“The most challenging thing is probably the grapes. “And my son said, ‘dad why don’t we put in about 7 or 8 acres next year and then build a winery.’ And I said ‘yea, let’s do it. Probably having a beer, you know,” Wayne Rigge said with a laugh. We were sitting around the campfire here probably about 2008 after we put in our first little vineyard in. They kind of connived together and talked with Laura, my daughter in law into joining in the venture.” He had been in (construction) for 36 years (and wanted to get out of it) before his body would wear out. My husband wanted to get out of construction. “My son John liked to make wines of all kinds, but small batches,” Kari Rigge said. The menu includes 3 Little Pigs, BBQ Pulled Pork and Buffalo Chicke.īoth Wayne and Kari talked about their son John as the driving force behind the idea to start the vineyard. Several names of the various pizza also takes on the Minnesota heritage like the wines. And LaCrescent, a semi-sweet which is fruity with citrus notes and considered light and crisp. But there are also Frontenac Gris, which is a dry, aged with French Oak. A Minnesota theme runs through the wide-range of wine offerings: Rockin’ Coyote and Squirrelly. The wines are made from grapes from the Rigge vineyard or other vineyards in southwest Minnesota. And elderly - we get some buses in here from retirement homes.” She then looked over the rows of tables in front of her. I suppose it’s about 50-50 - half beer, half wine.” So we knew we needed to do different beers in here for the men. “And there were mostly women clientele (at the other wineries). “We also knew we needed to visit a lot of other wineries,” she said of starting the new business. She stood behind the bar inside the building that houses the restaurant and wine tasting. It’s the pizza that drives the business,” Wayne’s wife, Kari said.
“The business is not like anything we expected. It was during that campfire discussion that a plan was hatched to start a vineyard business.Ī decade later, what was first considered by some family members a risky venture, is now a thriving business. It was 10 years ago that Wayne Rigge was sitting next to a campfire on their farm land with other family members. The beer and pizza part was the surprising development from the business venture started by the Rigge family.
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