The founders of Michigan By The Bottle, a website/online community promoting the Michigan wine industry, are teaming up with eight wineries from throughout the state to establish a second collaborative wine tasting room in Royal Oak.

Located on Woodward Ave., just south of Webster, the Michigan By The Bottle Tasting Room will offer tasting flights paired with small bites for a nominal fee, plus take-home wine sales by the bottle and case. The facility also will carry various Michigan-made snacks and products, and will host events like winemaker meet-and-greets, art exhibits, food and wine pairing sessions, wine education classes and more.

With all state and municipal licensing and approvals in place, buildout on the space began the week of Aug. 18. We are targeting Nov. 1 for “soft opening,” with a more formal grand opening celebration to follow. A private Media/VIP Event also is in the works; invitation to follow later this fall.

With the opening of the first MBTB Tasting Room in Shelby Township last December, we became the first in the state to open a tasting room under this collaborative concept, which links multiple previously unaffiliated wineries under a single roof. The Shelby location has been extremely successful and warmly welcomed by the surrounding community, prompting us to begin planning an expansion into Oakland County.

At the Royal Oak location, we are welcoming two additional partner wineries to the six already involved in the Shelby Township site. The eight partner wineries are excellent examples of Michigan viticulture and viniculture, all using estate-grown and/or locally sourced fruit. They are:

  • 2 Lads Winery (Traverse City)
  • Chateau Aeronautique (Jackson)
  • Chateau de Leelanau (Suttons Bay)
  • Domaine Berrien Cellars (Berrien Springs)
  • Gill’s Pier Vineyard & Winery (Northport)
  • Peninsula Cellars (Traverse City)
  • Sandhill Crane Vineyards (Jackson)
  • Verterra Winery (Leland)

Cortney and Shannon Casey of Michigan By The Bottle are available for interviews, as are representatives from the partner wineries and from the Michigan Grape & Wine Industry Council, who can speak about the Michigan wine industry as a whole and MBTB’s involvement in it. For more information, please contact Cortney at (586) 567-3033 or cort@michiganbythebottle.com.

About Michigan By The Bottle: Founded in 2009 by Shannon and Cortney Casey of Macomb Township, MichiganByTheBottle.com promotes the Michigan wine industry through video features, podcasts, articles, tasting notes, winemaker interviews, event listings and more. MBTB offers an iPhone/iPad/Android app that serves as a portable guide to Michigan wine country, with winery profiles, photos, content links, etc. With thousands of Facebook fans and Twitter followers, MBTB also facilitates the largest Michigan wine lover community online.

For more information on MBTB Tasting Room, please visit MBTBTasting.com.