From Signs, to Vines,
to Wines
Signs
We built a small business making rustic fish / signs to fund our vineyard.
It all started with a dream to grow our own wine. But dreams do not plan vineyards. We had no land, no vines, and no idea how to fund it.
So, we got creative.
In the evenings, after long days at work, we headed to our garage. There, we hand crafted rustic wooden fish — each one shaped, sanded, and painted with care. We made thousands of them, side by side, night after night.
On weekends, we packed up our fish and hit the road. We sold them at festivals and craft shows all across the Midwest. Then something special happened.
Lake homeowners started asking us to paint their names on the fish. They used them as signs to mark their cabins, docks, and roads. Each fish became a little piece of someone’s life. We personalized thousands of them — each one helping us get a little closer to our own dream.
Every dollar we earned, we saved. Not for vacations or new gadgets but for the vineyard.
That is how our journey began. With a dream, a garage, and a whole lot of sawdust.
Vines
Taking the money from the fish, we purchased land and planted thousands of vines.
With every fish we sold, we moved a little closer to our dream. And finally, we had saved enough to begin the next chapter — building our vineyard.
We didn’t hire a big crew or buy fancy equipment. We rolled up our sleeves and did the work ourselves as a family.
We started by caring for the land. We amended the soil using the best natural materials we could afford, always choosing options that were as close to organic as possible. We even inoculated the vine roots with powerful organic strains of bacteria — the kind proven to boost soil and plant health. We believed in living soil, full of life and nutrients, because we knew that living soil would grow the best tasting wine.
We refused to use herbicides or pesticides. Instead, we encouraged biodiversity in every row and under every vine. If we needed to manage the cover crops, we used mechanical cultivation or flame weeding — never chemicals.
Together, we installed hundreds of metal posts and stretched miles of steel wire. We laid out an irrigation system, one piece at a time. And then came the vines — 2,000 bare root vines, each one placed in the ground by hand.
Our vineyard has no fence. We welcome animals, big and small, to wander through. Birds, deer, rabbits — they all bring life to the land, and we believe that life belongs in the vineyard.
Four years later, we had our first harvest — thousands of pounds of grapes, grown with love, sweat, and living soil.
Wines
We worked with one of the world’s top wine consultants for 8 years to design our wines and we built / licensed a winery building at the vineyard.
As a family, we built a winery from the ground up. It’s a fully licensed commercial space, approved at both the state and federal level. This is where our grapes become something truly special — handcrafted wine.
We make dry wines, just like the classic French styles we admire. Our winemaking highlights the natural flavors, terroir, and climate. That means no leftover sugar in the bottle — just pure, clean flavor. Red, white, and rosé — each one made to highlight the unique character of the cold-hardy grapes we grow here in the Midwest.
Cold hardy grapes are naturally high in acid, which can make wine taste sharp or mouth-puckering. Many winemakers balance that by adding sugar or blending in wine from grapes from other regions. But we wanted something different.
So, we invested in special equipment and techniques to manage the acid — without adding sugar or using grapes that don’t grow here. It’s a bold choice, but it lets the true flavor of the grapes shine through. We work carefully and aggressively to control acidity, crafting wines that are smooth, balanced, and full of life.
Every bottle we make is a reflection of our journey — from the garage full of sawdust, to the vineyard rich with biodiversity, to the winery where chemistry and craftsmanship come together.
And through it all, we’ve stayed true to what matters most: working side by side as a family, raising our children, and building a dream with our hands.
