Something goes here.
Transcript
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines: you know, I'm lucky.
Speaker:A very lucky, obviously.
Speaker:and the real like beauty of, growing grapes and making wine
Speaker:is sharing it with people.
Speaker:It's a social, beverage.
Speaker:It's a beverage that really shines when paired with the right foods.
Speaker:And, these are stories that we try to tell in our tasting room and things that
Speaker:we hope unite people with bigLittle.
Cliff Duvernois:Hello everyone and welcome back to Total Michigan where
Cliff Duvernois:we interview ordinary people who are doing some pretty extraordinary
Cliff Duvernois:things in our Michigan community.
Cliff Duvernois:Today's guest definitely would fit that bill.
Cliff Duvernois:We are continuing, our trek around, the Leelanau Peninsula to actually
Cliff Duvernois:take some time to stop in at some vineyards and some pretty cool things
Cliff Duvernois:that are actually going on there.
Cliff Duvernois:Today I am sitting with Mike Laing.
Cliff Duvernois:He is the owner, co-founder of bigLittle Wines.
Cliff Duvernois:Mike, how are you?
Cliff Duvernois:I am doing awesome.
Cliff Duvernois:Thank you for asking.
Cliff Duvernois:Why don't you tell us a little bit about where you're from and where you grew up?
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Absolutely.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:My brother and I, my brother's name is Peter.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:We grew up in Ann Arbor.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:And, always visited northern Michigan because our grandparents, lived
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:part of the year in Frankfurt.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:And so we had a connection to this area.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Where we're sitting is Sutton's Bay, about an hour east.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:But still, similar area.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:From Ann Arbor, visited this area growing up.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:And, I don't know.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Our parents really created this opportunity for us to, work together,
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:to grow grapes and make wines here.
Cliff Duvernois:So your parin, so your parents were in already into wine.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:they're more entrepreneurial than wine lovers.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:they enjoy wine.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:but my father really wanted to change careers and get into agriculture.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:He's always, he was always interested in that and never really had an
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:opportunity until he he quit his, his career in manufacturing in the
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Detroit area and said, you know what?
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:I'm gonna, I'm gonna do this.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:I'm gonna grow grapes.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:specifically I'm gonna, I'm gonna grow something, farm something.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Grapes.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Grapes were, the crop.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:And, he fulfilled his own lifelong dream, of farming.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:he'd always had that kind of in the back of his mind.
Cliff Duvernois:He just really wanted to create the life that he
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:yeah.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Yeah.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:and then, combined with that was his vision of bringing the family together
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:to work together in a family business.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:bigLittle was started by my brother and I to put our own
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:stamp on Leland a Peninsula Wines.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:so yeah.
Cliff Duvernois:Now before this, before you got into wine,
Cliff Duvernois:you were actually a teacher?
Cliff Duvernois:Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines: I was a teacher, yeah.
Cliff Duvernois:So grew up in Ann Arbor.
Cliff Duvernois:But left to go to school in Ohio, not Ohio State, in case anybody's
Cliff Duvernois:got some serious thoughts about that.
Cliff Duvernois:went to Miami of Ohio, got a math education degree.
Cliff Duvernois:I taught high school math, both in, the suburbs of Chicago as well
Cliff Duvernois:as overseas for about six years.
Cliff Duvernois:And then, and then I came here to pursue the opportunity of growing
Cliff Duvernois:grapes and making wine with my family.
Cliff Duvernois:So what was the attraction?
Cliff Duvernois:Then if you went off and started your career and you're obviously doing
Cliff Duvernois:really well, you're teaching overseas.
Cliff Duvernois:What was the attraction to come back and say, you know what, I'm gonna hang up
Cliff Duvernois:my hat on education and go into wine?
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Yeah.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:It was a hard decision, honestly, because I had, always, I had wanted
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:to be a teacher, specifically a math teacher since I was 17.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:before I went to college, I knew what I wanted to do.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Went, went out and did it and was rather independent.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:living overseas.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:had great experiences teaching both domestically and internationally
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:traveled a lot, so it was a big decision for me to to try this, to come home
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:and actually start at an entry level position because I was just establishing
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:my teaching career, getting going.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:I wanted to try something different.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:And something with my family and, it was hard at first, honestly,
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:but, but now it's awesome.
Cliff Duvernois:And I can imagine that the one thing that having a career is
Cliff Duvernois:you have the comfort of that weekly check coming in all of a sudden now
Cliff Duvernois:when you're working for yourself, all of a sudden it's like very different.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Yeah.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:when I first started, so I first started working in the wine industry for Mawby.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:And we spun bigLittle off a few years later.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:But that was:Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:My family was not yet involved in Mawby on a partnership level, so I was hourly.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:However, I was making 10 bucks an hour doing this, that, or the other.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Odd jobs trying to prove myself.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:So that was hard.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:And yeah, and living at home where I was independently living by myself in
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:another country, traveling all over.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:So it was, at the f at the beginning, it was touch and go for me.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Sure.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:I was close to saying, forget this.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:But then my family partnered with Larry Mawby, which was a great decision.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:He's a real leader and has been for decades, in the
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Michigan wine making community.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:So he was a very good per person to partner with.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:He was a very, good person to learn the business from.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:And I slowly was given more opportunities in the cellar, as
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:well as on the sales side, as well as other decision making freedoms.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:And, it all developed from there.
Cliff Duvernois:Now, when bigLittle Wines was first formed, right?
Cliff Duvernois:And you and your brother decided to do this, did you approach him?
Cliff Duvernois:Did he approach you?
Cliff Duvernois:How did that conversation go?
Cliff Duvernois:Yes.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:So to give a little bit more context,
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:when we first entered a partnership with Larry Mawby on the Mawby
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:business, that was a seven year deal.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:After which time he could have taken one of the brands and
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:kind of done his own thing.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Ultimately he, Larry Mawby, decided not to.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:He decided to stay partners with us.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:But we were looking at that as, an opportunity to start a different brand
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:that would compliment Mawby or maybe be its own thing if Larry decided to
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:take, some of those Mawby wines with him and, and go his own direction.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:So I think for my brother and I, it was a lot of conversations.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:and ultimately it was the desire to create wines that we thought
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:were cool styles from fruit grown in the Leelanau Peninsula.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:it's kind of like our artistic outlet and as it ended up, bigLittle, big
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Brother, little Brother is essentially an extension of really who we are.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:So it's very easy for us to talk about the brand.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:It's, all the wines are named after childhood memories.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:So it's really an extension of ourselves and hopefully, some of these
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:wine names or labels or stories or whatever, others can relate to as well.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:mix tape.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:a lot of people made mix tapes.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:yeah.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:tree house, crayfish, dune climb.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:these are things we both experienced growing up in Ann Arbor as well
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:as visiting Frankfurt as kids.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:And memories that that, I'm sure other people have had either in northern
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Michigan or in their childhood.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:So yeah, it's, it's an extension of who we are.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:But it's also like an olive branch for others to hopefully remember those
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:memories as well and connect with the brand in their own unique way.
Cliff Duvernois:When I pulled up here today, one of the things that I saw
Cliff Duvernois:upfront was a sign that said 10 years.
Cliff Duvernois:So it's 10 years you guys have been in business.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Yeah, it's been a little bit longer
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:than that, but the tasting room itself has been open for 10 years.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:it's been a little bit longer than that because we started selling bigLittle
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:wines, to restaurants and retailers before we opened our tasting room.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:But in the winter of 12, 13 we, converted a, what was formerly a
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:rental unit, a rental residence into our bigLittle tasting room.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:there are certain things you have to make, you have to make the,
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:tasting room handicap accessible and re we had to redo the bathroom
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:and just this, that, and the other.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:But yeah, so it was:Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:So we're celebrating our 10th anniversary.
Cliff Duvernois:congratulations.
Cliff Duvernois:Thank you.
Cliff Duvernois:I ha if I'd known that I would've brought a birthday cake or something.
Cliff Duvernois:' cause this is big deal.
Cliff Duvernois:next time, I wanna go back and explore something that you were just talking
Cliff Duvernois:y at this time, going back to:Cliff Duvernois:you're relatively unknown, but as you just shared, you were out there
Cliff Duvernois:selling bigLittle wines to restaurants.
Cliff Duvernois:So how did you go about I guess positioning yourself so when you go in
Cliff Duvernois:there, you can let these people know, Hey, we're producing great quality wines.
Cliff Duvernois:We're doing it consistently.
Cliff Duvernois:So if you serve it to your guests, they're always gonna have
Cliff Duvernois:a great experience in a glass.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Yeah.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:we we approached it from the angle of, we're part owners of Mawby.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:This is our side project, because you'll find this all over the world where
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:maybe the younger generation or, a winemaker that kind of wants to do their
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:own thing might start their own brand.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:even though they have, a day job that pays the main bills with another
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:brands, they'll spin off their own.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:So this is pretty common all over the world.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:we we, told that story like, we've learned how to make wine, from Larry Mawby and
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:we want to get to, we wanted to really get to know those people around the state
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:that were buying and selling wine because, that's what really makes wholesaling
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:your wines work, our relationships.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:and it was important for us.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:To be pretty well distributed so that we're a little more visible, to
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:the consumer so that, you earn some street cred that way being listed
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:on a, a menu of a nice restaurant or featured in a nice bottle shop.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:so I don't know if that answers your question,
Cliff Duvernois:Oh, it certainly does.
Cliff Duvernois:Somewhat.
Cliff Duvernois:No, it certainly does.
Cliff Duvernois:That's great.
Cliff Duvernois:What I would like to do now is explore, because really coming in,
Cliff Duvernois:you've got an opportunity to just create any wine that you want.
Cliff Duvernois:why did you decide to pick those wines?
Cliff Duvernois:And we're gonna talk more about that in the second half of the show.
Cliff Duvernois:But why did you decide to pick these particular wines to make?
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Well, first we have to use grape varieties that
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:grow well here in Northern Michigan.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:So we're somewhat limited there.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:For example, we cannot grow, Cabernet Sauvignon.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Or, nebbiolo or, picpoul or, I don't know, grapes like this.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:We can't grow those here.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:We don't have enough heat.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:So we're limited there, on the varieties we can grow.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:And also one.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:And opportunity we have with the bigLittle brand is that if we have
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:excess fruit growing in the vineyards that are designated for bigLittle
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:wines, and what I mean by excess, so we make wine to our sales numbers.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:And if we have extra, if we have too much fruit, we can channel those
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:grapes towards, Wines in the ma Mawby program and that's pretty unique.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Not all wineries can do that because not all wineries have that option.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:so there's flexibility there.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:to get to the core of your question, we wanna make wines that are
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:interesting to us, that we think will be interesting to others.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:We want to use grape varieties that grow well here.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:We wanna select blends, combine grapes that work well together.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:And, we think, for example, varieties like Pinot blanc or Gamay or Pinot
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:noir or Pinot gri, those can go a lot of different directions.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Those could be made as nons sparkling wines.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Those could be made as Rosé.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Those could be made as Pét-nats.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Those could be made as, in some cases red wines.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:So I like flexibility.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:It makes sense from a business perspective.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:And so we're thinking about a lot of different things when we choose blends
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:or what to plant, or what wines to make
Cliff Duvernois:sure.
Cliff Duvernois:For our audience, we're gonna take a quick break to think
Cliff Duvernois:our sponsors when we come back.
Cliff Duvernois:We're gonna dive into some of these absolutely delicious
Cliff Duvernois:wines from bigLittle wines.
Cliff Duvernois:We'll see you after the break.
Cliff Duvernois:Are you enjoying these amazing stories?
Cliff Duvernois:Michigan is full of people that are doing some pretty extraordinary things.
Cliff Duvernois:If you want these amazing stories sent directly to your inbox,
Cliff Duvernois:head over to total michigan.com.
Cliff Duvernois:Enter your email address and get them today.
Cliff Duvernois:What are you going to get?
Cliff Duvernois:I'm glad you asked.
Cliff Duvernois:First, you're gonna join our awesome Michigan community
Cliff Duvernois:and it is quite awesome.
Cliff Duvernois:Second, you will get an email that includes the top five interviews from
Cliff Duvernois:the show sent directly to your inbox.
Cliff Duvernois:This is going to include the powerful lessons that we've
Cliff Duvernois:learned from these amazing people.
Cliff Duvernois:Third, you're gonna get exclusive behind the scenes information about the show.
Cliff Duvernois:There's a lot of things that are happening to grow this movement beyond the confines
Cliff Duvernois:of just a radio show and a podcast.
Cliff Duvernois:You'll get advanced notice of upcoming guests and early
Cliff Duvernois:access to their interviews.
Cliff Duvernois:You'll also get a link to our Facebook group.
Cliff Duvernois:Now to get all these goodies, just head over to total michigan.com/join.
Cliff Duvernois:Enter your email address and join our awesome community today.
Cliff Duvernois:Hello everyone, and welcome back to Total Michigan.
Cliff Duvernois:I'm your host, Cliff DuVernois.
Cliff Duvernois:Today we're talking with Mike Laing, co-owner, co-founder of bigLittle
Cliff Duvernois:Wines up in the Traverse City area.
Cliff Duvernois:Mike.
Cliff Duvernois:It's that time of the show where we're gonna start talking about the good stuff,
Cliff Duvernois:right?
Cliff Duvernois:So what do you have for us today?
Cliff Duvernois:Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines: in front of us.
Cliff Duvernois:There's a wine called Mixtape.
Cliff Duvernois:This was the third wine we produced.
Cliff Duvernois:irst vintage of this wine was:Cliff Duvernois:This is the:Cliff Duvernois:So this is 10 years of Mixtape.
Cliff Duvernois:And, again, bigLittle wines.
Cliff Duvernois:all the wines are named after childhood memories.
Cliff Duvernois:So mix tape.
Cliff Duvernois:We, we remember making, mixed tapes of carefully arranged tracks meant to,
Cliff Duvernois:convey a specific message to the listener.
Cliff Duvernois:And, For this wine, this is a field blend.
Cliff Duvernois:So the grapes, for this wine, of which there are several varieties used, are
Cliff Duvernois:grown together and harvested together.
Cliff Duvernois:And we use Alsatian varieties that are native to, Eastern France,
Cliff Duvernois:such as, Riesling, Gewurztraminer or Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc.
Cliff Duvernois:And, every year that wine, this wine is a little bit different because
Cliff Duvernois:the crop, is not always the same.
Cliff Duvernois:And one variety might yield a little bit more than another, or we might
Cliff Duvernois:choose to pick a little bit more of this or that just based on what's
Cliff Duvernois:available, to go into the wine.
Cliff Duvernois:But it is comprised, of a Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Blanc and
Cliff Duvernois:Pinot Gris, those percentages vary.
Cliff Duvernois:It's an off, dry, very crisp, food friendly wine.
Cliff Duvernois:And the, the, the, the real cool factor about this wine mixtape is it crosses,
Cliff Duvernois:or unites the sweet and dry wine drinker.
Cliff Duvernois:it's not too sweet for the dry wine drinker.
Cliff Duvernois:It's not too dry for the sweet drinker.
Cliff Duvernois:It's a nice in between.
Cliff Duvernois:It's a nice in between.
Cliff Duvernois:And it really pairs well with a lot of ethnic foods.
Cliff Duvernois:For example, asian foods like, sushi or Thai food, Ethiopian food,
Cliff Duvernois:ethnic foods, also like, uh, middle eastern food or even Mediterranean.
Cliff Duvernois:So something with a little heat is very nice with mix tape.
Cliff Duvernois:Because again, it has a little residual sugar, but it's very crisp and refreshing
Cliff Duvernois:and it's an awesome summer option too.
Cliff Duvernois:It's the first wine we pour for folks.
Cliff Duvernois:We pour this wine, typically we pour this wine as our complimentary
Cliff Duvernois:pour to introduce them to, bigLittle and to talk about sweetness levels.
Cliff Duvernois:And, it's just a good introduction to the brand and to, white wine.
Cliff Duvernois:Now, before you talk about the memories that each
Cliff Duvernois:one of these wines like Invoke.
Cliff Duvernois:So I guess my question for you then would be, for this particular one,
Cliff Duvernois:when you were putting it together, what made you think of mixed tape?
Cliff Duvernois:Or did you write down the memory first and then say, okay, maybe the next bottle
Cliff Duvernois:we'll make, we'll call it mix tape.
Cliff Duvernois:How does that naming process go?
Cliff Duvernois:Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines: we like blends.
Cliff Duvernois:Not all of our wines are blends by any means, but Oh but we like
Cliff Duvernois:blends so mix tape by nature of that compound word or whatever.
Cliff Duvernois:it means, it, it means a blend, a mishmash, a combination of
Cliff Duvernois:different flavors and, and textures.
Cliff Duvernois:So, you know, the idea of a mix mixtape makes, yeah.
Cliff Duvernois:It makes one think of a blend and that's what this is.
Cliff Duvernois:And so it works.
Cliff Duvernois:we, we were, we look at the fruit we want to plant.
Cliff Duvernois:And then we look at the wines we wanna make.
Cliff Duvernois:And then we look at sales and we say, okay, all those things factor
Cliff Duvernois:into what we produce, right?
Cliff Duvernois:So this wine is a product of .. Four varieties that grow
Cliff Duvernois:really well in northern Michigan.
Cliff Duvernois:And, work we think, pretty harmoniously as a blend.
Cliff Duvernois:a lot of Alsatian wineries called this style of wine,
Cliff Duvernois:Edelzwicker, which essentially is, a blend of sation varieties.
Cliff Duvernois:You know, if you go to Alsace, and you eat the food and you taste the wines.
Cliff Duvernois:they work really well together.
Cliff Duvernois:There's a lot of rich foods, like a lot of heavy foods, very German
Cliff Duvernois:influenced because it's on the border.
Cliff Duvernois:So these crisp, acid driven Alsacian varieties aromatic whites, work with that
Cliff Duvernois:style of food and we can grow them here.
Cliff Duvernois:and the blend.
Cliff Duvernois:The blend works and it, again, it changes.
Cliff Duvernois:But if you go to Alsace, you'll see Edelzwicker style
Cliff Duvernois:blends all over the place.
Cliff Duvernois:Most producers have one,
Cliff Duvernois:at least one Edelzwicker right?
Cliff Duvernois:Excellent.
Cliff Duvernois:So this is delicious.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Thank you.
Cliff Duvernois:I'm thoroughly enjoying it.
Cliff Duvernois:So I guess my next question would be is, 'cause we're talking about a blend, right?
Cliff Duvernois:You're bringing all these different grapes together, mixed tape.
Cliff Duvernois:So my, then my question to you is that when you do this, obviously it's not.
Cliff Duvernois:let's do 25% of this one, 25%.
Cliff Duvernois:it's, could be a mix, it could be 70% with 30% or maybe, not even,
Cliff Duvernois:not that 70% with 20%, 5% something.
Cliff Duvernois:Yeah.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Yeah.
Cliff Duvernois:do you find that right balance?
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:So it's predominantly Riesling, so it
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:has to stay that way, otherwise it loses its essence in my opinion.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:So it's predominantly Riesling.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:And then we like predominantly, what I mean is 50% and then we layer in different
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:percentages of those other varieties, Pinot blanc, pinot gris, gewurztraminer.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:sometimes the deer eat a lot of T's demeanor and we don't have a lot, so
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:we'll have less in the blend sometimes.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:we use gewurztraminer for another wine called Tire Swing.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:And sometimes we have to dip further into that block to, to get more of that.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Sometimes we don't make C-3 Pinot, which uses Pinot Blanc.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:So we have more Pinot Blanc.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:It's just a matter of, again, Producing wines based on sales numbers, based
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:on what's working, what's, what's not.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:And moving great varieties around between different programs.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:But also trying to create wines that are consistent in style year after year.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:So there's constraints, but there's also freedom of, um, creativity as
Cliff Duvernois:certainly
Cliff Duvernois:Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines: within those confines.
Cliff Duvernois:one of the things that you mentioned before is you
Cliff Duvernois:talked about, you talked about how the grapes taste different year to year.
Cliff Duvernois:You just mentioned probably about a minute ago that you know if the
Cliff Duvernois:deer eat a lot of this grape.dot, so there's a lot of external
Cliff Duvernois:influences that impact to the grape.
Cliff Duvernois:So your 21 might not taste the same as the 22.
Cliff Duvernois:Which is gonna taste completely different than the 20.
Cliff Duvernois:So talk.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Yeah.
Cliff Duvernois:So talk to us about those environmental impacts on the
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:hopefully not completely different because
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:there, there are some threads of, consistency that we're looking for.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:For example, in this wine, I'm getting a little white pepper grapefruit.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:that's that's mixed tape.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Like we can, adjust that subtly.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:but that's the core of the flavor right.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:That we're looking for.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:s, but yeah, like a cool vintage, like 18 or 19 will result in
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:higher acidity in the fruit.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Because as fruit ripens with heat, sugar accumulates and acidity diminishes.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:if we don't get heat, we have more acidity in the fruit, which
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:means typically that we'll need to balance with more residual sugar.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:If we have a hot year, acidity diminishes, we may be able to
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:make mixtape in a dryer style.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Because there's not the need to balance with as much residual sugar.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:So yeah.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:those are the decisions when it comes to this wine, that we're thinking
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:about on any particular year,
Cliff Duvernois:And so Mixed Tape is one that you would recommend, if you took this
Cliff Duvernois:to a party, this would have mass appeal.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:It would, because again, it crosses, it bridges the
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:gap between sweet and dry wine drinkers.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:The, the, the real beauty of this also is when you start pairing it
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:with, like I mentioned, foods that might have a little bit of heat.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:But a lot of flavor and, some good richness.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:this can hold up to some fat fattier foods, like what?
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:I don't know, like pork belly tacos or something, something like that.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Or, spicy tuna, spicy tuna roll or, you know, things like that.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:So it's a crowd pleaser.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:It's refreshing, it's crisp and it pairs well with food.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:So this is what I'm looking for in a, an off dry white wine for sure.
Cliff Duvernois:Now, is this something that you only have here at bigLittle,
Cliff Duvernois:or have, is it available in stores?
Cliff Duvernois:People can go get it.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:This is available across the state of
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Michigan in, select retailers.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:But if you, for example, the consumer needs to know this.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:if there's a wine that you're looking for and you can't find it
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:on a store shelf, of your local retailer, you can always ask them.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:You can always say, look, I was up north, or I've had this wine before,
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:or You've even carried this wine before, and I'm interested in it.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:they'll find us.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:they know who to contact to get our wines.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:We're well distributed in Michigan.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:But sometimes you gotta ask.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Sometimes you have to ask for things that you
Cliff Duvernois:Certainly
Cliff Duvernois:yes,
Cliff Duvernois:You're not gonna get it unless you ask.
Cliff Duvernois:'cause there are a lot of wine shops.
Cliff Duvernois:Throughout Michigan that carry a pretty good balance between Michigan
Cliff Duvernois:wines versus, I'll say national wines versus even international
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Sure, yeah.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:They're all over the place and, those are the, I don't know, those are the,
Cliff Duvernois:So anyways, yeah, it's great to have that just simply because of
Cliff Duvernois:the fact that you can go into the store, support local and know that you are going
Cliff Duvernois:to be, you're gonna pick up a bottle that's going to, like you said, appeal.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Yeah.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:Masks.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:we don't rely just on tasting room sales.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:We rely on the support of
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:independent retailers and wholesalers across the state and, and, they're
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:great resources for the pro, the promoting of Michigan products.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:And, we thank them for that.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:yeah, our wines are available across the state.
Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines:If you can't find it, ask for it.
Cliff Duvernois:Nice.
Cliff Duvernois:One of the questions that I would like to, as we get to the end of the interview
Cliff Duvernois:here, one of the questions that I would like to ask you is that this whole thing
Cliff Duvernois:started because your dad gave up his job in manufacturing to come up here.
Cliff Duvernois:'cause he really wanted to pursue being in the wine business.
Cliff Duvernois:So what does he say that you and your brother have started your own vineyard?
Cliff Duvernois:Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines: he's pretty soft spoken.
Cliff Duvernois:I think he's proud of us.
Cliff Duvernois:I know he is.
Cliff Duvernois:But he, he's just, he's sort of old school in that way that, he doesn't,
Cliff Duvernois:um, he doesn't always express emotions, express his emotion super, super clearly.
Cliff Duvernois:But, we know that he is proud of us and what we're doing and what we're
Cliff Duvernois:doing with the fruit that he has grown.
Cliff Duvernois:We take a lot of pride in the quality of our products.
Cliff Duvernois:And we take a lot of pride in our work ethic.
Cliff Duvernois:And that was obviously a result of how we were raised, by both our mom and our dad.
Cliff Duvernois:And, and, We'll probably have a wine very soon.
Cliff Duvernois:We don't have anything in the works per se, but.
Cliff Duvernois:A dedication to, the people that made this possible for us, our
Cliff Duvernois:parents, and, our grandparents for, exploring Northern Michigan.
Cliff Duvernois:Creating, creating an opportunity for us to visit as kids and,
Cliff Duvernois:really fall in love with the area.
Cliff Duvernois:and, then, work together as a family to, to create something
Cliff Duvernois:cool and fun and, yeah.
Cliff Duvernois:it's just, it's cool.
Cliff Duvernois:it's a, it's an opportunity that a very small percentage of the population
Cliff Duvernois:are gonna have an opportunity to do.
Cliff Duvernois:So as I sit here and reflect on that, you know, I'm lucky.
Cliff Duvernois:A very lucky, obviously.
Cliff Duvernois:and the real like beauty of making wine and growing grapes and making
Cliff Duvernois:wine is sharing it with people.
Cliff Duvernois:It's a social, beverage.
Cliff Duvernois:It's a beverage that really shines when paired with the right foods.
Cliff Duvernois:And, these are stories that we try to tell in our tasting room and things that
Cliff Duvernois:we hope unite people with bigLittle.
Cliff Duvernois:Certainly.
Cliff Duvernois:Speaking of uniting with bigLittle, if somebody is listening to this
Cliff Duvernois:interview and they wanna connect with you, they wanna find out what
Cliff Duvernois:bigLittle's going on, maybe they wanna stop by your tasting room, what's
Cliff Duvernois:the best way for them to do that?
Cliff Duvernois:Mike Laing, bigLittle Wines: bigLittle wines.com is, those are
Cliff Duvernois:the coordinates for our website.
Cliff Duvernois:And we're located in Suttons Bay, five miles south of Sutton's Bay.
Cliff Duvernois:two thirds of the way from Traverse City to Sutton's Bay.
Cliff Duvernois:So that's where our taste room's located.
Cliff Duvernois:But yeah, bigLittle wines.com.
Cliff Duvernois:And again, if you can't find our wines on a store shelf, ask
Cliff Duvernois:the retailer, to bring it in.
Cliff Duvernois:And, thank you for your support.
Cliff Duvernois:And for our audience, you can always roll
Cliff Duvernois:on over to total michigan.com.
Cliff Duvernois:Click on Mike's interview and find the links that he mentioned up above.
Cliff Duvernois:Again, bigLittle wines mixed taped.
Cliff Duvernois:Definitely check it out.
Cliff Duvernois:We'll see you again next week when we talk to another Michigander, doing
Cliff Duvernois:some pretty extraordinary things.