The daughter of Archduke Stefan Habsburg has a petition before the St. Joseph City Commission tonight seeking approval for a Small Wine Maker license for property in the 2500 block of S. Cleveland Avenue in the city, but it is highly unlikely that you or I will ever see any wine produced, bottled, tasted or sold from that location. Nevertheless, the winery, to be known as The Archduke's Daughter Winery, will be very real, and they are hopeful of capitalizing on the rich grapes and grape-growing heritage of the Lake Michigan Shore Appellation, to one day offer us all the opportunity to partake of the fruits of their labors.
Ileana Habsburg-Snyder would like to get a Small Wine Maker license for property at 2538 S. Cleveland Avenue in the building shown in the photo accompanying this story on Moody on the Market.com. Her reasoning for that particular property is that it is one of the few available facilities in the area that Mrs. Habsburg-Snyder and her husband David have been able to identify that provides all of the amenities required by the Michigan Liquor Control Commission at an affordable rate to accomplish their task of establishing a "negociant" facility which will purchase grapes or even wines made elsewhere for blending, bottling, and sale at a future date.
The more standard model for wineries with tasting rooms, on-premise bottling and even the planting and growing of grapes is considered an "estate" facility which the Snyders do not wish to create. They do already have a tasting room on the Leelanau Peninsula near Traverse City, but David says he has learned that "the best grapes and the best growers are here in Southwest Michigan in the Lake Michigan Shore Appellation." He calls it "a fabulous place," and looks forward to one day having an appropriate wine tasting facility with retail sales and even widespread distribution through standard retail channels across Michigan and the region.
Ileana is 113th in line for the British throne and her family is steeped in history, so they are hopeful of becoming a part of the lore of the Southwest Michigan Wine Trail if the City Commission will approve their Small Wine Maker application so it can advance in Lansing at the Michigan Liquor Control Commission. The current plan is to simply identify the S. Cleveland property as the physical location tied to the license, largely because the requirements say the property must be capable of supporting the manufacture, bottling, storage and sale of wine whether those steps are actually carried out at that address or not.
Stay tuned, and one day in the future we can enjoy a glass of wine from The Archduke's Daughter Winery, hopefully launched right here in Michigan's Great Southwest with City Commission approval.
