Release to raise money for MWC program

Mark Urban, The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.
·3 min read

Jan. 29—TRAVERSE CITY — Stick with what you know.

After a crowdfunding campaign a couple of years ago fell short of raising a lot of money for the Michigan Wine Collaborative's Inclusion and Expansion Education Fund, the committee took a different approach.

The MWC's Inclusion and Expansion Committee just needed to look around the tasting room.

The Michigan Wine Collaborative announced the release of The Dream wine. Hitting retail shelves in early February, $1 from the sale of every $20 bottle of wine will go towards scholarships for "two underserved candidates" in the industry, said Michigan Wine Collaborative Vice President Brian Lillie, who is also the Director of Hospitality Operations and Distribution at Chateau Chantal.

Five hundred cases of The Dream wine will be available. Lillie said the goal is to raise $10,000 to send two candidates to The Viticulture Enology Science and Technology Alliance (VESTA) program in the United States or the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) school.

The idea to release a wine to raise money for the scholarships came last year.

"We have the liquid to put to the lips, we have the sellers to bring a product like this up to scale and also have the established distribution contacts to bring it to market," Lillie said.

A tasting panel to select the grapes, the residual sugar content and the name for the wine.

The Dream wine project began as a collaboration between GRNoir Wine & Jazz of Grand Rapids, Domaine Detroit Brands and House of Pure Vin of Detroit, Drew Ryan Wines of Southfield and Chateau Chantal of Traverse City.

But The Dream wine is bigger than all of the original partnerships.

"It's the thing that makes Michigan wine different as opposed to wines from other regions," Lillie said. "Michigan wines unite us. This is one of the things that makes us better. We're in it together."

"The Dream Project is an important step in the unification of the Michigan wine industry providing opportunity and awareness to all people and a starting point for universal access to what Michigan wine offers in both employment and enjoyment of Michigan wine for all people," MWC Inclusion and Expansion Committee Chairman Chuck Jackson, also the owner of Domaine Detroit Brands, said in a release.

Meijer and Total Wine & More were the first statewide retailers to sign on to the project.

Lillie said others have followed and are also committed to The Dream wine project.

"We hope the retailers are inspired by it as we are and match that donation," Lillie said.

In addition to hitting store shelves in early February at Meijer and Total Wine & More, The Dream will also be available at House of Pure Vin, GRNoir Wine & Jazz and other local Michigan retailers.

It will also be available online at https://shop.chateauchantal.com/prod-403509/The-Dream.html.

The Inclusion and Expansion Committee "plans to recreate a wine annually to continue to offer this opportunity every year to candidates that apply to the program," according to a release.

Lillie said it will be interesting to see how well The Dream performs in its first year.

"The more bottles we sell, the more we can contribute to the inclusion and equity education fund," he said. "There's always a need for this in our state, especially in southeast and southwest Michigan."

Peter King, winemaker at Drew Ryan Wines and a Michigan Wine Collaborative board member, thinks the product will be pleasing to the palate.

"This wine is a beautiful white blend based on Pinot Blanc, which is a grape that I believe has a real future in Michigan wine," King said in the release.

More information on The Dream wine collaboration is available at https://michiganwinecollaborative.com/the-dream-wine-collaboration/.

More information on the MWC is available by email (info@michiganwinecollaborative.com) or by sending a message on social media.