Since Traverse City is the Cherry Capital of the United States, Michigan tart cherries take a starring role at the Grand Traverse Pie Company, open since 1996. I chose the cherry pie with crumb topping. Excellent!

After our meal, we drove about 15 miles northeast, this time to the Old Mission Peninsula. Our destination: a traditional European-style winery (how I envision one at least). Surrounded by vineyards, the grand house of the Chateau Chantal (F) winery and bed-and-breakfast sits high on a bluff with glorious vistas of the astonishingly blue water in the Bays. The view alone is worth the trip.

Like many a chateau in the Old Country, this one has an intriguing history. Chateau Chantal was founded in 1993 by a former Catholic priest and nun, who had eventually married after leaving their orders. Robert and Nadine Begin started acquiring the land that would become Chateau Chantal a decade before opening their doors, with the purchase of 60 acres of cherry orchards.

Eventually adding food-and-wine dinners and then cooking classes to their offerings, Chateau Chantal is today known as "an American version of a modern Loire Valley chateau... a retreat for gourmets who seek a food and wine holiday," according to the travel guide Gourmet Getaways: 50 Top Spots to Cook and Learn.

The Begin's effervescent daughter, the Chateau Chantal marketing director, led our tour. We watched machines and workers in choreographic movement bottling, corking, and boxing a vintage. Our eager