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With fewer people drinking these days, Michigan wineries turn to goats

Jill Samyn finds a friend to share a drink with at Black Star Farms near Suttons Bay. Photo credit: Mike Kent for the Northern Michigan Journalism Collaborative.

by Mike Kent, The Northern Michigan Journalism Collaborative, Bridge Michigan

TRAVERSE CITY — Michigan wineries are fighting back against a worldwide decline in wine consumption by leaning into tourism, special events, creative activities — and goats.

South of Suttons Bay, on a rolling field at Black Star Farms Winery,  the bleating of goats fills the air for where guests spend time with inquisitive kids.

“If we’re going to a winery, we may as well go to one with some animals,” said Jill Samyn, a visitor from Indiana, who balanced a glass of peach wine with nudges from a friendly goat that needed to be scratched.

In Michigan, excise wine tax collections fell to $10.1 million last year from $13.8 million in 2021. Amid such challenges, wineries are turning to goat happy hours and snowshoe tours to keep visitors coming in their doors.

It may be working: found wineries contributed nearly $9 billion to Michigan economy, up 42% from three years earlier.

“They’re coming for the whole entertainment experience,” said Dan McCole, Michigan State University associate professor of tourism. “I’m optimistic for the Michigan wine industry because they offer exceptional experiences. They’re getting better with their winemaking, for sure, but they’re innovating with how to enhance the experience.”

Global and domestic wine consumption has declined for years. The economic impact study for 2025 reported a 2.7% global decline in wine consumption, the fourth consecutive year of decline. In the US, last year consumption was down 4.3%. Much of that is attributed to fewer adults drinking alcohol all together. A recent indicated 54% of adults drink alcohol, the lowest level since 1939.

Top wine-growing regions in the country are seeing significant sales decline. In California, where the wine industry is nearly 10 times the size of Michigan, for example, wine sales have dropped to their lowest level in more than 20 years and The reports farmers have pulled 38,000 acres of grapes out of production. A showed California reported a $3.6 billion drop in economic impact from wineries between 2022 and 2025.

“As we began seeing a decline in alcohol consumption, we deliberately expanded the experiences we offer,” said Marie-Chantal Dalese, president of Chateau Chantal near Traverse City. “We expanded experiences such as live music, food and wine pairings, tapas tours, stargazing events, murder mystery dinners, wildflower plantings, and other events.”

Dalese said wineries are taking that approach not only in Michigan but around the nation.

That is also how goat happy hour was added to the mix at Black Star Farms.

Its managing owner, Sherri Campbell Fenton, said the winery is having a good year so far and the farm experiences are a major contributor.

“The best thing about the goat events is that they bring people to us who might never come to the winery or farm and allow us to potentially gain new fans for our wines, our experiences, or both,” Campbell Fenton said. “Experiential tourism is imperative to breaking through the clutter of media, gaining attention, and getting guests to choose to come to our place of business.”

Since the Traverse City-area winery businesses started more than 50 years ago, the tasting rooms grew exponentially thanks to the tourist traffic.

“The reality is, like most businesses in northern Michigan, we cannot rely on local demand alone,” said Traverse City Tourism President Trevor Tkach. “I do think we are bucking the trend. It experiential. You know every winery has its own story. It got its own vibe. So we’re producing good product and good experiences simultaneously.”

Wineries around the state are creating food and wine tasting events, hosting festivals at grape harvest, including live music performances, loaning snowshoes for winter hikes among the vines, creating morning yoga classes that are capped off with mimosas.

On Old Mission Peninsula in Grand Traverse County, Chateau Chantal is proud of a 33-year tradition of hosting The Jeff Haas trio, along with musician Laurie Sears, perform on Thursdays throughout the summer. Guests experience a sunset over Power Island on West Grand Traverse Bay and taste the flavors of a wine steeped in the same growing conditions that make the area the “Cherry Capital of the World” while music fills the air.

“Consumers today are looking to spend their discretionary dollars on memorable experiences they can share with family and friends, not just products,” said Chantal Dalese, of Chateau Chantal.

McCole, of MSU, adds that a lifeblood to the wineries is the success of Michigan travel. The estimates more than 130 million people make Michigan a travel destination every year.

In the northwest corner of the Lower Peninsula, around Traverse City, with 50 wineries in the region, the latest economic impact report from 2022 by estimated 7.3 million travelers to the region

“We have a decent population in Michigan,” adds McCole. “But it really relies on people coming here. Especially in the Traverse City area. If you think about it, you know why Traverse City has become a real hotspot. It very important the visitors continue to come to Michigan for the continued success of the beverage business we have here.”

One of those out-of-state visitors attracted to the region is Kristen Smith-Simon, who came from Pennsylvania. She found herself with a glass of wine in her hand and face-to-face with a goat during Goat Social Hour.

“Adults can have a lovely glass of wine. The kids can do something that interesting to them, so that it can be a family event and not just something that is only for one age group,” she said. “They’re adorable, and, you know, the wine helps as well.”

This reporting is made possible by the Northern Michigan Journalism Collaborative, led by Bridge Michigan and Interlochen Public Radio, and funded by Press Forward Northern Michigan.

This first appeared on and is republished here under a .

by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and a founder of the Manchester Mirror.