How to Plan a Fall Color Wine Tour in Traverse City

Planning a fall color wine tour in Northern Michigan this year? We’ve gathered a few tips to make the most of your next wine-tasting trip from Traverse City to Leelanau or Old Mission Peninsula.

What to Bring

Camera. The wineries are beautiful any time of year, but especially in the fall during harvest season. You’ll want a few pics to remember your trip.
Money. Many of the wineries have tasting fees. Bring cash or a card to cover fees where you might not purchase a bottle of wine. Each winery’s policy is different.
Bottled water. Here’s a tip from Kathy at Bel Lago, “For a successful wine tour, drink as much water as you do in wine. And be sure to eat.”
Snacks. Cheese spreads, breads, crackers and fruit all pair well with wine and won’t spoil your palette for the wines you’ve yet to taste.
Smartphone. Because it’s hard to go anywhere without it. And, having your phone with you will help you research, plan and navigate a fall color wine tour in northern Michigan.

What to Leave at Home

“Don’t wear lipstick.” This tip is from Caryn at 2 Lads Winery. It’s not just the marks on the glass that are left behind. Lipstick imparts flavors like petroleum and other chemicals when wine passes over your lips.
No perfume. It ruins your tasting experience, and everyone else’s. The scent of one person’s perfume can contaminate the air in a tasting room for hours.
Cigarettes. Your sense of smell is a large part of the wine-tasting experience. And, smoke is a very strong scent. Like perfume, it affects those around you. So please leave the smokes in your car.
Gum. You can’t taste past it, especially mint. So stow the Altoids and TicTacs too.
Dogs & Kids. A wine tour is meant for the 21+ crowd. While you may see a few wine dogs throughout your travels, several tasting rooms offer food pairings, which means it’s against their health code to have dogs in the winery. So as a general rule, take the kids and pets to the beach or the park, but not on a wine tour.

Planning Your Fall Color Wine Tour

With nearly three dozen wineries in our tip of the mitten, it can be a bit overwhelming to figure out where to start. Here are a few tips on planning a wine tasting route from Traverse City.

You can’t see them all. Make a list of favorites or recommended wineries you want to be sure to visit and squeeze in others as time allows.
Stick to one peninsula. There are two distinct AVAs in our region: Leelanau Peninsula and Old Mission. Stick to one or the other for a one-day trip. The wineries are scattered throughout each peninsula, making it difficult to jump back and forth.
Map it. Pick up the large map from the Traverse City Visitor Center. If you’re not a smartphone user, this will be a hands-on resource for finding your way around both peninsulas.
Beware of high traffic times. If you’re wine tasting during peak fall season, your best days are midweek. If you must come on a weekend, be prepared for crowds. Most of our wineries have small tasting rooms with even smaller tasting bars. On a busy weekend, you may have to wait to get a turn at the bar.
Go off the beaten path. Most tasting rooms in Leelanau and Old Mission are lucky to be located near the vineyard. But that vineyard isn’t necessarily on a major highway. Part of the fun is exploring and discovering new locations. Start at the top of the peninsula and work your way south. Or make a plan to stay inland and visit some of the smaller boutique wineries.

Group Travel

There are some special considerations to planning a wine tour when you’re traveling with a group. Here are some tips to maximize the fun and minimize the hassle when planning a group wine tour.

Size matters. Wine tasting with friends can be a wonderful experience. But if your group is too large, it can cause problems which detract from your enjoyment. In our experience, a group of 10 or less is the ideal size. Larger groups will have additional limitations on where you can go, how quickly you will move from place to place, and tasting room fees.
Carpool. Part of the fun of a group wine tasting is comparing notes about each winery with your companions as you travel. Pile into one person’s vehicle, rent a van, or book a wine tour. And if at all possible, assign a designated driver. Listen to Ellie at Traverse City Tours, who warns, “Don’t come on vacation and leave on probation.”
Large groups call ahead. For wine tours larger than 10, you should call ahead to each winery. Some tasting rooms are so small they do not allow buses or tours at all, and others have per-person tasting fees for the entire party. These are not things you want to discover after you’ve driven across the peninsula to visit.
Label wine purchases. Hopefully, your group will discover many wines they like and purchase bottles at each location. Pick up a box from the first stop. Using a Sharpie marker, label each wine purchased with your initials, or use color-coded garage sale stickers. Add additional boxes as needed. When the tour is complete, it will be easy to determine which wine was purchased by whom.
Pack a picnic. It’s important to eat and drink water throughout your wine tour. For a fun experience, pack a cooler with cheese, fruit, crackers, and bite-sized appetizers or sandwiches. Many of the wineries have picnic tables or areas outside where you can stop and enjoy your snack along the route. There are also markets and farm stands scattered throughout the peninsulas to pick-up snacks along the way.
Be patient. “Be respectful of other tasters and wait patiently if there’s a crowd,” says Chaning at Forty-Five North Vineyard & Winery. When you’re traveling as a group, this is especially important since you may have to break into smaller groups or taste in shifts.

We’ve been on several group wine trips and completely agree with Kyle from Riverside Canoes, who says, “My best wine tasting tip is to go tasting with your closest friends. The wine always tastes better!”

Sip Tips from the Pros

Winemakers and tasting room staff are incredibly knowledgeable about their products and their craft. Here are a few of their tips for making the most of a northern Michigan wine tasting experience.

It’s OK to spit. Ask Bel Lago winemaker Cristin Hosmer and she’ll tell you, “Spitting is OK. In fact, it’s encouraged.” It cuts down on your consumption of alcohol. So remember,“The dump bucket is your friend.”
Chew your sparkles. When tasting a sparkling wine, “You don’t want to drink bubbly like you kiss your grandmother.” If you’ve been pursing your lips when you sip sparkling wine from a glass, you’ve got it all wrong. Instead, “Chew, hold, and slowly swallow,” instructs Don at Mawby. By chewing the wine, the bubbles explode in your mouth, allowing the flavors to disperse. Try it. It’s a whole new experience.
Eat mild, not wild. “Don’t eat strong flavored foods — onion, garlic and spicy dishes — before or during a wine tour,” warns Coryn of Black Star Farms. While a bottle of wine may pair well with some of these dishes, the pungent flavors will linger throughout your wine tour, affecting the rest of the wines you taste.
Not a free drunk. Wine tasting is not a free ticket to inebriation. “Don’t treat a wine tour like happy hour at a bar,” reminds Tom at Peninsula Cellars. Guests in a tasting room are there to learn about wine and are offered tastes (sometimes free) to determine which wines they might like best. If you’re more interested in hanging out at a bar and chatting with your girlfriends, you’ve got the wrong kind of bar. Just be respectful of the staff’s time and the product that they’re freely sharing so that you’ll discover something you’d like to buy.

A wine tour is a great way to explore Traverse City and the countryside in Northern Michigan. And a fall color wine tour is a great way to soak in all the warm hues of autumn. With these handy tips, you’ll be sure to make the most of the adventure. For more fabulous day trips in northern Michigan this fall, check out our post: 22 Reasons for a Fall M-22 Roadtrip.