For the last few months, the big story in Detroit’s auto industry has been the scramble by domestic carmakers to catch up to consumers’ gas-price-driven, about-face preference for smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles.

Meanwhile, Michigan’s wine industry is finding itself in the opposite situation. Consumer preferences are finally starting to favor the state’s top grape: Riesling.

Three Michigan winemakers are just back from what may emerge as an event akin to the auto industry’s Management Briefing Seminars, to be held in Traverse City later this month. They attended the second Riesling Rendezvous in Washington state.

The 2008 MBS theme — which some might call an understatement — is “Transcending Turbulence.”

The Rendezvous had no official theme. But as far as Michigan is concerned, and borrowing some alliteration from the carmakers, “Toasting Triumphantly” might fit nicely.

Riesling is the state’s top wine grape by multiple measures. Growth is a key indicator. It’s been planted on more acres than any other varietal since 2003. Between 2005 and 2006 alone, the number of Riesling acres planted statewide grew fivefold.

That growth is coinciding with a rising consumer interest.

Admittedly, Riesling — which is working against an old perception that it’s only a sweet dessert wine — barely registers on the scale when considered against varieties like Chardonnay or Merlot.

According to the Nielsen Co. retail sales data for 2007 U.S. sales of Riesling accounted for just 1.5 percent of the case volume in stores that provide sales data. However, that’s a 98 percent increase in Riesling sales over 2006.

Most important for the statewide industry, Michigan is turning heads for the wines produced from the white variety most often associated with Germany but which also thrives in Michigan’s cooler climate.

In particular, dry styles that go well with food and capitalize on the consumer’s desire to “pair” wine and food are gaining attention.

“Riesling wants to grow here. It’s meant to be here,” said Sean O’Keefe of Chateau Grand Traverse, one of those who attended the Rendezvous. Riesling was first planted in northern Michigan by O’Keefe’s father, Ed, and still constitutes 80 percent of the winery’s sales, Sean O’Keefe said.

“It’s the one grape variety that is regularly allowing Michigan to take a national spotlight,” said Lee Lutes, winemaker at Black Star Farms and another participant. “It has more pedigree and it has more consistency and more of a quality dynamic than anything else that’s produced.”

A key task at the conference was establishing a uniform sweetness scale Riesling producers worldwide could use on labels to help customers better understand what’s in the bottle they’re buying.

Chateau Grand Traverse already uses a 1-5 scale, O’Keefe said. But the task is getting producers across the U.S., Canada, the European Union and Australia to agree on a simple system.

“It would help people find buying Riesling easier,” Lutes said.

Adam Satchwell of Shady Lane Cellars and president of the Leelanau Peninsula Vintners Association, rounded out the Michigan trio at the event.

“All these years I’ve been hearing Riesling is the next big thing, and I think it’s finally happening,” he said.