Maple River Winery – Casselton, North Dakota
Did you ever think about wine being produced in North Dakota? It is not only produced but it is an award winning winery for their Rhubarb Wine. The care and talent used to make the wines like the previous generations did from the fruit of the land has not been forgotten by Greg and Suan Kempel, owners of the winery. They want you to enjoy good wine and friendly people so come on over to their wine tasting room and see which of the North Dakota wines you enjoy the most.
The winery was begun in 2001 and is focused on utilizing North Dakota fruit to make traditional wines in small batches, just like their ancestors did. Each wine has a distinctly different taste to fulfill the desires of nearly everyone that visits.
North Dakota wasn’t known as a great wine drinking state, in fact, it was ranked 50th for wine consumption. This winery and their products were unique to the state and yet they have grown with orders from instate and out of state buyers wanting their products.
The winery decided to purchase fruit for winemaking from producers throughout North Dakota. The number of suppliers throughout the state has grown to over 300 people bringing fruit to the winery from all over the state and some from West Central Minnesota. Nearly 80% of the fruit used to make the wine comes from North Dakota.
Since the process to make the North Dakota wines takes roughly 6 months to a year, depending on the type of wine, it is not a fast process, but does provide a very nice selection of wines for you to try in the tasting room to find the one that you like the best.
Now if you aren’t a big fan of wine but want to take something from the winery home with you as a reminder of the good time you had you may want to get one of their Maple River Winery Jellies or Maple River Winery Coffees. They are available at the gift shop so stop in after your tour.
Tours: Monday through Saturday 10 am – 5 pm. Sundays and nights available by appointment.
Tour Fee: Free
Wine Sampling: Free
Location: Downtown Casselton
Phone: 701-347-5900
Email: greg@mapleriverwinery.com