Kris Baguzis has attended quite a few events at Youngblood Vineyard south of Armada. She lives not far away in Richmond and says she has helped with harvest and vine suckering. She joined an event where participants got to taste unfinished wines out of barrels while learning about the production process. She participated in a vertical tasting of Marquette, which gave her a chance to sample different vintages of her favorite wine. Because of these and other opportunities at Youngblood Vineyard, she says she has become “more invested in the wine.”
Many Michigan wineries offer opportunities for patrons to go beyond a traditional tasting to experience the vino and the wineries themselves in more in-depth ways. Youngblood Vineyard co-owner Jessica Youngblood says most weekends there bring events designed to help guests “connect with the wine.” Besides the activities Baguzis describes, there are painting classes in the vineyard, wreath-making sessions, fireworks on the Fourth of July, a New Year’s Eve party, goat yoga, and more. All involve wine in some way.
“It opens their eyes,” Youngblood says. “It helps them not only with our wines, but when they’re at the grocery store, they think twice about what their purchases are. Instead of just looking at the label, they pick up the bottle, turn it over, see where it’s produced, what region it’s from, what state it’s from, what grapes are in the wine.
“It makes them a better consumer — more educated and not so fearful.”
Chateau Chantal on the Old Mission Peninsula hosts a variety of events throughout the year, including tapas tours, wine-paired dinners, and cooking classes.
“We like to showcase a wine with food as both are enhanced in the process,” says President and CEO Marie-Chantal Dalese.
The tapas tours run select dates in the summer and include visits to the vineyard and cellar complete with wine sampling and small bites. A six-course dinner created by Chateau Chantal’s own chef is designed to be compatible with accompanying wines and includes a vineyard tour before the meal. There’s also an annual Ice Wine Festival dinner as well as bistro wine dinners and cooking classes in the winter and spring.
“Elevated experiences” is how Black Star Farms in Suttons Bay and Traverse City describes the events it creates to immerse participants in the “flavors, culture, and artistry of northern Michigan wine country,” says Marketing Manager Sarah Kosteva. She describes a menu of activities starting with themed wine-paired dinners that feature participation from Black Star’s head winemaker or estate chef. Wine-paired workshops and classes are built around charcuterie, cooking, and even dance. Customers can sign up for vineyard and cellar tours with private tastings to get a more behind-the-scenes experience.
The team at Fenn Valley Vineyards in Fennville likes to give the public opportunities to taste wine at different stages, says Vice President Brian Lesperance.
“In the winter, we will take folks down into the production cellar,” he says. “They get a ton of value out of being able to try wine in various stages of the production process. We’ll have people try red wine before it goes into a barrel, while it’s in the barrel, and after it’s bottled … so they can understand viscerally how the wine is transformed during the process.”
Winemaker dinners are held year-round. “One of our big things at Fenn Valley is to focus on that relationship between food and wine,” Lesperance says. “We like to try the wine first — smell it, sip it, take a mental snapshot of what it’s like — then try the food and come back to the wine. What we typically see is [the food] might bring out some additional flavors in the wine.”
Each April, Fenn Valley does new-release wine and food pairings. “We take six new wines that aren’t yet released to the public and we pair them with a small bite of food we make in-house to showcase how wine and food can work together,” Lesperance says.
The bottom line is to make winery experiences more interactive and create long-term impact.
“We want people to enjoy but understand where it comes from,” Youngblood says. “Somebody grew those grapes and made that wine.”
A version of this article originally appeared in the 2025 Michigan Wine Country magazine.
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