The grapevines that cover Old Mission Peninsula’s slopes hang heavy with fruit in autumn, and their leaves take on a golden-green cast. Against a backdrop of blazing fall foliage, vineyard crews make their way along the tidy rows of fruit, moving from one vine to the next, pulling clusters of ripe grapes and dumping the harvest into bins for transport to winery crush pads.

The scent of fermentation is already discernible. It’s a sticky-sweet aroma that hints of the thousands of wine bottles soon to be filled.

There’s never a bad time to visit a Michigan winery, but there’s something special about visiting during the crush.

“The crush is the culmination of an entire year’s worth of work,” says Patrick Brys, president and CEO of Brys Estate Vineyard and Winery, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary. “All the light, all the sunshine, all the rain, all the pruning and tending, all the weather and all the effort that’s gone into the vineyards in the past year, it all comes together at harvest time.”

The word “crush” originates from the practice of pressing ripe wine grapes, either manually or with winemaking equipment, to extract their juice. Over time, the term has expanded to include the wide array of activities that happen at harvest: pulling ripe fruit from the vines, sorting and cleaning the fruit, pressing the juice from the grapes, and piping it into fermentation tanks. And the crush undeniably includes an air of celebration.

“It really is a joyful time to be around the winery,” says Marie-Chantal Dalese, CEO of Chateau Chantal. “It’s the moment we’ve worked toward all year.”

The timing of the crush is never entirely predictable, as the harvesting of wine grapes takes place only when a winemaker believes the fruit has achieved the perfect sweetness and acidity for the style of wine the vintner desires. Timing is also dependent on the weather. Wineries don’t like to pick fruit after a rain, when the juice may be more diluted than optimal. Nor do they want to leave grapes exposed if severe weather is predicted.

Still, most of northern Michigan’s wineries begin their harvest in mid to late September or early October, typically beginning with grapes headed for sparkling wine. White wine varietals like chardonnay, pinot gris, sauvignon blanc, and pinot blanc come next on the harvest calendar, and are followed by the region’s red wine grapes: pinot noir, merlot, and cabernet franc. After this, or intermixed with the red harvest, come the rieslings for dry and semi-dry styles. Last to be harvested, from December and into early January, depending on the first good cold snap, are the grapes for ice wine.

Across the Old Mission and Leelanau peninsulas, visitors can see manual and mechanical pickers at work throughout October. They’ll likely notice tractors hauling bins of fruit for processing. Cellar tours are particularly enjoyable in the fall, and many wineries offer wagon tours through the vineyards.

“We tell our guests the harvest happens when the time is right,” says Dalese, of Chateau Chantal, “but we count on being busy for the length of October. It’s a fun time to visit, and we try to make it more fun with our annual Harvest Festival.”

Chateau Chantal’s festival takes place on the first Saturday of October each year. The event celebrates the crush with public cellar tours, a cork-tossing competition, and an old-fashioned grape stomping, where guests are invited to crush fruit in wooden vats with their bare feet. The Harvest Festival also includes an all-day art fair.

At nearby Brys Estate, visitors like to gather on the winery’s elevated deck, which sits above 40 acres of grapevines and offers glimpses of colorful fall foliage and a strip of East Grand Traverse Bay beyond. It’s a popular spot for shooting fall photos, and guests can reserve a table on the deck for customizable wine flights and light meals. Visitors can also gather on the adjacent Lawn Bar, a grassy area that promises more great photo ops, cornhole boards, and space to play.
At all Michigan wineries, harvest time is incredibly busy for staff.

“When our fruit is ready, we pick and process it immediately,” says Sherri Campbell Fenton, a second-generation managing owner of Black Star Farms. “It’s not unusual for our winemaking team to work 16- to 18-hour days during the crush.”

Still, Fenton thinks fall is one of the most satisfying times for those in the winemaking business, and one of the nicest times of year to visit Michigan’s wine regions for reasons other than wine alone.

“Fall isn’t only harvest time for grapes, but for a lot of agricultural products,” she says. “All our local restaurants are serving local produce.”

Guests at the Inn at Black Star Farms will find apples and pears on the breakfast menu when in season, and meals at the winery’s Bistro Polaris feature fruit, herbs, and vegetables from Black Star’s own gardens and local farmers markets.

Wine country visitors can expect to find those same locally sourced ingredients across the region. And they’re likely to be paired with wines from previous years’ vintages. “The crush is the fruition of a year’s worth of work at a winery,” Fenton says, “but harvesting the fruit is just the beginning.” Two or three years after harvesting, when the wines have aged, is the time to pop a cork and sample a glass. “Then we’ll know what we’ve really got.”

Plan It!

blackstarfarms.com
brysestate.com
chateauchantal.com
michiganwinecountry.com
traversecity.com