FWT Magazine: How to Spend a Day in Michigan’s Smallest AVA
Another piece published on Food Wine Travel Magazine!
How to Spend a Day in Michigan’s Smallest AVA
I’ve been a proud Michigangster my whole life. But it wasn’t until I left the U.S. over 12 years ago that I really began to explore the state. What changed? Maybe a little homesickness, but more than that, I discovered wine. Now, my annual visits to Michigan involve learning more about its wine scene.
On my most recent visit, my favorite cousin and I spent a day getting to know Michigan’s smallest AVA (American Viticultural Area): the absolute gem, Fennville.
Fennville AVA
I’d heard of Fennville AVA, but I’d never visited. Not only is it one of Michigan’s five AVAs, established in 1981, it was Michigan’s first AVA, and the third in the whole U.S. Quite a start for this tiny corner of the Mitten State to live up to.
Fennville AVA sits in the upper western corner of the larger Lake Michigan Shore AVA (which is, confusingly, in the southern part of the state). If using a Michigangster map, e.g. the palm of the right hand, it’s on the left about an inch and a half above the wrist. The entire zone covers 75,000 acres, but less than 500 of those acres—a mere .007 percent—are planted to grapes.
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