Wine Tours

June 14, 2006

Ten years ago Northern Michigan had seven wineries. Yet despite the fact that wines being produced were winning awards and selling well in the marketplace, local wines struggled to gain the respect they deserved.
  That has all changed. Northern Michigan now has 25 wineries with several more on the horizon. Local wines are cleaning up at international wine competitions and several of the industriy’s top wine writers and critics have visited the region singing the praises of area vintages.
  Northern Michigan wines have also become one of the bright lights in a struggling local tourism economy.
  Winery tourism is hot all over the world. Australia 10 years ago began moving in the direction of building tourism around their wine industry. They have increased tourism by 20%. Napa Valley continues to be a major tourist attraction in California. Even South Africa has created a plan to market wine tourism that has increased visitors and dumped millions of dollars into their country.
  In New York a 2004 study of their wine industry’s impact on tourism showed that 4.1 million visitors came through their wineries in 2003 versus 2.6 million in 2000. Many tourism officials pointed to major declines in travel after the 9-11 tragedy, something not felt by the New York wine industry.

CLOSE TO HOME
  Okay, but what about Northern Michigan? Don Coe, managing partner at the winery at Black Star Farms, who was recently appointed to the Michigan Department of Agriculture Commission sees the Northern Michigan wine tourism trend mirroring what is happening elsewhere.
  “Just in the past few years millions of dollars has been invested in new winery development in the region,” said Coe. “Recently, several parcels of land have been purchased in the region for vineyard and winery development. This all points to the success of this region’s wine industry. No one is going to invest that type of money if there wasn’t evidence of significant growth.”
  Coe notes that area tasting rooms have increased visitors during the traditional “shoulder” or off-season months. Seven years ago he and other local wineries formed the Leelanau Peninsula Vintners Association (LPVA), launching the state’s first wine trail.
  The LPVA has tracked the spending of some visitors who answered a voluntary survey. These visitors came to Northern Michigan specifically to visit the wineries and on average spend over a $1,000 during their weekend stay.
  A study conducted four years ago by Michigan State Univeristy and the Michigan Grape and Wine Industry Council pointed to the state’s wine industry having a $75 million annual impact on the economy.
  Locally, wine trail events on both the Leelanau and Old Mission Peninsula’s have been successful in attracting visitors. Last year the LPVA annual Harvest Stompede (run/walk through the vineyards) attracted visitors from 21 states and Canada.
  “We are swamped during these wine trail events,” said Mike Bryan of Traverse City
based New York Luxury Limousine. “Even during what you would think would be slow times of the year we get lots of bookings for the wine tours. I am amazed at the number of people that come fly in from out of state to specifically visit the wineries. One group was from California. I said to them you have a bunch of wineries out there why did you come here, they responded ‘this area is kicking our butt in our own California wine competitions so we had to see what they are all about.’ I am also amazed at how much wine and money these people spend. One group bought so much wine that I had to have a car come out to bring it all back to their hotel.”

MOST REQUESTED
  Local tourism officials have noted the impact as well. At the Traverse City Convention and Visitor Bureau information on local wine touring is one of the most requested attractions visitors ask about. At the Grand Traverse Casino Resort & Spa the local wine trail brochures are the most requested of any area attraction by their guests.
  Coe and others see this trend increasing.
  “The phones are ringing off the hook with those wanting to partner with us,” said Coe. “Local tourism leaders and operators are seeing the value in winery tourism. Several area hotels are marketing winery packages for their guests and others are even hosting wine events at their property. We as an industry plan to continue to expand our effort to partner with the tourism industry to expand the length of the tourism season.”
  The Traverse region has the greatest collection of wineries with 22 wineries (20 with public tasting rooms) between the Leelanau and Old Mission Peninsulas. Wineries are popping up elsewhere in the north (Cheboygan, Charlevoix, Alpena) with Benzie County the next area to explode with the possibility of 5 wineries opening in the next couple of years.
  It all points to a “tasty” resurgence of the regions tourism economy. To learn more about the wine industry’s efforts visit
www.lpwines.com.

Rick Coates is a spokesman for the local wine industry.