Home to Modern Craft wines, the Silver Lining is a tasting room/gift shop featuring all of the…read morewines under the Modern Craft name and what an array of wines they have.
We stopped in while traveling up north and were pleasantly surprised to find a cute little wine tasting room in the small town of West Branch, of all places. I've been to West Branch several times before (we usually stay at a cabin on the water with our friends), but I've never seen anything associated with a winery here before, so I had absolutely no idea what I was missing!
They had quite an array of reasonably-priced wines, starting around $11 and going up from there to around $22 per bottle. We were offered a free wine sampling of a couple of different varieties, including a semi-dry, but buttery chardonnay ($11), which had a nice, rich flavor for a lower-priced bottle of wine. I would recommend that anyone who likes white wines. It was a hit with me after just one sip. It wasn't too dry or too sweet. It had some nice, subtle notes that I could detect afterward.
Next, we tried a chocolate wine. My husband was very hesitant at first, but came around on it after giving it a chance. I liked it, myself, too. It was a richer wine, probably not for everybody's taste, but I found it quite suitable. We were told it was infused with Mackinac Island Fudge, so that must be what gave it its incredibly distinct chocolate taste. If you like chocolate or fudge, this one is a winner.
The manager/owner suggested mixing it with Modern Craft's cherry wine for optimal effect. He said the two bring out the best notes in each other. He then paired them together for me and you know what? He was right. Count me in! Another winner. He was both engaging and quite knowledgeable about the wines they had in stock. He definitely knew his stuff.
Beyond that, there were several other interesting wines at a mid-range price point that looked worth trying, including a blackberry wine and a variety of lighter, fruity wines, suitable for a summer evening.
They had a special on some discontinued seasonal wine, running about 50% off, which was a bargain.
Aside from the tasting room, the space is home to a small gift shop featuring home decor and accessories. I didn't bother to check it out too well, but looking around I saw some cute things that I would like. I wish I had taken a little more time to check out the gift shop as well, but I focused my visit solely on the wine tasting.
I'm really glad we stopped in. It made for most pleasant side trip foray. I would never have known this place was here if I hadn't decided to stop into town just to look around for an hour or two.
