Bill would allow joint winery ventures; winery guidebook forthcoming

Michigan wineries are hoping Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s March agenda includes signing a bill that would end the prohibition on so-called “tied houses,” freeing up wineries to enter into joint ventures from warehouses to tasting rooms to wines.

A bill to change state liquor law, which now bars wineries from certain collaborations, sailed through the Senate in February and is expected to clear the House shortly. If it passes, Michigan would be the last state to change its tied house law, a relic of the post-Prohibition era.

“All this does is bring Michigan in line with 49 other states and the federal government,” said Bob Jacobson, president of Leelanau Wine Cellars, one of Michigan’s largest wineries.

Jacobson is a board member of WineMichigan, the lobbying arm of the state wine industry. Two years ago winery owners unanimously agreed to support the bill, Jacobson said, and it’s now finally in the Legislature.

Jacobson said he doesn’t expect passage to trigger immediate effects, but eventually wineries would embark on joint projects like shared warehouses with a joint employee.

“(There’s) nothing I’m ready to do day one. It might be year two, year three,” he said. “There are some things I’d like to do and some wineries I’ve talked to.

“You’ll eventually see someone do a joint tasting room.”

A few years ago, a survey by a Michigan wine industry promotional group showed more than 800,000 people visit the state’s wineries annually.

Now the University of Michigan Press is taking notice, just in time for the 2009 tourism season. The first true guidebook to the state’s wineries, The Glovebox Guide to Michigan Wineries by former Leelanau Peninsula Vintners Association spokesman Rick Coates, is due out in May.

“We expect there has been demand for a title of this type for some time; there just hasn’t been the right book out there,” said Heather Newman, trade marketing manager for the U-M Press, in an e-mail.

“Michigan’s wineries are fun to read about, fun to write about and fun to visit. And, in our opinion, they’ve been overlooked in publishing for far too long.”

Coates now writes about regional food and wine as part of his duties as a contributing editor at Traverse City’s Northern Express weekly newspaper. He said the book will include all Michigan wineries, now totaling 64.

A final price hasn’t been set, but Newman said it will be less than $20.