Despite weather challenges in some vineyards this past year, the 2024 vintage of Michigan wine is shaping up to be one for the record books, winemakers say.
The quality of each year’s grape output largely depends on the surrounding season, says Lee Lutes, head winemaker at Black Star Farms in Suttons Bay and Traverse City. 2024 was an exemplary year from a growth standpoint but marked by weather events that stunted supply in the state’s southern regions.
The season began on the tail of an abnormally mild winter, which, for many northern vineyards, led to flourishing growth and typical, if not slightly early, budbreak by around late April. “When we see conditions like that, we tend to think we’re off to a good start,” Lutes says.
Much of Southwest Michigan, though, experienced a hard freeze in mid-January that all but decimated local vinifera, with the exception of cold-hardy Riesling. A frost in mid-April further damaged early-blooming grapes such as Cabernet Franc. “With that start to the season, we had a very small crop,” says Dave Miller, owner and winemaker at White Pine Winery in St. Joseph.
Moving into mid-season, though, the state saw ample rain and soaring temperatures, which spurred vine growth. A markedly dry preharvest period followed; northern areas of the state experienced near-drought conditions, and the state’s southwestern corner had an almost unheard-of 3,000-plus growing degree-days.
Thanks to these excellent ripening conditions toward the end of the 2024 season, the grapes had a chance to attain full physiological development. Consequently, wine drinkers can likely look forward to robust, tropical-leaning whites and a more mature red selection with increased body and depth in this 2024 vintage of Michigan wine.
“Though there was limited vinifera in the southwest, the quality of the 2024 harvest was excellent,” Miller says. “Overall, the wines are great, and I think that holds true for the rest of the state.”
A version of this article originally appeared in the 2025 Michigan Wine Country magazine.
Facebook Comments