Michigan wine
Viticulture in Michigan called viticulture in the American state of Michigan. According to U.S. law, each state and each county is a protected designation of origin by definition and does not need to be recognized by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as such.
101 wineries managed in 2011, the areas under vines. Above four sub-regions, the so-called American Viticultural Area, has A total of 4.92 million liters were ( 1.3 million gallons ) of wine produced.
The wine shop and wine tourism in the region generated approximately 300 million U.S. dollars in sales in 2011. The wineries attract every year at about 1 million visitors. The vast majority of quality wines produced in the sub-regions ( AVAs ) Fennville AVA, Lake Michigan Shore AVA, Leelanau Peninsula AVA and Old Mission Peninsula AVA. In the first two areas of origin account for 46 % of the vineyards, where Fennville is much smaller than Lake Michigan Shore. The rest is divided almost equally between the latter two areas. The growing zone is located in a strip of max. 40 km width along Lake Michigan. In winter, the vines benefit from a protective layer of snow, which results from the Lake effect snow.
Because of the cool climate, the winemakers try similar to their Canadian counterparts since the beginning of 2000 in the production of ice wine. In addition to the classic wine Michigan is one of the most important producers of fruit wines, especially cherry wine.
Varieties
The vast majority of the harvested grapes are used to produce grape juice or jelly. From a total of 100,000 tons harvested in 2005 flowed only 4600 tons in wine production. The share of European noble grapes rises constantly. Of the 4600 tonnes were 2640 tonnes to European varieties, 1660 tons to 300 tons of hybrid vines and only on American grape varieties. The European grape varieties include Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Syrah, Pinot Gris and Riesling (340 acres in 2006). In 2007, only 12 % of the stocked area for the exclusive viticulture were determined.
History
The first commercial vineyards were established after the end of Prohibition. Large quantities of the Concord variety were harvested in the southwest of the state as the delivery of the Welch Grape Juice Company. Within a few years, four more wineries established in Michigan: La Salle Wine and Champagne Company in Windsor ( Ontario), the Bronte Champagne and Wines Company in Hartford, Michigan Wineries (now Tabor Hill Winery ) in Buchanan and St. Julian Winery in Windsor.
The first wines from Michigan were sweet wines from the American varieties Catawba, Concord and Niagara or from hybrid vines. These varieties have the advantage of being adapted to the climate of the regions and to provide sufficiently high income and must weights. In addition, the cultivation of the variety allowed the winemakers the opportunity to feed the crop either the wine or the processing of juice and jelly.