Leelanau Cellars to wind and dine Michigan

Wine—it’s not just for “wine snobs” any more. A July Gallup poll found that wine has overtaken beer as America’s favorite alcoholic beverage —no surprise to Michigan wineries, which have been thriving for the past decade.

Bob Jacobson, president of Leelanau Wine Cellars in Omena, welcomes the many new wineries that have sprung up not far from his 30-year-old business in Leelanau County. “There’s a certain ‘critical mass’ we’ve reached, where there are enough wineries to successfully market Leelanau County as Michigan’s wine country,” explained Jacobson. “That helps all of us, big and small.”

A Valentine’s Day event last year illustrates the point. Northern Michigan is not at its most inviting in snowy February, but a multi-winery event on Valentine’s Day drew more than 400 people—in part because of the increased number of wineries, each with its customer base.

The saying goes, “you can’t make good wine from bad grapes.” Jacobson and his winemaker, Shannon “Shawn” Walters, are skilled at cultivating the varieties they use, from chardonnay to pinot noir. Leelanau Cellars also produces a number of the fruit wines for which the area is known, from the requisite cherry to a gold-medal winning raspberry wine.

Jacobson is as proud of his winemaker as he is of his vineyards, and claims that Walters has probably made more wine than any current winemaker in Michigan. Walters has a passion for the craftsmanship touching on artistry that goes into making good wine.

Each year the winery brings home gold, silver and bronze medals from the national and regional competitions it enters. Its Tall Ship Chardonnay is a consistent gold medal winner at the Michigan State Fair, and its 2004 Late Harvest Johannisburg Riesling won a Double Gold Medal at the 2005 Finger Lakes International Wine Competition in New York State and a Gold Medal at 2005 Taster’s Guild in Michigan.

Already one of Michigan’s bigger wineries, Leelanau Cellars is growing. It is adding a larger tasting room—the primary retail operation, since customers want to taste their prospective purchases—a restaurant and new vineyards.

The winery sold 30,000 cases in the 2004 season and almost 50,000 this past season. This fall, after years of looking at properties, Jacobson is planting new vines to support that growth, doubling its current vineyard acreage.

“Wine grapes like pretty much the same locations people do: sunny, a nice view (that is, up on a hill), a cool breeze from a lake,” said Jacobson.

The property he recently acquired has all that and more. On the highway between M-22, which hugs the western shore of Grand Traverse Bay, and popular Lake Leelanau, it has great “curb appeal,” as a realtor would say, and will be more visible than most area wineries.

The need for a larger wine-tasting room and gift store at Leelanau Cellars has been evident for some time, since the current space is less than 900 square feet. After considering a new building at the new vineyard location, Jacobson managed to acquire the perfect space: a former bar on M-22, with an exquisite waterfront view of the bay from Omena Point.

The new building will offer a wine-tasting room more than twice the size of the current one and an even larger restaurant that will showcase the winery’s offerings. Both areas will have stunning views, and a small marina will allow boaters to stop by for lunch or begin a wine tour.

One advantage of adding a restaurant is extending the practical hours of the wine-tasting room.

“All year, we open at 10 a.m. (noon on Sunday), but it’s rare to do much business before 2:00,” said Jacobson. “A restaurant should bring a lunchtime crowd, with visits to the wine-tasting room. Sales between 11:30 and 2:00 should pick up substantially.”

Some have told him to expect his retail business to at least double after the new facilities open in June 2006, but his expectations are more modest. “We’ll be happy with whatever we get,” he said.

Currently, retail sales are a small but important part of the operation. About 15 percent of stock is sold retail, but that generates about 30 percent of revenue, since it brings in retail rather than wholesale prices.

Lisa Scott-Miller, manager of the tasting room/store, says she is really looking forward to the new location, mostly because of the larger size.

“A big part of my job on busy summer weekends is just crowd control,” Scott-Miller explained. “It’s a challenge to lay out wine and other merchandise to make people comfortable in a really small space, and to move them through without rushing them so others can have space at the tasting bar.”

On busy weekends, Scott-Miller arranges for one-day licenses to set up an outdoor tent offering wine-tasting and sometimes musical entertainment, just to have another place for the crowds.

Jacobson doesn’t expect his business will be greatly affected by the issue that Michigan’s smaller wineries are struggling with—direct shipment and self-distribution—because he has distributors and is on good terms with them. But he recognizes that direct shipment and self-distribution can be essential to a young winery.

“It’s a phase every growing winery must go through.We had 30 years to self-distribute as we established our distribution chain,” he said.

He understands the smaller wineries’ concern over legislation that could hurt their ability to get their products to stores, restaurants and consumers who want to order from home.

“We—the Michigan wine industry—have to stick together,” Jacobson said. “We have to market together and work with the tourism folks. We have to support each other when it comes to getting our product out. Doing so helps all of us.”

Jacobson took over the business when his father, who began it, retired. What attracts him to the winery business is the variety of challenges.

Very few businesses touch so many different industries: agriculture, manufacturing, supply/distribution, retail and tourism.

“I’m lucky to be doing work I love that also furthers the causes I care about. I want to see Michigan farmland preserved, and in this job I have a role in that,” he said.

“I also want to see this area thrive. So I’m glad that the tourism industry can use wineries to promote the region and keep my neighbors employed. What could be better?”

This article was written by Amy Buttery, Michigan Retailer staff writer.