A delightful bed & breakfast adds a winery
Caring for what will be 4,500 plants is a hands-on, intense job.
"Once you start planting grapes, you are with them pretty much all the time until fall," says Dianna. She and Loren got their first education by attending viticulture seminars. After that they learned how to prune and care for the vines by visiting a nearby Iowa State University research vineyard. They also benefited from on-farm visits with other grape growers.
"We didn't even know how to tie up the vines the first year," says Dianna. "We have been so impressed with how willing other vineyards have been to help and share information."
Wine-making on the rise
Wine-making and wine sales are growing in the Midwest. According to the Iowa Department of Commerce's Alcoholic Beverages Division, wine production in the state doubled from 2002 to 2004. Virtually all of the growth is coming from new native wineries.
When the Engelbrechts' son, Matt, 33, heard about his parents' plans for a winery, he immediately expressed an interest in coming on board. As a management engineer for a global pharmaceutical company, Matt had valuable expertise in fermentation and processing systems.
In 2005, Matt took a new engineering job and relocated to Fredericksburg so he could help with the vineyard. He says he was drawn to the opportunity to work in a family business and be directly rewarded for his efforts.
Matt and Loren are now in the process of transforming one end of a barn at the farm into a grape processing and wine fermentation plant. The Engelbrechts will use refurbished milk coolers as fermentation vats, and they recently installed a large, walk-in cooler for storage. They also have an antique shop at the farm they'll use as their wine showroom.
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