Written by: melissasiig (for uwemp.com)
Halbardier’s Tahoe Ridge Winery, located on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, now produces 13 varietals and 150,000 bottles of wine a year. But starting up the winery, which sits at 4,700 feet and can see temperatures as low as minus 25 degrees in winter, was arduous. He decided to grow grapes on a whim after moving to Reno from Sacramento. Not only did he not know a thing about the business, but he didn’t let it phase him that it had never been successfully done in Nevada. For the first eight years, every vineyard he planted had the same result: some 70% of the grapes died over the winter. “I was pretty much at the point where it was, ‘OK, we had given it a try,’” he recalls. “I had lost a lot of money.”
The breakthrough came when Halbardier learned about a cold-hardy grape varietal being developed at the University of Minnesota. In 2000, he planted around 500 vines using the university’s seeds. Come harvest time, Halbardier was shocked to find that almost all the grapes had survived the cold high-desert nights. “We were amazed. It was ‘Holy Guacamole!’ It totally surprised us.” That year, Tahoe Ridge Winery produced the first commercial wine ever made with Nevada-grown grapes. The 466 bottles of Chardonnay sold out in two weeks. In 2002, Tahoe Ridge made its first red wine, a Limberger, and the following year opened a tasting room and marketplace in Genoa, 42 miles from Reno. On a cold winter morning this past December, Halbardier had another premiere—he harvested the first ice-wine ever produced west of the Rockies.
Although Halbardier has found success, he is ever mindful of the long, laborious journey it took to get there. “Where we are today is a lot different than when we started. We don’t forget our roots.” He likes to remind his employees that the winery started with two barrels of wine and now produces 700 a year. From field to table, another dream harvested.
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