North Dakota Vineyard and Wine

[HaleyUpNorth]

Hello my name is Haley!
My husband Nicholas and I have made a huge decision this past year to change our career paths and open a vineyard and winery! I have a M.Sc. in plant science/genetics and my husband has a background in content creation and marketing. After visiting this forum over 100 times to glean info off the pros I have finally made my own account! I really look forward to documenting our journey and interacting with everyone. We are currently in the process of securing our first 40 acres. More to come

 

[FlamingoEmporium]

Welcome to WMT.

and congrats on your new endeavor.

 

[Ohio Bob]

Welcome! Grapes or fruit wines, or both?

 

[VinesnBines]

Welcome! Are you starting with new vines? 40 acres? How much are you going to have "under vine"? Do you have help, experience, consultants? What varieties? Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[HaleyUpNorth]

Welcome! Grapes or fruit wines, or both?

Focusing on just grapes!

 

[HaleyUpNorth]

Welcome! Are you starting with new vines? 40 acres? How much are you going to have "under vine"? Do you have help, experience, consultants? What varieties? Good luck and keep us posted.

Thanks! The forty acres were are securing is at least 20 acres of trees. The land was previously an old tree nursery made up of 2 acre well drained rectangle plots. We will start out with planting new vines on 6-7 acres to begin with in 2023. Our set-in-stone varieties right now are Frontenac, Marquette, Frontenac Gris, Itasca, and La Crescent. This land is also located close to my family farm where we have been in operation since the 1950s. Producing grapes is right in our wheelhouse however our winemaking experience has come from online courses/certificates and small scale homemaking set-ups.

 

[BigDaveK]

Welcome to WMT!
Good luck with the vineyard! Sounds like you'll have plenty of time to practice your wine making.

 

[VinesnBines]

My husband and I are building a vineyard - slowly. We started in 2019 with roughly 1/3 acre and have 1.5 acres now. We'll be adding another 1/3 acre this year. Since we are doing everything ourselves and not borrowing any money, we are taking small bites. We had the land and tractor but have added the PHD and the finish mower. So this year we have added the subcompact tractor for mowing and spraying.

The adage - "How do you take $1M and turn it into $1000? Plant/buy a vineyard/winery." appears to be true.

We are having a great time, though.

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome to WMT!

Maybe @GreginND will chime in....

 

[ChuckD]

Welcome to WMT. I’m starting a hobby vineyard this year with Marquette and Petite Pearl. I’ll probably add Verona and Brianna next year. Right now my wife and I are doing our homework… visiting wineries, tasting northern wines, and talking to area winemakers. It’s a tough job but we’re soldiering on!

 

[TxBrew]

Welcome, Haley and Nicholas. Enjoy the forum. Are you both interested in winemaking?

 

[heatherd]

Welcome and good luck!

 

[BigDaveK]

What a great hobby! Something for everyone! So many are talking about vineyards, I'm adding carrots, beets, and more melons to the garden.

 

[montanarick]

Welcome and best of luck in your new endeavor

 

[Jovimaple]

Welcome to WMT!

 

[GreginND]

Thanks! The forty acres were are securing is at least 20 acres of trees. The land was previously an old tree nursery made up of 2 acre well drained rectangle plots. We will start out with planting new vines on 6-7 acres to begin with in 2023. Our set-in-stone varieties right now are Frontenac, Marquette, Frontenac Gris, Itasca, and La Crescent. This land is also located close to my family farm where we have been in operation since the 1950s. Producing grapes is right in our wheelhouse however our winemaking experience has come from online courses/certificates and small scale homemaking set-ups.

That looks like a pretty good lineup of grapes. Where are you located? Up here in ND, La Crescent is not quite hardy enough and Marquette does suffer also. FYI - I really love Frontenac Blanc and wish more was being grown. I would also encourage you to consider Crimson Pearl. That grape is delicious and seems to be doing well even up here.

 

[GSMChris]

Welcome to WMT!!!

I am also in the process of planting my first vineyard - just a hobby vineyard of roughly 600 vines on one acre.

I'll be watching with great interest as you leap into the commercial side at a much larger scale!!!

 

[Newine]

Welcome to WMT!!!

I am also in the process of planting my first vineyard - just a hobby vineyard of roughly 600 vines on one acre.

I'll be watching with great interest as you leap into the commercial side at a much larger scale!!!

That quite a bunch (600) for a hobby vineyard! I have 200 vines that give me all the work I can handle.

 

[Dwerth]

Welcome and good luck!

 

[GreginND]

Hi Haley,

I am just checking in to see how things are going.