WaterFire
Week 22 - May 28-June 3
I'm standing under an open wall (garage doors) looking in
Something to Love
I love a commitment to sustainability as much as anyone, but even more I love a deep understanding of truly sustainable practices, the role of third party regulation, sustainable business and marketing, and the impact of sustainable practices on water, soil, plants, animals, people, communities, and ecosystems encompasing all of it. I had never heard of SIP Certified until visiting WaterFire. SIP Certified is positioned as an equal and-then-some alternative to USDA Certified Organic, which I can't be objective about due to working in the Organic Regulatory sector and a firm believer in it. But I don't see it always as either-or, and based on this experience I am confident that good things are happening for the land, people, and wines involved here. Oh, and of course, I LOVE the friendly vineyard dog - friendly in greeting but not needy, just a herding dog doing his work in between all-day naps.
Summary
WaterFire's perspective is its sustainability commitments and being outside. The tiny building sprawls into an indoor/outdoor space with beautiful vineyard views and a lower terrace with a pond and rope bridge. A small wood stove hints that the patio is open in the colder months which I don't even want to think about on a 90F-degree (32C) day like this one. The wine menu is refreshingly tiny. This is my first visit to a winery in Antrim county, and I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't this - classy, open, green, and friendly, with seriously good wines and sustainability commitment.
Two Wines
2021 Gruner Veltliner 🍇🍇
NV Cuvee Blanc 🍇🍇 (I bought a bottle)
TCWY Wine Ratings:
🍇🍇🍇Best of the region (top 10%)
🍇🍇As good as the rest of the region
🍇Not as good as the rest of the region
To learn more about our wine rating system, click here
Something to Do
Sit outside! Literally the tasting room opens via two large garage doors that make up the entire wall giving way to a truly indoor-outdoor space. I had enough shade to be comfortable but my computer started to overheat after 90 minutes. There is a pond and rope bridge on the terrace below and some adirondacks for seating there.
Something to Hope For
I spent much of my adult life in Chicago, and there is a territorial vibe to the neighborhoods that borders on psychosis. When meeting someone or even hearing a story about them secondhand, you can sometimes accurately guess where they live. (Chicago is also famously racially segregated, with few exceptions such as Rogers Park, Humboldt Park, and Beverly, with racially diverse populations not due to gentrification, and I suppose I should examine that most of the neighborhoods I know are predominantly white and/or gentrified, a phenomenon of systemic oppression that deserves to be examined). When I moved to Traverse City, I saw this same loyalty and personal brand manifest most in "what lake" someone is. A family cottage, a series of summer visits, or an actual residence qualify for planting a stake to claim "your" lake. I don't know much about Torch Lake and the surrounding towns (I didn't even know where Kewadin was until today) and "my" lake is Long Lake, way over on the other side of Grand Traverse County. But there is something about lake-claiming and identity that bothers me. The lakes are all amazing (ahem, just like the wineries?) and we get such precious few weeks to enjoy their summer manifestations. Dividing us into "mine" and "not mine" or, worse, "not yours," is never good. Also the Charc plate was not worth $17 as it was a welcome munch but 50%+ crackers. Let's hope that could go away or improve. Cheers!
