The Leelanau Peninsula Wine Trail is where stunning landscape and natural splendor meets exquisite wine making. “Experience Leelanau” is the Wine Trail’s new signature event, May 19-21—a celebration honoring ‘Michigan Wine Month’ and everything that makes our region special. Click here for information and to get your tickets.
French Valley Vineyard, located at 3655 South French Road near Cedar, will host an ice wine picking event for the public on Jan. 31 at 10 a.m. During the event, attendees can join vineyard manager Tomas Moreno and senior winemaker Blake Lougheed in the harvest of riesling grapes for ice wine production.
Consider Tomas Moreno a matchmaker for Leelanau County’s migrant farmworkers. The soft-spoken, good-natured Texas native and Leland Public School graduate with family roots in Mexico manages 54 vineyard acres north of Lake Leelanau for Bel Lago and French Valley wineries. He interprets for and leads a crew of Hispanic farm workers, indispensable to the harvest, some of whom arrive in northern Michigan on H-2A temporary work visas. Tomas, who turns 41 next month, also recently began making fresh tortillas with his wife Julieta to sell to the local Latino community.