Feature Article

Jack of all trades Tony Peterson is Contessa Wine Cellars' proprietor who can frequently be found welcoming visitors to the tasting room,

Lake Michigan Shore (AVA)

Contessa Wine Cellars:
Where Hybrid Grapes are King

by Eleanor & Ray Heald
January 21, 2009

Southwest Michigan’s proximity to the harbor towns and beaches of the grand water playland known as Lake Michigan creates a thriving market for wineries in the area. In addition, its Lake Michigan Shore AVA wineries attract scores of wine lovers from Chicago. Among them is the small family-owned Contessa Wine Cellars located in a chalet-style structure, which is perched on a knoll in sight of Interstate-94, a major route from Chicago to the west and the Detroit-metro-area to the east. Here, well-styled vinifera and hybrid blends are not only crowd pleasers but hallmarks of the AVA.

ontessa Wine Cellars typifies the Lake Michigan Shore AVA where hybrid grape varietals rule. Owned by 37-year-old Tony Peterson (son of winemaker Duane Peterson of Peterson & Sons Winery in Kalamazoo, Mich.), and his wife Liz, Contessa pays homage in name to Liz’s Sicilian heritage and is her mother’s maiden name. Likewise, a number of the wines have Italian proprietary names, such as Bianco Bello, an off-dry hybrid white blend of Seyval, Vidal and Vignoles.

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