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With the exception of those 75 mile per hour winds that ripped across the upper midsection of the county a few weeks ago; this has been an exceptional growing season for Wild Mountain Winery.

A recent visit revealed as many grape clusters as there were leaves along the lush alleyways of vines.

Winery grower Irv Geary said the operation took some damage as uprights for a few of the vine supports were knocked down; but luckily the fruit was still pretty green and remained well-attached to the vines.

There are three families behind Wild Mountain Winery. All of their properties are within shouting distance of each other along County Road 16, between Almelund and Taylors Falls. Like a chunk of dark chocolate and a glass of "Aurora" Wild River's port-style specialty wine-- this has been a complimentary coming-together.

The Stockwell family vineyard consists of about two acres. The Olsons have 5.7 acres and Geary, who teaches industrial tech at North Branch High School, has four acres planted to grapes.

There couldn't be a more perfect passion for a public school teacher. Over summer break Geary, along with his fiancee (who is also a teacher), can devote full-time to the vineyard.

Another partner in Wild Mountain Winery, Alan Olson, is director for the Chisago Lakes Achievement Center. He jokes that he got into grapes, "...because my wife wouldn't let me have chickens."

Olson describes Geary as the adventurous member of the team. He'll experiment with small batches and try flavoring techniques. For example, in the tasting room you can sample a LaCrescent imbued with apple and apricot. Cherry and strawberry leave a lingering taste after a sip of the Sabrevois Red.

The eldest vines at Wild Mountain were established about 14 years ago. There's a relatively new "lower vineyard" that went in around 2003-2004.

The winery is not averse to including harvest from other area grape growers; anybody who might have yields to contribute to the wine making can inquire. Geary said grapes from the same immediate region hold subtle attributes that allow them to be blended beautifully. The winery phone number is 651-583-3585 if you want to discuss providing grapes.

Varieties of grapes at Wild Mountain Winery include many proven hardy in the general St. Croix River region. Elmer Swenson, a legend among Wisconsin-Minnesota grape growers, even has wine named in his honor being produced at Wild Mountain "Elmer's White."

These Amador Township hillsides are made-to-order for growing grapevines and there's elbow room (hay field) surrounding the vineyard should the enterprise enjoy continued success and need to expand, Geary pointed out.

Wild Mt. Winery is currently bottling about 2,100 gallons or 11,000 bottles of whites, reds and specialty wines. Geary explained that 3,500 gallons is the near term goal, and the foreseeable max for this winery is probably somewhere around 10,000 gallons. (In Minnesota up to 50,000 gallons still qualifies for "farm" classification versus commercial.)

Steps are already being taken to add onto the facility. The wish list includes more underground storage to achieve optimum temperature controls. And an expanded tasting room is part of the long range plan.

Wild Mountain Winery adheres to what Geary refers to as a "low impact" philosophy of agriculture.

No pesticides are used. The families don't even like to over-use oaken barrels to age the wine, because trees have to be destroyed to build the barrels and there's better uses for ancient oaks, Geary observed.

One low impact method the winery has tried resulted in "the best bottling of Frontenac ever," Geary shared. The winery hosted a day for an old fashioned foot stomp of grapes in big plastic tubs (women only). It was a hoot-- plus the product was phenomenal. Usually, though, the processing is done in a small building with the aid of a couple mechanical devices. It all fits into regular-sized farm outbuildings for now.

If you feel like visiting: Wild Mountain Winery is either well north of downtown Taylors Falls on #16, (Wild Mountain Road) on the right hand side -- or go to Almelund and drive north as if headed to the state park, turn east on #16 and the winery will be on your left in a few hundred feet.

The winery is open Friday and Saturday 10-6 or Sunday noon to 6 or by appointment (651-583-3585).

Tastings present you with the menu of 12 types of wines and you select six you'd like to sample. www.WildMountainWinery.com is on the Internet for ordering/price information.

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