Business : 42° North Winery Celebrates its first year with a BIG Party this Saturday

Mary and David Paustian celebrate their first year of business

Grapes inside the vat

The eight varieties of wine that the Paustian's are now producing

Grapes waiting to be processed next to the barrels where they will spend some time

David and Mary Paustian are excited to celebrate their first year in business at 42° North Winery. For the next three weeks, the couple will have the winery open on Saturday. On September 24th and October 1st there will be Taste and Take events from 1-4:00 p.m.

However, on October 8, they will host their "BIG Party." From 2-4pm there will be music by Todd Frank and the Cedar River Whalers. Good Morrows Pizza will be there with pizza and beverages (so bring the kids), cheese from Cinnamon Ridge Farms will be available, and all EIGHT varieties of 42° North Winery's specialty wine will be available to taste and purchase.

Plan to spend some time just relaxing under the tent with your food and enjoying the music. 42° North Winery is located at 2894 61st Street Lane, Vinton.

The business began in 2020 officially, but the wine takes a while to reach that perfect age. This last year has found the couple at various Taste and Take events and at the local farmer's market.

While winemaking started as a hobby for the couple, you know the saying, "if it's something you enjoy doing, you might as well make money at it!" After receiving compliments from those who were lucky enough to receive the wine gifts, it took off from there.

If you want to see David light up, start talking about the new varieties of grapes that are out there. Or if you want a really interesting discussion, ask him questions about how wine is made. Trust me, you won't be bored!

Mary on the other hand, while she works making the wine, she loves the marketing aspect of the business and the process of bringing the wine to your table. The two complement each other in business. There was some debate about which of the wines became a bestseller. Two compete well, The Pearl or Blowfish are their top sellers. Blowfish had a bit of a headstart, rolling out earlier Mary said. Now they have two new flavors that they believe are going to be a hit. "Slinky" which is a Moscato and "Wingnut" which is a sweet red.

Surrounded by vats of grapes, the couple shares the challenges as well as the successes they have shared over the last year. Their former garage area has been put into use housing all of the equipment needed to make the small business work. It now holds a vacuum bottler, a wall of boxes full of bottled wines ready to sell, a couple of wine barrels, the tall stainless steel vats to hold the grapes and I'm sure spare bottles, corks, labels, and all of the other necessities of creating a bottle of wine.

The couple had competed previously at the Iowa State Fair bringing home 1st and 2nd place for a rhubarb sweet and dry wine in 2017. This year, the two entered the winery in the Commercial Class bringing home two awards. Their Tatanka, a red table wine, came in with silver and the Blowfish brought home a bronze.

The Paustian's are already planning a few years down the road. They are eyeing new varieties of grapes but they also have some hard apple cider in the works. With trees in the ground, as with everything else in winemaking, they have to wait for the apple trees to mature.

Wine is one of those perfect gifts at Christmas time. Everyone has that special person, the one that's always hard to buy for. Or the gal that has everything, and they don't want another trinket, or perhaps the man in your life has every gadget under the sun. The solution might be to grab them a bottle of local wine. It's never too early to start your Christmas shopping!

Be sure to follow the Facebook page for 42° North Winery here so you'll know about all of their latest news!

Congratulations David & Mary on your first year!