There have undoubtedly been many ups and downs over the course of the 165 years that Lemon Creek Farm and ultimately Lemon Creek Winery have been on the scene in Michigan’s Great Southwest, but one would have to figure that every generation of the Lemon family would concur that nothing has proven to be quite the same challenge as they face during the current pandemic.
Rather than simply throw in the towel after that many decades in business, the Lemon family is evolving on several fronts in order to keep their top quality products available to those of us who have grown to know and love them over the course of the years.
As the whole world has shifted over the last few months, Lemon Creek Winery, just like many other small local businesses, has been put to the test to figure out how to take what was once a personal experience and make it virtually accessible. Kait Lemon, Tasting Room Manager, says, “For us, it was the final push we needed to launch an online storefront and release the new wine club we have been dreaming of for the last few years.” She adds, “We wanted to figure out how we could continue to offer tasting notes, suggest food pairings, and get wines in people’s hands as conveniently as possible.”
The brainstorming has led to a variety of new initiatives. The first is a new wine club. The Lemon Creek Wine Club offers three different club options, because, as Kait notes, “Something for everyone” is the goal.
The first Wine Club option is a sweet club; the Sauterne Club, named after Lemon Creek’s most popular sweet wine, the Silver Beach Sauterne. It was created for those who love sweet wines. The other two options are dry wine clubs, the Varietal Club and the Reserve Club.
The Varietal Club offers selections of dry white, red and rosé wines, including some semi-dry wines as well. The Reserve Club is for those who love the older vintages, big oak-aged reds and small batch high-end wines.
All three of the clubs ship 4 bottles of wine, three times a year. There is no sign up fee, and perks include exclusive access to new and small batch wines and discounts on shipping and wine purchases. You can find more information and sign up at the link below:
http://www.lemoncreekwinery.com/wine-club/
The next large initiative from the Lemon family is a Community Supported Agriculture box (CSA), stemming from the farming side of Lemon Creek. As Kait tells us, “We are going into our 165th year as a family run farm, and we wanted to be able to continue to provide Lemon Creek fruits and local vegetables, whether we are able to have a farm market or u-pick operation this year. So we decided to start a wine and produce based CSA for 2020.
Kait explains, “Unlike traditional CSA boxes, where folks pay for a membership upfront, we are setting ours up more like a farm market based wine club, where you commit to a certain number of boxes and pay for each one at a time.” That means people will be able to enjoy produce, wine and other local gourmet goods boxed and ready for pick-up.
CSA boxes will be available on either a bi-weekly or monthly schedule and the boxes are entirely customizable and you, the customer, can decide how much produce you want, what style wines you prefer, and if you want to add additional local gourmet items such as baguettes, cheese, sausage, honey or other traditional farmers market goods. Kait adds, “We want to make this a personal experience for the customer as well as have the opportunity to support other local businesses.”
Anyone can sign up by downloading the CSA sign-up form off the website and submitting it to CSA@lemoncreekwinery.com.
For those who aren’t ready to commit to a wine club or a CSA, Lemon Creek is also offering online discounts and social media information. For example, here in the month of May, in celebration of Michigan Wine Month, Lemon Creek is offering 25-percent off their pre-selected 4-Pack wine bundles. Additionally, each week through the end of the year, they will be highlighting one of their estate wines, including discounts, tasting notes, suggested food pairings and recipes as the ‘Wine of the Week.’
Kait says, “We want to be able to give people the chance to explore the depth of our wine list the same way they would if they were able to frequent the tasting room.” All of the wine specials are available online for either regular Saturday curbside pick-ups or for shipping to select states. For those who prefer the truly old fashioned way, they are also taking orders over the phone at 269.363.2317.
So, lots of innovations. What does the future hold? Lemon Creek is looking to add shipping to the state of Indiana by the end of the month, as well as launching a virtual tasting platform featuring members of the Lemon Creek staff, the winemaker Jeff Lemon, along with collaboration with other local wineries. You can learn more about all of these new offerings, as well as the online storefront, at this link: http://lemoncreekwinery.com
