Centralight

a toast Alumnae advocate for their home state While traveling through Italy, Lorri Hathaway, '92, looked out onto the coastline. As people around her remarked about the beautiful scenery, Hathaway agreed. And then the Leelanau native thought, "We have this in our own backyard." Hathaway, a business administration graduate, says she started to think about everything she had at home – she thought about the fresh food, the lake access and sundry landscape. "I began to appreciate what our state has to offer," she says. "And I made an effort to learn more." The one Michigan product Hathaway didn't know much about was the wine. "I started to discover about how many wineries Michigan has – there's currently 82 – and I would tell my friends," says Hathaway, who now lives in East Lansing. "They all seemed so surprised." Hathaway, a writer and stay-at-home mom, says that she and friend Sharon Kegerreis, '90, a fellow writer and Michigan enthusiast, traveled to the vineyards to learn all about their favorite Michigan product and its deep-rooted history in the state. 12 12 centralight winter '11 Intriguing backgrounds of the hardworking winemakers inspired Hathaway and Kegerreis to tell their stories in a book: "From the Vine: Exploring Michigan Wineries," which earned a Michigan Education Association Michigan Notable Book recognition. A few years later, their second book "The History of Michigan Wines" was ignited after the duo was hired by the Michigan Department of Agriculture to document the state's wine history for the state archives. The two CMU alumnae say that winemaking was first noted in 1679 when French explorers made wine from the grapes growing wildly along the Detroit River. In the mid-1800s, the wine industry began in Monroe County and others around the state followed. And during Prohibition, clever Michigan vineyard owners weathered the alcohol ban by selling grapes to Welch's Grape Juice Co. "We have a more than 150-year- old business here in Michigan, and it is thriving," says Kegerreis, who majored in IPR and is active in the public relations field. to Michigan BY SARAH CHUBY, '03 M.A. '11 Michigan wine experts and agricultural enthusiasts Sharon Kegerreis, '90, and Lorri Hathaway, '92, visit the wine room at Uncle John's Cider Mill in St. Johns, Mich. Thanks to her mom and dad, Kegerreis says she was introduced to wine over holiday hams and turkeys in her hometown of Charlevoix. She expanded her palate when her career travel included many business dinners where bottles of wine were ordered and her taste buds tingled when she tried regional wines. "When I traveled through places like Europe and Africa, I savored the local wines. These experiences made me appreciate how wines are influenced by regional climate and history, just as Michigan wines are crafted," says Kegerreis, who lives in Chelsea. Lifting their glasses at Uncle John's Fruit House Winery in St. Johns, the two women talked about how they are proud to live in Michigan, the second most agriculturally diverse state in the country. • just a taste To find a winery or wine tasting room near you, go to michiganwines.com and click on the Winery and Vineyards link.

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