Iowa Wines

My wife and I have long appreciated good wines and have visited some of the best wine-producing regions in the world. Through our travels, we became convinced that with the right land, cold-climate adapted grapes, and excellent winemaking skills, we could produce fine wines in Central Iowa too. We needed a parcel of land that was well drained, not too fertile, and preferably south sloping. In 2005, we purchased such land in the Skunk River Valley flood plain and planted our first vines. The flood plain soil has received nutrients, sand, and gravel from the river making it ideal for growing grapes. Today, we have over 5 acres of some of the best cold-climate grape varieties planted and harvested to produce our estate-grown wines. We are continually experimenting with grape growing and winemaking techniques to enhance the quality of our wines.

In 2016, we built a Red Barn at our vineyard and developed a "custom crush" partnership with a young and vibrant winemaker, Anne Zwink (2018 Iowa Winemaker of the Year) from Soldier Creek Winery in Fort Dodge. And through this partnership, our exclusive boutique line of wines was born. Our wine labels from Iowa designer and Iowa State graduate, Mary Hayes-Christian, picture our barn and capture our winery's vision: "Red Barn Wines began with a dream of producing high quality cold climate grapes coupled with creative winemaking skills to produce fine Iowa wines. These wines are a culmination of such efforts."