By Sandi Vojta - Winemaker

 

As many of you very well know, being a pioneer in any industry has a tendency to accompany numerous show stopping business situations.  One of our early pioneering situations involved the commercial production of chokecherry wine.  Commercially producing this wine was a whole different ball game than when my Great Great Grandma made it in her root cellar.  Little did we expect to be involved in a 6 month battle with the TTB (United States Alcohol & Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau) in order to get their permission to commercially produce chokecherry wine.  Thanks to the enlisted scientific help of Dr. Anne Fennell, Horticulture Professor at South Dakota State University, we finally obtained permission from the TTB to produce chokecherry wine.  Remember, this was back in 1999 and the TTB had NEVER heard of chokecherry, just cabernet, chardonnay, etc.

 

A lot has changed since we commercially began 10 years ago.  Today almost every winery in South Dakota (North Dakota, Nebraska, etc) is now producing a chokecherry wine.  It is very exciting and rewarding to see how far along this industry has come and how many new wineries and vineyards have sprung up over the past few years.

 

The formation of a South Dakota Wine Growers Association (SDWGA) is another one of the many industry success stories.  If you would like more information about a particular SD winery, the SDWGA website lists each winery and their respective websites.   http://www.sdwinegrowers.org/

 

Please feel free to share any information here about a SD winery or vineyard for others to read about, such as upcoming wine releases, events, new tasting rooms, etc. 

 

Cheers!

Sandi