Grandview Valley Winery began as a dream; father, mother, son and wife seated at a kitchen table discussing the particulars of that dream; somewhat oblivious of the immense amount of work and dedication necessary to make it a reality but also eager, willing, able and ecstatic to give it a try!
This dream was truly built from the ground up by us. Our winery and vineyard sit on land that has been in our family for four generations. In the spring of 2008, 133 grapevines were planted to test the waters. Spring of 2009 the once soybean field was transformed into a 7 1/2 acre vineyard: 4,200 more vines of 11 varieties we planted and trained on a VSP trellis system. The winery building was constructed almost solely by us, work began in the spring of 2011 and was completed within one year. After we opened, we quickly outgrew our restaurant space and within a year of opening we built an addition to double our indoor seating. On July 1st, 2011 we had a major vine-damaging hail storm. While the cold-hardy grapes are supposed to withstand -35 degrees, we’ve also had a few trying winters with vine damage. We suffered our biggest vineyard loss in the spring of 2019 where every vine died at the ground and we’re still recovering from it being “too wet.” But, we persevere. The vines are suckering back and we are retraining most of them but we will be removing a few acres and replacing and replanting a few newer varieties. We love our vineyard and one day it will love us back! We opened our doors for business on June 7th, 2012. The pizza concept was an immediate “hit” and has since made quite a name for itself. The restaurant side of this business could not be what it is today without our top-notch staff who have become part of our family. Our idea of making wine grew into a dream come true for all of us after many years of hard work and dedication. We are forever thankful to our customers who continue to support us.
All of our wine is sold either on site or at a few surrounding off-sale stores. The grapes come in as whole fruit, 100% MN grown (when we can, sometimes mother nature prevents this), and the wine is made and bottled on site with the guidance of John Rigge, winemaker. Our wines have names that either represents the name of the grape varietal or are related to something in our demographic. We are located in the heart of the Minnesota River Valley and our address is “Grandview Ave,” thus the name “Grandview Valley Winery.” Many people ask where we came up with the idea of starting a winery in rural Southwest Minnesota, our answer: “Why not do something you love to do and make a living doing it!”
Please visit our winery and experience the wonderful wine, pizza, craft beer and awesome views! We look forward to seeing you and making you feel like it was worth your while. Our little, big dream just keeps growing and evolving, check back frequently as you’ll be surprised with all the new things we are going to be adding to our dream! Our favorite part of this experience so far is all the great people we have met through the business that we can now call our friends! CHEERS!