Aurora Cellars

Drew Perry was born to be a winemaker. His philosophy and approach to winemaking is to never be stuck to one philosophy or approach as mother nature never provides the same growing conditions from year to year. He believes that you should never try to mold a wine to what you want it to be, but instead you need to work with what you are given based on the site, the variety, and the vintage growing conditions.

Drew graduated from Michigan State University in 2006 with a degree in Viticulture as well as Oenology and then moved to Napa to honed his craft with a job at Pine Ridge as a Cellar Assistant for the year before moving back to Traverse City to become an Assistant Winemaker at Left Foot Charley, where he further developed his skills until 2014. Since joining Aurora Cellars in 2014, he has created iconic aromatic whites, distinctive cool climate red wines, and authentic sparkling wines from the Leelanau Peninsula. He also makes the wines for Good Harbor Vineyards and a variety of custom clients.

Drew loves making wines that express the unique qualities of each individual vineyard site on the Leelanau Peninsula as a whole. He strives to create a wine that expresses a specific sense of place. His mission is the creation of wines that surprise and delight the senses.

Taylor lived the city life in Chicago after growing up in Leland and graduating from the University of Michigan. She worked in wine sales distribution for the largest wine and spirits distributor in the world, honing her knowledge of wine and business while traveling to renowned wine regions of the world. She carried this extensive experience back home with her and continues to expand the reach of our wines through direct to consumers channels in 17 states (and growing!), boutique and chain grocery stores, and Midwest restaurants. She focuses her marketing efforts on building brands that convey a genuine story of the people and places behind the wines.

Sam’s entrepreneurial spirit started with a roadside cherry stand at age 7 and a successful landscaping business in high school. He harvested his viticulture and enology knowledge by working on the family farm with his grandpa and dad every summer while studying business and finance at Michigan State. Ever the innovator, Sam continues to fill gaps in the Michigan wine industry. He created vineyard operating services, now the largest in the state supporting 300+ acres, and launched the only mobile wine bottling service in the midwest.