Chateau De Leelanau

Hands down my favorite winery in the peninsula — they made us ribs! It was so delightful I bought a t shirt.

We stopped in (honestly due to the giant sign on the side of the building — «DRINK LOCAL WINE HERE») and walked into the first door we found. As we stepped in, Matt Gregory, the owner and, as we found later, President of the Leelanau Peninsula Vintners Association, hailed us heartily. Within moments we were sampling an admirable Pinot Noir, and enjoying Matt’s knowledgeable and down-​to-​earth patter. The Pinot was good, the Cab-​franc was better, and we walked away with a delicious blend he called the Hawkins Red. If we are ever in the area again, Matt’s place will be one of our destination stops. He knows his stuff, but you certainly won’t get any annoying wine-​snob posturing from him or his crew. Have fun!

I have been to every winery on the peninsula now fewer than 10 times. I definitely have my favorites and this is one of them. The reviews from 2011 or so are fairly accurate. This was not a winery I frequented until someone told me there were new owners about that time. They have done a fantastic job improving the wines both sweet and dry. I am a fan of dry reds and have been extremely impressed with the progress of the Cab Franc and Pinot Noir. The ciders are great as well the Carmel Apple and new Buzzsaw are great! The staff is AMAZING!!! Every person that has tended to us in the tasting room has been fantastic. When having friends up to the cottage for a wine tour this is one of the must dos!

Stopped in for a tasting during a winery tour last week. The staff was very friendly and I enjoyed that they had a cider on tap to taste along with the wines.
As for the wines, I wasn’t a huge fan as they were somewhat sweet. That said, I didn’t try all of the wines so I would give Château De Leelanau another shot. Still a nice place to include in a MI winery tour.

Great wines, friendly pourers. I especially loved the Bianca. So refreshing. A must stop on the Leelanau Peninsula wine trail.

The staff is friendly and personable, and the wines are somewhere above the middle. Where they really shine, though, is hard cider. They have this beautiful cider with a caramel finish that completely rocks. Nice stop on the circuit for a little something different.

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Château de Leelanau is a must stop. Since the new owners came in, they updated the tasting room and focused on the wine.
I would recommend trying the Hard Cider, Solem Farms Red, Bianca, Cab Franc, and Pinot Noir.

This weekend was my fifth wine excursion with my husband and another couple. CDL has always been a must-​go for our weekends but this year we were horribly disappointed.
Apparently there’s new owners and the interior is remodeled with a new logo (I actually liked the new logo). But the tastings were $ 3 for three 1oz pours. Super lame. Many of the wineries offer 5+ paid tastes, but you’ll leave with a glass. Also, to be honest, the wines tasted as though they were near spoiling.
Basically, we won’t be back.

Wine country… where the heart is.
For me, labor day weekend = one thing… driving to Traverse city and getting into some kind of trouble.
Enter the last minute idea to spend all of Sunday doing wine tastings at vineyards.
This area, in particular, has one winery after another in close proximity to each other… perfect for the palate!
First stop, Château De Leelanau… anything with the name Château in it is worth checking out. So in I went…
First impression… not a huge red selection. I’m crazy for red. There were about 2 to try here (one was ‘coming soon’)… and it was $ 3 for five tastings. So I tried both, their hard cider, tried one of the reds again and their signature cherry wine. I settled on the Solem Farm Red… they described it as a red wine that goes perfect with any BBQ. It was delicious! A bottle cost about $ 13.
Very laid back atmosphere and the guy really knew his flavors.

The girls working were really personable! We had a lot of fun talking to them. Pretty cheap wine tasting…$ 3 for 5 pours. The hard cider was delicious! I bought a bottle for $ 12.99. Definitely a must try. They even had a small clearance table with champagne wedding flutes and other items.
HOURS:
Dec-​Apr: Th-​Mon 12 – 5
May-​Nov: Mon-​Sat 11 – 6, Sun 12 – 5

I’m not truly a wine drinker and this joint did nothing to encourage me to become one. While there is a large selection of wines, the wine tasting experience was lackluster and dull.
To top it off, the server not once washed my wine glass after I completed a sample before she poured the next wine… She mixed residual red bits with white and made her own blush mixture.
The wine was decent, but not good enough to buy.
I agree with Alison, I’m sure I was jaded by my prior experience at a far superior winery.

Not my favorite wines, but we were lucky to have a lovely lady as the person guiding us thru the tasting which made it a fun experience, we purchased the Chardonnay Sur lie & the Chardonnay Barrel fermented, which seemed OK at the time, probably due to the atmosphere generated from the tasting but back hone are really very average, so sorry even though we enjoyed our stay it is about the wine & hence 2 stars

Large selection of wines, but it wasn’t a very memorable wine tasting experience. However, the wine is good and there’s lots to choose from. Now that I think about it… maybe the reason Château De Leelanau isn’t that memorable is just the fact that I was at three wineries before this one.