The perfect wine pairing highlights the flavors of a meal, just as the perfect pairing of facial expressions explains the reasons behind a grunt. Discover ideal partners with today’s Groupon: for $25, you get a wine-tasting package for two at Bowers Harbor Vineyards located in Traverse City (up to a $50 value). The tasting package includes the following:

• One glass of sparkling wine per person
• One wine flight per person with five 1.5-ounce samples
• A small, gourmet food pairing
• A talk detailing the history and background of Bowers Harbor Vineyards<p>

Casks of award-winning vintages tempt guests at Bowers Harbor Vineyards, which earned Best of Class for its 2007 cabernet franc at the 2010 Michigan Wine & Spirits Competition, among multiple other awards and pleasantly slurred compliments. In a vineyard surrounded by verdant hills near the lapping tongue of Lake Michigan, proprietor Spencer Stegenga oversees the harvest, fermentation, and self-defense training of a delicious range of reds, whites, and sparkling wines, as well as hard cider. Visiting sippers can silence their thirstily jabbering tongues with the citrus-noted Pinot Grigio or one of Bowers’s signature reds, including the Meritage blend, whose soft tannins create a smoothly quaffable mouthful. Or try the apple ice cider, redolent with the flavors of cortland, jonathan, rome, and gala apples, pressed when frozen to preserve sweetness and deter nostalgic Johnny Appleseeds.

To bring out the flavors of the vinos, Bowers’s oenologists will match wine flights with suggested gourmet edibles, including whitefish pâté, brie topped with wild blueberries in Merlot, cherry salsa and tortilla chips, and a bread dip swirled with feta and peppercorn. Spencer also shares factoids about the estate’s rolling vineyards, imparting grapey knowledge during the brief but informative Viticulture 101.