

This board looks after the interests of cherry growers in Michigan, and enables Michigan cherry wine to continue to be produced. To mitigate against this and improve the yield of cherries in Michigan, a coalition was formed, dubbed the Michigan Association of Cherry Producers. Initially, cherry winemakers could not meet up with the demand, so they sourced cherries from neighboring states. To wrap up our history class, the popularity of cherry wines is growing. Other Midwestern and Northwestern states like Oregon have joined the trend, producing their own cherry wines for this emerging market. Ever since then, Michigan has taken it upon itself to propagate the gospel of cherry wines by producing delicious bottles year in, year out, and shipping them across the globe. Michigan is recognized as the birthplace of cherry wines – the cherry farmers in the great lake state were the country’s first cherry winemakers in the 1980s. Initially homebrew, these bright red fruit wines have evolved to account for over 25% of wines sold by Michigan wineries. Prohibition and rationing meant that Americans had to get creative with what they had. But cherry wines have actually been in existence since the Great Depression. We understand your sentiments towards cherry wines, because it wasn’t until very recently, in 2006, that these wine varieties were allowed to ship from their state of origin across the globe. So we’ve established that cherry wine does exist as a drink. And, depending on the sweetness, cherry wines pair excellently with a range of foods including desserts like tiramisu and spicy cuisines. At the same time, there are also normal grape wines that have a hint of cherry flavor integrated within their taste profiles. More on that later.Ĭherry wine is not only a delicious drink – it can also be healthy.

And they are just as delicious as a bottle of red wine made from grapes like pinot noir. In light of this, we can define cherry wines simply as wines made from the fermentation process of the cherry fruit (next time you are with your wine-loving friends you can use this as trivia to score some points).Ĭherry wines are real. Wines are made from all sorts of fermented fruits, and not only grapes. Some might call it blasphemous to say that cherry wine is wine. We are talking real wines made from real cherries. And no, we’re not talking about Lakewood cherry juice.
