Why can’t winemaking be a sustainable process? That’s a question wineries throughout Leelanau County are asking as they seek to make sure their stewardship of the land does justice to the bountiful beauty of the spaces they call home.

Historically, the wine industry hasn’t scored top marks in eco-friendly protocols. Heavy use of chemical pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and fertilizers is common practice in the wine world, as is mono-cropping, a farming philosophy with a long list of drawbacks. Collectively, these practices can damage environmental ecosystems, degrade the quality of the soil, and create hazardous conditions for vineyard workers – among other potential consequences.

Just how common are these damaging practices? Note that California alone – the heart of the North American wine industry – tracks the use of more than 200 million pounds of agricultural pesticides each year, per the state’s Department of Pesticide Regulation. That number accounts for California’s entire agricultural industry, which reaches far beyond just wine grapes. But there is data to suggest that winegrowers are disproportionate users of pesticides. In France, for instance, wine vineyards make up just four percent of the land occupied by agricultural uses, but account for about 15 percent of all pesticide use, according to the French Agricultural Ministry.

And it’s not unheard of for these chemicals to show up in the actual wine. In 2019, the United States Public Interest Research Group tested 20 popular wine and beer brands for glyphosate, a chemical used in the weed killer Roundup and commonly linked to cancer. Of the 20 brands tested, 19 of them showed traces of the chemical, including major commercial wine brands like Sutter Home, Beringer Estates, and Barefoot.

According to Tim Hearin, co-owner of the Northport-based Green Bird Organic Cellars & Farm, there’s a better way of doing business – one that not only protects the environment, but also yields better wine.

“If you’ve ever had a carrot from your own garden that was organically grown in good compost, it tastes worlds apart from a carrot that you buy from Walmart that was conventionally grown,” Hearin says. “It's the same thing with wine and cider. You can taste when a winery is using fresh, organically grown grapes or fresh, organically grown apples. There’s just a rustic, farm-fresh taste to the alcohol that's immediately noticeable.”

Green Bird was established in 2005 by a different set of owners, with the winery component coming online in 2014. Tim and his wife Betsy bought the business in 2019, viewing it as the perfect melding of two of their passions: sustainable farming and drinking wine.

“Being farmers first, we’re stewards of the land,” Hearin says. “We’re always out in the field, and we think that the best fruits in the field – whether they’re apples or grapes –are what make the best wine and cider. Part of making the best fruits is having healthy trees and healthy vines, and using chemical pesticides or chemical fertilizer, or other unsustainable practices, doesn’t produce healthy plants. So instead, at Green Bird, we use a lot of specific practices that build an ideology of regenerative agriculture into our farm. For example, we don't use chemical fertilizer; we use animal manure, and we run our pasture-grazed chickens and sheep through our vines, and through our orchard, and through our vegetable garden. They are our resident mowers and fertilizers.”

Green Bird isn’t the only Leelanau winery making gains in sustainable and eco-friendly policies. Peter Laing, a partner at MAWBY Vineyards and Winery, says the business has taken steps in the past six years to go herbicide-free.

First, the winery cut out “pre-emergent herbicides,” which function to “prevent the seeds from germinating and taking off too early in the spring.” Those herbicides, Laing says, have a tendency to linger in the soil over time – to the point where they can impede the growth of mature vines. Then, starting with the 2020 growing season, MAWBY quit using weedkillers.

“We planted some clover and other low-growing cover crops right under the trellis, right next to the vines,” Laing explains. “The clover adds nitrogen into the soil for the vines to take up, which is beneficial. And then all the cover crops, when they go dormant in the winter, that builds our soil’s organic matter, which helps with the soil health. And that in turn gives us better fruit quality, healthier vines, and more resilient vines.”

Laing admits that the first year without herbicides was “a little bit of challenge,” as the new cover crops competed with existing weeds for space. “It was a lot of manual work – pulling weeds,
weed whacking, all of that,” he says. “But once those clovers and grasses started to get more well-established, we really loved it. The vineyard looks a little bit less orderly, because we don’t have those neat, tidy strips of bare ground under the plants. But the vines are happier, we’re not making that extra tractor pass [to apply herbicides], and we're not spraying harsh chemicals into the soil.”

Even beyond Leelanau County, northern Michigan wineries are getting creative. Old Mission’s Mari Vineyards has a long list of environmentally-focused practices, including a push to replace standard lawns with “sustainable cover crops in the form of pollinator habitats.” The goal, according to Sales and Marketing Coordinator Bonnie Hardin, is to create “natural habitats for honeybees and monarch butterflies,” which will in turn help to create “a healthy balance with predatory insects, as well as to pollinate cover crops that combat weeds and foster stronger soil health.

Later this summer, meanwhile, Amanda Danielson – a long-time sommelier and the owner of the Traverse City restaurant Trattoria Stella – will host a conference called “Dirt to Glass 2022: Elevating Michigan Wine from the Ground Up.” Danielson is in the midst of launching a new sustainable farm on Old Mission, and the conference will spotlight the way that knowledge of local soil composition can lead to smarter winegrowing strategies. The conference is scheduled for August 25 at Kirkbride Hall, and will feature speakers like Doug Frost (an author, master sommelier, and wine and spirits consultant for United Airlines), Christie Lee Apple (an agronomist with expertise in soil health and plant nutrient management), Bruno Basso Ph.D (an MSU professor and sustainable agriculture researcher), and Madeline Triffon (a master sommelier known as “Detroit’s First Lady of Wine”).

“It makes me really happy that the northern Michigan wine industry is clearly pivoting toward good stewardship,” Hearin concludes of growing push for sustainable wine in northern Michigan. “It is our chief responsibility as citizens of this earth – and especially inhabitants of Leelanau County – to protect and preserve this incredible, invaluable resource. Because this is the best place in America, in my opinion: It’s a sacred place, with how gorgeous the forests are, and the beaches are. And I don't think I'm going out on a limb when I say that, if you're not actively preserving this place, then you’re taking a part in destroying it.”

For more on efforts beyond Leelanau County to make northern Michigan wineries more sustainable, check out this week's Northern Express.