Featured Wine

Cherry Blossom

Signature Wine Semi-sweet 100% estate-grown Montmorency cherries.

Cherry Bounce

Take a jar of your favorite Montmorency cherries and turn it into a delightful holiday drink.

Orchard Country Winery & Market

HOURS:

Daily 9 am-6 pm

For more information, contact us toll-free: 1-866-WINE2ME (946-3263)

Email: info@orchardcountry.com

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Our Estate-Grown Fruits

The Lautenbach family farm consists of 70 acres of cherries, along with 15 acres of apples, 5 acres of grapes, along with a few pears and raspberries. Orchard Country takes pride in it's fruits and great care to prune, harvest and replant on an annual basis, to ensure quality fruit products for years to come.

Varieties of estate-grown cherries:

Montmorency: tart cherry, very versatile-mostly used for baking
Balaton: "late harvesting" tart cherry, very versatile-mostly for baking
Bing: sweet cherry, eating
Queen Anne: sweet cherry, eating
Rainier or Royal Anne: sweet cherry, eating

Varieties of estate-grown apples:

Honeycrisp: semi-sweet, eating and cooking
Macintosh: semi-swet, eating and cooking
Cortland: semi-tart, eating and cooking
Gala: sweet, eating
Macoun: semi-sweet, eating and cooking
Golden Supreme: sweet, eating and cooking
Jonathan: semi-tart, eating and cooking
JonaGold: semi-tart, eating and cooking
JonaMac: semi-sweet, eating and cooking

Varieties of estate-grown grapes:

Marechal Foch: french-american hybrid, red grape
Frontenac: french-american hybrid, red grape developed at University of Minnesota
St Peppin: american hybrid, white grape developed by Elmer Swenson
La Crescent: american hybrid, white grape developed by Elmer Swenson

Fruit Harvesting

Cherries: Fresh, hand-picked tart and sweet cherries are available mid July-mid August for purchase. The tart Montmorency cherry is also available for "picking your own" from July 20th through the first week in August (while supplies last).

The cherries used in our wines and ciders are mechanically harvested by a one-man motorized device, which is driven up to each tree and a clamp comes out and attaches to the trunk of the tree and shakes it for 5-7 seconds. The cherries fall onto a conveyor belt, which delivers them into a tank of cold water, preserving the freshness. The mechanical harvester shakes about 75 trees per hour.

Annually, Orchard Country harvests 350,000 lbs. of cherries (all 5 varieties).

Apples: All of the apples are picked by hand, and either sold fresh in the market or used in our juices and wines. Pick your own is also available mid September-mid October (while supplies last).

Grapes: The grapes are pruned meticulously by hand throughout the season, netted to keep away the birds, and then harvested by hand at the end of September or early October, before the first frost. At this time all of the grapes are being used in our wines.

Fruit Pressing

After harvest comes pressing the fruits into juice, using a Willmes German Bladder press. Apples are crushed into a pulp first and the grapes are de-stemmed. Cherries, pits and all are ready for pressing. First, 20lbs. of rice hulls are added to the bladder of the press, which act as a filtering agent. Next we add 500lbs. of fruit, then 10 more lbs. of rice hulls, 500 more lbs. of fruit and finally 20 more lbs. of rice hulls. After spinning the press for about 15 minutes, so that the rice hulls form on the inside wall of the press, the bladder tube is inflated with 80lbs. of pressure. This pushes the juice through holes in the press and into a pan where it is then pumped into 55 gallon drums. The excess pulp and rice hulls are recycled into compost to be used on the gardens in the Spring.

Wine-Making Process

Our wines are made year round using fresh fruits grown on the property and/or purchased from growers around the state/country. In the off-season, we utilize barrels of quick frozen fruit/juice stored in a temperature controlled warehouse. Pure cane sugar and special yeasts are added to the fruit/juice and blended in stainless steel tanks, for up to 2 months.

Using steel tanks, rather than oak barrels, we ensure the best character of each fruit is brought out and remain during the fermentation process with a wide range of subtle flavors and aromas. After settling, the wine is sent through a filtration system and some pure cane sugar may be added to sweeten certain wines.

Using an Italian, custom built machine the wines are ready to be bottled, corked, sealed and labeled all in one quick process-100 case per hour. Our current annual wine production is 23,000 gallons of wine or 10,000 cases or 120,000 bottles. Off to the tasting room to be enjoyed!