I hate Christmas shopping. I hate all shopping, but Christmas shopping is the worst, so I try to do it in the easiest ways possible. I use to be able to order wine on line, but our lovely government decided to make that illegal so now I have to go out to buy wine to send out to my friends and family.
I decided to go to the Fenton Winery & Brewery, to shop and to have lunch (may as well kill two birds with one stone). The Fenton Winery is located in a shopping strip right on Fenton Rd (or Leroy) in Fenton, MI. It's not very noticeable from the street unless you are looking for it. Don't judge a winery by it's facade though! While it's quite plain and unassuming on the outside, the inside is inviting with warm colors and soft lights.
The winery has a variety of wines to choose from, and tastes are free except for the ice wine, that is $2 a taste. The ice wine is probably the best wine they have, if you like sweet wines. It's light, fruity, and crisp. Almost worth $2 a sip...almost. I bought 3 bottles of it and at $21.95 a bottle, you'd think they'd wave the $2 sip cost since I bought 3, but nope!
I also sampled the Lotus Blossom White Merlot, the Orange Label Red Cabernet Merlot, and the Autumn Breeze Pomegranate Riesling. The Lotus Blossom is a semi-sweet blush. It is sweet on the tongue, but with a dry finish. The Orange Label Red smelled like butter to me, and it was a little dry but the finish even tasted like butter. I've never had a Cabernet like it. The Autumn Breeze was another sweet white wine, with just a hint of pomegranate flavor. If you like Rieslings to begin with, you'll like this wine.
For lunch I decided on the Steak Ciabatta Sandwich. It was Delicious! It's thinly sliced grilled rib eye steak with melted Swiss cheese and Dijon/horseradish sauce on toasted ciabatta bread. The only way this could possibly be better is if there were sauteed onions on it. The meat was tender, but still firm enough to chew, and most importantly it didn't come out wet! I hate when I order a sandwich like this and the meat comes out as if it had been sitting in a bucket of water all day! Wet meat loses flavor, is messy and generally unappetizing (you have to admit that wet meat is a gross thought) so I was very pleased that the meat was not wet. The sandwich came with a side of watermelon chunks.
Since I was having a late lunch and it was happy hour ($1 off drinks) I decided to have a glass of ice wine. The server poured a cordial glass of wine for me. Sigh. I ate my lunch, drank my wine, and since they advertise being a WiFi ready location, I attempted to access the internet. The winery has a closed network, but if you ask they will give you the id and password to access it. It took several tries. When I requested the info the server just handed me a slip of paper without any explanation, the name of the network had changed, and the password was very long and easy to screw up when typing on an iPod Touch, but I finally got on.
I like Fenton Winery & Brewery, the food was good, the wine excellent (if a bit pricey), and the atmosphere is comfortable; but if you want to use WiFi, don't try it on a small touch screen. Next time, I'll take my laptop or just a friend to talk with.
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