Vineyard grows in the middle of corn, soybean country

ROUND LAKE, Minn. --While covering a story in California, Scott Ellenbecker learned a lot about the grape industry and decided he wanted a vineyard.

After returning from California, Ellenbecker met up with his friend Brad Wedland and started talking about the possibilities.

"Brad wanted to grow a specialty crop and I wanted to have a vineyard," laughed Ellenbecker. "We were sitting down drinking wine one day and we decided to go for it."

Wedland farms 750 acres of corn and beans. When Ellenbecker and Wedland were looking for a location for their vineyard, they thought the land near Wedland's home was suitable. It's near a lake and there is a nice slope to maximize the airflow through the vines to control disease.

"We thought this was a great location for a vineyard and a potential future winery because of its demographics and location," said Wedland. "We are five miles from the interstate and we are close to Okoboji -- that brings in a lot of people in every year."

Ellenbecker and Wedland planted their first crop of grapes last year. They got the grapes from Ray Winter of Winterhaven Vineyards near Mankato.

Four acres of grapes were planted in 2007 and five more acres of were planted this year.

They have 6,000 grape plants, 2,000 posts and 225,000 feet of wire. Several varieties -- Frontenac Gris, LaCrescent, Brianna and St. Pepin -- all produce white wines. They are trying the Marquette variety this year, which will produce red wine.

In terms of knowing which varieties to grow, Ellenbecker and Wedland compromise between their preferences and what the market says. Although they prefer red wines, white wines and blush wines are popular, which is why they planted more white wine varieties.

"We are still learning," said Wedland. "Someone can show you what to do, but now we have done this ourselves, which will make it a lot easier come next year."

Wedland feels like he has 6,000 babies to take care of because he has to train and teach each plant how to grow. He also has to prune them.

The first year consisted of planting and making sure to put the growing tubes on to keep plants off the ground.

The second year consists of training the plants to grow on the trellises. Next year Wedland and Ellenbecker will harvest their first crop on the four acres they planted in 2007.

"We are planning on having church groups of youth groups looking to make some money instead of doing fundraisers," said Ellenbecker. "We will pay them so much per pound they pick that day, so they can do their 'fundraisers' and we can have enough people to harvest our grapes."

Before Ellenbecker and Wedland harvest, they will have to test the sugar levels.

Instead of opening a winery of their own right away, Ellenbecker and Wedland will sell the majority of their crop to surrounding wineries.

"We will keep some of the crop and start to practice making our own wines," said Ellenbecker. "We will work on trying to perfect wine-making skills because eventually we are planning on opening a winery."

Although both Ellenbecker and Wedland have other jobs, they have enjoyed starting the vineyard.

"It is doing something different and it is a social business," said Wedland. "When the sun is setting out here, it is gorgeous. It really soothes and relaxes."