Forty-Five North Vineyard & Winery is celebrating the opening of our new tasting room! The time has finally come, after a year and a half of construction we’re in our new post and beam tasting room! Please come join us in celebrating the opening with live music from Blue Dirt (3- 5:30pm) and The New Third Coast with Norm Wheeler (6- 9pm). Mary in the Morning will also be on-site before the event from 12-3pm doing live broadcasts and giving out prizes, so feel free to come on out early!
Tickets are $15 (buy ‘em online, call 231-271-1188, or at the door) and include 5 complimentary wine pours, a pig roast, and music! Festivities begin at 3pm on June 26th.
About the Tasting Room
I and others have tasted in many winery tasting rooms, and to be sure, some tasting experiences are indelibly etched in our memory. To this day, I fondly remember tasting in the original caves dug in 1870 for the Coppola winery and can recall the wonderful bouquet and taste of their reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. On the other hand, I can recall, but will not name the lesser experiences, yet they are etched as well. The major role of the tasting room then becomes an extension of the wine itself, pleasant surroundings and personnel complement one’s sensory experiences and help lock in an overall grade. Having grown up in the midwest, I fondly recall my experiences in and around my home in Indiana, barns and antiques, parts of nostalgic panache of childhood memories.
Thusly, a barn as a tasting room seemed only appropriate, and not contrived as French, Italian, or even Californian. We began the process with the dismantling of an antique barn in Wyoming, MI, which was moved and re-assembled on the winery premises. However, because of structural concerns and commercial building codes, this is being completed as an Agricultural building, but yet still over 120 years old.
Our new tasting room is a new structure from Beam Barns, LLC, that is hewn by the Amish in Ohio and will be re-assembled on site as well, 75 feet from the other barn. It is a post and beam structure and, after seeing Justin Carlson’s work with other barns, I am confident this will be a very positive tasting experience, rivaling the aforementioned memories. Tim King, also a trusted craftsmen, will be on the project and now that we have Fred Campbell of JML Design Group in Traverse City joining the team as architect, Forty-Five North can offer a top shelf tasting experience for its clients. While our new tasting room is being constructed, we invite you to stop by and taste in our temporary space in the production building—click here for hours and directions.—Steven Grossnickle, owner