News and Events

December 6, 2007

Jasper Winery coming to Des moines

Jasper Winery coming to Des Moines

BY ERIC ROWLEY Des Moines will soon be home to its first urban winery.

After fours years in Newton, Jasper Winery is planning to expand its operations to Des Moines. The family-owned business has outgrown its current facility and intends to build a new urban winery at 2400 George Flagg Parkway.

If all goes according to plan, by next summer a new 8,100-square-foot winery will be complete and operational. The three-acre plot near the Raccoon River will house a tasting room, a banquet hall, a demonstration vineyard, a wine-production room and offices. Jasper Winery plans to break ground this week on the new facility.

"For me it's intimidating and exciting to open the new location," said Jean Groben, who along with her husband, owns Jasper Winery. "When we first started, we wanted to start small because we weren't sure if it was going to be a viable business. Now we're on top of each other."

Jean said the winery has increased its production by 11,000 gallons since it opened in 2003 and needed to expand.

The new winery's production area will have more space and modernized equipment to deal with the increased production. The new complex will also have a garden area and more room for events.

The only challenge Jean foresees is getting the 12 local grape growers who produce 85 to 90 tons of grapes a year for the winery used to transporting their grapes to Des Moines instead of Newton.

Jean said leaving Netwon "wasn't going to be easy" and the Grobens plan to leave the 10-acres of farmland used for growing grapes and the tasting room open. The winery plans on moving all of its wine production to its Des Moines facility.

But Mason Groben, son of Jean and Paul and winemaker for Jasper Winery, said the move to Des Moines couldn't come at a better time.

"I'm a younger person in Iowa and with all the new restaurants and loft developments downtown, Des Moines has gotten to the point were it's a cool spot to be," he said. "We really want to be a part of that atmosphere."

Mason, who has traveled around the world making wine, said Des Moines is a "major market" to be in and sees the new Des Moines location as the future of the family winery.

"We've had a lot of positive feedback from the city," he said. "This will be our final resting place, no doubt about that."

The idea of an urban winery is a relatively new one for Doug Bakker, president of the Iowa Wine Growers Association, who only knows of a few other urban wineries in the United States including one in Indianapolis.

"I always thought it would be a great opportunity for someone to commit to the market in Des Moines," he said. "I think it will bring a new set of consumers to the market that wouldn't have normally showed up before."

Although Bakker sees the Jasper Winery expansion as a sign of success, he doesn't believe the idea of urban wineries will catch on.

"Visiting a winery is an escape from the city," he said. "I don't foresee a lot of wineries jumping on this."

Jean hopes otherwise and sees Jasper Winery's move to Des Moines as something that will set it apart from the others.

"The new winery will have a lot more open spaces and a contemporary feel it," she said. "Every Iowa winery has a personality to it, and being in Des Moines will make us unique."

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