Tasting Room

St. Julian Winery plays key role in the success of Michigan’s wine industry

Sampling new varieties of wine is a refreshing way to enjoy a delightful Up North afternoon, especially when you’re surrounded by acres of vineyards and the backdrop of a scenic 113-acre nature preserve.

There’s a good chance the hops in one of the Michigan craft beers you’re sipping this autumn came from a bucolic farm on the Leelanau Peninsula in the northwest corner of the mitten.

In many ways, Good Harbor Vineyards and Aurora Cellars are like sisters in a close-knit family but with different outlooks on life or, in this case, wine.

Oddside Akes in Grand Haven began as small taproom serving small-batch brews. Today it is a major destination.

William Schopf is a storyteller, though not in the traditional sense of taking pen to paper or tapping away on a keyboard to craft novels, short stories or screenplays (though he majored in English literature at Princeton University).

Geoff Frey’s palette was wowed when he sipped his first glass of Marquette, a red hybrid grape, during a wine event in St. Paul, Minnesota, nearly a decade ago.

By the time the first serious snow blankets northwestern Michigan, a village of igloos has been firmly planted in the barren woods behind the taproom at Hop Lot Brewing Co., an idyllic winter landscape illuminated by strings of glimmering white lights and blazing campfires.

“People are looking for a food that has more taste and is offering more nutritionally, that’s the draw for most people. People like the fact organic heirloom tomatoes are different. Even though they’re ugly (whole), they’re prettier on a plate.” - Kate Poirier

This unique small-batch, boutique winery grows its own grapes and arranges tastings by appointment only.