Perhaps when a family situation casts one into leadership before it's expected, there’s an urgency to innovate. Certainly this was the case for Spencer Stegenga, the 34-year-old proprietor of Bowers Harbor Vineyards.

Take block planting, for instance. In the 1990s, blocks became the planting norm at the 20-acre Bowers Harbor estate vineyards, located smack on the 45th North parallel in Michigan's Old Mission Peninsula AVA At the time, it was long before many other west coast U.S. wineries sub-divided vineyards into blocks for specialization both in planting varieties to specific soil types and best expositions.

Then a fortuitous planting of Pinot Gris in year 2000, followed by subsequent plantings through 2006, made Bowers Harbor not only the first Michigan producer of the variety, (which it labels Pinot Grigio), but ultimately the variety's largest producer in the state.

Today, Bowers Harbor represents a focused evolution of a Michigan vineyard, as its slow but steady development illustrates. Stegenga believes that he's fortunate in not having to borrow money to carry out his innovations. He lets the tasting room dictate winery programs, yet adds, "there's a certain part of every business that's all about making the right bets and I try to do that. At 34 years old, I'm too young to screw up."