The Best Rieslings in Traverse City: A Tasting Guide

Ask any serious wine person to name the world's greatest white wine grape and most will say Riesling. It ages longer than Chardonnay. It expresses terroir more vividly than almost any other variety. It comes in a broader range of styles — from searingly dry to lusciously sweet — than any wine most people have tried. And for decades, the best American examples have come not from California or Oregon, but from the cool lakeside slopes of northern Michigan.

The Traverse City wine region — Old Mission and Leelanau Peninsulas together — is unambiguously the finest Riesling-producing area in the United States. The combination of latitude (45th parallel, same as Alsace), the thermal moderating effect of Grand Traverse Bay, and the glacially deposited, well-drained soils creates conditions that Riesling genuinely loves. The wines that result are aromatic, tense, and precise in a way that sets them clearly apart from anything grown in warmer climates.

This guide covers everything you need to know about Traverse City Riesling — the styles, the best producers, how to taste it, and where to find it on your visit.

Riesling is the great chameleon of wine. Bone dry or honeyed sweet, young and electric or aged into something complex and profound — no other grape gives the winemaker this range. And nowhere in America does it ripen more beautifully than here.

Understanding Riesling Styles

The most important thing to understand before you start tasting Traverse City Rieslings is that "Riesling" covers an enormous range of sweetness levels. Unlike most grape varieties where the label tells you most of what you need to know, Riesling without additional context can be anything from completely dry (no perceptible sweetness) to so sweet it's essentially dessert wine. Knowing the basic style categories will help you order with confidence.

Most Traverse City wineries produce Riesling across at least two or three of these style categories. When tasting, ask the pour staff which style they're serving — many will be happy to walk you through the range from dry to sweet within a single producer's lineup, which is one of the most educational wine experiences you can have.

The Best Riesling Producers in Traverse City

How to Taste Riesling Like a Pro

Riesling is one of the most sensory-rich wines you can taste, and a few simple techniques will help you get the most from a tasting room visit.

Look at the color. Young dry Rieslings are typically pale gold with green hints. As they age — and good Riesling ages beautifully, sometimes for decades — the color deepens to golden amber. A late harvest or ice wine will be noticeably deeper in color than a dry style even when young.

Smell before you sip. Riesling's aromatics are its calling card. Hold the glass under your nose and take a slow breath. You should find some combination of citrus (lime, lemon, grapefruit), stone fruit (peach, apricot), floral notes (jasmine, rose), and in older or warmer-climate examples, that distinctive petrol or kerosene note that wine people call "petrichor" and that marks a classic aged Riesling. Michigan Rieslings tend to be more citrus-forward than German or Alsatian versions.

Notice the acidity. The defining characteristic of great Riesling — what makes it age so well and pair so brilliantly with food — is its acidity. You'll feel it as a bright, almost electric sensation at the sides of your tongue. In a well-made dry Riesling, the acidity is bracing but not harsh. In a sweet Riesling, the same acidity provides the backbone that keeps the wine from tasting cloying.

Don't let sweetness fool you. Many visitors write off semi-sweet or off-dry Riesling as a "beginner wine," which is a mistake. The world's greatest and most expensive Rieslings — German Trockenbeerenauslese, Alsatian Vendange Tardive — are sweet wines. Sweetness is not a quality indicator; balance is. A great off-dry Riesling where the sugar and acidity are in perfect equilibrium is more impressive than a mediocre dry white wine.

Riesling and Food: The Perfect Pairings

Riesling might be the world's most food-versatile wine. Its high acidity, moderate alcohol (typically 10–12%), and range of sweetness levels make it a natural partner for everything from delicate fish to spicy Thai food to rich pork dishes. Here are some pairings that work particularly well with Traverse City Rieslings.

When to Visit for Riesling

Riesling harvest on the Traverse City peninsulas typically runs from late September through October — later than most other varieties, since the grape benefits from the extended hang time that the bay's thermal moderation allows. Visiting during harvest season gives you the chance to taste freshly harvested fruit and sometimes witness the harvest itself.

For ice wine — Chateau Grand Traverse's most legendary product — the harvest doesn't happen until temperatures drop below 17°F and the frozen grapes are hand-picked, usually in January or February. Ice wine quantities are tiny and prices reflect the extraordinary effort involved. If you're visiting in winter and see it available at a tasting room, buy a bottle.

Peak tasting season for Riesling — when you'll have the widest selection of current and library vintages available — is May through October. Many tasting rooms stock vertical flights of older Rieslings that demonstrate exactly how gracefully this grape ages; these are among the most educational tastings available anywhere in the region.

Northern Michigan Riesling is one of American wine's best-kept secrets — but not for much longer. Wine writers who make the trip north are increasingly enthusiastic, and several Traverse City producers have started winning national competitions outright. If you're visiting this region, tasting the Rieslings isn't optional. It's the point.