Ciccone Vineyard

I was really surprised by this place… There’s nothing wrong with this business or the staff or anything but every wine I tried was so gross. My first wine smelled like when a vacuum belt burns up and tasted the same, the next was like a tuna sandwich with miracle whip, the third was really cabbagey and the fourth was at least served with a hersheys kiss, but was not good either. I’m not someone who’s really picky about wine at all, and I didn’t even want to finish the four tastes that I had.

Excellent vineyard with wonderful staff. Try the Cab Franc! All the wines are exceptional including the white wines which I am not used to drinking.

Sweet service. More down-​home than the bigger, more modern vineyards on the Old Mission Peninsula. The Vino d’Oro was a lovely off-​dry blend with subtle floral notes. The Pinot Grigio and Chardonnay were… um… weird. The Pinot noir reminded me of really simple, light, thin, one-​note plonk I’d happily drink for 5 euro a carafe at a pizzeria in Florence– totally easy-​drinking… but not memorable.

Cool vineyard for a tasting $ 5 and you keep the glass and can come back for free tastings in the future. Our host was pretty knowledgable and told us about the property and owners. Wines were good probably the best ive tasted in the T C area

Sorry, just not up to par with the other vineyards in the region. Tasting room is nice enough, unfortunately the wine isn’t. Tried a good number of varietals and absolutely nothing took. Also odd, the staff in the tasting room at Ciccone were the only to actively hard sell the bottles for sale, while every other winery we visited let the wine do the talking. I get that the bottom line is important, but we’re talking used car sales level pushiness. No thanks…

The tasting room is an intimate and lounge-​like atmosphere. I went here on a weekday afternoon and they were not too crowded. They provided good service.

We just returned from a wedding at Ciccone Vineyard and were not just disappointed with the wine but the personnel that worked there. My son and daughter in law picked this vineyard because it is in a beautiful spot and with the fall colors, they thought it would make an ideal setting for their dream wedding. Unfortunately, when you sign up for a wedding here they force you to buy approximately $ ¹⁰⁰⁰⁄₆ cases of wine for parties over 120. As I read the reviews, I realize there are many people who think the wines are not very good. Mistake number one, they WILL NOT let you serve any other beverage of your choosing. While the vineyard does not make a champagne, they will tell you that you can provide outside champagne for the toast. What does that mean, one glass of champagne will be pored into each guests glass and no matter how many toasts are made, you will not get another drop. This is misleading because the toasts easily exceed one glass and even though you have more champagne available, they will not serve another drop. The champagne that you went to the trouble of purchasing and hauling to the vineyard will be put on ice but when you request that more be served to your guests it will be locked away until after the wedding. Should you try to get to it (since you did buy it), Sarah the wedding planner will threaten to shut the wedding down. Mistake number two, PARKING. 20 parking spots will be given to you as the vineyard is more concerned about making more money and providing parking for possible wine tasters that might pass by. I re-​read the policy and I can’t believe they say they have parking on site. I know for a fact, the bride was informed at the last minute that she had twenty spots only to distribute. Why would we make this up? Where was the parking and why did we have to hire a shuttle so our guests could park a couple miles down the road?
It was a cold weekend at Ciccone Vineyard and one would think heat would be provided. Think again, the wedding planner, Sarah refused to turn on the propane heaters for the rehearsal. Also, apparently, the bride, groom and other participants are not allowed to drink at the rehearsal, something about a liquor license, while Sarah, the wedding planner drinks her glass wine while everyone freezes through the rehearsal. We did not think it was professional for her to be drinking on the job when everyone else was told they could not.
Wedding day weather was questionable with off and on rain but the skies cleared in time for the ceremony and the bride and groom were able to move the chairs outside under a beautiful tree for the ceremony. Immediately after the ceremony, the wedding planner demanded that the chairs be taken down and stacked under the tent. The groomsmen took time away from the receiving line and guests so they could move the chairs where Sarah wanted them. Later in the evening, Sarah accused the groomsmen of breaking some of the chairs and threatened to charge for them. Interestingly enough, wedding guests informed us after the fact that some chairs were broken when they were seated at the ceremony and that they had to change seats. This must be a great way for the vineyard to purchase new chairs at the bride and grooms expense. Really, when was the last wedding you attended that the groomsmen were required to immediately put away chairs. Can’t the wedding party have 24 hours to pick up and move items that need to be put away.
Back to the wines, they were NOT GOOD. I overheard guests commenting on this and many filled glasses were left to be thrown away. If a vineyard has decent wine in my mind people should not be forced to purchase it. Needless to say A LOT of wasted wine.
It should also be noted that the vineyard provides only one bathroom each for men and women in the shop where wine tasting takes place. Brides should not have to share the one ladies toilet with wine tasters, and wedding guests should be able to park on site if the vineyard is going to charge $ 5000 for their venue. So even though the wedding planner did her best to ruin this special day, she didn’t. We just wanted to warn others so they would not go through the same experience we did. I hope the owners read this and make some changes because this place is indeed a beautiful spot. Still, the venue needs personnel who sincerely enjoy wedding planning, are sensitive to the importance of the occasion, and are forthright with their clients. Given the right personal touch, the vineyard could be an ideal setting for couples in search of a wonderful wedding.

Funny, I went here, thinking the name was a coincidence. And I saw no Madonna pics, etc around. Only after I read the reviews did I realize the winery was related to «her.»
OUTSTANDING and engaging staff, good variety, including more reds than others (some ok some very nice). Lovely tasting room. And $ 5 for 5 tastings and you keep the glass.
I would recommend.

I had my wedding at Ciccone this past May. If you’re considering this as an event venue, you could not ask for more. Sarah (the event coordinator) was amazing to work with — always responsive and would go out of her way to help. Our guest marveled at the views, loved the ambience of the barn, and loved the wine. Several guests told my husband and I, as well as our parents, that this was the best wedding they’d been to. You really could not ask for more in an event space!

Very nice place. Loved walking around the grounds. Came in with a big group and tried a lot of wine. Good views. Was not a fan of the wine, but the people i was with really liked it. Wine is different for everyone. So stop in you may like it.

What a great wedding venue! Even in the rainiest, coldest of weather this venue is breathtaking. My husband and I were lucky enough to have dry weather for the ceremony and the view was really something. The barn is also spectacular for the reception. Our guests will not stop talking about it. I had the time of my life. If you’re looking for a wedding venue, this one sure is magical. Thank you Ciccone family. btw. the Due Rossi is splendid.

Fun, smaller vineyhard, nice tasting area, and reasonably priced wines… liked the cab and enjoyed the stories!!!

The last stop on my Michigan winery tour was good. I wouldn’t say it was fantastic. I wouldn’t say it was bad. It was good. The woman serving the wine was friendly and quick to pour. The wines were tasty and I ended up bringing home a bottle of Cabernet Franc. Not too much more to say about Ciccone. I had fun. I’ll be back someday!

I hate to contribute another bad review for this place, but I’m bored so here goes. Like others have suggested, just skip this place. For $ 5 we tried 5 wines total, and got to choose the last one from a small list. They were all bland to our taste and we aren’t even wine snobs. The wine glass was ours to keep and if we return we can get a free tasting if we still have our glass. We had a good time joking about whether or not Madonna has kept her wine glass, maybe she stores it on the shelf with her Grammys. The best part about going to a place like this is having a laugh about it later and telling people you went to Madonna’s fathers winery. We generally leave off the part about it kind of sucking.

So, I had a glass of wine with Madonna. Well, not really. I did go to Madonna’s family vineyard… at least I think it is Madonna’s family? At least that is what everyone is saying. I didn’t want to look like a crazy person asking so I’ll just go with it.
There are tons and tons of wineries all up and down the peninsulas in the Traverse area. It was hard to choose one to go to and we were getting tired so we decided to stop at this one. I have no idea what time of day it was (it was definitely before 5pm) and we were the only ones in the place. Another party did come in as we were finishing up our tasting.
A tasting only costs $ 5 plus you get to keep the etched wine glass. We were told to bring the wine glass back in on future visits and you get something free? Maybe a glass of wine or a full tasting. I can’t remember… I think the wine had something to do with that.
There are set pours and then you get to choose your last pour from a selected list. There were a lot of reds which I am not a fan of but I still drank. Honestly, I didn’t really care for any of them enough to buy a bottle BUT I do know that we were both pretty buzzed. We had to hang out and walk around the vineyard for a bit before we could drive back to whatever it is we did next… again, I can’t remember, lol.
The staff was friendly offering suggestions for other wineries or breweries (or would they be called cideries?).

Holy shit. So many negatives! So maybe they gave the inside a little face lift because I didn’t notice any Madonna pictures up. We paid $ 5 to taste 5 wines AND we got a free wine glass… Which you bring back in for free tastings. Minus one star because their wines are all dry and you don’t get a choice for the first 4 pours… You do get to choose your fifth. I’m not a huge dry wine person, so the variety wasn’t really there for me. I ended up buying a bottle of Eve apple wine for $ 12.95. Since I bought a bottle, my tasting price went down to $ 4.72. The lady who waited on us was very friendly and seemed to actually care about making us feel comfortable. She was pretty new, it was only her 6^th day and she did great.
HOURS:
Apr-​May: Th-​Sun 12 – 6
Jun-​Oct: Daily 12 – 6 Nov: Thu-​Sun 12 – 5
Dec-​Mar: Sat only 12 – 5

This is one of the few wineries we deliberately avoid when touring Leelanau.
This winery is run by Madonna’s family. Although she apparently does not have a relationship with them anymore, they sure work to get mileage out of her fame. The tasting room is adorned with posters of Madonna, and they’ve made wines in the past with her image on the label. I don’t really feel comfortable with what appears to be a blatant capitalization on a family member’s fame without her participation.
I’d get over it, though, if the wine were delicious. Let’s put it this way. When we came here, the hostess bragged about the Dolcetto wine. «Only Mr. Ciccone grows this grape in this region,» she boasted, «so you won’t get this anywhere else.» After we tasted, one person in our group dubbed the wine «Berry Berry Butthole.» That’s a pretty apt description of the taste. The other wines weren’t much better.

Madonna’s Dad owns this place, so that’s fun. The people that work here are nice and friendly, the winery is quite pretty. The wine was not memorable. Cherry wine is apparently a big thing in Michigan, I tried several, thought they all tasted like cough syrup. :P

Even Madonna couldn’t save this place…
Like a virgin, touched for the very first time… Ciccone Vineyards is, well. Inexperienced. And, it shows.
Unenthused staff (yes, I realize its busy… but wine season is short here, at least fake being excited!)…small selection of wines, none of which were particularly alluring.
The Madonna Collection is composed of about 5 wines, 4 of which were sold out. Ummmm, ok. Obviously we have some business decisions to make here. Quit making the boring stuff, start slapping Madonna’s face on all the bottles so they sell.
The outside barn/​vineyard space is beautiful… great for an event/​wedding, etc. But a $ 5,000 price tag? Are they kidding? Do they know this is Northern Michigan… not some major metro area or California wine country? Yes, its a gorgeous view over the Lake, but it’s a barn for chrissakes. Like a real frickin’ BARN. No barn is worth $ 5k, I don’t care if its sitting on an island in Fiji.
Overall: if you are touring Leelanau wineries, this one could be skipped. Unless you want that one bottle of Madonna wine they’ve got left… then go for it, diva. ;)

Madonna’s family has a winery. In Traverse City? OK, then we must go. I mean, I practically wore out my Immaculate Collection CD in college as my «getting ready» soundtrack, so to say I spent time loving Madonna would be an understatement.
Honestly, I think this stop was our least favorite of the wineries we checked out on our wine tour. It wasn’t bad, it just didn’t offer anything particularly special. The pourers weren’t enthusiastic, and none of the wines I tried stood out to me.
The property is lovely, and we found out you can rent it for your special occasion. We even trekked back to the barn area for a looksee. You know, in case we have $ 4,500 to drop to rent the whole property for a special occasion. Nice? Definitely. Rustic charm all the way. Not entirely sure how you could use the whole property or why $ 4,500 would make it worth it. But hey, if you wanna, the option is there.
Oh, and apparently they win awards with their wine action:
I hear that Madonna sometimes is there to do the tastings. Unfortunately, not the day we went, so my fangirl self stayed in check.