Feb 7, 2012

Success allows Michigan winery to expand into new areas, products

One of the stops on the 2011 Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market EXPO Bus Tour was the Round Barn Winery, Distillery and Brewery in Baroda, Mich., founded by Rick Moersch and his family.

The winery opened in 1992 under the name Heart of the Vineyard Winery, which would later be changed to Round Barn Winery (RBW), and, as with most things at RBW, there is a story behind it.

DiVine spirit

In 1997, Rick and his family purchased, transported and rebuilt a turn-of-the century Amish round barn from rural Indiana. The original plan called for the barn to house a European-style brandy distillery. Rick thought the historic building was the perfect home for a round copper pot still he had purchased.
“Good spirits should be created in a structure where legend says that ‘with no corners, evil spirits cannot hide,’” he wrote on the company website.

By 2001, the barn had become the vineyard’s iconic landmark. Reflecting the growth of the winery and the popularity of the building, the Moersch’s officially changed the name in 2004, according to RBW’s website.

Currently, RBW’s round barn serves as the wine tasting facility. The distillery and all other beverage production have moved to a different building onsite better suited to alcohol production.

“We were lucky in that Michigan relaxed the laws on running a distillery during the 1990s,” said Matt Moersch, Rick’s son and chief winemaker and distiller at RBW. “We’re currently distilling several types of spirits here: a rum, a bourbon and our award-winning vodka. We also occasionally distill others for special runs. The new building just better suited all of our production efforts.”

The vodka, DiVine, launched in 2006 and is made from hand-selected grapes grown on the farm.

“To date, DiVine is the only estate vodka produced in the United States,” Matt said. “In competition, it has beaten out many of the major vodka brands.”

The Moersch’s also launched a microbrewery with Rick’s other son, Chris, serving as brew master. In an effort to keep that part separate from the wine tasting but with keeping in the theme, they brought in a centennial post-and-beam barn for beer tasting and sales, known as the Beer Barn, Matt said.

Free Run

In a further expansion, Matt and Chris opened Free Run Cellars in 2006, just down the road from RBW. Free Run is a boutique winery specializing in small batch wines and spirits, Matt said. Free Run Cellars wines have a style similar to those of northern France. They also produce several brandies and grappa there.

“We have a lot of irons in the fire,” Matt said. “It gives us the freedom to try new things and keep growing the business. We wanted to find our own style, and Free Run gives us that opportunity to try new things.”

The success of RBW and Free Run led to the opening of a satellite tasting room and retail space in Union Pier, Mich. While the Union Pier facility is a new construction, its interior was modeled after the original round barn, to keep the feel of the namesake company, Matt said.

By Derrek Sigler, Assistant Editor