The Stabile Family

Dustin Stabile

Head of Production
dstabile@mackinawtrail.net
Dustin grew up in a Sicilian household making wine with his father Raffaele at an early age. He remembers as a child, his father paying him one dollar per bag of dandelion heads for making wine. As Dustin grew older he started experimenting with his father making wine out of anything they could get their hands on.

Initially Dustin entered Michigan State University for criminal justice. When coming out of a chemistry class he saw on a bulletin board a job opening at Spartan Cellars. After getting the job, Dustin found out that there was a program for enology and viticulture, which intrigued him because of his family heritage. He soon after switched all of his classes. In the program, Dustin was able to study under renowned Professor Stan Howell. When completed with his studies, his first winemaking job was as an assistant winemaker at Uncle John’s Fruit house winery in St. John’s, Michigan. After a year working under Mike Beck, he then took a job at a winery in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Dustin’s true passion led him back into making Michigan grown grape wines and working in the family winery. In the fall of 2007 he started working with his father making the wine for Mackinaw Trail. By the fall of 2008 he took over the winery production to allow his father more time to expand the business into Mackinaw City and then into Petoskey. In recent years the winery has taken numerous gold medals and has focused more on different blends of wines to really express what Michigan grapes have to offer! Dustin continues to expand his knowledge and share his techniques in educating his staff.

Hometown
Iron Mountain, Michigan

Interests/Hobbies
Hunting, Fishing, Trapping

Favorite Mackinaw Trail Wine
Cabernet Sauvignon

Favorite Sports Team
Green Bay Packers, MSU Spartans

Favorite Toy Growing Up
BB Gun

Favorite Season of the Year
Winter (anything below -5F)