Tag Archives: Ed O’Keefe

Bowers Harbor: The House That Jack Built

The yellow brick road that led to  Michigan’s top selling Pinot grigio began inside a stockbroker’s office, and the story gets stranger from there. Start with the winemaker and proprietor, Spencer Stegenga.  A lot of local agriculture families have made … Continue reading

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Inside The Scatterbrain Of Sean O’Keefe

(Part One of a two part interview with Chateau Grand Traverse VP Sean O’Keefe; both parts appear in Heart & Soil: Grand Traverse Wine Country, set for release Dec., 2014) ‘Scatterbrain’ is his word, not mine.  Actually, Sean O’Keefe is … Continue reading

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Dueling Digits: Michigan AVA Vs. Michigan AVA?

Michigan’s shape has been compared to a mitten so often that our nickname is ‘The Mitten State’.  Colloquial claptrap, my good people.   What kind of mitten has an Upper Peninsula?  And if you think that the Yoopers don’t count, next … Continue reading

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The O’Keefes: Putting The Grand Into Traverse Bay

As ‘heavyweight’ is not a term to be used lightly, ‘grand’ must be accompanied by a certain level of grandeur, as in Grandfather Time, grandioso or Chateau Grand Traverse. Meanwhile, Old Mission’s heavyweight title belt remains firmly around the midsection … Continue reading

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Michigan’s Rieslings: Quality on Ice

Among the endless ‘doh’ moments experienced by Michigan’s frost-bitten, hard-scrabble winemakers is that the grape they grow best, riesling, accounts for less than two percent of retail wine sales nationwide. Consumer ignorance is perfectly excusable since riesling is vinified in … Continue reading

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