room de facto since July 4, our first official tasting day. We are open for tasting Friday 12:00 to 5:00, Saturday 12:00 to 6:00, and Sunday 12:00 to 5:00; for a map, see the sidebar on the home page. Official, the critical word,…
Continue reading “Tasting Room Update” or Leave a comment (19)
May 4, 2008
Steve Grossnickle, Owner
Having been extremely pleased with our results at the Pacific Rim International Wine Competition, this just really tops off the excitement. Sandra Silfven, “Wine Report” columnist for the Detroit News, spoke with Don Galleano, chief judge of the competition, and reports he was “ecstatic” about Forty-Five North:
In a phone call this week, [Don] was ecstatic — and that’s the right word — about this rookie Michigan winery and said if the competition had given a “Best Winery” award, it would have won.
Wow! Once again, my hat goes off to Shawn for producing some truly exceptional…
Continue reading “Best Winery?” or Leave a comment (0)
April 12, 2008
Steve Grossnickle, Owner
Shawn called me the other day apologizing that he did not win a gold medal at the Finger Lakes International Wine Competition (FLIWC). Over two hundred wineries were represented with over 2400 wines judged. Forty-Five North has entered multiple wine competitions including the FLIWC, Pacific Rim, Indianapolis, etc., with the first being Finger Lakes. Those wines submitted were barrel samples and not completely finished wines, and this, honestly, sounds like an excuse, but nevertheless the truth. These wines were no more than four months old. Shawn is more…
Continue reading “Judging!” or Leave a comment (2)
April 28, 2008
Steve Grossnickle, Owner
The title, a word play on the cinematic farce, indicates that the results from the Pacific Rim International Wine Competition, as in the afore mentioned Judging! entry, are in and I am overwhelmed. Shawn was called by the head judge and given the news that his Dry Riesling was voted “Best White Wine” in category and that the judging of best of categories placed it second overall in the competition of 2800 judged wines, losing to a cream sherry. I don’t…
Continue reading “Judging, Part Deux!” or Leave a comment (4)
October 13, 2007
Steve Grossnickle, Owner
The title summarizes my emotions with my first crush. From the delivering of the grapes in large fruit lugs, the simple tasting of the fresh fruit and then the chemistry of measuring sugars, PH, Titratable Acidity, etc., unloading the grapes into the crusher-destemmers, pumping raw juice into tanks, and then the next day adding the yeast and yeast “food”, can only be described as a “rush”. The episode only ascended from there, the smells and visual inputs: yeast with fresh monosaccharides gives an atmosphere of a liquid bakery while the cleanliness and stainless…
Continue reading “Rush Rhymes With Crush” or Leave a comment (8)
September 1, 2007
Steve Grossnickle, Owner
The mighty Shawn is turned loose! Next week we will start our crush and our man, Shawn, starts his busiest time of the year. We will begin with Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Noir, but we have a large, read tons, amount of fruit in storage and we will be starting with a peach vignole spumante, a totally new blend that on a hot summer’s day will even appeal to the coldest beer drinkers around. We will have cherry, apricot, pear, apple, plum and if nature’s kind, an ice wine this fall. I’m writing this as would a broker in the…
Continue reading “Production Projections” or Leave a comment (5)
August 19, 2007
Steve Grossnickle, Owner
As my experience mounts in the quest for a first bottle of Forty-Five North wine, I feel as if I have obtained another degree, perhaps if you will, a Masters of Naivete’. We received our Michigan Liquor License, allowing us to produce wines up to 20% alcohol content. Either brewing beer or distilling spirits requires a whole new level of certification. Nevertheless, I would like to recount my journey in quest of the holy certificate. It starts with the TTB, or as you may know it, the Alchohol and Tax Bureau, a division of the IRS. I…
Continue reading “Liquor License” or Leave a comment (2)
July 21, 2007
Steve Grossnickle, Owner
I’m sure the line, “The Tanks are Coming”, is uttered in German in the movie, “Patton”, by those in the direct onslaught of the American General. However, in this case, even though the tanks are Italian from Prospero and Co., the phrase will remain in English, “The Tanks are Coming” and as I write this, the tense has changed to “are Here!” Yes, three container ship semis arrived last week at Forty-Five North and the contents, tanks, destemmers, and punch down tanks have now been set in the production building. Again, my naivete is genuine, there now comes the…
Continue reading “The Tanks are Coming!” or Leave a comment (3)
May 19, 2007
Steve Grossnickle, Owner
That one Lucky Dude would just happen to be me! First John Peppler found the property, Maynard consulted and gave great encouragement, Doug Matthies designed a state of the art production facility (which is now 98% complete) and planted 15,000 plants, and now, Shawn Walters is Forty-Five North’s winemaker. For those of you attuned to the Michigan wine industry know that Shawn is the foremost, emminent winemaker in the state. To say that he is a child prodigy gives away my age and as you know, all is relative. His accolades run deep, one could paper a wall with all his awards and trim the room with the gold medal ribbons. His most recent ribbons include the cab franc at the Michigan State Fair and Number Uno ratings from MichWine.com for his pinot grigios and Rieslings. As…
Continue reading “One Lucky Dude!” or Leave a comment (8)
May 13, 2007
Steve Grossnickle, Owner
The Great Race Dancesport Dance Contest was held at the Joyce Center on the campus of Notre Dame May 12, 2007. I was most fortunate and took first prize in Bronze II West Coast Swing and American Smooth, i.e, the three dances tango, waltz, and foxtrot. My partners were Cheryl Perry, amateur, and my pro instructor, Kathy Nate. They, of course, dance at my age level, be nice, and we did not dance against any wheel chair competitors. At night they had a professional show and Tony Dovolani from Dancing With The Stars gave an exhibition with his pro partner, Alena Grinenko and I must say he is the best! He is easily one of the ten best US dancers alive. It was most fun and next year I want to compete at the Open level, meaning dancing against the top competitors there. Steve
Continue reading “The Results Are In” or Leave a comment (0)
February 9, 2007
Steve Grossnickle, Owner
“Northern Vineyard”, an original painting by Mary Fuscaldo of Leelanau County, can now be viewed on the website, and as promised, it depicts the best of Leelanau county and with one look it can transport your memories there instantly. Using the glicee process, Mary reproduces extremely high quality reproductions and they are available at her studio and ultimately at the Forty-Five North tasting room. The Leelanau Wine Board recognized its beauty as well, and has chosen it for the 2007 Leelanau Wine Tour Brochure. Enjoy! Mary’s studio is located at 4249 Whitehall Rd. off County Rd. 620 in Leelanau County. The studio is always open, but call first, 231-256-2237.
Continue reading “"Northern Vineyard" by Mary Fuscaldo” or Leave a comment (0)
February 8, 2007
Steve Grossnickle, Owner
As previously stated, Maynard Johnston’s credentials and contacts run deep, and he is a part owner and good friend of Scott Harvey, founder of the Scott Harvey Wines of Napa Valley. After sampling some of Northern Michigan’s Rieslings, they are excited about producing a Riesling under the Leelanau Peninsula AVA. And, beyond excited, I, and now with two of California’s best along with Leelanau’s Doug Matthies, will be producing a Scott Harvey Riesling this fall at the Forty-Five North production facilities. Wow, as my father…
Continue reading “Scott Harvey Wines” or Leave a comment (0)
January 17, 2007
Eric Grossnickle, Designer
Stay tuned for pictures and updates as the production building continues to be built.
Continue reading “Welcome to Forty-Five North!” or View the comments (0)
January 17, 2009
Eric Grossnickle, Designer
If you had ever visited our old website, a small graphic in the upper-right read, “actual website coming soon.” Well, what was meant to be a temporary website served as our website for 1.5 years and offered little more information than what was included in the blog entries. Although it’s taken quite a bit longer than expected, I’m happy to finally roll out our new website. There’s now quite a bit of new information here including a little bit about our history and the tasting room, detailed information about each of our wines, a dedicated photo gallery, and a handy contact form. Also, if you’re the social networking type, you can now follow us on Twitter or find…
Continue reading “New Website” or Leave a comment (3)
June 22, 2009
Steve Grossnickle, Owner
Dissecting the term, “Tasting Room”, requires deeper analysis of both “tasting” and “room.” Tasting, as in winery, is defined as the olfactory experience of sampling wine, and as a privileged taster at an event in Napa with a select number of Australian vintners, I experienced wine judges doing what they do best: gargling, sucking, aerating and a host of other rather uncouth mouth and airway movements that would possibly offend Emily Post. In short, they take wine apart with their mouths. And, as a physician, after investigating tasting and the olfactory experience of wine tasting, I have found that there are non-tasters, tasters and super tasters among us. These three classes of individuals, and you are one of them, have our parents and their DNA input into our makeup to thank for this. The super tasters are…
Continue reading “Tasting Room ” or Leave a comment (5)
July 17, 2009
Steve Grossnickle, Owner
One might wonder about the title, Post and Beam, thinking it might be a newspaper, i.g., the Detroit Post and Beam, or possibly a personal injury attorney group, Post and Beam. Fortunately, neither is the case and it refers to the barn construction type for Forty-Five North’s new tasting room. The terms refer to the posts and beams supporting the entire structure. I had several days that will remain locked in memory working with the construction crew. They are a first class crew — Donnie Peplinski, Tim King, Justin…
Continue reading “Post and Beam” or Leave a comment (5)
November 28, 2009
Eric Grossnickle, Designer
We’ll be open later, 3-8pm, on the next three Fridays, Dec. 4th, 11th, and 18th, to give you more time for your holiday shopping. We’re now offering gift baskets, gift certificates, and of course, many great wines. Come out and visit!
Continue reading “Extended Holiday Hours” or Leave a comment (2)
December 31, 2009
Steve Grossnickle, Owner
A finishing touché in fencing indicates the final hit or touch with the epee or sword indicating ultimate victory, but in literature it is also a final acknowledgement of a telling or obvious statement.
Now that you’re horribly bored, I’m using the title of this blog entry as a play on words as the tasting room nears completion with just a few finishing touches. Almost everything is in place for a “soft opening” in February which will correspond to several releases of our 2009 vintages. Although 2009 was a bit of a struggle for Michigan winemakers, our winemaker Shawn Walters and his cellarmaster, David Hill, with help from Jason Buckler have created some masterful wines, carefully blending Washington state juices, high in sugar and pH, with our Michigan juices, low in sugar and pH. He has kept the ratios…
Continue reading “Finishing Touchés” or Leave a comment (0)
February 12, 2010
Eric Grossnickle, Designer
Our online store is now officially open! Just browse our Wines section the same as before, except now you’ll see a Buy button on each individual wine page. Select a quantity, click Buy, and then you’ll be presented with a message notifying you that it was added to your cart. You’ll also notice a mini-cart visible in the sidebar that will stay updated with your sub-total as you continue to shop around.
In celebration of our online grand opening, we’re offering 10% off your entire order if you use the discount code…
Continue reading “Online Store Now Open!” or Leave a comment (1)
