Linse Vines brings new flavor to local family farm

by Beth Kraft

The Linse family has farmed the German Valley area north of Modena for about 150 years, but growing grapes on its rolling hills is a new venture that has produced a fresh challenge for the traditional crop farmers.

David and Marge Linse first became interested in the idea of starting up a vineyard on their farm about seven years ago after speaking with friends in Somerset with their own vineyard. The couple then attended a seminar to learn how they might go about starting up their own operation.

Their son, Dan Linse, a chemistry teacher at Mondovi High School, logged a lot of time during the summer of 2008 pounding about 800 posts into the ground to begin building a trellis system to support the grape vines.

About 1,400 grape vines, including a mix of Marquette, Frontenac, and Frontenac Gris, were also planted that year on about four acres of land on the Linse farm that used to serve as a beef pasture.

Since that year, the seasoned farmers have learned a lot about how to tend a vineyard.

“It’s been a learning curve—lots of trial and error,” says Dan. “It’s just learning how to grow something you’ve never done before.”

The grapes grown at Linse Vines are special varieties developed in recent years by the University of Minnesota to be cold-climate hardy, resulting in a boom of vineyards offering estate-grown wines throughout west central Wisconsin. But there’s one thing the Linses’ vineyard has that many don’t—a long, sloping hill. 

The relatively sharp incline turns grape vine care and harvest tasks into a bit of a workout, but Dan says it also helps protect the fruit from frost, particularly early in the growing season.

Warm air from the valley rises up through the vineyard, shielding grape vines on those borderline cold nights that can nip tender blossoms and give many vineyard managers gray hair.

“Having frost in May is bad,” says Dan.

Cold weather after the vines have already blossomed will cause them to fall off, he explained. The vines can recover enough for a secondary bloom, but the grape harvest that fall won’t be nearly as productive.

That exact scenario happened to some vineyards north of Eau Claire this spring, says Dan, but Linse Vines didn’t see much damage thanks to the farm’s rolling hills.

Bountiful harvests lead to sweet rewards

When the time comes to pick the grapes each fall, the Linses need all the help they can get. The family was able to complete the work with help from friends in the vineyard’s early years. Now that the maturing vines are producing more grapes, Linse Vines has also enlisted assistance from Mondovi FFA and other high school students over the past two years to wrap up harvest tasks over two weekends in mid-September.

All of the grapes are picked by hand and piled into plastic totes for transport down to the farm.

Dan estimated that Linse Vines’ harvest weighed in at about 8,000 pounds of grapes this year. The vineyard should reach its peak production about four years from now as long as untimely frosts are avoided.

This year’s harvest helpers enjoyed relatively balmy temperatures despite battling one occupational hazard—hornets. Dan says they enjoy the sweet grapes just as much as wine drinkers.

Once the grapes are picked, the fun part begins.

Dan gets to put his chemistry skills to work, trying out wine recipes for family and friends to sample.

“It’s drinkable,” he laughed, noting he’s still working on tweaks to some of his wines.

One of his creations, a dry red wine, even won an award at a local wine competition three years ago.

The grapes they don’t keep for their own winemaking experiments are sold to River Bend Winery in Chippewa Falls, the Linses’ go-to since they began producing.

“We’ve developed a pretty good relationship with them,” says Dan.

The winery uses grape varieties like those produced at Linse Vines to make red wines like River Bend Blend and Marquette in addition to their white dessert wine, Bliss.

Family feat

Working on a sometimes-frustrating venture like operating a vineyard with family members could be difficult for some, but the Linses seem to have their individual duties and responsibilities nearly down to a science.

“It’s gone real well,” says Dan of starting up Linse Vines on the family farm. “I bounce a lot of ideas off my dad.”

Dan’s wife, Melissa, takes care of bookkeeping tasks for the vineyard and helps out during harvest weekends by organizing food for the workers, meals that are topped off by none other than Marge’s famous chocolate chip cookies.

Dan and Melissa’s sons, Gabriel and Jonah, are also getting old enough to help with some of the harvest tasks. The couple also travels to the Twin Cities each year to attend the Cold Climate Conference, a Minnesota Grape Growers Association event that draws hundreds of attendees from all across the region.

Dan says they pick up some new ideas each year to help improve Linse Vines, such as changes they can make to their trellis system. Conference tips for battling fungus and birds—both sworn enemies of any vineyard—have also been put into practice, including careful cultivation and the use of reflective tape that moves in the wind.

In the future, the Linses may look to expand their vineyard as they work out the kinks and continue to learn new grape-growing techniques. Adding a cold weather-hardy table grape, Summerset Seedless, to sell at farmers’ markets is also a possibility.

Operating Linse Vines is essentially a fun hobby for the family compared to the effort required to plant, care for, and harvest the farm’s many acres of corn and soybeans each year, but it’s one that yields rewards that aren’t only measured by the glass.

“The last day of harvest is my favorite,” says Dan. “All the grapes are off the vines and you can see the actual product of your labor.”