A Season of Recognition
Recent press features highlight the story, hospitality, and wines of Gilchrist Farm Winery
It is always meaningful when the work happening here at Gilchrist Farm Winery finds its way beyond our own tables, tasting room, and vineyard rows.
This summer, we were grateful to see Gilchrist Farm Winery featured in two recent press pieces: a VoyageMichigan conversation with co-owner Marc Huntoon and a mention in Connoisseur, which highlighted the Leelanau Peninsula as a destination for wine, food, scenery, and slower summer travel.
photo by Hao Chen
Together, the features offer two complementary views of Gilchrist Farm Winery: one from the inside, through Marc’s reflections on the path that brought us here, and one from the outside, through the eyes of a visitor experiencing Northern Michigan and finding her way to our tasting room in Suttons Bay.
In the VoyageMichigan interview, Marc shared more about the journey he and Elizabeth have taken from careers in academic medicine to farming, winemaking, hospitality, and community building. Their work has always been shaped by a deep interest in health, sustainability, and the relationship between food, land, and well-being. That perspective continues to influence the way Gilchrist Farm Winery grows, serves, and gathers people together.
Marc also spoke about the realities of building a winery, farm, and tasting room from the ground up. The work is long, complex, and deeply personal. It requires patience, investment, trust, and a willingness to keep choosing quality even when the rewards take time to appear.
That commitment is part of what guides us as Gilchrist continues to evolve. From award-winning wines and seasonal dining to live music, literary gatherings, artist events, and future vineyard experiences, our hope is to create a place where wine is connected to something larger: conversation, creativity, nourishment, and a true sense of place.
The Connoisseur mention captured that spirit from another angle. In a travel piece about Michigan’s Leelanau Peninsula, writer Kristen Schott describes a journey through the region’s small towns, beaches, vineyards, and restaurants, ending with a stop at Gilchrist Farm Winery. She notes the cheery blue farmhouse facade, the modern dining room, the estate-grown wines, and the ever-changing menu — calling it a fitting way to end a trip to what she describes as Michigan’s hidden gem.
The piece also included our 2023 Woven among its recommended Leelanau bottles, noting its blend of Merlot and Pinot Noir grapes, medium body, and light tannins.
We are honored by both features, not simply because they mention Gilchrist Farm Winery, but because they recognize the larger story we are trying to tell. Wine is never only what is in the glass. It is the land that grows it, the people who care for it, the food served alongside it, and the welcome offered to each guest who walks through the door.
As we continue through the season, we are grateful for the writers, visitors, guests, and friends who help share that story more widely. Most of all, we are grateful for the chance to keep doing the work: farming thoughtfully, pouring carefully, cooking seasonally, and creating a place where people can gather, taste, linger, and return.
Thank you for being part of the story.
Read Marc’s Voyage Michigan interview, and read the Connoisseur piece on the Philly Magazine website.