Hickory Creek Winery is a boutique winery with a passion for classic, refined European wines made from locally grown grapes.
Mike de Schaaf, our winemaker, expertly crafts every bottle of wine as if each is a masterpiece.
All of our wines are hand-crafted from vine to label.
- Our fruit is selected and harvested based on flavors; not numbers.
- All small lot fermentation.
- We age our wines in French oak barrels and steel tanks.
- Individual lots are kept separate until final blending. We never mix vintages.
- Our Winemaker, Mike de Schaaf, is involved in every part of the wine making process: from managing vineyards, to blending, and writing tasting notes to pair with food.
- 100% Lake Michigan Shore AVA
LATEST NEWSMay 4, 2013What do we mean by Old World?
Hickory Creek is known for crafting wine in the Old World style. We’ve had many customers ask what this means…and what exactly IS the difference is between Old World and New World wines?
Old World wines are from Europe, where strict laws governing viniculture and winemaking apply. These laws help protect age old traditions and dictate strict adherence to local governance where the wine is made (like Champagne and Bordeaux). These wines emanate from a sense of “place” as they are terroir driven wines. Hickory Creek’s wines are similar to what is found in France, Germany, Austria and Northern Italy due to our cooler climate and terroir (to some extent). Generally, Old World wines can be defined as being more elegant, have higher acidity to pair with a meal, and possess a more obvious mineral, savory and herbaceous character. If you have read our tasting notes, you’ve probably noticed we’ve used descriptions like “pencil shavings” to define the graphite flavor in our ’09 Pinot Noir, or herbs descriptors like tarragon, fennel, and white pepper. We also find more earthy characteristics which is very much reflected in European wines.
New World wines come from all other places in the world – including the U.S., Canada, and countries in the southern hemisphere like Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile and Argentina. The characteristics of New World style are described as more fruit-forward, higher alcohol and full bodied. Think the jammy Zinfandel from California, or the lemony citrus of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. These wines can be enjoyed on their own, but the flip side to that is they can also overpower with fruit and alcohol.
If you want to learn more, we offer private behind the scenes tastings at our winery. We can take you through the techniques we use to achieve our Old World style wines and offer barrel samples. Just give us a call or email to arrange. We’ll make you a wine geek in no time!
