South Dakota wineries emerging

The other day on another of my blogs, I posted a report on wine sales in New York that contained a comment about New York grapegrowers selling their produce to such offbeat places as South Dakota to make wine.

Even though I know there are wineries in every state in the nation, I confess to not knowing much about such enterprises in South Dakota. So, I went in search of information.

Here's the opening information I found in a story in the Sioux Falls, SD, Argus-Leader about a brand-new winery that brought me very much up to date:

"At the edge of a corn field, in the middle of what looks like an endless prairie, a sign advertises 'winery' in block lettering. An arrow points down a gravel road, which leads to White Headed Robin The winery is housed in a red barn built in the 1940s. Inside, a fully-stocked wine rack holds fruit wines with custom-designed labels and names like 'Partridge in a Pear Tree' and 'Pi,' pear and cherry wines. ...

"Most people don't associate South Dakota with grapes or wineries. But wineries and vineyards dot the state, from Belle Fourche to Brandon. Last year, South Dakota had 16 farm wineries, according to South Dakota State University's Agriculture Experiment Station."

If your curiosity has been piqued, you can go here for the full story.

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