Specialty Crop

Owners Jennifer and Daniel Thompson started a winery in Redlands, California, in 2019, and established a vineyard in 2020 on property near Lander that they rent from relatives. They have been purchasing Syrah and Tannat grapes from vineyards in California, and hope to release their first California vintage in 2024.

In 2020, they planted more than 800 cold-hardy grapevines on the one-acre Lander property, including Frontenac Blanc, Frontenac Gris, La Crescent, Marquette, and Traminette. In 2021, they planted another 700 vines.

“In 2022, we added a drip-line irrigation system on the 1.4-acre west vineyard where we have planted Marechal Foch, Marquette, and Frontenac grapes. For the past two years we have introduced an organic fertilization regimen. We have started to see limited grape clusters on both vineyards,” Daniel says. “In late August (2023), we were seeing sugar (Brix) levels near 19%.” (Brix is a way to measure the potential alcohol content of a wine before it’s made by determining sugar levels in grapes.)

The Thompsons will make wine from California-sourced grapes until their Wyoming vineyard begins producing enough grapes for production, which could occur by 2024.

“We really enjoy drinking wines, and that started us on this path,” says Daniel, who completed the University of California, Davis, winemaking certification program in late 2021. “Our winery’s motto is: ‘Much like the beautiful journey from grapes to the glass, we have been crushed, transformed, and made new to celebrate life.’”