Tucker's Walk

Tasting Room Open By Appointment (605)366-0455

Our Grapes

Red Grapes

Until recently, red grapes have been a challenge in our cold climate. We grow mostly Marquette, a promising release that was patented in 2006 by the University of Minnesota. It has Pinot Noir in its pedigree, tends to be lower in acid than other cold hardy varieties, and we think this is a very special grape for us. We were the first vineyard/winery to grow and sell South Dakota Marquette commercially. We are also growing some St. Croix and a few Frontenac and Sabrevois plants in the original "hobby" vineyard.

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White Grapes

There are a number of cold-hardy wine grapes that are good for white wine. First and foremost for us is Brianna, a nice big grape that grows in tight clusters. More importantly, it makes a wonderful fruity wine with a pineapple nose and a taste that is special. We also grow Frontenac Gris, (that has very nice apricot notes and a pretty orange color), La Crescent (fruity citrus notes), and St. Pepin (good for late harvest wine and an excellent sweet dessert wine). St. Pepin is unique in that it is a pistillate female that needs to be grown close to male plants that pollinate them at just the right time. The extra planning seems to be worth it.

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Other Fruit
Rhubarb

Our friend Jan Sanderson provided us with some wonderful rhubarb plants that we ferment along with grape concentrate. >>>

Raspberries

Our raspberry patch keeps getting bigger and bigger. It takes a lot of time to pick these babies, but the wine we make is really worth it. Some people say that blending raspberry with anything else will only make it better. I tend to agree. >>>

Pear

We got pears from our friend Danielle after everyone else had gotten their fill. It was a great year for their pear trees! They make a delicate but fruity wine.>>>

Nursery

Sue needs to write about this, as she has the nurseryman's license...

Other Fruit

We have some bush cherries, black current, apple and pear trees growing, but its too soon to talk about wine from them.
Before our first commercial grape harvest, we tried out our new fermentation tank with a batch of frozen cranberries. The cranberries came from our friend Nigel Cooper in Wisconsin Falls, WI. Besides being Dave's friend from Scouting, Nigel's "Cranberry Network" came through with some quality fruit. In Spring 2011, we got word that our Cranberry wine had received a gold medal at the 2011 Florida State Fair International Wine Competition!

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