Published: April 30, 2008 12:00 am      

Summit offers taste of area wine

Event showcases and promotes local offerings

TRAVERSE CITY -- Skip Telgard remembers when suggesting a Michigan wine with dinner to customers at his Leland restaurant might prompt a quizzical look or a furrowed brow.

"It used to be a kind of adventure to recommend Michigan wines," he said.

That's no longer the case. More than half the wine sales at The Bluebird restaurant are Michigan-made selections, a figure that's doubled in the past five years, Telgard said. Many of his customers now ask for locally made wines, and he sees a growing public awareness about the quality of Michigan wines among both northern Michigan residents and visitors.

"If there wasn't quality wine in the bottle, that wouldn't be happening," he said.

Telgard was among dozens from the area's hospitality businesses who took part in a second annual "Northern Michigan Wine Summit" held Monday at the Park Place Hotel downtown.

Some of the state's top wine and food experts were among the speakers in an event that aims to showcase and promote northern Michigan wines to area restaurants, hotels and retail outlets.

Kristin Kitely, food and beverage director for Crystal Mountain Resort near Thompsonville, said her resort found success teaming area wines with locally produced foods to create a dining experience that's unique to northern Michigan.

"It just makes sense," she said. "I think Michigan has so many things to offer to our customers to make for those special moments."

Sales of Michigan-made wines increased 14 percent in 2007 and the region's wine industry continues to expand, with almost two dozen wineries now operating in northern Michigan.

One national wine author said a key to growing the region's wine market is to highlight the spectacular views and venues for wineries on the Old Mission Peninsula and Leelanau County, surroundings that other wine-making regions find hard to match.

"The way to sell Michigan wines is to sell it as part of the experience of Michigan's wine country," Richard Leahy said. He's the East Coast editor for California-based Vineyard Winery & Management magazine and among the event's guest speakers.

Area wineries also offered up samples of some of their top selections to hospitality managers and employees at the summit, co-sponsored by the Leelanau Peninsula Vintners Association and Wineries of Old Mission Peninsula.