Boyne Valley Vineyards is the newest winery in the Petoskey Wine Region, an area known for it’s unique wine grapes and family-friendly tasting rooms. We chatted with Christi Mahaney, who owns the Northern Michigan winery with her husband, Tom, to learn more.
What’s your background?
My husband Tom has always wanted to be a farmer, the cab of a tractor is his happy place. But we also wanted to put down roots in a business that we could leave to our kids. We purchased property between Boyne City and East Jordan in 2015 and planted our first 100 vines, intending to just grow and sell grapes initially.
A few years and a few thousand grapevines later, we made the decision to go “all in” and started the process of establishing a winery, followed by a tasting room. I was an environmental engineer for 22 years when I “retired” from that career and started tending to the vineyard full time a few years ago. Tom is in medical device sales and still maintains that job for the time being.
As farmers, you must’ve been specific about the varietals you grow.
Yes, we specialize in Michigan-grown, cold-hardy grape varietals, including Marquette, Frontenac, Frontenac Gris, Cayuga White, etc. These varietals withstand the colder temperatures in northwest Michigan and are also more disease resistant than the typical grape varietals that they grow in California and even the Traverse City area.
What can we expect during a visit to Boyne Valley Vineyards?
We wanted to build something that people could walk into and feel at home and want to stay a while. Our staff is all family and friends who have been with us through the whole process, so they bring enthusiasm and passion into the tasting experience. And we just like to have fun, so you might hear us singing along to the live music that we have or just laughing out loud a lot. We’re in this for the fun, too!
We can’t wait to stop by! How can we find you?
We’re located just south of Petoskey on US-131 North in Boyne Falls. We’re currently open Sunday–Monday and Wednesday–Friday from 12–6 p.m. and Saturdays 11 a.m.–6 p.m. We’re planning to be open through winter and have some fun activities planned, including a few igloos set up on our patios and snowshoeing on the property.