$302 Raised for AC PAW at the Spring Sip & Savor

Thank you to everyone who donated to AC PAW Animal Rescue during this year's Spring Sip & Savor! Over Saturday and Sunday of this past weekened, we raised $302 to help the sick, abused, homeless, and unwanted pets at AC PAW.

For those of you not familiar with AC PAW, they are a non-profit no-kill animal rescue. Since 1995, they have rescued over 7,000 cats and dogs here in northern Michigan. AC PAW holds a special place in our heart. For our regular guests you may remember our black lab, Gina. She was found with her brothers and sisters on the side of the road near our vineyard as a puppy. We called AC PAW and they helped to take care of the pups, spay/neuter them, and find loving forever homes for all of them except for Gina. We kept her and she spent her days living the good life at our vineyard.

If you'd still like to donate to AC PAW, we will happily accept donations anytime at our tasting room.

Cheers!

Photos from Taste the Passion Wine Tour

We had an excellent time during the Annual Taste the Passion Wine Tour! This year we served our 2011 Pinot Gris with clam chowder and offered cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in our vineyard to our visitors. 

Check out a few of the photos from the weekend. Photos were taken by our friend, Kathleen Swinehart! 

$318 Raised for AC PAW at Taste the Passion

Thank you to everyone who donated to AC PAW Animal Rescue during this year's Taste the Passion! Over Saturday and Sunday of this past weekened, we raised $318 to help the sick, abused, homeless, and unwanted pets at AC PAW.

For those of you not familiar with AC PAW, they are a non-profit no-kill animal rescue. Since 1995, they have rescued over 7,000 cats and dogs here in northern Michigan. AC PAW holds a special place in our heart. For our regular guests you may remember our black lab, Gina. She was found with her brothers and sisters on the side of the road near our vineyard as a puppy. We called AC PAW and they helped to take care of the pups, spay/neuter them, and find loving forever homes for all of them except for Gina. We kept her and she spent her days living the good life at our vineyard.

If you'd still like to donate to AC PAW, we will happily accept donations anytime at our tasting room.

Cheers!

Small Plates Event - Saturday, June 16

The days are getting longer and summer is just about here! We have so many exciting events coming up, but you won't want to miss this one! With a cost of only $15 per person per seating, it's quickly becoming known as one of the greatest values of the season.

Join us for the Leelanau Peninsula Vintner's Association's 3rd Annual Small Plates Event on Saturday, June 16th. The event will feature eight of the member wineries and offers a full glass of wine paired with a tapas dish at each location. 

At Silver Leaf, we will have 3 separate seatings, one hour each from 6:00-9:00pm. We're limited to 20 people at each seating, so make sure you purchase your tickets soon!

Check out the list of small plates pairings from the participating wineries:

2012 SMALL PLATES PAIRINGS

Bel Lago
Bel Lago will be pairing their 2010 Pinot Grigio with Chicken Paillard with an asiago crust and Lemon Caper sauce accompanied by a salad of local greens.

Black Star Farms
Black Star Farms will be serving their own Hard Apple Cider brined pork tenderloin with bacon, shiitake mushroom and goat cheese risotto, candied fig butter and red onion agrodulce. This amazing dish will be paired with 2011 Arcturos Cabernet Franc Rosé..

Chateau Fontaine
At Chateau Fontaine, Paul Carlson, the chef from Bella Fortuna, will be preparing Seared Scallops with Toscanelli Bean Puree, crispy Housemade Panchetta, and a Lemon/ Spring Pea Shoot Pesto. Served with award winning 2011 Pinot Blanc.

Ciccone Winery
Tris Mediterraneo will be the theme for the evening at Ciccone Vineyard. We will be serving champignon : Small Mushroom stuffed with Crumb Bread, Cheese, Mushroom and Parsley.- asparagus wrapped in a puffy pastry with ham and shaved Parmesan cheese and Arancine – made with saffron rice and meat ragu; all paired with our Riesling. (second seating only)

Forty-Five North
45 North is partnering with Ethnic Garden Catering and doing a semi spicy-sweet and savory coconut curry with shrimp and rice noodles paired with their choice of 2010 dry Riesling or 2009 semi dry Riesling.

Gills Pier
Gills Pier’s Chef de Cuisine is Kristin Karam of K2 Events and Edibles. They will serve Majaraja Curry (tomato, chickpea, cinnamon and cream with a bit of spice) served over basmati rice with vegetarian or lamb kabobs. The pairing will be the 2011 Semi-dry Estate Riesling. Vegetarians welcome! Contact the tasting room to specify: 231.256.7003 – Laurie@gillspier.com

Silver Leaf
Silver Leaf will serve Butterflied Prawn with Andouille sausage & Remoulade sauce paired with their 2010 Riesling.

Verterra
To demonstrate the versatility of Rieslings and Spicy Asian cooking, Verterra is serving a Chinese spicy, crispy Hunan prepared Catfish with a Tempura batter to be paired with a medium sweet Riesling.

For tickets, please visit the Leelanau Peninsula Vintner's Association's website. 

Spring Sip & Savor - Make-A-Wish Foundation Donations

We are proud to announce that in lieu of our fee for our full tasting menu during the Spring Sip & Savor this upcoming weekend, we will be accepting donations for the Make-A-Wish Foundation!

We were on a recent trip to/from Chicago when we stopped at a rest stop to let our dogs, Abby and Enzo, out of the car for a break. We ran into a family with an adorable young daughter who wanted to pet the dogs. After we started talking we realized they were on a trip to DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids with their five-year-old daughter, Nora. Nora is currently in stage four renal failure and will have a kidney transplant this fall. 

The Make-A-Wish Foundation will help Nora's family to celebrate the end of her reanal failure journey by donating an all expenses paid trip to Disney World. With donations to this wonderful organization families like Nora can help to forget about the ugly events in their life and celebrate the amazing ones.

Please read Nora's story posted below as told by her mom, Tonya. Nora was our inspiration, and as you can tell, she is quite inspirational. 

See you on the wine trail!

Spring Sip & Savor - May 5 & 6, 2012

Join us the weekend of May 5th & 6th for the Leelanau Peninsula Vintners' Association's Annual Spring Sip & Savor wine trail event. As our vineyards wake to the sun & warmth of May, we kick off the season with a brunch-themed wine and food pairing at each of the 18 wineries on the wine trail.
Visit up to 8 wineries on Saturday from 11 to 6pm, and up to 8 on Sunday from noon to 6pm.

We will be featuring our Purple Passion served as a Sangria with a classic Spanish tapas, Patatas Brava, spicy and hot potatoes with a Brava sauce to match, along with another classic, Chorizo Brazed in Red Wine. Our prize of a Silver Leaf gift certificate will be given for “La chica en un sombrero más guapo” (the woman in the most beautiful hat).

Tickets are just $35 and include wine and food pairings at each winery, a commemorative glass and a $5 gift certificate, that can be used at any LPVA winery.

For ticket information, please visit http://www.lpwines.com/

Taste the Passion Wine Tour

Thank you to everyone who joined us this past weekend for the 2012 Taste the Passion! On behalf of the Silver Leaf Vineyard & Winery staff, we thank you! We hope you had as much fun as we did.

Toast the Season Wine Tour

It's almost time to once again Toast the Season! This year's Toast the Season Wine Tour takes place over two November weekends, the weekends of the 5th and 6th and the 12th and 13th. 

The tour is self-guided and you may visit 8 of the 18 member LPVA wineries each day in whatever order you desire between the hours of 11am to 5pm Saturday and noon to 5pm Sunday.

The tour features a special wine pour accompanied by holiday themed gourmet food at each of the 18 Leelanau Peninsula member wineries. At your starting winery you will be given a commemorative glass, an LPVA holiday ornament and a holiday gift bag featuring local, fair trade and organic food and more!

For tickets or more information, visit www.lpwines.com.