Not every Michigan crop withered under the spring freeze and summer drought.
Wine grapes across the Lower Peninsula are ripening largely unscathed. As vintners begin harvesting chardonnays and merlots, they've found that while some grapes may not have grown as large because of the heat, the smaller fruit will make for more concentrated and flavorful wines.
"This spring, I don't think I was breathing," said Megan Blake, vineyard manager at Sandhill Crane Vineyard, a five-acre winery near Jackson. "I was holding my breath thinking we'd get wiped out, but everything is almost a full crop. The weather has not affected them. If anything, the effect has been positive."
Good news!
