DAY 3
Kurt wanted to check out the Leelanau peninsula today so that’s what we did. We started out with brunch at Patisserie Amie, a French place I found on yelp. We both had crepes and coffee which were excellent. I could have gone for champagne as well but knew we had a full day of wine tasting ahead and didn’t want to start too early.
We drove up the eastern side of M-22, stopping first at Brengman Brothers winery where we sipped some wine (our first wine tasting!!) but I’m not sure we bought anything. We ended up with two cases of wine after our trip so we bought some wine somewhere but I lost track of what from where.
Kurt wanted to stop at Black Star winery since he had tasted some wine from there at the Grand Rapids wine fest last fall that he wanted to see if he could find. I don’t think we found that particular one but I know we walked out of there with quite a few bottles.
From there we drove through Suttons Bay and up to Leelanau Cellars. They’re located right on Grand Traverse Bay tucked into their own Omena Bay. It was sparkling blue waters as far as the eye could see. Their tasting rooms by far have one of the best views – all lake and boats. You could eat here, too, but we didn’t. Bought about six bottles from here. All super yummy.
After that we cut across Leelanau peninsula and headed towards Leland, stopping to take some vista type pictures along the way. It’s seriously gorgeous out here. I love it.
Leland was quaint and just as I remembered. Bought some sandwiches from a place that was closing for the day at 5 PM. Also stopped in at Verterra Winery which is tucked down a side street in Leland. They ended up being one of my favorite wineries. I especially loved their unoaked Chardonnay. I’m not really a Chardonnay drinker but the very nice lady explained it could be that I don’t like the oak. Most Chardonnays are oaked but they had one that wasn’t and I loved it. Definitely bought some of that along with their Chaos Sparkler and Chaos Red (a super smooth easy drinking red). We’ll definitely be back!
On our way to Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive to watch the sunset (something we did on our honeymoon up here nine years ago), we bumped into the old abandoned Sugar Loaf Resort. Somehow Kurt thought it was the same one I found a couple years ago that was for sale for like $300K but I didn’t think it was the same one. Still took a ton of pictures and looked it up online and found that it’s still for sale for $8.7 million. It’s been vacant for 15 years. Yikes. Can’t afford that!
Made it to Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive tucked into the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park just at sunset. Got to watch the whole sunset this time. What a gorgeous location.
