Vineyard makes dream come true

Michael Wells has always held a special love for making wine. That passion has led him to open Black Fire Winery at 1261 E. Munger Road in Tecumseh Township. Black Fire Winery is a vineyard over half a decade in the making, and a special project dear to Wells.

“Years ago, I was thinking about retirement, and I was kicking ideas around with my accountant on what I wanted to do,” Wells said. “I realized I really wanted to make wine.”

Wells worked as lieutenant for the Ypsilanti Fire Department before retiring three years ago. “My life was very hectic, and hard on the body and nerves,” Wells said. “But I always wanted to open a winery.”

Wells’ love of making wine began when he was 16 years old growing up in Detroit. There were two grape vines growing in his backyard, and he wanted to see if he could make wine out of the grapes. Without knowing anything about winemaking, Wells used cheesecloth to strain the grapes and put the juice in pop bottles. “I put it in the back of my dad’s closet and forgot about it for eight months,” Wells said with a laugh. “When my older brother visited, he got the bottles and tasted them and said they tasted just like the real thing. So, I started drinking it like it was pop, and by the time I stood up, the whole world started moving on me.”

The fond memories of his teenage years spurred Wells to obtain a certificate in Viticulture and Enology from Michigan State University later in life.

“My dream was to get this place open,” Wells said. “With my firefighting background, I’ve dealt with a lot of bad situations, so when I retired I wanted to be in a better environment.”

Wells had been looking for a place to put his winery for years when some friends from Tecumseh told him to come check out a property close to their home. After he took a liking to it, he purchased the property 16 years ago, and soon moved in. A little while later, some other friends of the Wells sold their property, which had a lot of land. Wells purchased that plot as well, and used it to grow his vines starting in 2005. He converted a three-bedroom ranch on the property into the tasting room for his winery, which serves appetizers along with the wine. It took him the last five years to get the place open.

“I’d like to turn this place into a wine destination,” Wells said. “The more wineries that are here in Tecumseh, the more that will come.”

Black Fire Winery has 10 different variations of wines: three reds, six whites and one cranberry made from nearly a dozen varieties of grapes. They are open Thursday through Saturday from 2 to 9 p.m., and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. More information can be found by calling 424.9232.

“People come to wineries in a great mood and usually by the time they leave they’re even better,” Wells said. “Even if they didn’t like any of my wines I still want them to say they had a good time.”