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During
a recent sojourn in the Leelanau Peninsula, we took the
opportunity to join Joel and Sally Goldberg in paying a visit to
Dan and
Lucie Fontaine Matthies, the proprietors of
Chateau Fontaine,
located near Lake Leelanau. We had just enjoyed a bottle of
2005 Chateau
Fontaine Leelanau Woodland White a few nights previous, so while we were
primed for this little excursion, little did we realize that we were in
for an eye opening adventure. The Matthies started out as home winemakers, selling most of the grapes that they didn’t keep for their own use to Good Harbor Vineyards; their first commercial vintage was 1997, and they produce a fair range of dry and semidry whites, two dry reds and a cherry wine that my colleague Bill Schwab has described as the best in Michigan. |
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Dan was in the ski business when the first vineyard was planted; now,
besides growing grapes and being a winery owner, he is also a vineyard
realtor, and in that capacity, serves in perhaps his most important
role. As he explained to us, “I want it done right. I don’t want
vineyards planted in the wrong places, getting and spreading disease.”
He facilitates a good deal of the land sales intended for vineyard
development in Leelanau County, and told us of one instance in which
he’d been consulted to diagnose the ailment of a vineyard that was
dying. It seems it had been planted in the wrong place, a low-lying
patch of sand. The realtor who sold the property had erroneously told
the buyer that because it was in Leelanau County, he could grow grapes
there, and because the buyer thought the whole notion was romantic and
would be easy to accomplish he was in a hurry to start, it all went
wrong. Dan has a bead on virtually every aspect of the wine industry
there, which is, as we were to discover, on the cusp of a huge boom,
with an ongoing explosion of new plantings, as demand already exceeds
supply. Prime property sells for as much as $10,000-15,000 an acre at
present.  After exchanging pleasantries with Dan, Lucie and Nick the Winery Dog
(one of the many stars of the book
Wine Dogs), we four visitors piled
into Dan’s four-wheel drive with him and took a wild ride over hill and
dale (much of it off-road, sometimes on precarious inclines), observing
not only Matthies’ extensive plantings, but also those of a number of
his neighbors and colleagues.
Photo of Nick courtesy of
Michwine.com
“I want it done right. I
don’t want vineyards planted in the
Chateau Fontaine is located on what is known as the French Road Plane,
referring of course to French Road, which takes you right to the tasting
room. This area has some of the highest vineyard property in Michigan,
located 1,000-1,300 feet above sea level. Indeed, we sat upon the crest
of one of Matthies’ vineyards and could look out at both Lake Michigan
to the west and the West Arm of Grand Traverse Bay to the east. To call
the vista impressive is something of an understatement; Kim and I were
amazed to discover that such elevated (and hidden) vineyards existed
anywhere in the state. competitors here, we’re partners.”
Bastardo
Other Recent Wine Explorations
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(& One Pinky) Red Wings & Red Rhônes Playoff Diary - Round Two
Red Wings & Red Rhônes
Playoff Diary - Round One
Back to the Underground
Index
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Dan and Lucie bought their property in the mid-70s, and
now farm 27 out of
just under 100 acres. The original vineyard was planted out back from
the tasting room’s present location, on a southern facing slope where
potatoes once grew, at the suggestion of
In the course of our tour, we learned that an unnamed Michigan native
associated with the California wine industry has purchased property
bordering the Matthies’, and has 1,600 Chardonnay vines already planted.
Dan facilitated the transaction, and son Doug Matthies
(left, with Dan Matthies), owner of
Big Paw
Vineyard Services, did the planting. As it turns out, Doug’s Big Paw
operation is responsible for putting in about half of the vines in
Leelanau County. Doug himself owns 100 acres on Dufek Road, which will
be planted to Merlot and Auxerrois. Photo courtesy of
Dan showed us very large vineyard tracts just east of Lake Leelanau that
were planted by Doug for Leelanau Cellars, which has poured hundreds of
thousands of dollars into them. But even they didn’t fully prepare us
for our first sight of the until then under-the-radar, close to fully
built, state-of-the-art winery a little bit further to the east, called
We
returned to the tasting room and Dan, Lucie and Nick sampled us through
all of their current offerings. While there we rubbed elbows with a
reporter and a photographer on assignment for the New York Times
scouting the area for an upcoming piece in the Travel section. We also
had the opportunity to meet Doug Matthies, who just happened to stop by.
Total case production at Chateau Fontaine is a little over 5,000 cases;
almost all of the wines weigh in at around 12% alcohol by volume.
