History
Founders Wine Cellar is located in Baroda, Michigan - GPS: N41°57.3714, W086°29.14074. Baroda is a town that‘s been around since December, 1890 and lies in the heart of the valley’s entrance to Southwestern Michigan’s famous wine country.
Baroda’s original name was to be Pomona after the Greek Goddess of Fruits and Harvests. Since Southwestern Michigan already had small town named Pomona, the name ultimately became Baroda after a city in India. Pomona was chosen as the name for Baroda because the town lies in the middle of the fruit growing section of Southwestern Michigan - a region known as the Fruit Basket of the Midwest.
Baroda became a center for Southwest Michigan in fabrication, and tool and die shops from the 1950’s to the 1990’s. The town fathers were foresighted enough to leave main street a brick paved road.
The town really reached a zenith in the mid 1970’s when Bill’s Tap was the place to go for weekend meals including a Friday Night Fish Fry. Virtually hundreds of dinners were served every Friday and Saturday night.
The back section of the original Baroda City Mill is where you’ll find Founders Wine Cellar, the last building before the water tower. The Mill was founded shortly after the building was constructed in 1919. The Baroda City Mill supplied seed, grain, and mill to local farmers. Today the Baroda City Mill actively sells fresh eggs, birdseed, and general goods for local residents and tourists.
Every great growing region of the world has one common characteristic
– which is a large body of water on the windward side - to temper the climate.
Southwest Michigan is no different. Ensuring the region as one of the
top growing regions of the world is its location on the southeast shore
of Lake Michigan. Where Germany has the Rhine and Mosel Rivers, France
has the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf Stream, and Napa Valley has the San
Francisco Bay – the Fruit Basket of the Midwest has Lake Michigan. There
are over 20,000 acres of grapes, 15,000 acres of cherries, 8,000 acres
of peaches, 10,000 acres of blueberries harvested each year in Southwest
Michigan.