Free Run Cellars

This winery has great wine and an adorable back patio area. It costs $ 8 for 5 tastings and you get to keep the glass. If you have a glass from Round Barn you can use it for a $ 5 tasting. This was our last of 4 stops and I am glad we did!

I’m a sweet wine drinker at heart, so all of my reviews are about what I believe are the best sweet wines. At Free Run Cellars, we learned that this winery is related to the Round Barn Winery as the children of the winemaker family from Round Barn decided to try winemaking on their own and open up Free Run Cellars. The best was this sweet white wine called Indulgence, which I bought a bottle. They also have a cute backyard area with picnic tables and lawn chairs to enjoy your wine/​snacks. Staff was very friendly! Also, if you decide to visit Round Barn Winery afterwards, you can take your tasting token and get a discount off your tasting price there. (I believe it works vice versa as well.)

Disappointing. Little explanation. Woman working was not overly interested in our experience. Lovely tasting room. Will not return.

Was I even in the tasting room or was the wine saleswoman just talking to her friend the entire time? The wine is just ok and after the customer service we just received, I won’t be back to them or any affiliates.

Nice little place. Would be nice if they offered complimentary oyster crackers or something to help clear your palate between tastings. Or even crackers for purchase would be better than nothing.

Great staff sampling and selling some tasty wines. Join their mailing list for deals.

Great stop on the MI Wine Trail. Fortunately, I came at a lull during the day so I was the only person getting a tasting. The woman working here was super friendly and informative, able to answer my annoying questions about what grapes were in each wine.
Tastings are $ 5 for 5 wines, glass included. I preferred the wines here over Domaine Berrien, and thought the prices were a bit more affordable. But that’s just personal preference.

Best Moscato ever! Staff friendly and helpful, great wine! We will be back!

Friendly staff, good wine selection. This is one of those wineries that seems to be on the bachelorette party/​group tour circuit though. I’ve been here several times through out the years and there are always loud and obnoxious groups taking up most of the bar space. (which I will add is absolutely not the staff’s fault, but just something to note if you are like me and don’t like crowds)

It’s as if Round Barn was the wicked step-​sister and Free Run was sweet Cinderella. The woman who helped us at Free Run was so great! Granted they were much less busy, so I shouldn’t knock on Round Barn so hard, but my experiences were back to back and completely different, so I can’t help but compare. She talked with us and was attentive, and I really appreciated her after being at Round Barn.
We brought our glasses from their sister winery, so it was a dollar per tasting. Loved the Dry Riesling, loved Indulgence, loved the Balaton Cherry (warm, mulled, oh my)… If I could have bought everything I tried, I would’ve. Except for the brandy, though mostly because that isn’t my kind of thing. The Michigan Brandy wasn’t bad, but the Apple Brandy was rough…
This place was great. I’m sure next time I’m in the area, I’ll be back.

Good wine but bad customer service. We put our tokens in front and the lady helping us kept stealing them even when we she thought we were not paying attention. When i questioned her i was fluffed off, it Made the visit very disappointing.

$ 8 for a tasting was too much (also price of tasting was not listed on chalk board). Wines were not memorable and we did not end up buying any. Free glass is not useful. We preferred another winery where they take the price of the tasting off of any bottle that you buy (Hickory Creek). Tabor Hill had better wines.

By far the best wine that we’ve sampled in Michigan came from Free Run. The Cab Franc is awesome and I highly recommend it. We really enjoyed Free Run although I found the tasting room a bit small. I also felt like the staff was trying to rush us through the tasting. Despite this the quality of their wines made up for this and I will definitely be back.
One of the staff members did tell us that soon Round Barn and Free Run will be changing their tasting practices. Currently if you buy a glass at either of the two wineries your tastings are free. Every time you come back to the two wineries you can just bring your glass and the tastings are free. Apparently they are going to change it so that you buy a glass for $ 5 and then each tasting that you want is $ 1. You can still bring your glass back and pay $ 1 per taste.

To be honest, if it wasn’t for the recommendation by Free Run’s sister winery, Round Barn, we probably never would have found our way down here. But we did and are happy for it. Round Barn’s wine tasting glass is good here and we were able to sample some 6 wines from their menu. It was good stuff. I had already bought some 5 bottles at the other wineries, but I enjoyed my tasting and look forward to more Free Run wines in my future. Lovely staff, beautiful grounds, good wine. Another lovely stop on the tour of Michigan’s wine country.

The building and décor were nothing special. We were greeted by a sweet little Yorkie, which thrilled me, and irritated some of my less animal-​friendly girlfriends. The wine glass that I bought at Round Barn was good for a free wine-​tasting here. We got to choose 5 different wines. The woman pouring was less-​friendly than the gals we met at Round Barn, but still knowledgeable.
My Favorite was Cabernet Franc: «Aged 20 months; elderberry resonates on the nose while hints of chocolate & almonds abound.» What struck me about this wine was that it smelled like it was going to be quite sweet — but did not taste that way. It had a full, rich flavor that reminded me of cherries, without the sweetness. Excellent.
See my full review on my food blog:

One of my favorite vineyards and tasting room experiences in the area. The tasting room can get a little crowded on a beautiful October Saturday, but the staff is friendly and knowledgeable.
Free Run’s cab franc is simply amazing. A big chewy red that goes great with steak and is a staple in our household. Another favorite is Ballaton Cherry wine — a tart cherry wine that both our white and red drinkers love. This is delicious mulled and served at Thanksgiving.
Go to Free Run and then take your glasses and head over to Round Barn for free tastes of their wine, vodka and beer.

Free Run was our second favorite of the 3 wineries we visited. There is a large tasting area and if you bring your glass from Round Barn, you get 5 tastes here. They had a warm mull wine that was pretty good but we ended up buying a couple bottles of their table red.
Workers inquired about where we were going next, recommended Domaine Berrien, and gave us directions which included to NOT follow the wine map signs. She also explained ice wine to me since I am way out of the loop. Again, this winery is good for groups. We saw a group of about 20, 50-​somethings having a blast here.
I might take my parents with us next time we visit wineries.