Willow Vineyards

Excellent place with friendly people who never stop smiling. Oh yea and the wines are wonderful!!!

I visited Willow Vineyards as one of the stops during our graduate school winery tour. We had a free wine tasting there with 5 pre-​selected wines. I’ve never been much of a wine expert but their wines were on the lighter side, which I prefer. It was a good start to our tour. Compared to the other wineries, Willow Vineyards had a more personal touch to it. I didn’t feel like a number. I felt like part of the family and was attended to as such. The winery had the best location during our trip by far! It was summer time when we visited and I highly recommend making a trip around this time of the year. The Michigan weather is beautiful and the Willow Vineyards location is prime for viewing the bay. A lovely place!

The view is worth the stop. My wife loved the Chardonnay. It’s a bit off the main road, but worth the visit.

The view is lovely and makes it worth visiting, but this was just an okay tasting.
We visited on a Saturday afternoon in October and it was freezing in the tasting room because they leave the doors wide open on both sides!
The wines were also a bit pricey for the product, but still — it was worth stopping for the view!

I have to give this winery all of the stars for the absolutely beautiful view and setting. Tucked away off the road, you enter past a beautiful Willow tree before you come upon the quaint tasting room. Wonderful people and laid back feel!

This was by far the most beautiful stop on my recent Michigan winery tour. The views are absolutely stunning and the facility is charming. After taking in the gorgeous Michigan summer scenery, I headed inside for some wine. I loved seeing the pet cat just curled up and napping in here — quite cozy.
The wines were quite tasty. I don’t remember the real specifics of the wine as this was the forth winery we hit, but I did enjoy them. This is definitely a spot to see!

Beautiful setting and excellent wine. Bought 3 of the 5 we tasted.

It has beautiful views. You won’t be disappointed with the scenery. You can drink in the beauty, but drinking in the wine is another matter. You have to pay for a tasting. I can now understand why they charge for tasting. The wine was not good at all. We did not buy any wine from here. Granted I’m used to wines like Domaine Berrian and Fenn Valley that have superb wines that I prefer. It’s all a matter of taste and it is not my preference. So come here for the views and pictures, but don’t expect much of the wine. There are wineries around the area with much better wine.

It’s worth coming to this winery for the gorgeous views and amazing grounds. In fact, it looks exactly like you think a winery should — wild clumps of flowers, lavender growing against the little cottage like tasting room, and even a cute gray cat wandering around the grape vines. Past the vines you get a view of the bay — positively lovely.
The wine itself is no great shakes — and it’s pricier than a lot of other local spots, particularly when you take into account that it’s only so-​so. The lady pouring wasn’t the friendliest, but maybe it was an off day. It was still worth it for the views.

One of the most beautiful views in the area! One of the more intimate and cozy wineries and a great find. The Pinot Gris was delicious and unique. A perfect way to end a day of wine tasting with a special loved one. :)

This was one of the smaller wineries on our tour. The scenery was hands down the best! Cute little cottage in the midst of rolling hills, green meadows, gravel roads.
When you first walk in, you are taken away with the candle smells. They sell candles here, wine (of course), dog food (random), glasses of wine hand-​painted by the owners, ½ bottles of wine and magnums of wine.
The tastings were a let down for me, I only tasted the two reds on the menu and was not really into either of them. My friend let me taste two of her whites and I was still not a fan. I paid about $ 1 per tasting.
The location is cute and charming and the views amazing but that’s all I can say about this place.

They had only 4 wines to try which is why I’m giving them only 4 stars.
The server was very friendly and the view was breath taking! My group liked the wines and purchased several. I also liked the big gray cat that seemed very at home in the tasting room!

This is a wonderful place and a must visit. There wines are very good which is just an added bonus. The quality of the overall experience is what is really superb. When you drive up there driveway to the tasting room you feel like you just pulled into someones home driveway. The tasting room is very nicely landscaped with great views of the Traverse Bay. The couple that runs the vineyard is there to serve you. You do not feel at all like a stranger but as another friend of there that stopped in to say hello. They only have 4 wine types but all of them are very good. I think my favorite part of visiting Willow is just how friendly it is and how you don’t feel like a visitor like you do at all the rest of the many vineyards on the peninsula. It is very nice that the owners are the ones who are working the counter serving you wine and that the conversations between you and them can range from anything with wine, to music, to motorcycles, to moving to new cities and trying new experiences. its a must visit!!!

Cute little tasting room with an amazing view of the local wineries. The owners were friendly and the tastings were free– I’ll be back!

There are several wineries in the immediate area, and we enjoy each of them for different reasons. It’s just that when we walk into the Willow tasting room, we always feel as if we’ve just «popped in» to visit a friend.
Charming tasting room … Absolutely amazing view … Quality wines … Warm, friendly & funny wine makers … Willow is one of our favorite stops when we make it up to Traverse Bay /​Leelanau.
I am not a big fan of the «fruit wines» which are everywhere in Michigan. I’ll try one here & maybe one there, but overall I go to taste the drier wines. So when I’m at a winery with 5 sweet fruit wines and 4 drier wines — I’m only tasting the drier (or as I refer to as «more serious») wines … Chardonay, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Blush, Merlot, Cab, and the likes. These are the types of wine that Willow focuses on.
For those who aren’t aware — Michigan wines are different from the Californian wines that majority of people are most familiar with (or Australian these days).
Don’t let «what you are used to» cloud your mind when tasting Michigan vintners’ Pinot, Merlot, Cab Franc, Meritage, etc etc. There are some delightful things going on in Michigan.

Cute, small place with some striking views of the bay. The wines tastings are all free, and they only had 4 available to taste. They are one of the smallest wineries in the area. I wasn’t sold or described any of the wines, and that is OK.
3 stars for the view, 1 star for the wine. I just didn’t love any of them.