Walt Disney once said, “A man
should never neglect his family for business.”
However, what if a woman spent her entire career attempting to honor her
family? That is exactly what Sandi Vojta
of Prairie Berry Winery in Hill City, South Dakota has done. She was the fifth generation wine maker when
she joined her father Ralph in the commercial endeavor of making wine in the
Midwest. She started by primarily making
fruit wines from the “berries of the prairie” like her ancestors. Over the past ten years, Sandi has expanded
not only her wine production but also the ways she honors her family in every
aspect of her profession.
Though Sandi has been using
different Vitis Vinifera (traditional winemaking grapes) for several years in
addition to the hybrid grape and fruit-based wines for which Prairie Berry is so well known, in
2012 she began production of the new line of Anna Pesa wines—a unique brand
with a specific taste profile in mind, a taste that would honor Sandi’s goals
and her family’s traditions.
Anna Pesa was Sandi’s
great-great-grandmother who immigrated to the Dakota Territory in 1876. Before coming to the United States, Anna
lived in Moravia, Czechoslovakia, where she made wines using traditional grape
varieties found in that country. Over
one hundred years later, Sandi is using Riesling, Chardonnay, Zinfandel, and
Cabernet to make a style of wine much like her Grandmother Anna would have.
Because of South Dakota’s harsh
winters and shorter growing seasons, most Vinifera grapes that Sandi’s
grandmother would have had the ability to access don’t grow well here; hybrid
grape species that didn’t even exist in the late 1800s weather the Midwest
conditions best, so Sandi had to leave the state of South Dakota to source the
grape varieties similar to what Anna might have fermented. Much like Anna did, Sandi sought the best
fruit possible to create the style of wine the Prairie Berry winemaker
envisioned. Sourced along the West
Coast, Sandi has long-term contracts with many growers that she has worked with
for several harvests already. Because
she is a South Dakota wine maker, her concern in choosing fruit is not about
expressing the terroir of where the fruit was originally grown; instead she
wants to express a specific style of wine after production—a style she believes
her grandmother would have appreciated.
Cultivating relationships with the
growers is the first step in the process of making these wines for which Sandi
proudly exclaims Prairie Berry has “pulled out all of the stops” to produce. Getting the fruit is definitely a long-term,
committed relationship, as it takes a year for growers to nurture the grapes to
harvest before Sandi and crew then spend up to two years turning the fruit into
wines that they hope leave a lasting impression on consumers. Having multiple sources of fruit is actually
a benefit Sandi has that many winemakers don’t.
She is not “putting her eggs in one basket” if one growing area has a vintage
that doesn’t meet Sandi’s standards. Though
these grapes grow thousands of miles away, Sandi works with farmers at every
step of the way. She has input into choosing
the yield (amount of grapes) per vine, pruning of the vines, thinning of the
shoots, and even managing the canopy of leaves (covering the fruit). These specific growing techniques lead to
grapes with the particular sugar and acid content that Sandi wants for the
style of drink honoring her grandmother’s wines from the old country. Modern technology and shipping systems have
also made cross-county grape growing easier for the South Dakota businesswoman,
as juice samples can be sent to her at any time.
After the fruit arrives at the
winery outside of Hill City, Sandi begins the painstaking work of creating
these labor-intensive wines. The recent
production expansion at Prairie Berry was finished specifically for Anna Pesa
wines. They are handled and fermented in
smaller lots; then these two, three, or four smaller batches are blended to
achieve the style and complexity of Sandi’s vision. The wines receive old-fashioned production
treatments from beginning to end: battonage, stirring the lees (dead yeast
cells) into the wine; delestage, racking the wine from one vessel to another;
and punching down, stirring the cap of seeds, stems, and skins back into the
wine. Though these practices are very
hands-on and time consuming, they enhance the structure, mouthfeel, complexity,
aroma, and flavor of wines. The
additional production space has also allowed room to age these wines with
barrels from different cooperages (barrel makers); the differences in oak also adds to the
complexity of the final blended wine. Sandi’s
work with and passion about wine has definitely paid off in the end product that meet her stylistic goals, her family commitment, and her
grandmother’s memory.
Anna Pesa 2013 Riesling: Listed as a semi-dry Riesling, this is a
Riesling for those who believe Riesling is just a juice for novice drinkers of
sweet wines. This serious Riesling will
renew faith in the grape. On the nose,
it smells of the traditional slight petrol, stone, and apple aromas. On the palate the green apple and acid with
minimal sweetness make it reminiscent of dry styles from Germany or New York
State—some of my favorites! So unique
yet so Riesling, it would be a wonderful food-pairing wine. This is a wine worth buying on multiple occasions.
 |
| Anna Pesa Riesling--a serious, dry Riesling. |
 |
| Anna Pesa Chardonnay--a Chard for those looking to escape the butter bomb style. |
Anna Pesa 2012 Zinfandel: Aged a year longer than the Anna Pesa whites,
the Zinfandel was very spicy on the nose, with black pepper, dried herb,
mushroom, and earth coming through. A
beautiful, deep garnet color, the spice carried through on the palate with
great tannins. No big, over-ripe Zin
sweetness comes through, so if a big California wine is the expectation, that
is not what will be experienced with this wine.
This has a light berry essence that is more pronounced on the
finish. Good balance between the tannin,
acid, and fruit.
 |
| Anna Pesa Zinfandel--a more restrained, spicy Zin. |
Anna Pesa 2012 Cabernet: Ruby red, chokecherry in color, this wine is
a more robust wine than the Zin but definitely more restrained than a bold
California Cab. Dried sage and
boysenberry on the nose, its fruit is the first taste on the palate. Then the strawberry and blueberry mellow out
through even tannins to a slight white pepper on the finish. It would be one of the easiest Cabernet
Sauvignons to pair food with because of the balance between tannin and
fruit. When I first tried this line of
wines, I liked the more reserved Zin better than the Cab. This time, on the second tasting, I liked the
more fruit-forward Cab. This shows my
appreciation of both wines.
 |
| Anna Pesa Cabernet Sauvignon--the most robust of the Anna Pesa line, yet still old world style restraint. |
Though the
first vintage has only been released a few weeks, future vintages are already in
the works, including these same four varietals in addition to a 2014 Anna Pesa Chenin
Blanc currently fermenting. In further attempts
to emulate Grandmother Anna, Sandi would love to source a traditional Moravian
grape like Blaufrankish to make a wine.
However, these varieties are very obscure and hard to find in this
country since few Americans have heard of or tried this grape as a single varietal. Even if she could find Blaufrankish grapes,
Sandi would have to get special TTB approval to bottle it as a Blaufrankish (as
it would have been called in Moravia) and not a Lemburger. Then she would need to convert Merlot
drinkers to Blaufrankish wine!
Sandi has
paid tribute to her family with every step over the past two years as she has
loved these wines into the bottle. Sip
after sip, the old-world influence of these wines came through. When drinking the end product, it is evident
that European wine making was the inspiration, even if the grapes came from the
U.S. West Coast. Sandi Vojta has spent
over a decade doing a great job of mixing family and business. As the fifth generation to make wine, she has
worked to honor her ancestry while meeting her own stylistic goals. Her newest wines not only pay tribute to her
great-great grandmother, they are reminiscent of an old-world style that make
her Czechoslovakian roots very proud. Anna
Pesa and her other descendants are smiling down on Sandi…probably with a glass
of Moravian wine in hand.
