Announcing Our First Wine!

oWGathering Ground will host the 5th Annual Dinner in the Vineyard, a fundraiser for the nonprofit farm and school which celebrates, practices, and promotes sustainable farming on its 38 acres with vineyard, orchards, chestnut breeding project and community garden.

This years’ dinner will celebrate the nonprofit’s first foray into winemaking: a sparkling red wine Labrusca made from St. Croix and La Crescent grapes. The name nods toward the parentage of these two hybrid grapes, both of which are crosses of vitis labrusca, a grape native to North America. Guests of the dinner will be able to be the first to taste Gathering Ground’s wine. The Dinner will also feature other wines and Island Orchard Cider paired throughout the dinner.

Gathering Ground has managed the 5-acre vineyard for the last seven years using what it calls low-environmental impact management. Although not certified organic, the nonprofit uses OMRI listed fungicide sprays exclusively since it began its management of the vineyard six years ago. Fungal diseases are typically the primary cited scourge of organic viticulture in the midwest, and Gathering Ground has faced its share of such diseases. However, the rose chafers, a scarab beetle, have been the reason that Gathering Ground has not had a crop during its management.

Rose chafers’ life cycle on Washington Island is timed so the adult beetles emerge just as flowering is about to begin, and the beetles feed not only on foliage but also on the flowers themselves. In the first few years under their management, there were up to 150 beetles per vine. “We had such high pressure in those years from rose chafers that we saw mere handfuls of grapes reach maturity,” Rolffs reports.

“We look at the 2023 harvest not as an arrival, but a continued journey. Hey! We got grapes. Let’s see if we can do it again. Organic viticulture is an upward battle in the midwest, and success one year does not guarantee success the next year in the same vineyard, let alone elsewhere in Wisconsin or the midwest generally,” says Rolffs.

2023 was the first with a good-size harvest for Gathering Ground. Rose chafer numbers declined over the years steadily to the point that they could put up a fight. Flowers were protected primarily using kaolin clay, an OMRI listed product sold as Surround WP, which created a barrier against the pest, as well as through the use of protective nets. “The nets have proved very successful,” reports Rolffs. “The first year we tried them reluctantly given the cost and concerns for labor with handling the nets. But after a few years the nets have held up and show the possibility of lasting many years. They are easy to install with a small crew, and wind whips right through them, making maintenance minimal. All in all, the cost of the nets is lower and more effective against the rose chafers than the sprays available to organic growers.”

“As a farm and school welcoming learners of all ages, it was not aligned with our values to use conventional sprays that are neurotoxins to kids and so broad-spectrum for wildlife, even if they do make it much easier to get a harvest,” says farm manager Russell Rolffs. “Because we are nonprofit, we have the ability to prioritize long-term goals, even though it decreases production in the short term. Most farms are not able to do that.”

This has been a community effort. The grapes were harvested and sorted by volunteers from the community. A local winemaker Don Grasse offered his micro-winery Whitecap Winery for production and bottling of the wine.

With the name Labrusca, Gathering Ground wants to celebrate the native American grapes that go into their wine. St. Croix, the primary grape used in the wine, is a hybrid of two American wild grapes, Vitis labrusca and Vitis riparia. This grape has something to offer, Gathering Ground believes, despite the low estimation many people have of American grapes and the wines they produce.

The result is a sparkling red to be served chilled. It is refreshing and fruity, with a little foxiness (Concord notes) to the nose but little on the tongue. Grapes in the midwest tend to have lower sugars and higher acidity compared to typical wine regions with a long, hot growing season. This is partly why all the farmhouse wines they made in the past were sharply acidic. To counteract this, the winemakers followed the advice of Erin Rassmussen of American Wine Project, who served as a consultant on the project, to include the stems in the primary fermentation in addition to the skins, as the stems contribute potassium which counteracts the acidity.

“After pressing, the wine had vegetal notes from the stems and the tank smelled of cinnamon rolls. Some of this hangs in the final product, especially notes of brown spice like cinnamon and clove. We are really pleased with the result,” Rolffs said.

Casey Dahl, a board member of Gathering Ground and orchard manager for Island Orchard cider also joined in the winemaking effort. Dahl remarked: “Cold climate grapes and wine have been around for more than 40 years but there is still a lot of room for innovation. It’s great to be part of a project that is finding ways to grow grapes with less impact on the environment. In addition, making an uncommon style of wine for the midwest really shows the potential for new ways of making and marketing wine.”

Beyond Dinner in the Vineyard, bottles of Labrusca will be available for sale at Hotel Washington and their marketplace The Honeymoon House. Gathering Ground is grateful to other supporters including the sponsors for the Dinner, including Our Family Brand, WPR, Nicolet Bank, Washington Island Ferry Line, Brey Family Farms, and Destination Door County, .

The Dinner is sold Out.