Growing high quality wine grapes in South Dakota isn’t always an easy task, but that hasn’t stopped Greg and Muriel Stach from Lewis & Clark Lake Vineyards.

They first started growing grapes in the early 1990’s, but it wasn’t until the South Dakota farm winery law came into existence that they were encouraged to change from apple production to wine grape production and plant their first commercial-scale quantity of grapes in 1998.

Some of the cold hardy grape varieties they use are Brianna, Frontenac, Frontenac gris, Frontenac blanc, La Crescent, and Marquette. These northern hybrid wine grapes are bred through the University of Minnesota grape research organization and by Elmer Swenson, a pioneering private grape breeder.

What differentiates them from other South Dakota grape growers is their use of organic production methods. This allows for strong microbiology in their soil profile, an important part of their regenerative farming efforts.

We have been partnering with Lewis & Clark Lake Vineyard since 2000.