Fireside Winery

Description

For five generations stewardship of this small corner of fertile eastern Iowa soil has rested with the Wyant family. Few places on earth possess the perfect combination of geology and climate as this land. Though corn and soybean are our primary crops, wine grapes have a long history in Iowa dating back to the 1800's. Now our Fireside family is helping to rebuild a wine grape growing legacy in our own rich soils.

The care we’ve taken to build our vineyard and winery also extends to the types of grapes we’ve selected to grow to produce Fireside Wines. With Iowa’s winter, it is necessary to plant cold hardy varietals instead of the types of grapes grown in California, where the climate, soil and growing conditions are vastly different. While most people do not think of Iowa as a grape-growing state, in the early 1900s, it was the fifth largest producer of grapes in the nation. In 1919, more than 12,000 tons of grapes were produced; in 1929, more than 15,000 tons – but by the year 2000, the Iowa grape harvest had been reduced to 3,000 tons per year. However, the grape trade for which Iowa was once so well-known is slowly reclaiming its stake in Iowa agriculture, and Brickyard Hill Vineyard and Fireside Winery are proud to be a part of that transition.

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