This week we are perched in Leelanau’s wine country (10702 NE Hill Top Road
Suttons Bay, $1,600,000, MLS# 1873702) where Willow Vineyard & Winery is for sale as a turnkey business, vineyard and residence.

 “It was among the first wineries in Leelanau County — the current owners built the tasting room in 1996 and the house in 1998,” says listing agent Shelly Brunette of Real Estate One.

The lay of the land: a rolling 11.45 acres are zoned residential and agricultural and open to one of the most jaw-dropping views of West Bay in the county. The lower level of the villa-style home is used as the winery. A separate tasting room has a bar and retail area, bath and storage plus a detached equipment barn. Even the wine inventory is on the table — to be sold separately at wholesale at closing.

Brunette tells the Leelanau Ticker that a deal fell through mere moments before closing back in March: “We had it under contract with the SBA loan approved, but two days before, with one of the partners being put on temporary furlough — even though it was temporary — the SBA loan got pulled.”

Disappointed but unfazed, Willow’s founders didn’t skip a beat running the winery and vineyards this summer. They currently live on the property with the winery at full operation, “which it will be until we close on the property,” says Brunette. She adds that 100 percent of the wine Willow now makes is sold out of its tasting room. “So it operates now at a boutique size, by choice, and there is a lot of room for growth. The opportunity for a new owner with new energy to build this business isn’t just a little,” she says. “It's huge.”