Report on the Northern Michigan Wine Summit

Detroit News wine writer Sandra Silfven has a report on the first Northern Michigan Wine Summit in Traverse City. One of the issues we were exploring was how wineries in our area can make people aware of the tremendous quality of today's wines. Sandra writes:

In totality, the wines never showed better. Ironically, however, the gist of the summit was to figure out how their quality can be better communicated to connoisseurs and (above all) to restaurateurs around the state. Sadly still today, there are restaurants in Northern Michigan, in the heart of wine country, that defer to the commercial best-sellers of California, France and Italy. And in Metro Detroit, with a few exceptions (one believer is The Whitney), the restaurants are blind to their existence.

My only advice to diners is to express your displeasure to restaurant management. Obviously, production is not large enough to supply every restaurant that serves wine in the state, but the establishments and clubs that care most about their food should get behind the local wines, too.

Read Michigan's Traverse-area wineries showcase new vintage, old struggles by Sandra Silfven in the Detroit News.