Vineyard may one day make altar wine

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
Sept. 28, 2006

WILLEY - A native of the Diocese of Sioux City and her husband have planted grape vines near St. Mary's Church in Willey to start a vineyard and winery.

John and Rose Guinan had looked for a place to plant vines for about a year before finding the land in Willey. Rose, whose maiden name is Wendl, grew up in Carroll, which is not too far from Willey.

"The last six or so years I have been making wine," said John. "We have six kids and they are getting older and going off. Circumstances worked out where I was given an opportunity, financial and time wise, to look at doing something I like to do."

"I got there and instead of going to the land (west), I had a strong desire to go the opposite direction and go east," said Rose. "It was there that I found an old classmate. I got to talking to her and she asked what I was doing back in Willey. I told her I was looking around for some land."

Dennis and Sue (Rose's classmate) Rieselman sold the Guinans the land in October of 2005.

"The fact that it was right next to the church and that it was the absolute perfect slope and good sunshine available on it was everything we were looking for," said Rose. "The ability to go to Mass everyday at St. Mary's - the church I grew up in and the church John and I were married in - was just fantastic."

She continued that she has a peaceful feeling about being back close to home and "it feels like the right place to be."

The couple has 10 acres of land, a little over five of the acres are vineyard. There are 3,100 vines, 1,600 posts and 84,000 feet of wire.

The winery is called Santa Maria Vineyard and Winery. It will be a Tuscan-style winery, mentioned John.

"When we were getting ready to plant, we had 2,500 vines coming in," said John. "That is a lot of holes to dig and a lot of vines. We had never done anything on that scale. We put a notice up at St. Mary's that we were having a vine planting festival. Anybody who would be interested in helping us plant vines was welcome."

They planted on April 22 of this year and will be able to produce wine from the crop by 2008. According to John, there were about 50 or 60 people that showed up to help plant the vines. They provided lunch and a catered dinner for the volunteers.

"All the nuns at the convent came to help. Father McCormick came out to bless the field for us and also blessed the water tanks," said John. "He said now we have plenty of holy water - about 15,000 gallons of it."

Also as part of the day, those gathered helped take down a fence that separated the winery from the church.

"The work ethic here is absolutely incredible," said John. "They just said lets take the fence out and they turned and took the fence out. Our property flows right into the church property."

As part of the winery business, the Guinans would eventually like to make altar wine.

"When I first started making wine, I thought it would be wonderful to make altar wine," said John. "The fruit of the vine, the work of human hands. To basically make something that then is turned into the body of Christ, is perhaps one of the highest things you can do."

John has been researching what the regulations are. He went on the Internet and asked people, but he was not able to find a straight forward answer.

"I went to Canon Law and it says, 'made from grapes' - altar wine should be made from only grapes," said John. "It is a pretty rigorous requirement. You can't add anything, except possibly sulfate to keep it from putrefying."

He pointed out that "altar wine should be purchased from reputable companies or families that are faithful to the Catholic Church."

"What the Canon Law commentary said is if the wine has things added to it, it makes it invalid for purposes of the Mass," said John. "The Mass is a double consecration - bread and wine. Both matters have to be valid."

Rose thinks it is exciting that they have the possibility to make altar wine.

"It is more than I ever imagined to be able to do," said Rose.

Not only have John and Rose been working on the vineyard, but their daughter Michelle has been helping with the business as well.

When the winery is finished, the couple will live in the upstairs of the building. It will be a three-story structure. The basement will be the winery and the first floor will be a tasting room and event center.

"This is really a gift. This is really the place that we are supposed to be," said John.

John added that they are "just the caretakers" and the winery is there for people to enjoy. People are welcome to go and walk through the vineyard.

"We have all sorts of plans once it is in to use it for a number of things such as retreats," said John. "There are groups like Rachel's Vineyard and other groups that might be interested in having retreats out here."

Santa Maria Vineyard and Winery will open sometime in 2007. John explained it is not until the third season (2008) that the vines planted this year will produce at commercial level. The vines will be in full production after five years.