Crane's Winery

History

Crane’s Pie Pantry Winery, built on a family fruit-farming legacy dating back to 1916, began when Henry Blakeslee Crane purchased a 180‑acre farm in Fennville, Michigan that became Crane Orchards. By the late 1960s the Crane family diversified their farm products; in 1967 Lue Crane (Henry’s granddaughter‑in‑law) started selling custom fruit gift baskets from her kitchen, kickstarting the farm’s move into agritourism. This success led Bob and Lue Crane to open Crane’s Pie Pantry Restaurant & Bakery on the orchard in 1972, serving homemade pies, donuts and fresh‑pressed apple cider, famously just 10 cents a glass in the early years. In 2014, with the third generation involved, the family launched Crane’s Winery as a natural extension of their cider‑pressing heritage, and today the Crane farm has seen five generations carry on its tradition since then.

Story

Crane’s Winery was founded on the belief that great wine (and cider) starts with great fruit, a philosophy rooted in the Crane family’s long tradition of making famous pies. As a fifth‑generation Michigan farming family, the Cranes combine over a century of fruit‑growing experience with new inspiration. Their mission is to produce only high‑quality wines and ciders in small batches using locally grown fruit and no artificial additives in every bottle. This farm‑to‑table approach—“from our farm to you”—ensures that every element from the tasting room to the bakery maintains a tradition of freshness and care, with the family’s commitment to quality noted here.

Wines

Crane’s Pie Pantry Winery offers a diverse range of wines and ciders that reflect both its fruit‑farm roots and winemaking expertise. Its grape wines include traditional red and white styles such as the dry red blend “Montage,” which combines Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot grapes aged for two years in oak barrels in the Bordeaux style. The semi‑dry red blend “The Homestead” is crafted in a Beaujolais style from Chambourcin and Merlot, noted for its jammy fruit flavors and subtle tannins by the winery. Its white wine lineup features varietals such as Riesling and Pinot Grigio along with creative offshoots like the “White Merlot” and the Alsatian‑inspired Edelzwicker blend. Crane’s is also renowned for its fruit wines and handcrafted hard ciders that showcase the bounty of its orchards; offerings include a crisp apple wine and a sweet Michigan cherry wine made from local Balaton cherries and available at specialty retailers. Their hard ciders, ranging from classic apple to fruit‑infused blends like apple‑cherry or apple‑blueberry, are made with the same small‑batch care and high‑quality fruit that define their products.

Grape Varieties

For winemaking, Crane’s selects grapes well‑suited to Michigan’s terroir, including classic European (Vitis vinifera) varieties and hardy hybrids, many grown in the local Lake Michigan Shore appellation recognized in their offerings. Key red grape varieties include Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, which come together in the Bordeaux‑style blend “Montage” crafted by the winery. Their red blends also feature Chambourcin, a French‑American hybrid known for thriving in Midwestern vineyards, while their white wines are made from varietals such as Riesling and Pinot Grigio sourced locally. The innovative “White Merlot” is a unique white/blush wine made from red Merlot grapes and is complemented by the Edelzwicker blend that marries multiple white grape varieties to create a distinctive style.