Vineyard owner’s winery dream to come true

John Leo Weber’s dream of opening a winery in the Town of Grafton is finally becoming reality.

“It’s been a long process to get here, and it’s finally coming together,” Weber said Friday, gesturing around his 24-acre vineyard off Ulao Parkway.

Construction of the Anton Vincent winery is expected to begin May 27, with much of the first month devoted to excavation work.

“I’m excited,” Weber said.

The building should be completed by about Thanksgiving, and the tentative schedule calls for the winery to open by the end of the year.

“I would have loved to open the doors in summer, but that just didn’t work out,” Weber said.

But opening during the winter has its benefits, he said, including the fact he will be able to make any needed adjustments before things get too busy.

Weber has been growing grapes on the property for about four years and planned to construct a winery there in 2022.

But skyrocketing lumber prices — lumber futures increased 539% from 2021 and 2022 — meant the cost of the winery tripled and so Weber had to delay the project.

“It just wasn’t going to work out,” he said.

He was patient, found a Farm Service Agency and U.S. Department of Agriculture loan guarantee program and watched as lumber prices came down — and mortgage costs went up.

“It’s never going to be perfect,” Weber said. “It’s all timing and finding the right loan partner.”

That partner was Old National Bank of Milwaukee, and Weber is now preparing to break ground on the project with Cameron “Cam” Pauli of Pauli Builders, his contractor.

“Cameron was really helpful in taking my plans and thoughts and designs and turning them into the real deal,” Weber said.

Weber said he had gotten a number of bids for the project from larger contractors, but Pauli “really approached this project with an interest in building something for the community. I was happy to find someone who cares about this project the way I do.”

Pauli noted his company does much of the work on projects itself, but hires local subcontractors for the work it can’t handle.

The fact his crew is local is important, Pauli said.

“These are guys who drive by here all the time. They know about the project and are excited to see it happen,” he said.

The winery will be about 4,000 square feet, with roughly half of the facility devoted to a tasting room and the other half to wine production.

There will also be a patio overlooking the vineyard and a parking lot with 44 spaces.

Next year Weber would like to construct a greenhouse on the property and someday add a barn to store his tools and equipment.

The winery is being planned with an eye toward future expansion, Pauli said.

“If we’re smart about it now, it will be easier to expand in the future,” he said.

Weber said “if things go well” he could double the size of the building in the next three to five years.

“I’m starting relatively small for the amount of traffic we’ll have,” he said. “I don’t want to overextend myself, but I want to be ready to expand.”

He said he ultimately would like to host wedding ceremonies in the vineyard and special events at the facility, perhaps someday bringing on an event planner. 

He’d like to host a farmers market in the parking lot and create walking trails through the vineyard, which has three ponds and is home to plenty of wildlife.

“We get sandhill cranes, blue herons and a lot of ducks,” he said. 

Although many vineyards discourage birds because they have been known to enjoy the crop, Weber has said he embraces wildlife because the birds often hunt pests such as voles and mice. 

Weber said the vineyard has 2,500 to 3,000 grapevines, about 1,000 in the lower vineyard, 1,200 in the upper field and the rest in a Riesling field he started two years ago.

He grows 10 varieties of grapes — four reds, four whites and several Rieslings.

He plans to primarily create white wines, roses and a couple of red wines, although those are more difficult “because you need a longer sun season.”

This year will be the first major harvest of his grapes, Weber said, and he expects 60% production. Next year, he hopes that will increase to between 80% and 90%.

He has been making wine in small batches at home, with his wines going to friends and family, but until the winery is up he can’t begin commercial production.

Weber’s interest in wine was sparked by his brother Doug, who worked for a wine bar and later became a traveling wine maker.

“He would bring these great wines home and tell these awesome stories about them. We started to bond over it,” Weber told Ozaukee Press three years ago.

Weber had a good career in marketing at the time, but began to indulge his passion for wine, eventually deciding to pursue it full time, going to Texas Tech to learn about wine making and obtaining certification as a sommelier.

He came back to his hometown of Grafton to search for land and named his winery after his great-grandfather, who was a farmer.

Weber noted he began working on his business plan in 2017.

“It’s almost been 10 years,” he said. “I’ve put a lot into this plan. I want this to be a real community space. I’m really excited to be that for the community, a place for people to come out and enjoy nature and a glass of wine.

“I’m ready to get going and share this with everyone.”