by Hannah Watts

Tony Ciccone, co-owner of Ciccone Vineyard and Winery, talks with Greening of the Great Lakes host, Kirk Heinze, about the challenges faced by the wine industry and its impact on Michigan's economy.



Michigan apple growers may have benefited from the low temperatures during the winter of 2014, but grape growers and wine producers did not. The constant low temperatures and frost did significant damage to the grape crops in the state.



"We were only able to harvest about 25 to 30 percent of our tonnage this year," Ciccone explains. "It was too cold too long."



The 14 acre winery planted its first crop in 1996, but it generally takes about three years to produce a grape crop that can be harvested for wine making purposes, according to Ciccone.



"You could get something in two years, but we usually go with the third year. Sometimes, if you're lucky and in a good area you can get some second year fruits.



The Ciccone Vineyard and Winery is the only winery in Michigan to grow the Dolcetto grape variety which hails from Italy and is known for its bold, dry texture and fruity undertones.



"Most of our grapes are from Europe originally," he says. "Dolcetto is an excellent grape, but it's sensitive.We got wiped out of Dolcetto this winter, but it makes an excellent, well balanced wine."



On top of offering unique varieties, all of the wines at Ciccone Vineyard and Winery are estate bottled.



"We grow the grape and we make the wine out of the grapes we grow."



Ciccone has witnessed the rapid expansion of the wine industry around the state, but specifically in Michigan's Leelanau Peninsula.



"When I came up here we were the fifth or sixth winery and now there's probably almost 30 wineries on the Leelanau Peninsula alone," he says. "That really shows the growth and the economic impact this industry has on the state."



Ciccone has been a large part of that growth, helping to put the Leelanau Peninsula and Traverse City on the map and attracting national and international tourism to the area.



"My family is from Italy, but I really look at this place as 'the Tuscany of Michigan' or 'the Napa of the Midwest'. We want to try to preserve it and keep it for people to come and enjoy".



Please click here to hear Ciccone's Greening of the Great Lakes conversation with Heinze.



Greening of the Great Lakes airs every Sunday evening at 7:00 on News/Talk 760 WJR and around the state each weekend on the Michigan Talk Network. Please follow us on Twitter.