Grape growers hope to make wine a Nebraska tradition

When asked to describe Nebraska, the first things most people think of are corn, cows and football.

But if Paul Read, professor and viticulturist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has anything to say about it, Nebraska wines might someday make that list.

Read and the University of Nebraska have been working since 1997 to help people across the state learn how to grow viable grape vines in Nebraska’s infamous weather and sometimes sandy soil.

Although, Read said that this isn’t the first time grapes have been grown in Nebraska.

Read said when immigrants settled the state in the late 1800s, one of the things they brought with them were grapes.

“A fairly big grape industry flourished into the early 1900s, with over 2,000 acres of grapes planted in the eastern part of the state and along the Missouri River,” he said.

“Unfortunately, World War I, prohibition, and the dust bowl brought an end to the industry.”

Read also said the wild grapes are native to the stream banks of Nebraska, and while they’re not a wine grape, they have been bred with other grapes to help make the grapevines currently grown in Nebraska more resistant to freezing temperatures.

With 14 wineries presently open in Nebraska, two more opening by years end and more than 400 acres of commercial grape vines planted, the fledgling wine industry of Nebraska is working hard to overcome the stigma of corn, cows and football.

Allan Gall used to farm 1,000 acres in the Western panhandle and struggled to make a living.

Now he has 80 acres and just opened Prairie Vine Vineyards this past spring to begin selling his new harvest.

Gall researched the idea of planting grapes in 1998 after talking to the University of Nebraska Panhandle Research and Extension Center in Scottsbluff. He then planted 12 acres of grape vines in 2000 and waited.

“It normally takes three years (before the vines are mature enough),” Gall said. “But we’ve had some adverse conditions, so it took me four.”

Gall said, if and when he gets a normal harvest he should reap about two tons of grapes an acre, anywhere from 24-30 tons total.

One ton of grapes is equal to about 150 gallons of wine.

“Last year we hit half capacity,” Gall said. “This year we’re hoping to reach the top.”

Gall was quick to share that he’s had a lot of help from the university.

“We’ve gone through a lot of trial and error,” he said. “But we just can’t do what they do in Lincoln, the university has test plots all over the state and all of our information comes from them.”

According to Read, the university is currently working toward mapping the state to see what areas are good for grapes based on soils, climates, wind speed and pest problems.

“Our goal is to support the development of a grape industry in Nebraska,” Read said.

UNL also works together with the growers, making sure they give feedback on what they think the university should research.

The university has climactic and pest monitoring at more than a dozen commercial vineyards across the state. It also puts on workshops, field days and annual conferences and works closely with the wine industry as a whole.

Read has tested more than 75 different varieties of grapes to see what would work in Nebraska.

“I was confident we would find grapes that would work well,” Read said. “In fact, Nebraska’s winemakers are making world class wines from these grapes and winning awards.”

Read said it was important to remember that when you drink a Nebraska wine it’s not going to taste like the wine you normally drink and it’s not supposed to.

It’s supposed to make you think of what food would go well with this, and that’s when you’ll be pleasantly surprised, he said.

But the most surprising thing about Nebraska wines isn’t the taste; it’s the cooperation that goes into making it.

From vineyards in the Sandhills to wineries outside of Lincoln, growers, along with the university, help each other any way they can.

And that becomes apparent when talking with James Warren, a distributor for the largest winery in Nebraska, James Arthur Vineyards.

“We work with a lot of other vineyards,” Warren said. “We do bottling for them, we supply new upstarts with the initial juices needed to make the wine, we sell a lot of wine to tasting rooms at new wineries (who don’t yet have a large inventory), we contract out about 10 acres of grapes to several different growers and in the past the university has used an acre or two of our vineyard as test plots.”

However, the most important things to remember when drinking wine from Nebraska is where it’s from.

Read, who likes to think of himself as an ambassador for the state, said he’s always sure to take Nebraska wines to events that he attends across the country.

“Our wines can stand up to many other states’ wines, and some are superior,” he said.

“But it’s not about awards, it’s about buying a Nebraska product and enjoying it with your meal.”