A new age winery that hopes to bring its sweet nectars to the South Hill Plaza in Rochester Hills later this year will offer anything but traditional red and white vinos.
Modern Craft winery is partnering with the AR Workshop to open a wine tasting room inside the do-it-yourself art studio at 882 S. Rochester Road. As part of the alliance, patrons taking classes at the workshop could soon be able to incorporate wine sipping into their crafting experience.
“We do wines that are unique,” owner Tom Nixon told What Now Detroit. “It’s fruit infusions, so we take standard wines like your whites and your reds and we infuse it with fruit.”
The Rochester Hills location is poised to become Modern Craft Winery’s seventh tasting room in Michigan and its second in the metro Detroit market.
The 12-year-old chain is headquartered in Au Gres, where it has a standalone winery and processing facility. It has a downriver tasting room in Wyandotte and other locations in Portland, West Branch, Milan and Frankenmuth. The wineries are attached to bead stores, boutiques, bakeries or other workshops.
“It’s more of a casual experience like the backyard barbecue, where you sit down with your friends,” Nixon said. “In this case, it’s a do-it-yourself workshop and that’s kind of our business model. We like to partner with other businesses that are already operating.”
Rochester Hills city officials recently approved a special use and liquor license for the prospective tasting room. Nixon said it’s still months from coming to fruition as the state’s Liquor License Commission still has to sign off on the application. He hoped to be open the new location by the fall or winter.
Modern Craft markets itself a revolutionary brand carving out “a different kind of wine” experience for its customers. Nixon said he and his team are introducing mixology to the wine world by blending traditional varieties with different fruit flavors like blackberry, cherry and peach.
One of their concoctions picking up popularity with summer months approaching is the pina colada, a mix of white wine infused with pineapple and coconut. Nixon said he also pays homage to traditional reds and white with a smooth Northbound Frontenac and Seyval Blanc. The brand even has a recipe to mix raspberry wine with stout beers.
It’s a different approach from chardonnays poured into long-stem goblets. Nixon said his company’s modern take introduces non-wine drinkers to the world of crushed grapes and gets traditional aficionados to consider different ways to consume.
“We just focus on having a wine experience that breaks free from the ordinary tradition of red and white,” he said. “You can put a bottle in your backpack and take it out for a Jeep ride. It’s not just meant for fancy dinners with suits, ties and white linens.”
