2008 Left Foot Charley Pinot Blanc Island View Vineyard

Community Tasting Notes (4) Avg Score: 91 points

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View wequedad's profile
  • Report Issue

  6/13/2010 - wequedad wrote: 92 Points

  This is the best wine made in Michigan. Like drinking champagne without the bubbles. Nicely acid, with great lemon zest and citrus notes that brought sighs and ahhh's. If you have not tried wines from LFC, you must ... you'll not be disappointed.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View mbenz's profile
  • Report Issue

  11/15/2009 - mbenz wrote: 91 Points

  Performed well again. Paired with a lobster asparagus salad. Lightly perfumed nose. Hints of peaches on the palate. Smooth finish. Just a really nice wine that should make this winemaker and the Grand Traverse wine region in general very proud.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View sweetstuff's profile
  • Report Issue

  9/23/2009 - sweetstuff wrote: 91 Points

  Left Foot Charley 2008 Pinot Blanc Old Mission Peninsula, Michigan, 'Island View Vineyard'; 12.5 pavbv; $18/750 ml; purchased at winery tasting room.
  
  http://www.cellartracker.com/labels/103122.jpg
  http://www.cellartracker.com/labels/103121.jpg
  Photos courtesy of cellar tracker.
  
  Owner/Winemaker Bryan Ulbrich has always been a man after my own heart and even more of an 'acid freak' than I am. This wine is from a 14-year old pampered Pinot blanc vineyard grown by Bryan's friend Werner Kuehnis, of Swiss extraction, and I do mean extraction.
  
  Cork-finished. Palest green. Nose is restrained but it's also intensely floral and has a peach nectar note to it.
  
  Light-bodied, with the juicy acidity to the fore, but with that distinctive fresh paper note the wines of the Old Mission Peninsula can show. Very appetizing, with warm honeyed peach/pear fruit, delicate but very focused, and a wonderful expression of the variety. Long and clean on the very inviting finish, upon which notes of tobacco and honey are evident. Great clarity and transparency.
  
  Proves that this fresh paper stuff is not limited to Riesling grown on the Old Mission Peninsula, but can be an influence on other wines there. [It's a particular note, that some would call mineral, tobacco, or herbal, and most likely due to the limestone reef subsoil (Petoskey stones, anyone?)] A brilliant wine. Drink now-2011. 91/100.
  
  Bryan and his friend Sean O'Keefe at Chateau Grand Traverse during in my recent visit to the Peninsula scored repeatedly high in my book, and even in this vintage which required extreme patience in the vineyard. (91 pts.)
  
  Other items tasted at the winery:
  
  2008 Pinot Grigio (60% Old Mission Peninsula and 40% Antrim County fruit, $15/750 ml): Good nose; pear and a touch of rosewater on the palate; very firm acid, 86/100
  
  2008 Riesling MD (for Medium Dry) Old Mission Peninsula ($15/750 ml): fresh paper, honey, cinnamon; fruity, with that sailing 2008 acidity. 87/100
  
  2008 Riesling Seventh Hill Farm ($22/750 ml): Tarragon and peaches, and paper on the nose; dry, lighter acid, with a very clean finish 89/100
  
  2008 Riesling Longcore Vineyard ($18/750 ml): Baked cherry, sparkling honey, complete in the mouth; very high acidity, very clean 90/100
  
  2007 Dry Riesling Old Mission Peninsula: reduced, meaty, dry, peachy, round on finish 92/100 (from a library bottling, thanks to Bryan).
  __________________

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View mbenz's profile
  • Report Issue

  8/15/2009 - mbenz wrote: 90 Points

  My gosh, I really liked this and so did our guests. Lightly perfumed nose. Classy!

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

Professional reviews have copyrights and you can view them here for your personal use only as private content. To view pro reviews you must either subscribe to a pre-integrated publication or manually enter reviews below. Learn more.