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Michigan’s Largest Winery Invests Millions in Renovations

Paw Paw, MI - Extensive renovations have been taking place at St. Julian Winery & Distillery, Michigan’s largest and longest-operating winery. Another phase has been completed, marking over $10 million in capital improvements over a six-year period.

The main cellar renovations are now complete. Floor to ceiling improvements include a new roof with added skylights, a large catwalk, and new flooring. St. Julian also invested in dramatic improvements to processing, filtration and oxygen management systems, including a new glycol chilling system, centrifuge, and crossflow filters. The renovation includes updated storage for over 1 million gallons in state-of-the-art stainless steel jacketed tanks.

“At St. Julian, we approach each harvest with the goal to make wines that can compete on a world stage,” explains Nancie Oxley, Vice President of Winemaking. “The extensive investments in winemaking equipment are game changing for us during our most busy time of the year, increasing efficiencies throughout the winemaking process.  We are excited that these updates will allow us to continue our passion for innovation in an increasingly competitive wine market.”

Additional infrastructure projects are slated for the future, including new flooring and improvements to the bottling line, distillation expansion, and small barrel storage to emphasize premium wine development. “Our mission is to combine scale with quality, and we will continue to invest both now and in the future at St. Julian,” says Apollo Braganini II, president at the winery.

The family-owned St. Julian, Michigan’s longest-operating winery, was founded in 1921. In addition to its winery in downtown Paw Paw—where they produce award-winning wines, sparkling juices, spirits, and cider—St. Julian operates tasting rooms in Dundee, Frankenmuth, Paw Paw, Troy, Rockford, and Union Pier, MI. 

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Before and after new flooring
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New floor in progress
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New tank room flooring
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New silo installation
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New 80' silo installation
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New tank installation
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New tank installation
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New tank installation​​​​
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Thousands of gallons of new tank storage
Cat Walk
New cat walk
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New skylights

About St. Julian Winery & Distillery

St. Julian Winery & Distillery is Michigan’s largest and longest-operating winery and has been family-owned since its founding in 1921. In addition to the winery in downtown Paw Paw where they produce hundreds of award-winning wines, sparkling juices, spirits and hard cider, St. Julian Winery & Distillery also offers tasting rooms in Dundee, Frankenmuth, Rockford, Troy and Union Pier and distributes to thousands of retail partners throughout the Midwest.