Chicago ABC affiliate WLS-TV recently ran a segment on sparkling wines as an alternative to champagne and mad not of two such wines from Leelanau.

And finally, two sparkling wines from Michigan: L. Mawby and Good Harbor.

“These are both from the Leelenau Peninsula in Northern Michigan, not far from Traverse City, and surprisingly enough they’ve been making wines up there for decades. It’s the climate up there, it’s especially good soils and a cool climate for sparkling grapes; for sparkling grapes you need a cool climate because you need a long growing season. 100 percent pinot noir, and what you’ll notice about it is a slight copper color to it, its not a rose’ because there’s no maceration with the skins; this is just the natural color of pinot noir juice. These will both be in the $18 to $20 range.”

Read the article and watch the video “Champagne isn’t all that sparkles” on WLS-TV’s website.

Photo credit: sparkling wine by zakzorah