Nestled in the land between the Ozarks and the Arkansas River, you’ll find Arkansas Wine Country. For nearly 130 years, this area on St. Mary’s Mountain and Pond Creek
Jacob Post came to this region in the late 1870s, and in 1880 he founded what would become Post Familie Vineyard. Post, like many other Swiss, German, Greek, Polish, and Italian immigrants came up the rail lines to start communities in western and
Post saw this land as a remarkable resource, semi-arid farmland that stayed frost-free late into fall and that soaked up the sun’s rays through the long Arkansas summers. Like other settlers, he married and was fruitful and multiplied.
Jacob’s children continued the tradition, and their children did as well. Other families also prospered with their wineries in the area. One source says that there were possibly 55 wineries in the region before Prohibition. But that act in 1918 stymied growth. Post changed over to the production of sacramental wines and survived the period. Others didn’t fare as well. Crazy rules were put into place during these times… including a requirement that all storage warehouses had to be secured with barred windows.
With the repeal of Prohibition, the wineries came back to life again. There were at one point 42 wineries operating.
In 1938, some of Jacob’s grandchildren and other area growers bound together to form the Altus Cooperative Winery. In 1947, grandsons James and Matthew Post bought the winery and renamed it Post Wineries, Inc. The old family winery would become in 1956 another popular winery, Mount Bethel.
“We have a saying around here,” says Joseph Post, great-grandson of Jacob. “In Altus, you’re either a Post or an ‘out-Post.’”
My traveling companion and I visited the Post Familie Vineyards and Wineries on a mild July Monday, and were greeted with grins and good greetings. Joseph told us about the family connections -- how all five of the wine operations are family. Though Audrey House up the road at Chateau Aux Arc started out on her own after purchasing vineyards from Wiederkehr in 1998 as an independent operator, she eventually became part of the family.
At Post, it’s still a family operation. Joseph and his brothers and sister grew up in the house right next to the winery. It was called “The Big House,”
It’s still working in the community, too. Other wineries and independent growers have their crops bottled here, share in labeling endeavors, and more.
Joseph Post took us on a bit of a tour. We started out watching
The noise was incredible. Several guys were working the line, making sure everything stayed in line, keeping the machinery working, pulling the finished
We went from there out to the fields themselves. On the drive out, we talked about the difference between last year and this one.
“We’ve had just unbelievable amounts of rain,” Joseph told us.
In 2007, 90 percent of the grape crop and 40 percent of the muscadine crop were lost.
“Last year was really a different year. Three consecutive freezes culminating on Easter Sunday. It resulted in a really light harvest. It didn’t affect the muscadines as severely.”
That’s obviously not the case this year. As we pulled onto the road that crawls out into the middle of the farm, we noticed row after row of bushy and thick leaves. From time to time you could see a bit of bright green, the flash of growing
“We’ve had just unbelievable amounts of rain,” Joseph told us.
In 2007, 90 percent of the grape crop and 40 percent of the muscadine crop were lost.
“Last year was really a different year. Three consecutive freezes culminating on Easter Sunday. It resulted in a really light harvest. It didn’t affect the muscadines as severely.”
That’s obviously not the case this year. As we pulled onto the road that crawls out into the middle of the farm, we noticed row after row of bushy and thick leaves. From time to time you could see a bit of bright green, the flash of growing
Joseph pointed out that this year’s rains have really helped with irrigation, but the crops are a little late.
“We usually start harvesting the last week of July or the first week of August. This year I think we may be about a week behind. We harvest through the month of September, and we’re generally finished by the second week of October. It’s about a two and a half month harvest.
We stopped to take a look at one of the sections. Under the hand-span leaves bunches huddled in crowds, mostly a light green. A few of these had already started to turn, big purple splotches on a few and then the surprise of dark purple grapes here and there. They grow mostly in shade -- the leaves form a thick canopy that lets through just the right amount of light.
There’s testing done in the field before each type of grape is harvested -- a taste test to make sure the grapes are good and ready to go. Vines are pruned back periodically so the majority of soil nutrients travel to the grapes. Joseph says that if the frost doesn’t get them, some of the vines can actually start up a second crop.
In one section of the vineyard, dozens of new varieties and hybrids are growing. These experimental varieties usually don’t bear out great wine -- but over the years, some 15-20 of the new grapes have proven successful. In fact, some of these grapes managed to survive last year’s freeze. By committing themselves to experimentation and research, the Post Familie may come up with the grape variety that will be the signature wine grape of the 21st century.
We were headed back out of that patch when Joseph spotted his dad.
We met Matt Post, at 83 the patriarch of the Post Familie clan. He was out hand-training vines that were planted in April of this year.
The grapes Matt was working on are Noble grapes -- when they mature, they turn almost black-purple. They’ve been growing Nobles since 1970 -- when they got this variety from the University of Arkansas.
Out front of one of the administrative buildings, there are a couple of grape presses that have been preserved for generations.
The first stop on the tour for most visitors is the vat room. What most people see is a display area that contains a couple of vats and examples of processing machinery.
We went further back into the refreshingly cool building to view the gigantic cylinders of processing wine.
We were allowed a rare favor -- a chance to taste wines straight from the vat. My traveling companion voiced his preference for the deep Cabernet Sauvignon, while I shared my appreciation of the Merlot.
It is a damned shame that none of the restaurants in Central Arkansas will carry any of our locally produced wines. Truly a disgrace!!
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