A stone-lined terrace cuts into the hillside beneath a slope covered with meticulously tended vines.  It hugs the edge of a large patio which overlooks even more vines and a wide swath of farmland below which is accented by a tree-lined ridge rising in the distance.  A gentle wind trickles down the hill, carrying away with its whispers the sound from the roadway below, leaving the grounds of Madison County Winery in blissful silence.

Given the beauty of the imagery, it’s not difficult to believe that Doug Bakker, owner-winemaker of Madison County Winery, has a background in art – and it’s even easier to see the evidence of this once inside the creatively designed and artfully decorated facility where form and function work hand-in-hand to provide a flexible space for any number of uses.  During regular hours of operation, a rounded and spacious bar greets visitors as they enter the tasting room, but when large parties are expected the bar is split and swung aside.  A pair of large doors will then be opened to reveal a dual-purpose storage facility and event space.  Works of art by Bakker’s own hand line the walls of the tasting room.

“Really it all started when we were still living in Chicago,” said Bakker.  “We were looking to get back to Iowa and we would take our kids out to some of the orchards out around the outer suburbs area and thought that it would be neat to have a leisure destination type place around the Des Moines metro.”

Bakker purchased the land in 2000 and planted all 5 acres of the existing grapes in 2001.  Commercial sales of wine began in 2005 and the tasting room opened in May of 2011, along with Twisted Vine Brewery, a ‘nano’-brewery under the management of separate owners.

“Now that there’s a lot more varietals of grape vines that can grow in this area, that’s what led us to do it as a winery rather than an orchard,” said Bakker.

He began learning the trade through the use of Iowa State University’s Extension program and by taking classes at the University of Minnesota.  He also participated in mini-apprenticeships in California, Pennsylvania, and Illinois wineries where he would work for free for four or five days as a cellar rat.

“You have to learn hands on, especially if you’re going to do it on a commercial level,” said Bakker.  “You can do the home winemaking and make some great wines, but if you want to do it commercially you do need that experience.”

The vineyard at Madison County Winery hosts three grape varieties, including Vignoles, Marechal Foch, and Stueben.  But while they enjoyed a fair amount of rain during the spring Bakker estimates that he’ll be ‘lucky’ to harvest 20% of the expected crop this year.

“The years have been kind of tough,” said Bakker.  “We’ve had rough years there with no moisture and coming off winter with damage.  This year we have a very small crop because of the winter damage last year.”

Another vineyard provides La Crescent to the winery, and despite his interest in the Marquette varietal Bakker is holding off on acquiring that particular variety until he is prepared for additional growth.

“The goal is to [eventually] see an expansion up the hill and to maybe add another production facility,” said Bakker.  “Hopefully I’ll find more growers and just continue to expand here.”

He also entertains the idea of producing sparkling wine on a commercial level as well.

“That’s one of the areas that we’ve already started branching into,” said Bakker.  “We’ve been doing some testing.  I’d really like to do that more.”

Bakker has enjoyed the incredible growth the native wine industry of Iowa has exhibited over the past decade, but he recognizes that growth in itself isn’t necessarily sustainable.

“Iowa is a small state with a small population,” said Bakker.  “We’re probably up to saturation point now and what we really need is those top wineries to really put the effort into the best quality wine, to keep stepping up and working with the Wine Institute at Iowa State and really start developing the industry.  There’s always going to be those who come in and fall off because they really haven’t done their research and their homework to know what it really takes.”

“It sounds like a good idea until you start doing all the work,” he adds.  “And I always tell everybody, seriously, go work and work for free for a while to really figure out if that’s really what you want to do.”

Bakker has high hopes for the development of the wine industry and in ten years he hopes to see Iowa recognized for its quality wines.

“I’d like to see those top-tier wineries really standing out and pushing to move the industry in this state forward,” said Bakker.  “Because that is what it’s going to take.”

“In my mind the most important thing is developing the Wine Institute,” he adds.  “And that is trying to get that winery built – a working winery for education, research, and actual service to the industry at Iowa State. Or if we can’t get it there, somewhere in the state.”

But while Bakker is highly supportive of the native wine industry, he expresses a desire to branch out beyond the borders of the state to break existing negative perceptions of Iowa wine.

“I’m probably different from some people in the industry who want Iowa-wine-only tastings,” said Bakker.  “I want to it to sit right between a French wine and a California wine because I want [tasters] to say ‘Oh, wow’!  I want them to compare and I don’t want them to be stuck with only Iowa wine.  I want to be put with the others.”

“People come out and they have no idea what we have here,” he adds.  “All the wines are good.  And that’s what we want, everybody saying ‘it may not fit my style, but it is a good wine’.  We really want people to be surprised when they come out here.”

 

For additional photos and to plan your visit, make your way to Madison County Winery’s website.

 

The hatchwork of wooden beams which stretch across the expansive ceiling of the event center is illuminated by the ethereal glow from a dozen hanging chandeliers.  Ranks of aged columns rise from the polished floor to support the mass.  They are strung with countless sparkling Christmas lights which seem to instill the room with an air of enchantment and wonder.  But while this image might bring to mind the luxurious great hall of some medieval lord, this room resides in the Midwest.  In fact, it resides in Iowa and was painstakingly crafted around the structure of an 1860s barn.  Located adjacent to the tasting room of Wooden Wheel Vineyards, it serves as a gathering place for innumerable people around the region.

“It’s fun to be a part of people’s lives when they come out here,” says Michael Vincent, winemaker and co-owner of Wooden Wheel Vineyards.  “We want them not to think of this as a Marriott, we want them to think of this as just a very relaxing place where they can be just as relaxed as they are at home.”

“That’s been fun, too, the social aspect of it,” he adds.  “We think we provide a valuable community service.”

Wooden Wheel Vineyards was originally the farmstead of the Vincent family whose ancestors fought in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 before settling in Iowa.  Pictures and original documents detailing the family history decorate the walls of the farm-turned-winery.

“I’ve always considered myself a displaced farmer,” says Vincent.  “I was part of the fifth generation here on the farm, and so we always had it in the back of our minds to come back.”

Unlike the winemakers whose involvement in the industry stem from a passion for wine and winemaking, Vincent contributes the origins of Wooden Wheel Vineyards to market research and business savvy.

“I’m a business guy, and to me that’s an art,” says Vincent.  “My experience has been in managing my own business or managing one for somebody else.”

Prior to Wooden Wheel, Michael Vincent and his wife owned and operated an insurance agency, which they started from scratch in 1993.  It grew to include 9 offices and 18 agents in the region.  When they were approached with an offer for buyout, the Vincents faced an impending decision as to what to do next.  While they desired to return to the family farmstead, the realities of modern farming were readily apparent to them.

“The first thing was, we have 125 acres, obviously that’s not a farm anymore,” says Vincent.  “To be a farmer anywhere it takes at least a thousand acres and really around here I’m guessing the average farm size is around three thousand acres.”

Instead, inspired by an experience they had insuring a winery, the Vincents began doing research on the possibility of starting a vineyard as an alternative for their family farm.

“We looked at the soil suitability rating from Iowa State, looked at the topography of our farm, and decided this was something we could do,” says Vincent.  “You don’t need a lot of acres, especially if you’re thinking of this as something to do while you retire.”

The Vincents also decided to make their own wine, instead of limiting themselves to the sale of grapes.

“Then it becomes a value added product,” says Vincent.  “We can control what we sell based on what we manufacture because we’ll produce the raw product, the grapes, and not worry about selling them or not having a market for them.  Rather, we’ll be creating the market ourselves through the wine.  It was a business decision.”

After taking classes at Des Moines Area Community College under the tutelage of Randall Vos and Paul Gospodarczyk the Vincents began their own operation in 2010.

“We learned a lot that first year,” says Vincent.  “Establishing the winery and going through all the hoops that takes was a lot more difficult than I anticipated.”

Zoning requirements and DNR concerns about runoff created initial hurdles to Wooden Wheel Vineyards, but eventually the doors of the winery were opened – one year later than the Vincents had planned.

Currently the estate hosts a number of varietals, including Marquette, Petite Pearl, Briana, and LaCrescent.  This list is rounded out with a number of other varietals purchased from other growers.

“I’ve approached this business like I’ve approached any business and that’s from the standpoint that I don’t know everything,” says Vincent.  “And I figure if I can always maintain that attitude, and I’m always asking questions, always trying to learn… then I’m still on the right direction.”

“The fun part has been learning how to make wine,” he adds.  “Coming from insurance where we make paper products, [it’s fun] to actually have a tangible product which we can create and be artistic.”

That same sense of creativity is evident in the unique titles given to Wooden Wheel wines.  Each is named after an ancestor.  ‘Private G.W.’ refers to Michael Vincent’s great-great-grandfather George Washington Husted, who experienced the battlefield of Shiloh and the deadly Andersonville Prison during the Civil War.

While their names may exhibit a sense of playfulness, Wooden Wheel wines are serious business.  After experiencing some initial challenges with the Marquette grape, Vincent employed similar processes used to produce the varietal’s ancestor, Pinot Noir, resulting in a wine which displays very similar characteristics to the classic grape and a refinement not often found in Midwestern reds.

“We don’t have any super, super sweet wines,” says Vincent.  “What we try to do is accent the flavor in all those categories: the semi-sweet, the sweet and the dry.”

“Our goal has never been to win awards.  Our goal has always been to make wine that people like,” he adds.  “What I really enjoy is when people come in and sit down and say ‘gee, I really like all of your wines’.  Then, to me, it’s been a success.”

159 years ago, an Irish family made its way to Southeast Iowa and settled between the rivers Cedar and Mississippi. The descendants of that family reside there still, and display their ancestral pride through a symbolic three-leaf clover, artfully worked into the logo of the family’s current venture: a vineyard and winery named Ardon Creek.

“I was raised here, and all the Furlongs in our lineage are from here,” said Mike Furlong. Along with his wife, Diane, he manages the day-to-day operations of the vineyard and winery.

“My father raised tomatoes for Heinz when Muscatine had a plant,” said Mike. “During those years, the place would be full of people working, harvesting, and so I got exposed to that and some of the pitfalls – the good, bad, and different. I think that has helped us because it’s a little like the wine business.”

In addition to Mike’s experience on the family farm, the Furlongs’ work experience in the business world has proved valuable as well. “The marketing stuff, the sales stuff,” said Diane. “I sometimes think that it can be lacking [in other wineries].”

Transitioning the family farm into a vineyard hadn’t been at the top of the Furlongs’ list from the start. Instead, driven by a desire to rejuvenate the ancestral farmstead, they entertained a variety of options. It was a grape growing seminar which finally convinced them it was the right course of action.

“[Mike] came back from that seminar, that very first one he went to, and said, ‘I think I found it, I think we’re going to raise grapes and make wine’,” said Diane. “At that point we were so captivated by the whole romance idea of wine.”

“We started to go to classes that Iowa State put on in 2000, planted our first grape vines in 2004, and then opened the winery in 2009,” said Mike. “So we’re starting our fifth year as a winery, and eleventh as far as the vineyard.”

Ardon Creek produces about 3,000 gallons of wine annually from the grapes they grow on site including Concord, Noiret, Chancellor, Edelweiss and LaCrosse. Additional juice is brought in from New York which they use to fulfill their total production of 6,000 gallons or more, a process made easier with help from loyal community members.

“It’s just amazing to me. We bottle probably about once a month, twice a month, seventeen times in a year, or something like that – the bottling team are the same volunteers every single time,” said Diane.

“We kind of take to the Hillary Clinton quote of, ‘it takes a village’, and to run a winery that seems to be our perspective,” said Mike. “It doesn’t hurt that Diane is one of these bon appetit kind of cooks, so she really puts on a nice spread. We think of stories about threshers and getting together to do the threshing of the wheat and oats or whatever – there’s some of that going on. I think the uniqueness of the endeavor intrigues people, so people are interested in being involved.”

“Everybody likes wine,” said Diane.

At the present, the winery operations are contained within a single building which is separated into a tasting room and a large space for winemaking and storage. The winemaking room is lined on one side by a row of tall, stainless steel tanks. On the opposite wall, a long table covered with laboratory equipment. A mountainous stack of boxes sweep down the center: bottles waiting to be filled or sold, oak infusions ready to be immersed in aging wine, labels waiting to be adhered – provisions for a busy winery. A cement crush pad hugs one of the outer walls of the building.

“As time goes on and as the business grows we can see ourselves using real oak barrels to age some of our wines, and adding some reserve releases. We might also put up another facility so we can host weddings more practically rather than worrying about the weather conditions,” said Mike.

Among the challenges the Furlongs have faced has been product recognition and capturing a strong market share.

“It’s a whole learning curve for the audience as much as it’s been [for us],” said Diane. “These grapes have been largely unknown. Everybody recognizes Concord, but that’s about the only one.“

“The market share portion is challenging because to gain market share you have to spend money – any kind of growth you have to spend money, it seems like in this industry,” said Mike.

Despite these challenges the Furlongs remain positive about the endeavor.

“I think that people will begin to recognize more of the cold climate grapes as time goes on,” said Diane.

“I’m a big believer in Chancellor and Noiret,” said Mike. “First of all, I like dry reds. It’s winter hardy to about 15 degrees with 50 percent bud kill. It comes very close to the vinifera world, maybe a light Corot Noir or a Cab, if you want to call it that. When we [the Furlongs] drink wine, we drink that, or I do anyway.  The Noiret grape was developed by Cornell in New York; we have an acre of that and we make that in a dry red style and it has hints of black and green pepper and it makes for a very complex, interesting wine. Does it taste like Cabernet Sauvignon? No, but does it taste like interesting dry red? Yeah.”

In their eyes, the future of the Iowa wine industry also remains positive.

“I would say there would be fewer wineries and they might be larger, and I think those that remain will be better winemakers and will also have different winter hardy hybrids that might make some of the dry people happy,” said Mike. “It took Napa three decades to really get themselves [to where they are now] – and I’m not comparing Iowa to Napa, but it’s a long process.”

In the meantime, however, the Furlongs focus their efforts on rejuvenating the family estate.

“Since it has been in our family 159 years some of it is a legacy thing for the next generation,” said Mike. “This is a community making a unique product and it’s a pretty good product.”

 

This article first appeared in Midwest Wine Press in April 2014.

Nestled in the Louisa county countryside is a winding road that leads to an acreage and an unassuming, small brown building. Contained inside that building is a blue walled tasting room filled with the aroma of oaky reds, floral whites, sweets, semi-sweets and more. This is Odessa Vineyards.

“We want to make this a destination, not just a stopping point along the way,” said Corey Nichols, co-owner of the vineyard. “We want them to say, ‘Ah, let’s go over there again that was a really wonderful experience and a good wine.”

Corey owns and operates the vineyard with his wife Tami. The couple began the venture in 2006 after careful consideration of what they could do with their land; starting a Christmas tree farm was a possibility, but they enjoyed the idea of a vineyard and winery more and decided to take classes at Des Moines area Community College to grow their knowledge base. The endeavor started with the planting of five varietals of grapes. Currently that number has risen to seven, comprised of both American and French-American hybrids. These grapes are then made into small batches of wine which are carefully quality controlled by the husband and wife team.

The Nichols said they have a humble goal for the growth of the vineyard and winery.

“We just want to have it be self-supporting by the time we both retire, so we can supplement our retirement income off of it and really enjoy what we’re doing with retirement,” said Corey. “We don’t want it to get huge; we don’t want it to get that big really, just something the two of us can manage.”

The couple doesn’t have employees. They do everything themselves from harvesting to bottling to working in the tasting room. Tami said in addition to the production of uniquely Iowan wines, their customers value that personal, hands-on approach.

“They don’t like to have the person behind the bar not know the wine, not know the vineyard, not know what’s going on in this winery,” she said. “We have the Iowa grapes and we make Iowa wines and that’s what they like to see too. They don’t like to see the cabernets and the merlots because that’s not from Iowa- that’s shipped in juice.”

Also adding to the appeal of the Odessa Vineyards is the relaxing atmosphere the couple worked to cultivate.

“We always try to talk to them and make them feel at home and have them ask questions,” Tami said. “You know the ones who felt really comfortable compared to the ones who, for some reason, didn’t enjoy the experience and there’s very few of those.”

Tami and Corey said they encourage new wine drinkers by not berating them with rules or making them feel bad about their taste preferences. Often they see customers, whose palettes change over time, moving from sweets to drier wines. However, they said it’s not a problem if that never happens.

“You don’t have to drink specific wine with specific food, and you don’t have to feel ashamed that you don’t know what’s going on,” said Corey. “Arrogance is unnecessary. You just want people to feel comfortable.”

Corey said his personal favorite wines they make at the vineyard are the dry, oaked reds, but the most popular is the sweet Randa’s Blush. For him, the most important element in the production of a good quality wine is a simple one.

“As long as you start with good quality grapes, the best thing you can do is maintain that quality product,” he said. “You’re not going to improve upon the grape at that point, but you just need to work at it so you don’t ruin the wine as you go along.”

The quality of other growers’ grapes has been a source of frustration for the couple when they need to buy grapes from elsewhere and find that the care they take with their own grapes is not mirrored in some other vineyards.

“We’re just the two of us so we’ve got a lot to do, and it’s hard for the winemaker or buyers to monitor what they’re doing and it’s unfortunate that a lot of them who have gotten into it haven’t done it correctly,” said Corey.

Despite this frustration, the Nichols said one of the most enjoyable parts of owning and operating a vineyard and winery is getting to meet other Midwestern wine professionals and swapping ideas. They said they look forward to the industry growing even more in Iowa and for the Iowa product to become better defined.

“We have so many different hybrids out here, so I think once we’ve matured enough that we get down to a handful of grapes that really everybody’s going to grow and make a good wine, I think we’ll grow even more at that point,” said Corey. “Up until now, we’re still sort of feeling our way around.”

Odessa Vineyards joined the Scenic River Wine tour in the past year, and they plan on expanding their marketing as they move forward.

“We both work full time elsewhere, so as we get to that point when we’re retiring then we’ll get out and do a whole lot more and maybe get involved in more of the wine industry,” said Corey.

In the meantime, the Nichols will continue to enjoy the experience of wine and sharing that experience with others.

“Wine really kind of brings people together,” said Corey. “There’s something exciting about opening a new bottle of wine with friends- you never know when you open the next bottle what it’s going to be like.”