You Planted a Vineyard?!

Planning Life After Raising Kids

Seriously? You’re heading toward the end of your careers and you bought 5 acres? You planted a vineyard and want to explore self sustainability? Can’t you hear it? We have. When more our age are at the top of their careers, and spending their free time babysitting grandkids, traveling, going to shows, going out to eat... one of us has ditched the corporate career, and we’ve augured into a plan which also includes starting four business. Though most start out thinking we’re maybe a little nutty, they are also intrigued. There is that element of curiosity about how everything works and how things are made. There is no doubt that it is a lot of work. Everyone that knows us, knows that work isn’t something we shy away from. It’s also probably interesting conversation at parties. !

Following our Interests!

Winter 208 - Here it is, what ended up being the start of a financial meltdown, and we found a house! We’d been looking for several years for a property that would inspire us now that our son had moved out on his own. We were thinking toward the future. Our future, and what we wanted the second half of our life and life style to be. We knew several things. One was that we wanted a property with more space. There were things we wanted to try and a city lot wasn’t going to do. Also, since we both worked a lot of hours, we didn’t think it was reasonable for us to maintain two places. Our search finally ended when we saw this place. It was snowing hard so we couldn’t see the view or really much of the property, but the floor plan worked. A week later we came back for a second look and the view hooked us. We closed in March 2008. !

For years we had been talking about a business we could start together. Not all couples can work together. There are certainly pros and cons. But after 15 years together, we have come to know our strengths and weaknesses and found that we compliment each other pretty well. But what business to start? We knew quitting our day jobs wasn’t something we were enamored with right away. We weren’t interesting in making huge initial investments, and weren’t all that interested in a retail shop or restaurant. In fact, having employees really wasn’t all that interesting. So what could we do that we could mange in the limited time we had initially, and work into something we could do full-time?!

Neil made a small investment in beer making equipment and enjoyed making his own. Then some friends introduced us to a vineyard/outdoor restaurant that was in the middle of nowhere, but we arrived and it was completed packed! We waited over an hour for a table. While we waited we walked the vineyard, drank wine and really enjoyed ourselves. The meal was fun as well with brick oven pizza’s. It was a fantastic evening and the line was longer when we left than when we arrived. Most of the patrons looked to be around our age. Hum. There was something here and it revolved around the experience. It was interesting. !

That same couple was who we went on a bike adventure with and ended our ride at a wine-bar. We had a great time tasting wines and I think that started our thinking a bit more seriously. But how could we make something fit? !

Maybe everything does happen for a reason. If so, it seemed rather interesting when we discovered that as of July 2009 we were living in the Upper Mississippi Valley American Viticultural Area. Apparently the worlds largest? Who knew? !

Admittedly, we don’t know a lot about wine. We like wine, but don’t know a lot about growing grapes, the different varieties, what makes one wine better than another...there is a lot to know. So we started to read. The more we read, the more intrigued we got. We could just start by growing grapes and selling them to other local wineries and see where it takes us. !

We starting visiting and talking to the local wineries, and started tasting wine from the different varieties that grow in this climate. We soon settled on our favorites. !

In the fall of 2009 we cleared the land. In spring 2010, we put in the vineyard. We have roughly 750 plants. 1/2 are Frontenac Gris, and 1/2 are Marquette. Both varieties created by the University of Minnesota, and for this climate. It’s beautiful. And that initial planting was back-breaking! But now that it’s in, the routine has been established, and its great. It takes 3 growing seasons to get a good harvest. Overall those first couple seasons were more work getting them trained. But now, going into our 5th season, the work isn’t hard, the view is wonderful, we get lots of help from friends and family at harvest time And the wine? We’ll it isn’t bad. We’re still learning quite a bit on that front. One thing is for sure. We’re hooked. And the plan has expanded. !

Stay tuned for the next installment