How Left Foot Charley is Expanding & Helping Other Wineries Do The Same
Everyone has a unique story with unique beginnings that often shape the fundamental values they hold close. It’s no different for local winery Left Foot Charley. Their beginning is rooted in northern Michigan, taking the grapes from several small farms and making something miraculous.
Winemaker and owner of Left Foot Charley, Bryan Ulbrich, quickly discovered the value of purchasing small-batch harvests from farmers who were able to spend more time tending to the individual needs of each different grape varietal. More than a dozen farms up and down the Old Mission Peninsula partner with Left Foot Charley to have their harvests turned into red and white wines, hard ciders, and a bit of bubbly. “We function a little bit like a cooperative,” Ulbrich explained.
They operate on a “better together” mentality—with farmers staying focused on their harvest and vintners focused on making the wine. As Left Foot Charley grew, so did their opportunities. They began expanding to help other wineries by providing a space to process their wines, allowing them to maintain that peaceful, romantic experience visitors expect while enjoying a tasting room that overlooks the vines.
Now, Ulbrich is embarking on a new endeavor with a little help from Cherryland and a USDA pass-through loan. “We’ve grown; our building located at The Village at Grand Traverse Commons has not. There’s a limit on how much we can do,” explained Ulbrich. “We’ve reached a point where we just had to say no, we couldn’t make any more wine for people, and yet there are still more farms that want to have this kind of relationship. So, I looked at what the possibilities were for us to expand that offering.”
To make that expansion a reality, Ulbrich needed a whole lot more space. Like a potato chip factory’s worth of space. With a $1.6 million price tag to purchase, renovate, and outfit the new space, he was going to need some help. That’s where Cherryland comes in. There is funding earmarked in the Farm Bill for rural economic development through the USDA. That funding must be distributed with help from an electric cooperative.
Ulbrich and his team put together a detailed plan and approached the Cherryland board with a proposal to pursue the Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant (REDLG) program’s pass-through loan application. The board liked his plan and agreed to move forward. They applied and the USDA approved a $1.3 million loan. This federal funding will all be invested in our community to promote growth, create jobs, and support a wide range of local industries.
Now, Left Foot Charley begins the process of turning a former potato chip factory on Cherryland lines into a winemaking facility that will benefit dozens of local farms and wineries. “We had to gut the inside of the building. We’ve taken down the walls and are reinsulating. We’re redoing the floors, because once you have your heavy tanks on top of that floor, you really don’t ever want to redo it,” Ulbrich explained. “We’re hoping to move in over the course of the winter and process our 20th harvest in the new location.
If you’re a long-time fan of Left Foot Charley and their current operation, don’t fret. This new facility will be strictly dedicated to processing and making wine. Ulbrich said, “We are maintaining our presence in The Village and keeping what we’ve started there and trying to help grow that as well. We want to keep the project going at The Commons because that has been a long, beautiful investment in terms of seeing that place grow and where we sit within it.”
For more than 20 years, Left Foot Charley has been working with farms and wineries to combine forces and be better together. In 1938, Cherryland was built by a community that leaned into the idea that we are all better when we work together. That’s why Cherryland is proud to work with partners, like Left Foot Charley, to lock down federal funding that creates opportunities to make our community better, together.
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