With city approval in hand, Afton vintner plans tasting room

The city of Afton passed a new ordinance this week that allows farm wineries to hold wine tastings and to sell bottles of wine, a change that brings the city closer to what’s allowed under the state’s farm winery license statute. The less restrictive policy was lobbied for by Cody Kaye, the Afton vintner behind Yellow House Vineyard, who hopes to offer tastings next year for small groups at his 3-acre vineyard.

“It will be reservation only kind of tasting,” Kaye said, “more of a speakeasy kind of vibe.”

The amendment passed 3-1, with Council Member Randy Nelson dissenting. The ordinance allows off-sale during the tastings but not outside those hours. The city’s Planning Commission approved the ordinance at an earlier meeting after discussing how the city could limit hours of operation, allow the business to choose which days to operate and what sort of off-street parking requirements would be needed.

Kaye would still need to apply for a conditional-use permit, a process that would allow the city to set further guidelines for Kaye’s vineyard, which sits in a residential area.

The change to the city’s farm winery ordinance means that other agricultural businesses in Afton could offer something similar, said Mayor Bill Palmquist, including The Elm Tree Farm, which makes a hard cider from five varieties of apples.

The ordinance amendment was welcomed by Kaye, who planted his vines 10 years ago as a college freshman. He expects some 20,000 to 30,000 pounds of grapes this year on family land that he cleared of buckthorn and restored to prairie. The land sits near Afton’s Bissell Mounds, three geological features capped with limestone formed millions of years ago. The limestone sand found nearby makes excellent soil for grape growing, said Kaye, who studied winemaking at the University of Minnesota.

Kaye said he’s not selling wine right now, but has instead developed a niche product of wine jelly that’s found space on the shelves at Kowalski’s, Hy-Vee, Country Market and other grocery stores. He plans to use revenue from the sale of his non-alcoholic Yellow House wine jelly to fund the construction of a building at his vineyard that would house a winemaking operation and tasting room. He hopes to open in late 2025 or early 2026.

“It’s been trial by fire,” he said.