Breathtaking views, first class hospitality and exciting wines welcomed us to the Old Mission Península of Michigan a couple of weeks ago when we visited Mari Vineyards and the Peninsula for the first time. This stunning Italian inspired winery sits on top of a hill overlooking the crystal clear blue waters of the Grand Traverse Bay. Mari Vineyards is the vision of Marty Lagina, a former engineer and energy business pioneer now turned treasure hunter as you can witness by watching the tv show The Curse of Oak Island.

As you might know, Harvest season in wine country is a combination of pure excitement and organized chaos. There is not much time for anything, but to make sure that the grapes are being picked at their prime and that they make it unharmed to the winery as soon as possible. We love the energy in wine country during this time of the year, but as you can imagine it’s a hard time to catch up with the winemakers and the winery owners. Fortunately, for us we had an amazing surprise when Ariel Angelini, Casa Petrini’s Winemaker, decided to guide us through a tasting of their just harvested Chardonnay.