Originally posted in D-Tales here.
THE Robert Parker. The guy who instigated the infamous 100-point scale for rating wine and probably the most influential wine critic in history (the 100-point scale he introduced in his wine conoisseur newsletter The Wine Advocate became widely imitated by such publications as Wine Spectator and such second-rate critics as James Suckling, who most will agree is a tool). He named Traverse City's Left Foot Charley as one of the top producers east of the Rockies in his 7th Edition of Robert Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide.
I fondly remember my own experience in their tasting room earlier this year, and I will once again encourage my foodie readers to make the journey out to Traverse City. I had such a wonderful time there being fully immersed in Michigan's rich agricultural traditions and exploring all of the wonderful contributions of Michigan's farmers, winemakers, and chefs. Traverse City is a feel-good foodie paradise; if Pinot is your passion and sustainable cuisine your battle cry, look no further than Michigan's western shoreline.
Parker's acknowledgement of Left Foot Charley is a first for Michigan wines, and will increase Michigan's wineries' visibility in the global wine world. Granted my palate is not nearly as refined as some, I can say that I have in my life experienced a wide, full range of wines (some that have even cost in the quadruple-digits--I can also say that just because something is expensive doesn't it make it the best) from regions all over world; from low-production farms on tiny specks of land to the big-wig palatial Californian and Italian estates; from all over the Americas including south of the equator to southern Europe to eastern Europe to the Far East to South Africa to Down Under. In my most humble and sincere opinion, Michigan wines can compete on a global scale.
FYI: I said it before Robert Parker did.
Congratulations to Left Foot Charley, Bryan Ulbrich, and Old Mission Peninsula on this prestigious acknowledgement.
