Our second vineyard season is now wrapping up! While most vineyards in the midwest are just starting to harvest their fruit, we won’t be producing any grapes this year since our vines are only 2 years old.
Next year, most of our vines will be fully mature so we’ll be able to get a partial harvest. And that means 2024 is on track to be the first official full harvest!
We’ve been working hard this year to establish the vineyards, growing the plants up the trellis and forming strong trunks so the plants can begin producing fruit next summer.
A 2-year old St. Pepin grape vine growing in the north vineyard
2022 has been an ideal growing season with good weather and ample rain. Most of the plants are now 6 feet tall and still growing! Did you know, that when the weather is right, grape vines can grow more than an inch per day (1 foot per week)!
We now have over 2,000 grape vines growing across 2.5 acres of vineyards. Next spring we’ll be adding another small test vineyard to try out some new grape varieties that I’m really excited about. If our tests go well with the new varieties, we have 6 more acres of open space that we can eventually plant into more vineyards.
Our new custom, hand-painted sign at the entrance of the vineyards
Our original goal was to start construction on the winery building and tasting room this year, but unfortunately our construction costs have tripled since receiving our first bids. The economy is a bit shaky right now, and inflation, labor shortages, and increased cost of building materials have contributed to soaring prices for new construction.
We’ve decided to wait until fall to re-bid the construction and to see what the market does, before locking in a new build-date. This is just a timeline delay and we have every intention of getting started as soon as possible.
Since there is no guarantee, however, that costs will ever come all the way back down, I’ve spent much of 2022 working on contingency plans for the new costs of the project.
In order to generate additional funding for the winery, I made the tough decision to sell a company that I started with my business partner 8 years ago, in Austin TX. We put the company up for sale in the spring, and I’m happy to say we just signed the final paperwork to sell the business!
With my other company now sold, I’m able to focus 100% of my time and resources on getting the winery built.
Scenic views from the pond near the vineyards.
I’m so excited to start making wine again and I know that many of you who are reading this are eagerly waiting for the winery to open. I appreciate the ongoing enthusiasm and I hope that I can give you an updated date for construction soon.
The new target would be to begin construction next year, so that the winery would be fully up and running in time for the first harvest!
Timeline delays are a pain, but they’re also expected with a project like this. And in winemaking especially, patience is everything. I once tasted a mind blowing wine that was aged in oak for 20 years, then in concrete tanks for another 6 years. The grapes were picked in 1986 and didn’t get bottled and sold…until 2014. The winemaker spent more than 30 years waiting for the wine to be perfect, which is an unbelievable amount of dedication to the craft.
Incredible wines like this have inspired me as a young winemaker. The amount of work, planning, dedication, and time that go into a single bottle of wine is extraordinary. But in the end, the joyful experience of opening a good bottle of wine with friends and family makes it all worth while.
Stay tuned for more updates, and as always: if you’re interested in the project and want to come by for a tour, reach out — I always have time to talk about grapes and hang out with friends in the vineyard!
Cheers,
John Leo Weber
Owner/Winemaker at Anton Vincent Winery
john@antonvincent.com