New wineries flourish in northern Michigan

Robin Usborne spent many enjoyable summers at her family's vacation home near Crystal Lake in Benzie County.

She's been in northern Michigan more than ever this summer, but not for leisure on the lake. Instead, Usborne toiled away in her five-acre grape vineyard, site of a former cherry orchard along a high ridge off U.S. 31 near Honor.

Usborne is a communications manager by day for Michigan State University, but finds herself among a new generation of entrepreneurs in the burgeoning regional grape and wine industry.

"When I wasn't at work, I was heading to the vineyard or in the vineyard," Usborne said. "I really enjoy it. It's been a great adventure for me."

Plenty of newcomers are pouring into Michigan's successful grape and wine sector. They range from small startup vineyards like Usborne's to new turn-key wineries.

The growth is fueled by a decade-long boom in made-in-Michigan wine sales, a trend that's witnessed double-digit percentage sales increases each year.

Count Usborne among those who are carefully toeing the wine pool, but some, including Steven Grossnickle, are jumping in with both feet.

Grossnickle, an eye surgeon in Warsaw, Ind., and a long-time summer resident of Leelanau County, decided to get into the grape and wine business three years ago. Now he's readying for his first harvest at his new Forty-Five North Vineyard and Winery off Horn Road near Suttons Bay.

"We've seen the wine industry grow in Leelanau County, and it was something we wanted to be a part of," Grossnickle said. "We love the north up there, and you can't grow grapes in Indiana."

Both Usborne and Grossnickle endured plenty of challenges to realize their dreams.