Members of the Michigan Grape and Wine Industry Council hope that the answer is “yes,” and that more local wines will be on those lists across the state.

“I’d like to see Michigan wine in every restaurant in the state, but we’re a long way from that,” said David Miller, a member of the council and vice president of winemaking at St. Julian Winery in Paw Paw.

“We’re selling more grapes but restaurants are a challenge,” he said.

Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) Director Don Koivisto said that the grape industry has “a big impact” in the state and is a “definite growth area.”

There are 14,000 acres of grapes in the state and there’s the potential for more in the future, he said.

Federal figures show 1,800 acres are designated for wine grapes.

According to MDA, the state has 50 commercial wineries, which Travel Michigan, the state’s tourism promotion agency, said ranks 13th in the nation in terms of wine production.

Koivisto said that those wineries generate $790 million each year.

However, Miller emphasized that wineries face a number of challenges in selling Michigan wines in restaurants- among them competition in a corporate marketplace.

“Lots of chain restaurants have corporate deals, and it’s very difficult to get into,” he said, “They go to wineries that have enough to supply the entire national chain and not just the local franchises.”

While Michigan wines have broken into Carrabba’s Italian Grill, a national chain, many other restaurants “good at promoting wine and educating consumers,” such as Olive Garden, have wine lists selected by corporate headquarters, Miller said.

Tony Lentych, general manager of Leelanau Wine Cellars, which covers more than 70 acres on the Leelanau Peninsula, said that his company’s wines are sold in hundreds of restaurants across the state.

Among restaurants offering four or more Michigan wines are the Whitney in Detroit, Trattoria Stella in Traverse City and the State Room at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center in East Lansing.

However, he also acknowledged the difficulty of getting Michigan wines on menus, citing high price as a discouraging factor.

“Some proprietors have an interest in supporting local business,” Lentych said, “but most of the time it’s based on the deal that they get.”

He said that most of the company’s wine is sold to visitors at its tasting room, wholesalers such as Meijer Inc. and premium wine stores.

“For the casual consumer, they’re going to be attracted to wines produced in millions of cases a year because of their familiarity with brands,” he said.

“They would be more willing to buy Michigan wines if they had a pleasant introduction to them,” he added.

Miller said that restaurants should make more of an effort to tell their distributors that they want Michigan wines.

“Restaurants want to focus on having local beef and produce, and this is another part of that,” he said.

He also said that while the Grape and Wine Industry Council participates in “broad marketing efforts,” most individual wineries in the state don’t have the capacity to visit and sell to restaurants in different regions.

A third factor is the small supply, compared to California, French or Australian wines. Miller and Lentych said that’s a problem because a restaurant’s demand might be greater than what some, but not all, local wineries can provide.

Despite these obstacles, there’s still a large untapped market for Michigan wine, which Miller said is “world class quality” despite perceptions to the contrary.

He said that St. Julian wines regularly win awards in national and international competitions, and that thanks to new research and technology, local wines are changing for the better.

“If you haven’t tried them, then you should, and if you haven’t tried them recently, you should again,” he said.

He also added that the transportation chain used to bring in wines from other countries is detrimental to the environment.

“What’s the carbon footprint of a wine from Australia? Local wine requires a lot less energy than the Australian, South African or Chilean wines.

“It’s good for the state and good for the planet.”