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ROMANCING THE GRAPE

It all started with a glass of wine.

Almost 10 years ago, Chris and Jan Harmeyer of White Oak, Iowa, were at Summerset Winery in Indianola, Iowa, with Jan’s parents, Max and Pat Brewbaker, just kicking back and tasting the wine. After a few samples, Pat said, “We ought to start growing grapes.” Everyone laughed and said, “Yeah, right.”

But not long after that, Chris Harmeyer’s company was downsized, and Chris (’91 physical education) suddenly found himself working in a job he no longer loved.
“I sat there and thought, ‘What am I going to do with the rest of my life?’”

‘I think we’re going to be growing grapes’
One winter day, Chris came home with some grapevine cuttings from Summerset. Throughout that winter, he grew the vines in the garage.

In the spring, when Chris started clearing trees off the family’s small acreage, Jan was shocked. She never expected Chris – always the “idea guy” – to actually go through with the planting.

“I remember standing on the hill that looks down [on what is now White Oak Vineyards], and I looked at the kids and said, ‘I think we’re going to be growing grapes.’”

A complete disaster
That first grape crop was in 2000. It was a complete disaster. The summer was too dry. The grapes varieties were wrong for the location. The few vines that actually lived were decimated by hungry deer. Of the 960 vines they planted, just 360 came back the next spring.

“We learned what not to do,” Jan said. The next year, they replanted.

With the combined efforts of the Harmeyers and Brewbakers – and the help of the Harmeyers’ four children – the grapes began to thrive. The original 1.5 acres grew to 4.5 acres, then another acre, and then a few more acres.

In 2006, White Oak Vineyards bottled 5,000 gallons of wine and opened a tasting room and spacious banquet facility. The winemaking facility, located on the building’s lower level, is equipped to process 20,000 gallons a year – the ultimate goal.

The special part
A lot has happened between that first cutting taking root in the garage and today, where White Oak’s banquet facility is booked for a wedding or other event every Saturday from May to December and where the winery’s “Wine Down” events draw up to 300 people every Friday night. They’ve hired Mike Epps (’81 industrial administration and accounting), to be their head winemaker. They’ve had harvest parties. They’ve done “a ton of research” on the industry.

There have been long hours and late nights and dragging back to “real jobs” on Monday mornings. There have been trips to other Midwest wineries and visits to Iowa State’s research farm. There have been hits and misses – not all grapes grow well in Iowa, they’ve learned the hard way – and a lot of family togetherness.

“After Jan’s parents got over the fact that I was nuts when we first got into this thing, they’ve been with us the whole way. We’ve been partners in the process,” said Chris. “The thing that’s really been a blessing to me is getting to work with the kids. All of a sudden, you’re having a conversation with your kids that you normally wouldn’t have. You’re meeting them at their level, and they’re meeting you at yours. That’s been the special part for me.”

Iowa uncorked
Grape production was an important part of Iowa’s agricultural past and peaked in the 1920s to sixth in the nation. Unfortunately, early agricultural herbicides and their application – plus the advent of Prohibition, the growing market for corn and soybeans, and damage to vines caused by the Armistice Day blizzard in 1940 – eventually eliminated most commercial grape production in the state.

By the mid-1990s, grape production had fallen to just 30 acres, and the only wineries in Iowa were the 11 fruit wineries located in the Amana Colonies. By 1997, two grape wineries had been added: Summerset Winery in Indianola and Tabor Home Winery in Baldwin.

Today there are 65 licensed wineries and 364 commercial vineyards in Iowa, with more than 800 acres of grapes projected to be planted in 2007.

A nationwide trend
Iowa is not unique in its quest to romance
the grape.

Vineyards are springing up in places you’d least expect: Texas, Tennessee, Nebraska, Indiana, South Dakota, Minnesota. And they’re flourishing in Missouri, Michigan, New York, Ohio, California, Washington, and Oregon.

Data from WineAmerica indicates that in 1975, there were 550 wineries in the United States. The number grew to 1,800 in 1995. Last year, there were 5,645 – 10 times the number just 30 years ago. In Iowa, an average of one new winery has opened each month over the last two years.

“It’s sort of the glamour crop,” says Paul Domoto, ISU professor of horticulture. “It’s a nationwide trend. More and more people have become interested in growing grapes, some with the potential of having their own wineries. To some, it’s appealing because they have a small acreage, and you can make a living or an income off a small acreage with grapes. And some think of it as recreation.”

‘Fantastic resources’
As the Iowa wine industry has grown, so has Iowa State’s role in the industry.

In 2000, ISU’s Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture funded a report, “Grape Expectations: A Food System Perspective on Redeveloping the Iowa
Grape Industry,” and the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center produced a four-part video series on grape and wine production.

“Iowa State has a tremendous wealth of resources: food scientists, horticulturists, plant pathologists, entomologists, food engineers,” said Murli Dharmadhikari, Extension enologist (winemaking special-ist) and director of ISU’s Midwest Grape
and Wine Industry Institute. “It’s amazing how much talent is here.”

Resources in Iowa State’s College of Agriculture, University Extension, the Leopold Center, and other colleges include a viticulture (grape cultivation) specialist, five research farms, plant disease lab for grape disease identification, entomology lab for grape insect identification, and Agricultural Marketing Resource Center.

The Midwest Grape and Wine Industry Institute – approved just last fall by the Board of Regents, State of Iowa – is the central location to house research, education, Extension, and service activities to help
the Iowa grape and wine industry grow and become profitable.

“Many of the industry people are small-scale operations,” said Dharmadhikari. “They look toward the university to provide research and technical expertise.”
The Institute will provide wine diagnostic services to Iowa (and eventually Midwestern) winemakers and will develop quality standards for the wines produced
in this region.

“We have formed a team approach here,” said Dharmadhikari. There are experts on the “wine side,” the “grape side,” and – just as importantly – on the “marketing side.”

“In the end, grapes and wine are businesses. Unless people understand the business concept, they cannot have sustainable business. We have a fantastic resource here with agriculture marketing people.”

Site selection, site selection, site selection
Not all Iowa farm fields are the perfect places to grow wine grapes. Iowa State’s research shows a vast difference between the success of grapes grown in the soils and climates of, say, southwest Iowa and the soils and climates of northeast Iowa. The contours of the land are different, too. And all that is important in the success of grape production.

“We have different cold tolerances across the state, so growers have to select cultivars that are better adapted for those regions,” says Domoto. “The further north, the more cold-hardy the varieties must be. [The southern portion of the state] is somewhat warmer, even in the winter, but what they really have going for them is a longer growing season. It really makes a difference.”

Growers seeking the ideal acreage to grow their vines should look for soil that’s well-drained, soil that’s slightly acid, and land that’s elevated in relation to the surrounding area, says Domoto.

“Grapes will get frosted on low-lying areas and do best on south-facing slopes,” said Mike White, ISU’s viticulture field specialist. “Grapes do not like wet soils or high clay soils.”

Grape varieties developed in Minnesota – Frontenac, St. Croix, LaCrosse, LaCrescent, and Marquette – are cold-hardy and seem to be doing well in Iowa. Domoto says as many as 30 varieties are being grown in Iowa today, with various levels of success, depending on how far north you go.

‘A nice return’
So just how lucrative is this grape-growing business, anyway? A November 2006 article in the New York Times quotes one Iowa grape grower saying he can make as much selling grape plants from two acres as he made many years on 1,000 acres of corn and raising 3,000 head of hogs.

It’s possible, says Domoto. “It’s supply and demand. [But you have to remember that] it’ll be awhile – several years – for the break-even point.” It takes about five years for grape plants to mature.

Stan Olson (’71 farm operation), owner of Penoach Winery in Adel, Iowa, says, “There is a potential for occasionally making some very good money in this business. But it’s farming, and things can go wrong. Year in and year out, you’re probably not going to make as much money in this business as you would with a good farming operation. With the situation with the grain markets now, there’s no way that raising grapes is going to compete with that.”

Olson and his wife, Joanie, who also attended ISU, sold much of their farmland to a golf course developer in the 1990s. They began planting grapes in 1999, started a small grape nursery in 2001, and opened Penoach (the Indian name given to Adel, meaning “pleasant valley”) in September 2006.

“Grapes right now sell for around $1,000 a ton,” Olson said. “If you took 5 tons of grapes off an acre, that would be $5,000, which is a nice return considering the fact that you only have to plant the crop one time. So you can have a nice return off a vineyard. But most people don’t have large vineyards – two, three, four acres – so you’re not talking about huge incomes off of [growing grapes].”

More income can be made from making and selling wine.

“With 5 tons of grapes, we’ll make about 10,000 bottles of wine, give or take,” Olson said. “If you sell your wine for $10 a bottle, that’s $100,000 you have potential for, which is very good.”

Of course, there are start-up costs involved. Olson said he thinks there’s a misconception that it takes a “huge amount of money” to get into the winery business.

“It takes a certain amount of investment, obviously. But nothing compared to what you have in a farming operation.”

In the case of Penoach Winery, and many others, the largest expense is constructing or restoring the building or buildings to house the winemaking operation, the tasting room, and possibly banquet or event space. The winemaking equipment is secondary.
“We probably have $20,000 in equipment,” Olson said. “In the world of agriculture, that’s not much. You can’t buy a good used tractor for $20,000.”

If you build it, they will come
Buying and tasting wine has become, well, more of an adventure than simply going to the local liquor store and snatching up a chilled bottle of Chablis.

Iowans in increasing numbers prefer to put a face and a name with the food they eat…and drink. They join Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) systems, go to farmers’ markets, and visit local dairies. It’s the “local food” trend, complete with “food stories” and interaction with the growers and producers. “Buy fresh, buy local” is a national campaign to increase production and consumption of locally grown foods.

For decades, wine lovers and foodies have swarmed to California to sip, sniff, and swirl their way through winery tours in Napa Valley and Sonoma County. Now, they can do the same thing closer to home.

The Iowa Wine Trail is a group of Iowa wineries in the eastern portion of the state that actively encourages people to travel from winery to winery, experiencing unique tasting rooms, learning about Iowa wine varieties, and buying the ones they like the best.

“The more wineries the better,” says Brian Keehner (’03 agronomy), assistant winemaker at Tabor Home Vineyards and Winery. “We encourage people to go to the other wineries. People follow the wine trail and make it more of a destination. We sell quite a bit of wine right out the door.”

“We have all different sizes and shapes of wineries here [in Iowa], said Olson. “We have people who have spent multi-million dollars on wineries, and they’re very, very nice wineries. They rival anything in California. And then we have a lot of other small, boutique wineries or farm wineries, like mine. There’s room in this business for all of those things. I’m not competing with the guy with the multi-million-dollar winery. I don’t know if I have any competition, really. I see it more of a symbiotic relationship between all of the wineries, the case of ‘the rising tide lifts all the boats.’

“We’re not just in the business of selling wine,” he continued. “The wine industry is about tourism.”

Seven wineries currently make up the Iowa Wine Trail, from Wallace Winery along I-80 just outside of Iowa City, all the way north through Dubuque, Marquette, and Decorah.

On the western side of the state, more wine trails are emerging. Six wineries currently dot the Western Iowa Wine Trail, stretching from Elk Horn to Thurman and back to Crescent. A Loess Hills Flat River Wine Trail is also being established.

Agri-tourism activities like wine trails benefit the local economy. Studies show that between 75 cents and $1.00 will be spent locally for gas, food, lodging, and other purchases for each dollar spent in a winery.
“Wine trails, vineyards, and wineries provide an experience people want,” said White.

“Visiting an Iowa winery makes a lovely afternoon,” said Paul Gospodarczyk, instructor of enology for Des Moines Area Community College. “It’s a great tourist destination.”

Marechal what?
Unless you are in the grape-growing industry – or you’ve been doing your homework on Iowa wines – these names probably don’t sound the least bit familiar to you: Vignoles, Chardonel, Seyval, Cynthiana, Marechal Foch.

But those are a few of the cold-hardy grape varieties being successfully grown in Iowa and other northern Midwest states.

“Many of Iowa’s wines are blends and done in a variety of styles,” said Stewart Burger (’72 MS institution management), ISU lecturer in hotel, restaurant, and institution management. “There are approximately 20 grape varieties that are suitable for Iowa’s growing conditions. They are primarily native North American grape varieties or hybrids of French and native grape varieties. Some Iowa blends even contain a small amount of juice from European varietals that are either grown or purchased out of state.”

The best way to navigate the unfamiliar territory of Iowa’s wines is to simply try them, either at the winery or at a tasting event. Short of that, Burger has put together a comparison of Iowa wines with their more familiar counterparts (below). These wines are not the same, he cautions, but they are similar.

Growers, producers, and ISU experts all agree that it’s far too early to predict which of Iowa’s wine grapes will become a regional specialty and which will quickly fade away. And it’s also too early in Iowa’s wine-producing history to really compare the quality of Iowa wines to wines of other regions.

“California wineries have been in business for over a hundred years, and Europe has been for over a thousand years,” Dharmadhikari said. “We just started this program. The technology is on our side, but it’s going to take a long time. You have to learn how to crawl before you walk and walk before you run. We are in the early stages.”

Gospodarczyk believes Iowa winemakers will eventually produce wines in a style different than most people are used to: unique, light-bodied reds, or perhaps sparkling wines.

“Iowa is at the point where California was many, many years ago,” he said. “We have to narrow down the grapes that grow well here and look for a niche in the market. People want that; let’s give it to them.”
So while Iowa is already producing a wide variety of award-winning Midwest wines, the potential for the quality to improve is “absolutely” there, according
to Dharmadhikari.

“The idea is to develop a niche market where the wines are going to represent the region of Iowa and they will have a distinct personality,” he said. “Iowa has about 3 million people, and wine consumption is close to 5 million gallons. Iowa wine production is less than 5 percent of that.

So that means 95 percent of wines sold in the state are not grown in Iowa. The question is, does Iowa have the potential to capture some of that 95 percent market? I would say absolutely yes.”

WINE ON DOWN THE ROAD

There’s no lack of “Iowa wine events” on summer and fall weekends – and beyond.

Created by winery owners to educate the wine-drinking public about Iowa wines, bring in revenue, establish customer loyalty, and promote tourism, many wineries have become sources of entertainment far beyond the mere tasting room experience.

In central Iowa, White Oak Vineyards offers music, food, and wine every Friday night at its “Wine Down” events. Sugar Grove Vineyards and Gathering Place in Newton offers music, wine, food, and spectacular sunsets every Saturday night at its “Sunsets at Sugar Grove” series from May through early October. Prairie Moon Winery and Vineyards in Ames presents “Sunday at the Vineyard” each Sunday afternoon in June and July. Summerset Winery in Indianola can probably be credited with creating the wine-and-music trend in Iowa with its Sunday afternoon “Reds, Whites, and Blues” concerts.

Beyond individual winery events, the second-annual Iowa Wine Festival was held on the town square of Indianola in August 2006, with wine pairing demonstrations, celebrity grape stomping, music, food vendors, the crowning of a king and queen, and of course, wine-tasting. More than a dozen wineries participated. And a “Holiday Wine Trail” promotes activities such as wine and food tastings and holiday shopping at a number of Iowa wineries in late November and early December.

“We have people who come out here and don’t drink a drop of wine,” said Colette Hill of Sugar Grove’s Saturday night concerts. “They enjoy the Iowa scenery and the history of this place. It’s about a lot more than wine.”

About the Writer | Carole Gieseke is the editor of VISIONS magazine.