Wine Tasting Al Fresco in Leelanau

Photo: Nathaniel Rose and Ryley Gill mask up at their outdoor barrel stations, which can accomodate two groups of tasters, standing 20 feet apart.

By Madeleine Hill Vedel

Sun contributor

With bars in Traverse City and Bellaire writing lengthy pleas to the public to respect their employees, to refrain from cursing, spitting and worse, it was time to check in with Leelanau County’s wineries and see how they’ve managed the COVID-19 requirements of mask-wearing, distancing, sanitizing surfaces, and more.

I spoke with half a dozen vineyards and learned of as many solutions. For a number, all tastings occur outdoors, with visitors banned from the inside tasting rooms. Such an example is Nathaniel Rose, one of the region’s smallest wineries; he can accommodate two groups of tasters at a time at his outdoor barrel stations, each a minimum of 20 feet apart.

“I have been reading a lot of studies on respiratory droplet particle travel in outdoor settings. We determined that 20 feet seems to be an appropriately safe distance to limit down to 1% the chance of catching something if we get a carrier customer,” Nathaniel tells me. Umbrellas atop his barrels offer shade; freshly sanitized menus are provided at the first station. Once the tasting requests are taken, he or his winemaking partner Ryley Gill deliver the filled glasses to the next barrel station – keeping a distance from the visitors – where the tasters enjoy their samples, decide what they would like to purchase, and verbally confirm their order. Their purchase is then prepared, their credit card information taken, and the transaction completed with the bare minimum of contact. No visitor has entered his tasting room this season. If other groups arrive while the stations are occupied, they are kindly requested to await their turn in their car. Reservations are not required but are encouraged.

Nathaniel joined some colleagues in waiting a couple of weeks after Memorial Day to offer a tasting experience (to that point it had been contactless curbside sales only). With such a strict setup, he has lost visitors who simply didn’t want to wait in their cars. However, on the flip side, he says, “the customers we do get, almost exclusively are very serious about fine wines and serious buyers. The people who are going through the effort to venture out are looking to stock their cellar and then hole back up. The majority of the customers we have have been amazingly safe and careful. They’ve been good with exercising caution, following the rules we’ve laid down, and we really appreciate it.”

Susan Bramer at Laurentide has also closed her inside tasting room to groups, allowing individuals in for bottle purchases and pick up. However, she has vastly enlarged her outdoor tasting area to include the entire front vineyard. Beyond the shaded patio are a handful of picnic tables, as well as the grassy slopes and rows of vines. Currently there are ropes and poles to delineate the area, with a split rail fence to be in place in the near future. “We’ve been blessed with incredible weather,” Susan tells me, “We’ve only missed a few days of customers [due to rain or wind] as we do not do anything inside.” Asked about customers’ reactions, she is quick to say, “We’ve been very lucky. There’ve been very few recalcitrant people. Our policy is posted all over the place, and we’re extremely vigilant. Whatever standard there has been – we’ve doubled it. If the State says 50% capacity, we’ve done 25%. Safety is our policy. I have one person working with me as opposed to five, and we’re working as hard as our legs can carry us.”

Reservations are encouraged and it is requested that groups be of four or fewer.

Another winery that has only outdoor tasting didn’t originally intend such, but the arrival of the shutdown in March arrested the tasting room renovation construction at Bel Lago Winery, preventing the building project’s completion till sometime early this fall. With “Under Construction” an obvious reason for barring visitors from coming inside, the Bel Lago team has made the most of their outdoor options, planting more flowers than ever in their gardens to splendid effect. Aware of their stunning vantage points over the lake, and desirous of making the most of the situation, the winery team decided to encourage onsite picnicking.

Blake Lougheed, winemaker, tells me, “Lots of people seem to be enjoying the more natural side of things [that Bel Lago offers]. It’s more of a casual hangout than an interactive tasting.” He muses, “this is the year to have the tasting room shut down. We’ve had a lot of happy customers. People are really willing to adapt and still enjoy themselves quite a bit. It’s really nice to spread people out. We didn’t used to sell bottles [for consumption onsite], but now we do. We encourage people bringing food as we’ve not many things to offer right now. It’s a little bit more casual. It’s been good – our customers have still been coming. We haven’t seen a dramatic loss in sales. It’s been surprisingly decent as far as how much wine we’ve been moving.”

Debbie Simpson at Good Harbor has been able to continue accommodating paid tasting visitors inside their tasting room, where the floor is marked to indicate 6 ft distances, and plexiglass barriers have been installed between the bar and the visitors.

Tasting flights (three two-ounce pours of their choosing) are available on a first come, first served basis outside on the patio. Currently no reservations are being taken.

“They [visitors] can walk up the walkway. One of us greets them at the door and explains their choices — Come in for the paid tasting, or buy a flight to be outside.” When queried as to mask compliance and customer attitudes, she responded, “We’ve had surprisingly few issues. Friends with businesses in Leland … We luckily have not had issues. We greet people at the door with our masks; we have ours, they theirs. They only remove masks to taste. Everybody has abided by that.”

In this informal survey, only Matt Lundey at Chateau Fontaine has specifically addressed the unpleasantness widely discussed on social media in posts from Shorts Brewery (Bellaire), The Little Fleet, and Rare Bird Brewpub (both Traverse City). In a post he put on Facebook on August 18, Matt reiterated the winery’s stance of offering tastings outdoors for groups of six or fewer, permitting access one person at a time to the indoor WC, but no more – and in particular no access to the winery merchandise shop. He goes on to state, “While the vast, VAST majority of our guests have responded favorably to this decision, some have not—including the group that left in a huff today because they didn’t want to have a tasting without also touching everything in the tasting room. I cannot tell you how frustrating it is for a small business that prides itself on offering a world-class customer experience, to lose a customer before that experience can even begin. Especially when all we are trying to do is save lives… We at Chateau Fontaine would like to extend a gargantuan thank you to the many people who have applauded our efforts, been incredibly understanding of the difficult situation that we find ourselves in, and been extremely patient with us as we adapt to these extraordinary and unprecedented circumstances.”

And this seems to be the opinion all round. The majority of visitors have been considerate and attentive to wearing masks, abiding by the winery’s stated and posted rules. And where that has not been the case, most have simply opted to return to their cars and depart (with or without comment). It has been a gauntlet that each and every one of these businesses have been jumping. For a few, COVID-19 provided a grand moment for their wine clubs, shipping out more wine than ever. For others, they hope to get through this season, be able to pay the bills, continue to care for their clients, and hopefully expand their reach. But not having person to person contact, not being able to share a conversation about wine at the tasting bar, has been a substantial disadvantage.

For a winery such as Shady Lane Cellars, the investment in their elegant back patio and outdoor tasting area of a few years’ past has paid off in spades. For this summer they have imposed a maximum six-person group request, and offer table service with pre-ordered flights rather than ‘choose your tasting as you go;’ reservations are strongly recommended. Up the road, Big Little Wines and Mawby Sparkling have adopted a similar program, adding the specific duration of a tasting reservation: one hour.

There is a silver lining, if putting it in ink doesn’t jinx it. The long hot summer days, minimal rainfall, and steady weather have been a boon to the fruit. Blake at Bel Lago is quite content with the quality and health of the cherries he’s brought in for their cherry wine–noting that though the harvest has been small, the fruit is beautiful; and Nathaniel is anticipating this fall’s harvest of grapes both at his vineyard and at select parcels downstate for his signature single vineyard wines.

“2020 weather has been the greatest growing season I’ve ever seen. I am thankful that for the first time we have a crop [in the former Raftshol vineyards that he has been tending and returning to health with Ryley] that is a decent percentage of whatever a full crop would be. Clean as well; I think we’ll end up with extremely ripe and clean fruit.”

Keep your fingers crossed.

In summary, when visiting our local wineries: call ahead or go online to make a reservation; confirm the duration of your tasting; do not assume you can bring your own food, ask; keep your group to six or fewer; bring your face mask and wear it; enjoy the great wines of our region, and let our great winemakers and their teams know how much you value them.