Winery Tour
Our facilities for the winery began in what was a dirt cellar under the old “packhouse” that was built in 1941 by Elmo Johnson, Danny’s father. The packhouse is still used today for retail sales of fruits, jams, relishes, and jellies during summer and fall seasons.
The winery first occupied a space of 180 square feet, which we soon outgrew. In 1997 we added 300 more square feet and 560 more square feet was added in 2001. In the early years, we did all of our fermentation in food grade plastic barrels and to be perfectly honest one of the first wines did have a taste reminiscent of Dr. Pepper. The year 2003 saw additional expansion bringing the size to approximately 2000 square feet. Along with the expansion, we added stainless steel tanks. Due to the nature of fruit wines, there is very little use of oak barrels.
The first year we produced fewer than 50 cases of wine. We will produce about 3500 to 4500 cases per year. We are close to the maximum quantity we want to attain. There seems to be no diminishing interest by our winemakers with regard to varieties of wine. Presently about 30 varieties are produced. With the help and encouragement of many winemakers, dedicated family, and the desire to become a quality producer of fine fruit wines we are proud to take our place among the finest wineries.
In 1999 we added an addition onto our home to serve as a tasting room when the packinghouse was not open for sales. We had no idea that so many good folks would follow the winding country road past the cows, horses, and an occasional buffalo sighting to share our home and wines with us. We find it pleasant, as do our customers, to have two such diverse “tasting rooms” as the packing house and our home.
You most often will find Danny or Shannon doing the “tastings” for you while
Nancy can be found on the mower, tractors, or a horse tending to the farm work.
Our wine club offers a major discount for purchases, bringing a friend who purchases, and prizes at the end of each calendar year for the most stamps (purchases). We also add you to our e-mail list, if you so desire, for periodic winery and farm updates.
We are pleased to share that we have been strong supporters of the D-day Memorial since its’early planning stages and continue to be. One way in which we do this is by offering D-day dollars. When you redeem your D-day dollar, you receive $1 in discount and in turn we donate $1 to the D-day Memorial Foundation.
Good towards the purchase of One Bottle of Wine at Peaks Of Otter Winery or 1 bushel of fruit at Johnson's Orchards.
Also good at any other participating merchant for their advertised redemption benefiting the National D-Day Memorial
For each of these dollars that we redeem we will contribute a like amount to the National D-Day Memorial