by Joel Goldberg
Published Wednesday, May 23, 2007

An Indiana eye doctor with deep pockets and a penchant for surprise has quietly constructed a sizable new winery on Leelanau Peninsula -- and made a splash this week by hiring one of the area's top professionals to run its winemaking operation.

Winemaker Shawn Walters

Winemaker Shawn Walters told MichWine that he has resigned from Leelanau Cellars and will assume full-time winemaking duties at the soon-to-open Forty-Five North Winery by June 15. Walters has received widespread recognition for his wines, including a recent MichWine top score for his 2006 Leelanau Cellars Pinot Grigio.

"Opportunity is what it took for Shawn," said local vineyard manager Doug Matthies, supervisor of Forty-Five North's vineyard plantings. "Here he can concentrate on being a world-class winemaker. He has the opportunity to make $30 - $40 - $50 bottles and get on the world market with them."

The winery name refers to the forty-fifth parallel of latitude, which passes through its property. Many of the world's great wine regions -- such as Bordeaux -- are located on or near that parallel.

"I am confident that Shawn and Doug will lead Forty-Five North for the next 40 years and take Leelanau Peninsula AVA to its rightful place of imminence in the country’s wine industry," Grossnickle wrote in his blog.

Walters looks forward to supervising the installation of the winery equipment -- "some of which is already in New York" -- over the coming weeks. He also told MichWine that the "custom crush" business -- making wine for other local wineries that lack full production facilities -- would be an important part of Forty-Five North's initial operations.

"I'm going to continue to make wine for Longview, and there are about five other interested parties right now for the new winery." Walters said.  

Steven Grossnickle, MD

Matthies concurs that the new winery will have the ability to handle a significant amount of outside work. "At 8000 square feet, it's one of the largest wineries in the area," he said.

Matthies estimates that approximately 40 to 50 of the winery's 100 acres will eventually be planted with grapes.

Back at Leelanau Cellars, General Manager Tony Lentych didn't seem especially troubled by Walters' departure. He says that he has received "a lot of inquiries" from a Winejobs posting, including several from overseas. "We expect to have someone here to take over quite soon," he told MichWine.

Editor's note: The logo for 45 North that accompanies this article has changed since it was originally published. The winery used the previous logo as a "placeholder" until they designed a permanent one. That's now done, so we removed the placeholder in favor of the permanent logo. --JG, 6/3/07

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