Leelanau Cellars Tasting Room

My wife and I have been to Leelanau Cellars 3 different times and it was always a pleasant experience. Twice in the fall and once in late Jan. The drive to L.C. is one of my favorite drives. When we went in Jan we viewed Bald Eagles near the shoreline perched on the edge of the ice on the lake. Amazing! We always come home with a mixed case of their wine. Love their late Riesling! Great cabiney atmosphere makes you feel cozy and comfortable to sit, sip and watch the water outside their large windows. Only negative is when its real busy in the fall its hard to get a spot at the counter since their counter isnt real long and you tend to wait a while. They could use two tasting counters during the busy fall season!

If I could give this place a zero I would. We came in on a nice August day after having gone next door for lunch. Since we had decided to do a little winery tour, we figured why not stop here first! BIGGEST MISTAKE.
Why? The staff was incredibly rude and disinterested and there are SOO many other places to go in the TC area, I DO NOT need that attitude.
For example: my boyfriend and I wanted to go in and check out the pricing for the tasting before we committed to it.
Instead of replying like a normal human should, they ignored us for 15mins and when we finally could get their attention they told us we needed to wait until the bar completely emptied out before they could serve us AND still didn’t answer our question!
TLDR version?:
Don’t waste your time. There are so many other, friendlier wineries to go to around here and this is NOT one of them.

What’s better than COMPLIMENTARY wine tasting?!? Such great bartenders and wine! They recommend 4 – 5 samples, but you can try as many as you’d like.

We always visit this tasting room when we are on town and it never, ever disappoints! Unlimited free tastings and the most exceptional customer service of any tasting room in the area in my opinion. They are even kid friendly! There is a basket of books available and our server gave us a cup of crackers to serve our kids! I love how they serve chocolate with the port and dessert wines — so yummy. Right now our favorites are the Merlot and the Tall Ship Red. The sangria recipes are tasty this time of year as well. And you can’t beat the lake views. Worth the trip to visit when we are in Traverse City!

This place was just amazing. From the gorgeous view to unlimited tastings, and professional suggestions, what more would you want?! This place is a must. And don’t forget the discounts with buying 6 bottles, a case, etc. Exceptional service. I think this is one of the top tastings I’ve ever experienced. As a tip, pace yourself if you’re a lightweight!

Short, pretty drive from traverse. Well worth the drive. Went in during off peak season and had the place to ourselves. Free wine tastings of everything on their menu along with chocolate pairings. Located on the shore of the bay with a spectacular view. Lots of windows with great views of the bay. To top it off, the wine was amazing and affordable. We bought 3 bottles.

A great experience! If you are lucky enough to get Cal in the tasting room you are in good hands! Very knowledgeable and fun… good conversation… great atmosphere and view and of course great wine!

This is a must go to when you are wine tasting in Leelanau. Their tasting room is on the water with amazing views. The staff is friendly and will give free tastings of whatever you want!
We tasted 7 wines and came home with 2 of them. I love their cranberry wine it tasted like fall. I plan to add champagne to it for a nice festive drink. They also have a great pinot noir that we got.
If your into fruit wines they have a ton. If you are more into dry reds or crisp whites this may not be the place for you since they only have a few dry reds.

Five stars for consistency and quality. The largest wine producer in the Peninsula this winery gets my business every time. Excellent dry whites (we don’t like sweet wines so we don’t even venture into that territory during tasting). Tall ships Chardonnay is great and so is the reserved Chardonnay. We walked away with two cases– I just know that they will be consumed happily in the warm months to come! The tasting is free, and there is a fabulous outdoor seating area overlooking gorgeous Omena bay. Make sure to have a corkscrew with you if you would like to get a bottle if wine and enjoy it by the water. People at the winery will be happy to sell you a chilled bottle of wine and a cheap corkscrew but they won’t open the bottle for you (because of the state laws? I wasn’t sure). Anyway, we love this winery and come back every year.

I tried a lot of the wine here, but i was not a fan. Did not like the taste of most of the wines. Sorry, but just did not hit my taste buds. I will say the View was outstanding. You have to stop in just for the view. We were with a lot of people and the did like the wine.

Absolutely amazing! If you can ask for Cal, he is very knowledgeable and very informative. Their selection was excellent and the view was amazing. We toured 12 wineries and this was by far the best one.

Meredith rocks!!! This place has a great selection and excellent prices. Great staff recommendations depending on individual taste. Strawberry wine sale too!

Loved this place. Great view, very new, and very helpful staff. Very down to earth gentleman was helping us with the wine tasting– he was very knowledgeable and wasn’t trying to get us to buy the most expensive wine they offer. Great variety and very good prices on wine. If I’m ever in the area again, which was gorgeous when we went (1^st week of October) I would definitely stop again.

This place is excellent. I would go here just to hang out even if they didn’t give you free wine because they have a beautiful place on the bay. I highly recommend going here in fall because the drive up the peninsula with all of the beautiful fall colors is gorgeous.
I thought that the staff was very friendly and knowledgeable and not wine-​snobby at all. They have a HUGE variety of wines and they’re all very reasonably priced. You get a 10% discount if you buy 6 bottles too, so I definitely did that… I liked that they packed it all up for me and even carried it to my car too!

What a great experience! I would LOVE to go back in the summer and drink wine by the water. Free unlimited wine tasting was fabulous! There were a few snack samples, like pretzels and dips, but I highly recommend eating first at Knot Just a Bar, which is attached and also delicious (see my 4-​star review for them).
Most of their wine is amazingly cheap too– I bought a delicious apple wine for $ 6! I’m kicking myself now for not buying half a case…
I highly recommend the green apple wine, the Late Harvest Riesling, and the Vintage Port (for sampling anyway… a bottle of the port is $ 24!).
I can’t say enough about what a wonderful time we had up here. I can’t get back soon enough!

Another stop on the Mom & Me tasting tour. For those of you who visited Leelanau Cellars 10 years ago in their little tasting room up the road from Omena, things have changed quite a bit! The current location occupies a beautiful and bright waterfront location in «downtown» Omena. It is so nice that I am giving them an extra star for the setting.
Having been around for a while, the have a pretty lengthy list of wines, with perhaps 20 available for tasting. Lots of options.
The staff is friendly, chatty, and unassuming. They keep enough people behind the counter to ensure quality service and attention.
My favorite by far was their 2008 Reserve Chardonnay, which was one of the most expensive at $ 16, but still quite reasonable for the quality. The 08 Leelanau Chardonnay and White Sangria were also both quite nice. The Baco Noir Rosé was a surprise that I wasn’t expecting to enjoy but that ended up being good enough to find a spot in the case we took home.
Overall, a great location with good service and respectable wines. Definitely worth a stop.

Great location and generous pours (you’re limited to what’s «within reason»).
We found the tasting room to be really busy this last weekend so we cut our tasting short, but it’s a beautiful location and the wine is well-​priced.

Gorgeous tasting room right on the water coupled with unlimited free tastings makes me a happy wine drinker. Unfortunately, as Jay H. alludes to, the wines tend to be of the easy drinking variety and not particularly complex or interesting. Still, there are several tasty options here. I like the Witches’ Brew, a mulled wine that they keep warm on a pot to serve, and the Tall Ships Chardonnay. The wines are very reasonably priced here, with many selections below or at the $ 10 mark.
Because there are a lot of types of wine at Leelanau Cellars, and this is an unlimited free tasting, a designated driver (or a lunch immediately following tasting) is highly recommended. We found the adjacent Knot Just a Bar to be merely ok in terms of food, but you get to prolong the gorgeous view and soak up some of the wine in your belly.

I challenge you to find a better (closer) view of Lake Michigan while you sample free wine from a local vineyard.
*The drive out is beautiful.
*If Sharon the wine tasting gal is there, say hello.
Large selection of table and premium wines, starting at around $ 4 per bottle, up to around $ 20. Case discounts. Beautiful setting, clean wooden floors and a long wine tasting bar the length of the tasting room. Oh, and a fireplace. And, a restaurant and full bar right next door. (Knot, Just a Bar).
Sample the port, and you get a dark chocolate.
Sample the witches brew, and you get it warmed up.
Say hi to mom, and you might get a hug.
Truly, unbiased… its one of the best winery experiences on this peninsula, and it’s certainly worth a try. If you are disappointed, please stop at the Soaring Eagle Casino on the way back to town to make yourself feel better (or worse?).
:)

The owner of the B&B at which I stayed recommended I check out this tasting room. I’m glad I did — the view alone is worth it! They’ve got a great space right on the bay — with huge windows so that you can look out onto the water as you taste a variety of Leelanau wines.
There are 2 great things about doing wine tastings in Michigan. 1) Most of them are free, 2) the people who work in the tasting rooms tend to be friendly, down to earth and supremely helpful. I walked in late on a weekday afternoon, and I could have chatted and tasted for a long time, as I was the only one there, and the employee helping me would probably have let me taste all 20 or 25 wines had I wanted. I did buy 2 bottles… just doing my part to support the Michigan economy!