McKenzie and Creighton Gallagher kicked off their fifth summer operating Rove Estate with the decision to open the winery full-tilt Memorial Day weekend: “We are new in the business, in the trenches, and did not have the luxury to wait. It would have only compounded the stress and anxiety. Why not have a ‘real’ summer weekend to know what we are diving into.”

She explains, “I think that Rove Estate was the only Leelanau winery that opened out of the gate with full service, including tastings. We didn’t want to cut that experience, especially with the time of the year — we just released several new wines, so it was really important to us to offer tastings and do it safely.”

Tastings were initially by reservation only. “Now walk-ins are welcome, but if there is not a spot at the bar, we take your name, and you can grab a glass and walk around safely outside. Before it was more socially dense and chaotic, and I think now it is a more enriched one-on-one experience.”

She says also key to the winery’s survival: the great outdoors. “Because of our outdoor space, even operating at 50-percent reduced capacity we are able to still have safely 150 people outside.” She explains that since most of their summer weddings rescheduled, they are utilizing that outdoor tent space for regular business.

Gallagher estimates the winery is spending about $1.75 more per guest with various transitions for safety, such as a souvenir glass, and food in compostable containers. “And we have hired more staff to cover more ground now that we are spread out. We are using 25 percent more resources, in general, to do less business, but ultimately after we were closed for two months, it’s 100 percent worth it.”

She says Rove is one of a few wineries that can safely accommodate larger groups at this time, due to its outdoor bar capacity, so she has welcomed tour buses since reopening. “My feeling is that we all need each other right now, and it wasn’t that long ago when we were first opening, and we were begging the transportation companies to come. I’m making a point to accommodate the tour companies safely for tastings.”

And as recent cancer survivor, Gallagher has a unique point of reference for making guests feel safe and comfortable. “I was quarantined before it was a thing — I had such a low white blood count, I had to wear a mask at home with my four school-aged children. I felt tremendous responsibility to my staff coming back after uncomfortable unemployment conditions to keep them safe, as well as a whole spectrum of visitors. Though we are open with full service, we are open on the cautious end.’”

While Rove Estate is making tastings work, other wineries and tasting rooms such as Shady Lane Cellars and M-22 Glen Arbor Wine Tasting Bar have opted for a different route. “For the foreseeable future, we are sticking to flights and large pours, for less contact,” says Katy Wiesen, co-owner of the M-22 Glen Arbor Wine Tasting Bar. As with Rove, she says M-22 is fortunate to maximize their outdoor space and "the Michigan Liquor Control Commission has been great about offering expanded outdoor service permits. We are still waiting for a final inspection, but I believe once that happens, we should be good to go to offer a large backyard space where people can enjoy their wine socially distancing on our Adirondack chairs while their kids play.”

Adds Wiesen, “We just decided to open up our wine patio an hour earlier this summer as we have noticed an increase in people around noon stopping by — some who you can tell are up here working remotely. They have their laptop, headset, glass of wine and are sitting in the sun trying to work.” She says they are adding live music on the wine patio three nights a week next week, “as people are looking for more activities and opportunities to get outside.” Rove Estate also added more live music this season.

Also taking a careful outdoor route is Shady Lane Cellars in Suttons Bay. General manager Rick DeBlasio says the tasting room is reopened to the public, with the chance to order wine tasting flights and bottles on the patio. Says DeBlasio, “We will not facilitate choose-as-you-go tastings just yet. We have a new style of service, so while the products are the same, we’ve relearned how to serve them. Much of the experience will be table service and at this time we are not accepting groups larger than six people.”

Later this month, on June 27, DeBlasio says the winery will resume ticketed, reservations-only events  with Wine Social….Distancing. “Local dishes will be paired with a variety of Shady Lane Cellars’ wines. Tasting stations will be spaced throughout the patio and grounds of the winery. Our guests are our number one priority and we need to provide them with a gracious, meaningful and valuable experience that connects them with this place, our wine and our people.” 

While wineries such as Shady Lane Cellars are dipping a toe into independent events, Gallagher, who is on the events committee at the Leelanau Peninsula Wine Trail (LPWT), says the group will be rethinking how to do events collectively as a wine trail.

Says DeBlasio, who is the current president of the wine trail, “The COVID-19 impact certainly put some pressure on the organization that is the Leelanau Peninsula Wine Trail in name. But it doesn’t change the trail itself. It is still a geographic place made up of individual wineries doing their thing on the peninsula."

He says the last four months have presented a number of challenges. “We are heavily focused on events [such as Spring Sip & Savor] both for promotion and funding, so the inability to host those all spring brought us to some tough decisions.”

DeBlasio says all existing Leelanau Peninsula Wine Trail employees were laid off indefinitely. “We will be staffing with a single part-time employee at some point this summer, and we have reduced size, but maintained our office space at the Grand Traverse Regional Arts Center in Studio 1. We have re-structured to be more streamlined and to focus on what has always been our mission — to bring people and awareness to the Leelanau Peninsula for the purpose of wine and to promote those wines. We are working now on what will be a really exciting evolution of some of our events this fall.”

Adds Gallagher, “The general sense is that events will look different, perhaps more like a month-long passport, similar to the Rosé All May celebration. People may be more comfortable on their own timetable. To be very real, this experience changed us. But there is always opportunity when you are forced to change.”

Photos: McKenzie Gallagher of Rove Estate; Shady Lane Cellars' patio; M-22 Glen Arbor Wine Tasting Bar.