Something to Hope For

Leelanau Cellars knows who they are. Even in the dead of winter, even as one of, if not THE most-remote tasting rooms in the region among those actually open in February, there was a steady stream of semi-rambunctious customers tended to by the approachable staff.  Michigan wine, especially outside of Michigan, still has a reputation of being  only sweet, only fruit wine, only Riesling, only whites, less than, not as good as elsewhere, etc., and it's simply not true. I respect what Leelanau Cellars has done to establish this region as an AVA worth taking seriously. 50 years later, I can't help but wonder if monster wine lists like LWC do more harm than good to shedding this outdated reputation as a "sweet/fruit" wine region. I trust Leelanau Cellars to know their clientele and whether there is still a market for these sweet/fruit wines, and I don't want to exclude anyone from drinking what they want, but my hope is that our region is taken more seriously on a national and international level. It is not lost on me that I have described this tasting room as fun and imply an expectation for being taken more seriously, kind of like asking your craziest friend to help you study for the WSET.