It's no secret that Michigan is home to amazing craft beer. Our own Beer City USA has raked in a ton of recognition: Grand Rapids has been named one of 13 Best Beer Cities in the U.S. by Swiftly and The Best Beer Town in the USA by USA Today!

Now Michigan is getting recognition for another alcoholic beverage: wine. CNN has named Michigan one of the top up-and-coming wine regions in the world!

Only one other U.S. location made the list: The Walla Walla Valley in Oregon and Washington.

CNN shares that classic wine regions are well known: Tuscany, Burgundy, Bordeaux, Napa Valley-- but that many of the world's best wine regions have yet been discovered. They name Michigan one of these promising locations!

In praise of Michigan wine, CNN says,

Akin to Sonoma Valley's landscape 20 years ago, Michigan wine country is bucolic and largely undeveloped, comprising just 100 or so small- to medium-sized wineries and just less than 3,000 acres of wine-producing vineyards.

Yet the new wines coming out of this highly undervalued region -- particularly those from the Leelanau and Old Mission Peninsulas -- are fantastic.

Standouts include semi-dry German and Alsatian varietals like riesling (the region's most widely planted grape), gewurzrtraminer and traminette.

Other dry whites like sauvignon blanc, vinho verde, pinot grigio and chardonnay are consistently bright and crisp across the region, and very good value.

 

Check out the rest of CNN picks for up-and-coming wine regions across the world here.

 

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