Stranger Wine Co.
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Country of Origin: USA
Location: Buchanan, Michigan
People: Maxx Eichberg & Sidney Finan, Owners | Maxx Eichberg, Winemaker
Viticulture: Regenerative
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Stranger Wine Company is dedicated to the implementation of regenerative viticultural practices on their estate. Great wine starts with healthy grapes and healthy grapes start with healthy vines. As such, enhancing and maintaining vine health is of paramount importance in all of Stranger Wine's viticultural practices.
Husband and wife team, Maxx Eichberg and Sidney Finan, purchased Avonlea Estate Vineyard in Buchanan Michigan, Lake Michigan Shore AVA in 2021. Avonlea is positioned in the middle of some of the most intense glacial events seen in Berrien County, MI. Because of this, the soils are extremely diverse and change drastically between each block on the 15 acres. The top of the vineyard where the Chardonnay, Three Row Pinot, and future Gamay Noir live, consists mainly of iron rich clay and sand soils. This block is also covered with granite, chert and ancient Pennsylvanian seabed deposits. The grapes grown on this soil produce wines of great tension and length.
The oldest block on Avonlea was planted to Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc in 1989 and has soils that are resemblant of those in the Graves region in Bordeaux. Fist-sized granite and chert pebbles litter the vine rows and help to retain heat throughout the day aiding the vines in their ripening. The wines from this block are powerful, dense, and long-lived. Also grown on the property is Riesling,Pinot Noir, Petit Verdot, and Merlot.
Summers there are warm but not hot enough for vines to shut down production. In the late summer and fall, Lake Michigan retains the summer heat and extends the growing season by almost a full month. The winters are moderated by the lake’s heat retaining properties, allowing vinifera varieties to thrive. This little microclimate is perfect for growing world-class vinifera, and Maxx and Sidney believe in its untapped potential and exciting future.
In 2021 Maxx and Sidney received Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program (MAEAP) verifications for their farmstead and cropping systems. They are proud to be a part of the community of agriculturalists in Michigan who take pride in being stewards of the land and who are consistently working towards a more sustainable agricultural future.
Media Links
VinePair: As Climate Change Ravages the West Coast, Winemakers Take Refuge in the Great Lakes