Leelanau County Wine Dinner at Cherry Basket Farm in Northport

Friday evening was a zenith of this Leelanau County summer. The stars—and the wine, the harvest, the cuisine, the landscape and two Polish egg-laying hens housed in a scrolled metal cage—aligned to show off the good life lived on this Lake Michigan Peninsula.

It happened at Cherry Basket Farm in Northport where chefs Cammie Buehler and Andy Schudlich operate Epicure Catering. Cammie and Andy use the dramatically verdant setting to host events like weddings and anniversies. But the occasion on this balmy eve, when smoke-colored clouds floating across a blue sky cast shadows over the orchards, fields and gardens, was a dinner featuring the wines of winemaker Shawn Walters of Forty-Five North Vineyard and Winery and showcasing Michigan food and the magic that it becomes in the talented hands of the staff of Epicure Catering.

After grazing on a charcuterie display set in the garden and served with 45 North’s NV Peach Cremant, Andy and Cammie invited their 27 guests into the 19th-century barn, with its rough, whitewashed stone walls and table spread with white linen and set with candles, bouquets of snapdragons and zinnias from nearby Meadowlark Farm, glossy china, sparkling silver and shiny glassware—plenty of it because we had five more wines to work our way through before the night was finished.

Guests included celebrity chef Mario Batali and his wife, Susi Cahn, who summer on the Leelanau Peninsula. Batali has been a big supporter of Epicure Catering since he began using the kitchen here to cook and serve benefit dinners for the Leelanau Conservancy several years ago. On this night, Mario happily yielded the kitchen to Andy and Cammie and their staff, and the limelight to the man of the hour, Shawn Walter—owner of those Polish hens (he and his wife CeCe Chatfield brought them along from their farm to prove to Mario how seriously we take our local food up here!), and one of the North’s most medal-bedecked winemakers. You don't have to hang out with Shawn long to discover that he is the enfant terrible of the Up North wine industry who possesses a refreshingly colorful way of touting his his purist wine making philosophy. Advice: if you show up at a dinner party and he is there, grab a seat next to him as I was fortunate enough to do. He and CeCe are the life of the party.

Here’s a picture book of this picture-perfect evening. Know this before you read on: Everything on the menu, including the shrimp was grown or raised in Michigan. And every wine served has won a gold medal at an international wine competition.

A view of Cherry Basket Farm from the road:

Appetizers in the garden. Artist Richard Kooyman, is in the white shirt:

The barn set for dinner:

The menu:

First course: Fried green tomatoes with Michigan white shrimp and roasted red pepper herbed coulis, served with 2008 Unwooded Chardonnay:

Second Course:Hearty local green salad with apple wood smoked bacon and local guinea hen egg, served with 2008 Pinot Gris.

Putting the touches on the seared lake Michigan walleye with summer savory beurre blanc and local peas that was served with 2008 Select Harvest Riesling or 2008 Semi-dry Riesling:

Grilled polenta with maple smoked rabbit, rabbit-saskatoon reduction and turnips, served with 2007 Cabernet Franc:

Local berry galette with honey, Leelanau Cheese Fromage Blanc and raspberry caviar, served with 2008 Pinot Noir Rose:

Michigan cheese plate, served with 2007 Pinot Gris Ice Box:

Shawn talks about the wine:

A fairy tale evening--that also happened to be Shawn and Cece's tenth anniversary:

Mario and Cammie share a moment at the end of the evening: