Winemaking 101 in the Big Sky

By Kirk Siegler, 11-15-05

	Caption: Rattlesnake Creek Vineyard's Andy Sponseller shows off grapes that will soon become ice wine, a new dessert wine that's in increasing demand. Photo by Kirk Siegler

Global warming may actually help Connie Poten’s business.

Poten and her husband, Andy Sponseller, own and operate Missoula’s Rattlesnake Creek Vineyard and Winery. Without fail, the couple says, up until a few years ago, a freeze would consistently come on Memorial Day and Labor Day, making even the most resistant of grapes, all but impossible to grow.

“And now we don’t get them anymore, and that’s really extended our season another six weeks,� Connie says.

That’s not to say growing grapes and producing quaffable wine is suddenly easy in the Northern Rockies. It took Poten and Sponseller over two years to harvest a sustainable crop of North Country grapes – the varietals common in Northern France that can withstand bouts of sub-zero temperatures. The couple’s small vineyard in Missoula’s Rattlesnake Valley was finally ready by 2000, and commercial winemaking began in 2003.

“We are on the edge, this is the frontier of vineyard life,� Connie explains, “We’re pushing forward with global warming.�

Rattlesnake Creek next year will produce seven different wines, including two separate pinot noirs, its signature Flathead Cherry Dry and a new ice wine. Grapes for the ice wine are still on the vine, even though it’s mid November in Montana. Grapes for the pinots and sauvignon blancs naturally stem from the less harsh climates of California.

But those grapes still come from small, family-owned organic vineyards, like the Rattlesnake’s.

“Conventional agriculture is outdated,� says Casey Louis, the winery’s assistant winemaker, and one of only two other full time employees, besides Poten and Sponseller.

“It ends up killing the soil and you end up paying the price.�

Louis says the winery is active in the local food movement; a push spurred in part by the increase in diseases in the conventional food supply, and the rising costs of transporting produce and other foods across the US.

Rattlesnake Creek is an active supporter of the PEAS program, an offshoot of the University of Montana and Garden City Harvest. To prep for his new life in sustainable agriculture, Andy Sponseller, a former welder and Missoula city councilman, took several courses in organic agriculture. Connie was an active gardener and raised chickens down the road in the Rattlesnake for 20 years. But both longtime Missoulians say, twenty years ago, they wouldn’t have dreamed of opening a winery.

Ten years ago though, things changed, when Connie and two of her neighbors purchased an 80 acre swath of land just beneath the Rattlesnake Recreation Area. At the time, they feared encroaching development would all but gobble up the once agricultural-rich valley beneath the main trailhead.

Today it nearly has.

“We were more interested in making a living doing something agricultural,� Connie says, “and grapes into wine seemed to be the best way to get the most out of your final product.�

Rattlesnake Creek wines are 100% organic, meaning sulfites aren’t added. That’s a distinction that can be good and bad, depending on who you ask in the wine world. For her part, Connie Poten says sulfites can give some wine drinkers headaches even after just one glass. Not to mention, she adds, organic farming practices are arguably safer and more sustainable.

Zoning restrictions prevent Poten and her husband from opening a public tasting room on their property. Ironically, Poten herself has been a vocal supporter of keeping that rural feel of the Rattlesnake, and today she admits it would be nice to have more than just prearranged tastings or tours at her business. The couple one day hopes to open a tasting room downtown instead.

In the meantime, their fledgling wine business continues to grow. Last year Rattlesnake Creek produced close to 2,000 cases for commercial sale. Next year they hope to top 3,500, despite a poor harvest of Flathead cherries.

The couple has inked a deal with a Flathead grower whose new vineyard will soon be providing additional French-American hybrids - grown from Rattlesnake's own grape sticks - to the winery.

Poten and Sponseller hope Montana will one day support more wineries. There are only five commercial wineries in the state, four of which are in the Missoula area. Sponseller believes the Clark Fork River Valley – between Dixon and Plains – would be an ideal setting for more vineyards. It’s Montana’s banana belt, and many think wineries could bring some sustainable economic development to that region.

Still, say Sponseller and Poten, despite its warming temperatures, Montana’s a long way from becoming the next Oregon or Washington, or even nearby Idaho, when it comes to popular and award-winning wines.

Poten doesn’t mince words when asked why more aren’t following she and her husband in Montana.

“Well, because people just aren’t nuts,� Connie Poten jokes. “They want a stable lifestyle.�

Correction: The Rattlesnake Vineyard will be getting grapes from a new vineyard in the Flathead Valley, not cherries as an earlier version of this story stated.

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