TIP OF THE MITT AMERICAN VITICULTURAL AREA

WHAT IT IS

The Tip of the Mitt American Viticultural Area (AVA) is a federally-recognized grape growing region. The AVA covers roughly 2,760 square miles covering the entirety of Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Emmet, Presque Isle counties as well as northern portions of Antrim and Alpena counties. SAGGA filed for the AVA on behalf of its growers and the AVA was approved in 2016.

WHAT IT DOES

The AVA designation provides vintners the ability to more accurately identify the origin of their wines for consumers. While this may sound simplistic, it affords a few other key benefits.

1. It allows vineyards working within the Tip of the Mitt AVA to begin to work collaboratively through SAGGA with a goal of producing high-quality wine grapes and, ultimately, the AVA gaining recognition as a premier source of cold-hardy wine grapes.

2. With this recognition, vineyards can expect higher demand for AVA-grown grapes and ultimately, higher prices for their crops.

3. It allows wineries inside the AVA to begin to place the Tip of the Mitt designation on their bottles with at least 85% of the grapes being sourced from within the AVA; again, with the goal of building a brand around the unique Tip of the Mitt identifier that will help drive demand.

4. It allows wineries to label wines that are produced from their own grapes within the AVA to place the estate bottled or estate grown designation on their bottles.