PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release Friday, June 20, 2008

Contact: Noel LaBine 763-477-3086

Woodland Hill Winery open for business at their new
location by Fountain Lake east of Delano.

 

  After touring the North West Coastal area in 2001, Katie & Mike Dickerman made the decision to start their own winery in Minnesota . During a five-week long vacation, they toured wineries in Washington and British Columbia and realized that there weren't any full-experience wineries in the Minnesota / Wisconsin area. They decided they would like to create one.

  Once their decision was made, they put their Woodbury place up for sale. Their search for a site to plant their vineyard and build the winery lasted two years until they found the place along Highway 30; four and a half miles west of Delano and just east of Fountain Lake . This perfect location had twenty acres with an excellent view of the lake and plenty of space for a vineyard, production facility, and wine tasting room. According to the Dickermans, the total winery experience is not only tasting wine but includes experiencing how the wine is made, where the grapes are grown along with the ability to relax and enjoy the scenery in a peaceful and inviting setting.

  They were able to move into the house on this property in 2004 and they planted their first vines in 2005. Today they have seven acres of vines, one acre of rhubarb, and a half acre of raspberries. At Woodland Hill they grow 7 varieties of grapes four of which are white and three red grape varieties. Katie and Mike both emphasized their commitment to the environment by not using any herbicides in the vineyard and keeping the use of other chemicals to a bare minimum. The vineyard is on a west facing slope that overlooks Fountain Lake , which inspired the wine label name “Fountain View.” This wine is made from one of Elmer Swenson's developed grape varieties called “Swenson White.” Woodland Hill makes several other wines from Swenson varieties including “Autumn Sky”, a dry white wine made from a blend of two grape varieties that have numbers rather than names. One of Woodland Hill Wineries most popular red wines is “Northwood's Red” which is made from St. Croix grapes. Mike took 3 rd place with this blend in 2006 at the Minnesota State Fair. He believes this years' vintage is his best yet and is hoping he will get 1 st place in 2008 for this wine, which has a wonderful plum, black cherry flavor with an excellent finish. The Dickermans have put together very nice selections of wine from both grape and fruit wines made from locally grown fruit. The winery brings in apples from both local orchards in Delano and strawberries from Dellwood; while growing all their own rhubarb.

  The neighborhood includes a collection of apple orchard farmers, a flower farmer, organic vegetable farmers, and many acres of pastures and haying ground. This more natural setting accents the winery experience.

  Curt Peterson, a tall, grey-haired farmer with half a century of apple-growing experience, and his petite, brunette wife, Helen, with gentle social graces, own the apple orchard around the bend and grow apples that the Dickermans use for their apple wine. A conversation about apples and local fruits allowed Curt to explain that he had just planted 7 trees of Frostbite apples. Frostbite, a parent of Honey Crisp, has an odd eating flavor, but is reputed to have excellent properties for making wine. These properties will be tested in a couple years, when they work with Katie and Mike to try to produce yet another excellent apple wine. Also, Curt mentioned that experiments had been made with pumpkin wine, which would be a . . . “niche thing around Halloween.”

  The Dickermans already have proven that they have accepted the challenge of making an attempt for recognizable quality.   The Wright County Partnership is delighted to have this best state-of-the-art winery in Minnesota located here. This enterprise should inspire other quality alternative agriculture ventures here, besides being a wonderful amenity to the greater Wright County community.