Winery and cider house to open soon on E. Lake St.

Urban Forage Winery & Cider House part of E. Lake St. renaissance

by Tesha M. Christensen

  

Someday, Jeff and Gita Zietler will run a winery/cidery/meadery on E. Lake St.

They will gather fruit from urban apple trees and raspberry bushes, pick dandelions and lilacs, and intercept useable but not saleable fruit from food co-ops and natural food stores that would otherwise go to waste and ferment it into something delicious.

Someday, they will make tasty beverages that fall in the range between grape wine and beer that rarely ever make it to store shelves. This includes honey mead, dandelion wine, sparkling apple cider and pear champagne. They’ll put them on the shelves and make sure they get the attention they deserve.

Right now, they’re putting in the sweat and tears to make that dream a reality.

STARTING WITH A FORECLOSURE

Last year, the Zietlers bought a foreclosed building at 3016 E. Lake. Gita had seen the building on Lake Street up for sale for almost two years before they took the time to look at it.

Jeff admits he was hesitant to look at a property on E. Lake St. “I lived in Seward in the late 90s and early 00s and at that time hadn't had a very positive impression of E. Lake Street,” he observed.

But now he feels like Lake Street is a really good fit for their business. “Initially it was mostly about the price, but now we feel like a part of something larger -- a renaissance that seems to be taking place on E. Lake between Hiawatha and the river,” said Jeff. “Since we bought it, so many new, innovative businesses have opened in this corridor, and that really confirms that this is the right place to be.  My initial skepticism that this was the right place to build a business is gone.”

When they looked at the structure, the water was shut off and the roof leaked, but overall, the bones of the building were good, and the price was in a range that they could afford. “If it had been selling at the pre-recession price, we might not have even looked at it -- especially given that the street was less vibrant back then than it is now,” said Jeff.

They didn’t expect to have so much in common with their neighbors. “Our business neighbors are a mix of immigrants and long-time Minnesotans, running small businesses similar in scale to what we are planning,” remarked Jeff. “We're a mixed family, so it felt like a comfortable fit in many ways. This is one of the things we love about E. Lake St.: it's pretty unassuming, but there's a lot going on below the surface, good things.”

In the basement of their building is 1,200 square feet with 9-foot ceilings, glass block windows and an antique jail cell. “Not exactly the picture of a winery, but a unique space, large enough to accommodate all of the equipment for a small winery and a nice cool year-round temperature,” said Jeff Zietler. (Photo by Tesha M. Christensen)

Jeff and Gita Zietler are proud of the work they’ve done to rehab this foreclosured building at 3016 E. Lake St., which included tearing up carpet and linoleum and then redoing the hardwood floors beneath. The building was formerly a hair salon, pawn shop and jewelry store named Diamond Jim’s, among other things. (Photo by Tesha M. Christensen)

INVESTMENT AND SWEAT EQUITY

A landscape architect from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Jeff has done as much of the work on their building as he can.

First was the clean-up. He removed layers of old flooring and refinished the original wood floors, painted and fixed up a myriad of little things. They hired contractors to fix the roof, reconnect the water and fix damage that was the result of the pipes freezing. They discovered that the air conditioning unit didn't work and that the furnace was on its last leg, so they hired a contractor to replace both.

“There was a lot of investment that went into it that partially offset the initial low purchase price, but we still felt like we got a great deal,” said Jeff.

They have rented out the street level as an office for a company that places personal care assistants in people's homes, and the lower level is vacant.  They're in the process of applying for a conditional use permit and parking variance with the city in order to be able to run a business on the lower level. 

Downstairs, they have 1,200 square feet of space waiting for them to fix up. 

Their first piece of professional-grade equipment – a 300 liter Italian-made stainless steel fermenter – arrived in June. The test run was 14 gallons of dandelion and lilac wine. “We don’t have the building finished yet, or the licenses to sell, but I’m ramping up my home winemaking in preparation for going professional,” wrote Jeff in their blog.

HOMEBREWER SINCE COLLEGE

Jeff made his first batch of hard cider while he was a college student at the University of Minnesota 20 years ago. “It wasn't very good, but I kept making batches and over the years started making wines and ciders that people really seemed to enjoy,” stated Jeff. “Gita and I are both pretty avid gardeners and foragers, and I'd make wine from whatever was seasonally available in the area.” 

If their garden had a good year for growing carrots, he would mash them up and make a batch of carrot wine. In the spring he makes dandelion wine. When he notices fruit on the wild mulberry trees that grow almost everywhere, he collects enough to make a batch of mulberry wine. 

“It's all about using what's at hand, and the results are usually surprisingly good,” observed Jeff.

He isn’t trying to outdo California or France or Chile in making a great Cabernet or Sauvignon Blanc.  “Rhubarb and sour cherries and dandelions and carrots and apples grow like weeds in our climate, and make wonderful beverages of their own – and most of them are not commercially available, so I want to be the one to introduce them to the market,” he stated. 

Jeff added, “Foraging is how I've always made wine and cider, and scaling up to production on a commercial scale could be challenging. My vision is that we will be able to work with a number of partners who will pick organic fruit from their own trees or gardens or surplus fruit from consenting landowners, and give it to us in exchange for finished product or a modest payment.” He also hopes to intercept non-saleable fruit and vegetables from local markets that is too aesthetically unappealing to sell at a market, but is still perfectly suitable for juice extraction and fermentation.

HEARTBREAK OVER LAWS

The Zietlers, who live in the Merriam Park neighborhood of St. Paul, have been frustrated by the laws governing wineries. Rural wineries (located on agricultural land of three acres or more) pay 1/10 of the licensing fee of an urban winery, can also produce hard liquor, sell their products on site, and sell samples and drinks by the glass. In contrast, urban wineries pay a much higher licensing fee, but cannot have a taproom or even sell bottles on site.

 “The laws that have loosened up fees and regulations for brewery taprooms and microdistilleries have not yet made it to wineries,” Jeff observed.

Earlier this year, the Zietlers recruited the help of Representative Jim Davnie and Senator Patricia Torres Ray in order to pass new legislation to change that discrepancy. “But the farm wineries came out strong against it, and the bill died in committee,” stated Jeff. “I was kind of heartbroken after that happened.”

But he hasn’t given up. Instead he’s working to gather support from others. “When I try again, I think I'll have the public support that I was lacking last time,” Jeff observed.

KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN TO LAUNCH

The Zietlers plan to launch a Kickstarter campaign in September to raise $20,000 to buy equipment and fermenters. If their permits are approved and the Kickstarter campaign is successful, Urban Forage Winery and Cider House will begin making wine and cider in the winter or spring of 2015. 

Follow their progress at http://urbanforagewinery.com/