Today we’d like to introduce you to Melanie Cihlar.
Hi Melanie, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
When I met my husband over 15 years ago, he was dabbling in home wine-making and grape growing. As time went on, it became clear that we wanted to move back to Joe’s hometown, Glenwood, MN, and get back to our agricultural roots – both of us coming from farming families. We lacked access to land for farming on a big scale, and decided that growing specialty crops would be the route we would take. As fate would have it, the farm site that had been Joe’s boyhood dream went up for sale a couple of months after we were engaged and the rest is history.
We currently grow and manage 14 acres of cold-hardy grape varieties, and sold our grape crop to commercial wineries in Minnesota and North Dakota before we decided to jump in with both feet and build our own winery. We broke ground on the winery in June of 2019, and just before we were ready to open, COVID happened and halted everything. We finally opened on July 2nd, 2020 and are so grateful for the support from our community and for their warm welcome.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
If it were easy, everyone would do it, right?
When we decided we were going to open the winery, the pandemic was not a thing. And as much as we want to move on from 2020 and 2021, it was a large part of our story.
We were excited and anxious about this new business, and we couldn’t wait to share our wines and our property with the community. We crushed our 2019 crop in September of 2019 and had to send it to a commercial freezer for storage because our building was still being constructed. By early 2020, our production space was completed enough that we could move our equipment in and start the wine-making process. We brought the juice back to the winery, had to thaw out the 250-gallon ice blocks of grape juice before we could start fermentation, and a couple of weeks after we fermented our very first vintage of wine, the world shut down, and anxiety set in.
We navigated the ever-changing requirements with the help of other local businesses, all while trying to keep up with our kid’s school work, and finishing the construction work on the winery.
We pivoted a little and ended up constructing a patio space that now seats over 200 people and, next to the wine, is the gem of our property. It is a beautiful space that overlooks our vineyards and Lake Minnewaska. There is something so peaceful in that space and we are so thankful people come near and far to enjoy it.
We finally opened on July 2nd of 2020 and the following weekend a hailstorm descended upon our estate vineyards. But from adversity raised a beautiful blend of wine that we call Catastrose’ (ka-TAST-rose’), and has been a fan favorite.
We feel like we are on the other side of the pandemic and are so excited to be starting our 3rd season!
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Rolling Forks Vineyards?
We are one of Minnesota’s newest farm wineries, starting our 3rd season this summer of 2022. Our name comes from nearby Rolling Forks Township in Pope County, Minnesota. This township is located just south of our vineyards and winery, and was named for its position among rolling prairies and smoothly sculpted hills, near the Chippewa River. We are located in Glenwood Township, but feel a deep connection to this sentiment with our breathtaking views overlooking Lake Minnewaska.
We planted our first vineyard in 2010 and currently own and manage 14 acres of cold-hardy grapes. The vineyards are planted using GPS guidance and all have underground drip irrigation. Before we began our own wine production, we sold our grapes to commercial wineries from Fargo, North Dakota to St. Peter, Minnesota and everywhere in between.
Our wines are 80% grown right here in Pope County, MN, 90% grown in Minnesota, with the balance coming from New York and Iowa. We focus mostly on grape wines, but have one wine made from Rhubarb and Raspberries that we call Ruby Rhubarb. I was persistent and asked Joe to make me a Rhubarb wine – as it seems very Minnesotan. He begrudgingly made a small batch and we were sold out of it within 4 months of its release. I say begrudgingly because we spend a painstaking amount of time tending to our grapevines to ensure a high-quality product, and we want our focus to be on the grapes. Well, this Ruby Rhubarb wine has very quickly become our best-selling wine and recently won a Platinum award at the Great American International Wine Competition in New York, and a Gold Medal at the International Cold Climate Wine Competition here in Minnesota. This wine is also used to make our wine slushies, something we have become known for.
We currently offer 11 different wines ranging from one sweet white wine, 3 semi-sweet white wines, 1 dry white wine, 2 rose’ wines, 3 red wines, and our Ruby Rhubarb. So there is something for everyone. We have some seating inside, but encourage our guests to enjoy the patio space whenever possible. We offer music in the summer months every Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday on the patio, which includes a wide variety of local artists who come and share their talents.
We have a great spot for wedding ceremonies and a small space that is perfect for intimate receptions, showers, and life celebrations that seats about 50 people.
We fell in love with this farm because of its undulating hills and its promising potential to grow grapes. The views are absolutely breathtaking. The sunsets are unforgettable. There’s nothing like sitting on our patio on a summer night, listening to music, and overlooking our vineyard and Lake Minnewaska. And we hope people who come to enjoy our space leave feeling refreshed, with a ‘full bucket”.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
With the timing of our opening, we have had to learn to become extremely flexible and resilient. Thankfully we have an awesome staff that helps us keep it all together. We could not do what we do without the help of our staff family we have entrusted this business. They have helped us keep somewhat of a work/family/life balance and we are so blessed to have them with us.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@rollingforksvineyards.com
- Website: www.rollingforksvineyards.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rollingforksvineyards/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rollingforksvineyards
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/rolling-forks-vineyards-glenwood?osq=winery
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/RollingForksVineyards/_created/
Image Credits
Personal photo and first 4 photos by Scott Thuen
Aerial photo by Adam Hester
Wedding photo by NV Photography
Last 3 photos by Melanie Cihlar
