The Incredible Expanding Mackinaw Trail Winery (and Brewery and Cidery)

A Yooper-born winery, a rebel son, and only-in-this-place grapes, this family business has rewritten the rules on what — and where — wineries can be.

By Ross Boissoneau | Sept. 21, 2019

Some might have said Ralph Stabile didn’t understand some basic scientific/agronomic facts — like the “fact” that wine grapes wouldn’t grow as far north as Petoskey, much less the Upper Peninsula. But that didn’t stop him. Because sometimes facts are facts, and sometimes — as in the case of scientists “proving” that bumblebees can’t fly — they’re just old wives’ tales.

So Stabile decided to fly in the face of widely held opinion masquerading as fact, and in 2004, he and his wife and business partner, Laurie Stabile, launched Mackinaw Trail Winery in Manistique, a small city on the north shore of Lake Michigan, in the Upper Peninsula.
 
True, most of their winery’s grapes came from elsewhere — but not all. And regardless of where the grapes originated, the Stabiles’ “impossible” wines gained traction — so much so, that after opening the tasting room in Manistique, they opened one in Mackinaw City. In 2009, Mackinaw Trail Winery expanded again, this time to Petoskey.
 
Why expand? “We ran out of room,” Laurie Stabile said.
 
Even then, the family business — which by then included their son, Dustin Stabile (pictured above), who took over as winemaker in 2010 — wasn’t done growing. In 2014, Mackinaw Trail Winery began brewing beer, too, becoming Mackinaw Trail Winery and Brewery. In 2017, the family nabbed another two corners in the local libations market, tackling sparkling wines and ciders and opening Resort Pike Winery & Cidery, which specializes in both, less than two miles west of Mackinaw Trail Winery & Brewery’s  Petoskey location.

AN UNLIKELY WINEMAKER
Despite the rapid growth of his family’s business, making wine — or beer, or cider, or sparkling wines, for that matter — was not Dustin Stabile’s original game plan.
 
In fact, while his parents were building their Mackinaw Trail Winery business, he was majoring in criminal justice at Michigan State University. A call home, however, forever altered his career path.

“I called my parents asking for some money — I was broke — and my dad said no,” Dustin Stabile said.

Instead, Ralph Stabile did what any smart father would do: He told Dustin to get a job. He suggested Dustin reach out to a guy he knew from the wine industry, Stan Howell. Howell, who at the time ran Michigan State University’s Spartan Cellars, a research lab for Michigan’s wine industry, is widely considered the godfather of Michigan wine.
 
As it turned out, the legendary Howell needed a hand, and Dustin went to work for him.
 
“After a month, I realized how much I enjoyed it and knew that I found my calling,” said Dustin. He eventually changed his major to enology and viticulture, but he still wasn’t interested in joining his mom and dad.

Instead, the young vintner took a job as assistant winemaker at Uncle John’s Fruit House winery in St. John’s, then moved on to a winery and distillery in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.
 
It wasn’t until fall 2007 that Dustin Stabile began working in his family’s business. One year in, Ralph Stabile, eager to expand the business, handed over the wine production reigns to his son.  
 
SETTING TRENDS, MAKING TRENDS
Though the Stabiles didn’t set out to be trailblazers, others soon followed their lead, planting grapes around and even north of the Little Traverse region, from Harbor Springs to Alanson. Recognizing the strength in numbers — as demonstrated by the established Old Mission and Leelanau Peninsula wine trails just to the south — the wineries banded together to form the Bay View Wine Trail.
 
Earlier this year the group rebranded as the Petoskey Wine Region, which now spans from Charlevoix to Harbor Springs. Dustin said the new name came about to provide a specificity of place that “Bay View” could not: “Petoskey is only in one part of the world, the Bay View wine Trail could be anywhere in the world.”  
 
The Stabiles didn’t anticipate the growth and team effort of the entire Petoskey Wine Region. “They’re such great people — some of the best people you could ever met,” said Laurie of her fellow winemakers and owners.
 
Dustin, who is president of the organization and a member of the state’s Craft Beverage Council, said such an endeavor builds the entire area into a destination. “People are not going to take a vacation to a region for one winery,” he said.
 
In addition, adding beer and cider also provides a greater appeal. With as many as 20 ciders, nearly a dozen sparkling wines, and a rotating selection of at least 14 different beers all added to the wine, there’s pretty much something for everyone. “I feel it adds to our company,” Dustin said. “We do a lot of weddings and people generally want beer at the receptions.”

He said it’s also a boon because some tasting room guests just aren’t wine drinkers, and they would stand around while the rest of their party happily sampled wine. “Now we have something for everyone that walks in our door.”

GROUNDBREAKING GRAPES
Still, the bedrock of the family’s business remains the wine. But we’re not talking Pinot Noir or Chardonnay. The grapes Mackinaw Trail Winery plants and use differ from those grown elsewhere, so the wines do as well. Here you’ll find Petite Pearl, La Crescent, Marquette, Frontenac Gris, Frontenac Blanc, Crimson Cabernet, Blaufränkisch, and other less common varietals. “Our wines are different from Traverse City or southwest Michigan or Napa or the Finger lakes,” said Ralph.
 
“We don’t want to be Merlot — we want to be Marquette,” added Dustin. “If we do a Cabernet Sauvignon, we’ll be compared to Napa. With a Marquette, there’s no comparison.”
 
When people have preconceived notions of what a wine should taste like, giving them something else entirely dissolves those preconceptions. “When you go in with a Marquette, you disarm them,” said Ralph. “They have a preconceived idea, and you go in with a La Crescent or Marquette, they’re surprised with the quality.”
 
Ah yes, quality. None of this would matter if the wines the Stabiles make weren’t good — or even exceptional. Several of their wines have won awards at competitions, including the Michigan Wine Competition, the Indy International Wine Competition, and the Mid-American International Wine Competition. In just the first year it was open in Petoskey, Mackinaw Trail brought home over 50 medals and six best of class awards.
 
For those looking to know more about the sources, pointing to the grapes in the nearby vineyard or to orchards down the road adds to the experience. “People love to hear the story behind all our products because we are selling ‘craft/local’ beverages,” said Dustin. So they oblige them.

With 15 acres at Mackinaw Trail and the possibility of as much as another 30 at Resort Pike, there are plenty of opportunities to point out the window to where the grapes came from.
 
The components of the other beverages are also nearby. “We buy a lot of our hops for our beer from Larry Sterzik, who grows the hops on his family farm on Sterzik Road in Petoskey. Right now all our apples for our hard ciders are all sourced within 45 minutes of our facility.”
 
While Dustin is the winemaker, and Ralph and Laurie spend more time in the tasting room, they and the rest of the staff operate exactly as the family-built organization they are, doing whatever is needed when it’s needed, regardless of the “fact” of their roles. Said Laurie with a laugh: “There is no job description. When the grapes come in, you’re a picker.”

Learn more about Mackinaw Trail Winery and Resort Pike Winery & Cidery  at www.mackinawtrailwinery.com and www.resortpike.com.

GRIN & BEER IT
Ralph Stabile admits Mackinaw Trail’s beer sideline isn’t a huge moneymaker, but he said it’s worthwhile — especially in terms of providing something for everyone.

“It’s not a big percentage, maybe seven percent. It makes enough to pay salary, make a little profit, and please other customers.”
 
So what’s on the beer menu? The U.P. Gold is their bestseller (though we’re pretty sure U.P. Yours has the best name. Morning Medicine is a brown ale with hints of dark chocolate and caramel, made with coffee from Big Medicine Ranch of Eastport. Thanks to an ongoing debate between winemaker Dustin Stabile and brewer Ted Monroeabout the virtues of wine versus beer — one that came to a head with Dustin’s retort that Jesus turned water into wine — Monroe created a comeback of his own: a stout called Jesus Should Have Made Beer.
 
“What’s fun about it is, for the brewer, I said, ‘I’ve got to have a light beer, a couple IPAs, a wheat.’ The rest is his to play with,” said Ralph Stabile. So that’s where creations like Monroe’s Hillbilly Sweatpants come in. “It’s like a Cezanne with Fruit Loops,” said Ralph.
 
It isn’t likely Monroe will stop there, either. “I think this last batch he added Cap’n Crunch to the Fruit Loops.”
 
You can try and buy Mackinaw Trail’s brews at both its Manistique and Petoskey locations. www.mackinawtrailwinery.com.