This article is part of Business Buzz, a series designed to feature small businesses that make a big impact on the community. Participants featured will include the locally-owned businesses that make up the fabric of Big Rapids and the surrounding area.
MECOSTA — Going on a peaceful country drive deep within the confines of the village of Mecosta, the sight of The Winery at Young Farms will make most feel compelled to stop.
If they do choose to stop and pull in, rather than continuing down 70th Avenue, they will be greeted with a one-of-a-kind experience having visited what could be considered one of the best wineries in the state.
Owned and operated by the husband and wife tandem of Mark and Abby Young since 2003, Young Farms wasn’t always a winery.
The farm went through a handful of different iterations before a number of nudges from what can only be described as some kind of guiding hand set the Youngs on a path to their current and most successful venture.
“We bought this property in 2003, and we started as a Christmas tree operation shortly after that,” Mark Young said.
The Youngs soon moved on from Christmas trees and had their sights set on growing corn, but a serendipitous soil-test result in 2010 steered the couple in a completely different direction.
In the end, it was always the direction they were destined for, even if they didn’t realize it at the time.
“What we wanted to do is just grow some corn and sell it by the road,” Young said. “We had a soil test and our soil was terrible for (corn), but the extension officer wrote on there: ‘Good blueberry soil.’”
Three years after the soil test, grapes were added into the mix, and the Youngs’ first vineyard was taking shape.
Throughout all of this, Mark’s longtime side hobby of making wine steadily crept into the picture, and in 2017, the Youngs opened their first wine-tasting room.
Young said he made his first bottle of wine in his Ferris State University dorm room and has remained fascinated with the drink ever since.
“I’m a pharmacist by trade, so chemistry, biology and wine-making are all kind of intertwined,” Young said. “It’s just always intrigued me; it’s the perfect beverage, I say. It’s stable at room temperature, tastes good and it’s intoxicating, so it’s really the perfect beverage.”
Meanwhile, Abby would have her girlfriends over to their home from time-to-time to unwind to enjoy some wine and conversation, sparking another idea that led to something big and somewhat unexpected.
“We just kept getting these opportunities, and we just decided to go for it, I guess,” Abby Young said. “I call it the magic little winery, because things that don’t normally happen just tend to work out here; it’s really odd.”
A prime example of this is when Young was able to establish contact with Brian Vander Ark, front man for the band The Verve Pipe, and invite him out to the farm for a live acoustic show.
Vander Ark originally hails from Grand Rapids, while The Verve Pipe, perhaps most noticeable for its 1997 song “The Freshmen,” traces its roots to East Lansing.
Initially hesitant to reach out, Abby was convinced by her husband to do so, and the result was another memorable experience at the farm.
“Mark’s like, ‘Just call him and see; he’s from Grand Rapids,’ and then, of course, I’m on the phone with (Vander Ark’s) agent,” Young said. “He came out here and he sang, and he was great,” Abby Young said.
As some years have passed since Mark and Abby took the deep dive into the world of wine creation, Abby said she’s started to notice the impact their farm has each season.
Similar to Times Square on New Year’s Day, the farm in the offseason still shows remnants of the successful, fun summer which preceded it.
“When we’re all closed down in the winter and I come out here and there’s nobody here, you look around and go: ‘Did that really happen?’” Young said.
Mark said he and his wife were wary of producing such a vast quantity of wine and feared they would not be able to sell it all. They quickly discovered this would likely not be an issue any time soon.
“We’ve been incredibly fortunate — when we first started, we were worried that we weren’t going to be able to sell this wine,” Mark Young said. “We sold out almost within a month.”
Each season, the Youngs are open as long as their supplies last and when they sell their final bottle, the season comes to a close.
Everything that’s sold at the winery is aged a minimum of 18 months, to ensure customers are drinking the freshest, best-tasting product available.
For more information on The Winery at Young farms, including menus, materials used for the creation of their wine and a COVID-friendly virtual tasting portal, feel free to visit: thewineryatyoungfarms.com
Location
8396 70th Ave., Mecosta
Hours
1-9 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday
Contact
989-506-5142
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BUSINESS BUZZ: Young couple share history of Mecosta County vineyard - The Pioneer
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