In the late 1980s, Grand Rapids, Michigan neurosurgeon Joe O'Donnell teamed with his fishing and hunting pal Bill Stouten, a Michigan real estate broker to purchase a century-old fruit farm outside Suttons Bay, Mich., in the Leelanau Peninsula AVA.

An appreciation for wine and its site-specific connections prompted a farm retrofit to wine grapegrowing. At first, the partners planted 11 acres of Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Vignoles. Michigan's escalating wine industry was the motivating and driving factor that gave birth to Shady Lane Cellars.

A pair of sparkling wines from the 1992 vintage were released in 1996. International wine competition recognition fueled expansion, production from estate-grown grapes and the 1999 construction of the first winery tasting room, an attractive conversion of a century-old fieldstone chicken coop.

The present winery with state-of-the-art equipment was built in 2001 to accommodate fruit from the now 41 acres of vines on light sandy soils that include more plantings of Riesling and Pinot Noir with the addition of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Lemberger, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer and Muscat Ottonel.

Since 2000, 48-year-old winemaker Adam Satchwell has brought decades of experience to Shady Lane. In addition to his California studies in enology and viticulture at the University of California Davis, Satchwell apprenticed with his winemaker uncle Jed Steele, proprietor of Steele Wines in Kelseyville, CA.

We talked with Adam about the nature of the Leelanau Peninsula and what are the challenges and rewards of making wine in this area.