Grace Hill Winery

Grace Hill Winery
6310 S Grace Hill Rd
Whitewater, Kansas
USA 67154
Phone: (316) 799-2511
http://www.gracehillwinery.com/

Contact: David Solo
Email: [email protected]

For many years we, Wichita physicians David and Natalie Sollo, have been enchanted by wine- the taste and the culture. We visited vineyards and wineries during travels around the country, and eventually overseas. We had the dream of buying a vineyard in some exotic location, but knew we loved Kansas and our lives there. Eventually the dreams converged.

In 2003 we purchased a farm outside of Whitewater with the idea of putting in a small vineyard to see if we liked it- growing grapes, tending the vineyard and making wine.

We quickly realized it was not an easy undertaking. The Kansas climate can be quite unfriendly and there isn’t a lot of grape growing experience locally from which to draw. The farm we purchased was in significant disrepair, so we spent 2003 cleaning up piles of junk and preparing the vineyard for planting.

In the spring of 2004, with the help of family and friends, we planted 200 vines of 6 different types. The vines were sent as bare root 1 year old plants from a nursery in upstate New York. It was a little intimidating to look at these plants and imagine that they would grow. In the meantime we did a lot of reading, went to courses and workshops and tried to develop a plan.

The yard we had chosen for the initial planting was not the best spot. It was an old dairy yard, and the soil was very rich. However, we found that we really enjoyed working with the plants and that we were ready to press on to expand it into a real commercial vineyard and winery.

In April 2005 we began the next phase, expanding the vineyard. That spring we also put up the building that would become the winery. The plants grew well, and we continued to expand the vineyard yearly through 2009. Our first commercial harvest was in 2007, and we opened the winery officially in June 2008. We added regular hours in 2009, and began to market the wines locally as well in restaurants and liquor stores.

Our vines are a variety of types specifically chosen to thrive in this environment. As they have matured, so has their fruit, enabling us to craft high quality wines in a relatively short period of time. Our family and friends, new and old, have been an integral part of the adventure, and our open to the public harvest parties have been tremendously fun!

Jeff joined the winery as marketing manager in August 2009, and continues his goal of making the winery known throughout the region for first class Kansas wines.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/gracehillwinery

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