Painted Prairie Vineyard is located in rural southwestern Minnesota.  Currie, Minnesota. Ben and Kim Hause started the vineyard in 2006  after purchasing 18 acres of land when Ben and his family left the  Twin Cities and city life for the country-life and their new wine  making venture. Since then the Hause's have planted and acre and a  half of grapes (half acre each of LaCrescents (white), Frontenac and  Marquette (both red)).


While the Hauses are in the process of obtaining their farm winery  license they decided to offer a "Pick your own" of their grapes to  anyone interested in making wine, jam, jelly or juice at home. This  year they sold a couple thousand pounds of grapes to customers who  seemed to enjoy the process. Kim says there is only one other "pick  your own" in the state of Minnesota, in Lake City so they offer are  a rare opportunity to those who enjoy fresh grapes for wine making.

Currently it's just Ben and Kim (with help from their two small  children) who primarily operate the vineyard by pruning, watering  and tending to the vines. They do have help from family and  neighbors during their "pick your own" and also help in harvesting  what they use to make their own wine and jelly.

The process of becoming a winery primarily entails obtaining a  license. However there are a lot of steps to obtain that license:  zoning issues, liability insurance, choosing a name, logo, bottle  design etc.

The Hause's website is www.PaintedPrairieVineyard.com which also has more pictures and information.