A Taste of the Iberian Peninsula in Northern Michigan

Sipping the "climate appropriate" wines of ŌBrien Vineyards

On Old Mission Peninsula, winemaker Barry O’Brien tends to his rows of tempranillo and graciano grape vines. Vine-by-vine, he clips away excess growth and inspects the plants for diseases while his two German Shorthaired Pointers, Bowie and Luna, frolic in the dandelions.

O’Brien owns ŌBrien Vineyards, a small-production vineyard. On his 1.5-acre site, he grows cold-climate riesling, gewurztraminer, cabernet franc, and pinot noir, as well as tempranillo and graciano, two grape varieties from Spain rarely grown in Michigan.

O’Brien entered the wine industry shortly after graduating from Michigan State University. “Just after college, I went to work in Boulder, Colorado, at a wine bar and moved up to a 4-star restaurant as a sommelier. After that, I went to Europe and traveled around to different regions,” he says.

Spain became his home base, where he explored the winemaking regions of Rioja, Catalonia, and Ribera del Duero. “I just fell in love with the style of wines, being soft, warm, bold, medium-full, and characterful.”

A Northern Michigan Homecoming

After Europe, O’Brien moved to New York City, where he worked for the Möet-Hennessy group while studying cool-climate viticulture for The Institute of Masters of Wine. In 1997, he founded Select Fine Wine Imports, a company that imported and distributed wines from regions such as New Zealand, Argentina, and Spain.

After getting married to his wife Laura, the couple moved from New York City to Laura’s hometown of Traverse City. Shortly after relocating in 1999, the couple looked at buying property to grow wine grapes. “I said, when you’re going around the peninsula, look for some property with a west-facing slope and a barn, and we’ll buy it,” he says. 

On the site’s west-facing slopes, O’Brien started working the land. He took out the old cherry trees, tilled the soil, and adjusted the soil’s pH with dolomite lime. “We did some soil work to ameliorate the decades of cherry farming here,” he explains.

O’Brien planted his first rows with riesling and Dijon clones of pinot noir in 2006. Inspired by his time in Spain, he branched out from the typical grapes grown in northern Michigan and took a risk planting warm-climate Spanish varieties. “In 2009, we added more gewurztraminer and then the tempranillo, the graciano, and the cabernet franc,” he says. 

Growing these warm-climate grapes was an experiment, yet O’Brien felt confident they would produce expressive wines in the local terroir. He spaced each row by seven feet, similar to row sizes in Europe, bought a new, compact tractor, and started the long and physically demanding process of growing and harvesting grapes. 

“Be careful what you wish for, because here it is—now all that work is waiting,” he jokes. 

Adapting to the Region’s Evolving Terroir

From the beginning, O’Brien prioritized making sparkling wines, small-batch dry whites, and reds. To reach the racy and complex characteristics he looks for, he grows his grapes as naturally as possible.

“I don’t mind having the plants go through a little bit of stress,” he says, adding that he uses minimal spraying, no irrigation, and manual upkeep. He also prefers to keep some native perennials between the rows to give the grapes competition. 

Stress is something northern Michigan’s winemakers and grape vines are accustomed to. Cold winters and a short growing season limit the amount of sugar in the fruit, making them more acidic and less alcoholic. For styles like riesling and pinot noir, that’s a good thing. But for big and bold Spanish varieties like tempranillo and graciano that need a long and hot growing season to ripen, it’s a challenge.

But like wine regions globally, northern Michigan’s climate is changing. Longer and hotter summers mean grapes hang on the vine for longer, giving them more time to develop. As O’Brien points out, growing Iberian heavy-hitters like tempranillo and other warm-climate grapes in northern Michigan could become less risky for winemakers.

“It’s really remarkable how climate change is changing the way we approach what we grow,” he says. Last year, local viticulturists welcomed 90-degree days in September. “2024 could well be the best red wine vintage we’ve ever seen here in this region.” 

Finding New Expressions

O’Brien continues to experiment with, as he calls them, climate-appropriate wine styles. Recently, Alsatian-style skin-fermented pinot gris—the same grape as Italian pinot grigio—caught his eye.

“The standard styles are pinot grigio—light and easy-drinking—and the richer, more unctuous styles you’d find in Alsace. You don’t see as many of those here,” he says. O’Brien let his pinot gris hang longer on the vines until they turned a dark pinkish gray. After he harvested them, he fermented them in their skins for about a month. 

For his new styles, O’Brien works with winemaker Cornel Oliver to turn his visions into reality. 

“As much as I’d like to say, ‘I’m growing the best grapes and that’s why my wines are so great’, you’ve got to look at the winemaker and recognize that this guy is handling these grapes beautifully,’” he says.

O’Brien and Oliver are currently making a port-style wine from tempranillo grapes to add to his selection. “I tell him what style I want, and he does it. He’s a real talent.”

Bringing the Old World Experience to Traverse City

When he’s not tending to his vines, O’Brien is managing the ŌBrien Vineyards Tasting Room at the Grand Traverse Commons.

“The tasting room is in an old root cellar that was built in 1891,” he says. Inside the spacious brick building, he pours flights of his sparkling wine, dry white wines, and pinot noir. “It’s like a thing for couples, in a sense. Some people like to try to hit every winery in the state, go to the tasting rooms, and get those wines. That’s a lot of fun when people come in and say, ‘Wow, that’s the best we’ve had.’”

The recently opened tasting room offers O’Brien new opportunities to share his creations…but also offers some new challenges. 

“I think the biggest challenge is really getting people in the door,” he says. Another trick is finding customers willing to pay a higher price for locally made wines. “It’s not inexpensive to make sparkling wine or barrel-aged red wines. Everything is estate-grown and hand-crafted. Something $20 to $40 is not everybody’s cup of tea. Some people just want to have a beautiful and inexpensive malbec from Argentina they can get for like $12 bucks.”

Following the business model of top European wineries like the famous Vega Sicilia in Spain, O’Brien is creating a mailing list for his customers. As the 2025 growing season approaches, he hopes to give fans of his wine a lot to look forward to.

“We’re not trying to get lots of grapes off each vine; we’re trying to get high-quality grapes off each vine. Touching that vine at least eight times every season gives you that connection, and the plants respond in a good way.”

Find ŌBrien Vineyards Tasting Room 1380 Yellow Dr. in Traverse City. facebook.com/obrienvineyards

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