Welcome to the second installment of MBTB's Beyond the Bottle, a periodic Q-and-A-style feature that allows winemakers and/or winery representatives to talk candidly about their respective facilities: what they specialize in, what types of consumers they're geared toward, what they offer in terms of food and entertainment, what their ambiance is like, etc. We hope this helps you, our readers, decide which wineries make it to your "must lists," based on your affinities and attitudes, as you hit the wine trails.
Today, Coryn Briggs, director of marketing at Black Star Farms, walks us through the past and present of the Northern Michigan wine powerhouse, which boasts tasting rooms on both the Old Mission and Leelanau peninsulas, as well as in Traverse City.
Editor's note: Wineries do not pay a fee to appear in Beyond the Bottle; we're featuring every Michigan winery that requests and responds to our BTB questionnaire. If you're a winemaker or wine representative and would like your facility highlighted, please email cort@michiganbythebottle.com.
Can you give us a brief synopsis of Black Star Farms' history?
In 1998, founding partners Kerm Campbell and Donald Coe purchased Sport Valley Farm, a 120-acre equestrian facility renowned for its palatial red estate house, stables, barns and outlying paddocks. Upon purchase, the partners realized that the farm presented a unique opportunity to create a world class winery and agricultural tourism destination, capturing the essence of the surrounding land and lakeshore. The property was named Black Star Farms after the stylized star in the marble foyer of the estate house. Plans were quickly developed to build a winery to process the 1998 vintage, employing Lee Lutes as winemaker. Lee was the former winemaker at Peninsula Cellars on Old Mission Peninsula and a Michigan native with winemaking experience in Italy. He knew the classic cool-climate grape varieties could be successfully grown here and that they would produce world-class wines. Ten years later, we have become a popular Northern Michigan agricultural destination with an inn, three tasting rooms providing artisan wines and spirits, a creamery, an onsite café and boarding stables.
Describe your winery in three words.
How about five words? :) Regionally expressive and seasonally dynamic.
How would you sum up the philosophy behind your winery and its products?
The “lake effect” climate enables the growing of classic vinifera grape varieties, such as Chardonnay, Riesling, Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir. Our philosophy is to insure that we are growing the highest quality fruit we can from this region, and then helping that fruit express itself most naturally in the wine that it will become. Fruit is sourced from both our own vineyards and local grower partners. This diversity allows us to obtain consistent quality across vintages and represent the best efforts of our skilled winemaking team.
Give us the scoop on your tasting rooms and the winery itself.
We are a Northern Michigan company with two winery production facilities in the Traverse Bay area. Our winery in Suttons Bay is home to the production of our red wines and barrel-aged wines. We also produce our methode champenoise sparkling wines (Leelanau Sparkling Wine and Blanc de Noir) at this winery. At our Old Mission facility, the white and fruit wines (including the ciders) are processed. At this facility, we also have a still where we make our eau de vie fruit brandies.
Tasting rooms:
- Black Star Farms Suttons Bay: Twelve miles north of Traverse City and just off M-22, you'll find our main tasting room, located on the farm. It's housed in a unique post-and-beam building and features an elliptical tasting bar. The original tasting room was located inside the inn and opened in 1999. The current tasting room was built in 2000 and opened shortly after. This site offers the full line of our wines, brandies and ciders.
- Black Star Farms Old Mission: A short drive along scenic M-37, among the rolling hills and sublime views of East Grand Traverse Bay, sits Black Star Farms Old Mission. Once home to locally renowned Underwood Farm Market, it now houses a beautifully renovated tasting room and state of the art winemaking facility. The tasting room opened in the fall of 2007 and boasts a full round bar constructed from nine oak wine barrels and a cozy fireplace. Here visitors can sample and purchase our full line of wines (except the Isidor’s Choice wines), brandies, and ciders.
- TASTES of Black Star Farms: TASTES, located in the Mercato in the Village of Grand Traverse Commons, offers a unique twist on wine tasting. Open Tuesday and Wednesday from noon to 7 p.m., Thursday, Friday and Saturday from noon to 9 p.m., and on Sunday, noon to 4 p.m., the tasting bar offers samples from the full range of Black Star Farms wines and brandies. A European-style Matterhorn grill dinner is offered evenings, and reservations are recommended.
What's your tasting policy?
Contact Black Star Farms directly for the current tasting policies.
Tell us more about your wines.
Our varietal wines are of high character, acidity and balance. The wines range in style from dry to sweet and in between. We specialize in making quality wines from cool climate varietals such as Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc.
We are known for our Arcturos line of wines, including the Pinot Gris, Sur Lie Chardonnay, Late Harvest Riesling, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc.
We produce an ice wine, port-syle dessert wines and eau de vie style brandies:
- A Capella Riesling Ice Wine: This "eis wein" concentrates the rich flavors of ripe apricots, peaches, pineapple, exotic flowers and subtle spices. A small glass alone or with any dessert is a fabulous way to end a special evening.
- Sirius Dessert Wines: These wines are fortified fruit and grape wines that are truly delightful when served after a meal with a complementary dessert. They are packaged in smaller (375 ml) bottles and typically range from 16-18 percent alcohol. Varieties include maple, raspberry, cherry and pear. We also produce two grape fortified dessert wines, Sirius White and Sirius Red. For more information about any of these, please visit our website.
- Eau de vie brandies: Our fruit-based brandies capture the essence of Northern Michigan fruit and they are generally known as eau de vie style spirits. Eau de vie (fruit brandy) is French for "water of life." The spirits are clear and represent the pure essence of fermented fruit. The balance of fruit and alcohol reflects both the artisan skill of the distiller and the quality of the fruit. We produce brandies from local cherries, apricots, pears, plums, raspberries and grapes. We also produce a barrel-aged apple brandy that is aged for three to five years, using both French and American oak. At the precise time the distiller feels is optimum to showcase the “spirit” of the fruit, the brandy is bottled — often a single barrel at a time, or in very small lots.
Is there a particular vineyard, city or region that your grapes come from?
We have a small estate vineyard on our farm property in Suttons Bay. We also work with growing partners on both the Leelanau and Old Mission Peninsulas.
If you could recommend only ONE wine at your winery, or if you had to name your favorite, which would it be and why?
I love our Arcturos Sur Lie Chardonnay. Not your typical "housewife’s Chardonnay" ... this unwooded Chardonnay is bursting with flavors of fresh golden delicious apple, pear and a crisp dry finish. What I enjoy most about this wine is the unoaked style and the versatility it brings to the table – it is often my go-to wine for sipping or meal planning.
Which wine is most popular at your winery in terms of customer demand?
The Arcturos Late Harvest Riesling is our most popular wine — in terms of customer demand. We believe it is because of its sweeter style. It is a wine that is sweet but still maintains a beautiful balance of sweetness and acidity and it doesn’t cross into the realm of dessert wines.
Are you part of a wine trail? Which wineries are your closest neighbors?
Leelanau Peninsula Vintners Association – L.Mawby, Ciccone, Willow and Shady Lane Cellars
Wineries of Old Mission Peninsula – Chateau Grand Traverse and Peninsula Cellars
Do you have any recurring events?
We participate in all of the two trails’ events on both peninsulas. We also have dinners in the Arcturos Dining Room at the Inn. These dinners feature our wines and courses prepared from local ingredients by our chefs at the Inn. Dinners are on select Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. To inquire about dates and time visit our website calendar.
If someone has never had Michigan wine, what would you want them to know about it?
Michigan wines are not all fruit-based sweet wines. In the past, our industry has been noted for the cherry and apple wines. While there is nothing wrong with these, we would like consumers to be aware that Michigan grape varietal wines are made in many different styles. Michigan wines are becoming increasingly more notable as they continue to win accolades in national and international wine judging contests.
Contact info
Tasting Room at Black Star Farms Suttons Bay
10844 E. Revold Rd., Suttons Bay, MI 49682
May to November: Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sunday, 12-5 p.m.
November to May: Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday, 12-5 p.m.
Phone: (231) 944-1270
Tasting Room at Black Star Farms Old Mission
360 McKinley Rd., Traverse City, MI 49686
May to November: Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sunday, 12-5 p.m.
November to May: Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday, 12-5 p.m.
Closed Tuesdays in January, February and March
Phone: (231) 944-1300
TASTES of Black Star Farms
800 Cottageview Dr., Suite 35, Traverse City, MI 49684
Tuesday-Thursday, noon-7 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, noon-9 p.m.; Sunday, noon-4 p.m.
Matterhorn Grill dinners are by reservation
Phone: (231) 944-1349
