Exploring the Southern Shore Wine Trail

When the hubby found out where he was going for regionals this year, I texted my cousin who didn’t live to far away asking her if she wanted to join me one day and hit some wineries or something. She agreed and I started planning a Northern Indiana/Southern Michigan Wine Trip. I initially was just going to stay in Northern Indiana as there were several wineries about an hour from Munster. Then I realized that Michigan wasn’t too far away and they had many more wineries… a whole trail to be exact (the Southern Shore Wine Trail)

I narrowed the list down to my top 6 wineries mainly based off of the distance from Munster, the websites/wine offerings and the name of the winery. I picked 2 in Indiana and 5 in Michigan. I figured we could hit 3 to 4 wineries. I know that 3 was probably my max. The 7 I picked were:

* Butler Winery
* Shady Creek Winery
* Lazy Ballerina
* Lemon Creek
* Round Barn
* Tabor Hill Champagne Cellar
* 12 Corners Vineyards and Winery

A few days beforehand, I narrowed it down to my top 3 -- 2 in Michigan and 1 in Indiana. Jeanne decided we should start in Michigan and then head back towards Munster.

* Butler Winery
* Lazy Ballerina
* Lemon Creek

LEMON CREEK
Because Lazy Ballerina didn’t open until noon, we started at Lemon Creek Winery in Berrien Springs. It was a small winery with a farm stand outside. There was another couple already tasting and was getting a lot of 1 on 1 attention. We were helped by another worker and it almost seemed like we were inconveniencing her. It was $7 for 5 tastings with a keepsake glass. Jeanne and I tried to sample different wines so we could also taste each other’s.

I tasted Lighthouse White, Pinot Grigio, Silver Beach Saunterne, Lighthouse Red, and Cherry Wine. I don't remember what Jeanne had. I know hers were drier wines.

At first we weren’t going to buy any wine mainly because of how we were treated but we did each end up getting a bottle. I bought a bottle of Silver Beach Saunterne which I’m hoping the hubby likes.

LAZY BALLERINA
After leaving Lemon Creek, we headed up to St. Joseph. Since Lazy Ballerina was right downtown, we parked downtown and decided to check out the cute downtown before going to the winery. We stopped in the 5 and 10 store and had a good laugh. I found some new stylish sunglasses. The antique store was my kind of antique store – not stuffy. It reminded me of an old lady’s rummage sale – knickknacks, sheet music, posters, and other actually useful stuff for non-antique type people.

On every corner downtown there were these whimsical bug statues.

We stopped at the South Bend Chocolate Factory for lunch. I had a grilled cheese and Jeanne had a tuna salad sandwich. When the cashier asked what I wanted with my sandwich and rattled off a list of chips including goldfish crackers, I was like you have goldfish? I will have them please. I also had a bottle of butterscotch root beer. The grilled cheese was very good but I could only eat half. It felt like such a waste not being able to bring it home. The root beer was ‘eh ok. It was not what I expected.

Since it was now after 12:00, we made our way to the winery. It was a very cute family owned winery. They don’t own their own vineyards but get grapes from all over Lower Michigan. Despite having several groups to serve, the owner was very pleasant, answered any questions we had, and didn’t make us feel like we were interrupting her day.

It was $8 for 5 tastings and you got a keepsake glass and a chocolate truffle. Again Jeanne and I tried to sample different wines to get a taste of most of their wines.

I sampled Sweet Nita's White, White Swan, Pink Tutu, Demi-Plie, and Nita's Red. I don't remember all that Jeanne sampled but she did try the Cranberry.

We each ended up buying a bottle… mine as a Christmas gift and Jeanne bought the Cranberry wine for Thanksgiving which I won’t get to have since it’s our year to be with the hubby’s family.

We drove by the lighthouse (or as close as we could without crossing a bridge) and the Lake. The weather was getting stormy and we just beat the storm out of town. Those poor people at the beach that got stuck in it.

After we left Lemon Creek, we decided to go to Shady Creek Winery instead of Butler Winery since we kept seeing billboards for it in Indiana. The only reason I picked Butler Winery was I didn't like the Shady Creek Website.

SHADY CREEK WINERY
We made a good decision. This by far was our favorite winery. The tasting was $8 for 5 tastings if I remember correctly. The winery bar was packed with people. You could order lunch or snacks. The wine workers were helpful and friendly. The only downside was we didn't get a keepsake glass but really I have enough wine glasses. It must be a Michigan Thing.  To help decide which wines you wanted to try and wanted to buy, they gave you a sheet with all the wines on it.

I sampled Beach Glass, Pink Sky, White Caps, Natural Cherry Fruit Wine, and Sweet Sunrise. Like the other wineries, some were white and others were red. I tried to stick to sweeter wines as that's what I prefer but I did sample drier ones since that's what Jeanne prefers.

I came home with a bottle of Sweet Sunrise.

Overall it was a great day. Unfortunately because of the weather, I didn't miss all that much baseball. I like visiting wineries but it is one of those things you really don't want to do alone. I'm sure I can always find a few people to go on a wine road trip....