Chateau Chantal
15900 Rue de Vin
Traverse City, Michigan 49686
Phone: (231) 223-4110

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The unlikely story of Chateau Chantal’s beginning is pretty well known in Michigan. Robert Begin worked
as a Catholic diocesan priest for 12 years in his home area of Detroit until he made a decision in 1972 to begin again, as a businessman this time, heading a construction company. His wife, Nadine, had taken a similar path by entering the Felician Sisters. After 22 years, she, too, made a decision to seek a different life.

In 1974, the two former clergy married, and followed Robert’s dream of building a European-style winery chateau.

The Begin family — Robert, Nadine and daughter Marie-Chantal — opened the doors of Chateau Chantal in 1993, upon the completion of a French-style three-room B&B, winery, and vineyard estates. The B&B now has eleven units, and the 65-acre estate on Old Mission Peninsula includes vines sprawling across rolling hills that produce grapes for the winery’s growing list of award-winning wine.

Chateau Chantal’s history began in 1983, with the formation of Begin Orchards and the purchase 60 acres of cherry orchards on the estate property. Chateau Chantal is well-known for its creative approach to fruit wines as well as the quality of its grape wines, both under the direction of Michigan native Mark Johnson, who received a degree in viticulture and enology at the Federal Research Station and Institute in Geisenheim, Germany. Johnson has been the winemaker at Chateau Chantal for nearly 20 years.

Unlisted fruit/exotic products from Chateau Chantal: Cherry Eau de Vie (alcohol content too high to legally direct ship)