Our Story
Promoting innovative viticulture and winemaking techniques since 2003
We never meant to start a winery…
Well, we did, but more so as a retired hobby supplying ourselves as well as family and friends with fun fruit wines and local experimental creations.
But as they usually do, one thing led to another and here we are 22 years later operating a fully functional and expanding winery and research center, right here in Fargo, ND. Who would’ve thought?
Owned and operated by the Ballinger family, Rod and Sue Ballinger moved onto the property back in 2003.
In our humble beginning, we produced mainly fruit wines (ex. wine made from chokecherries), but since 2010 we have been solely devoted to exploring cold-climate grapes and their capacity to produce fine wine here in the Fargo-Moorhead region.
Thus, Bear Creek Winery was officially started and remains one of the original wineries in the Red River Valley.
Now, we are proud to say we happily process and produce roughly 30 tons of grapes per year…
(that’s 20,000 bottles of wine)
We specialize in dry blends (both red and white) using cold climate grapes that are specifically designed to survive our harsh Midwestern winters. These unique hybrid grape varieties are a mix of the local ancient river grape found in the Red River Valley (Vitis Riparia) and the classic European species (Vitis Vinifera, ex. Chardonnay).
Because of that hybrid mix, these grapes are dually characterized by the unique ability to withstand crazy harsh conditions, while offering the beautiful fruit qualities we know and love from table wine.
After years of experimentation, we have intentionally chosen grape varieties that are best suited to the wine styles we make. Our grape varieties include Petite Pearl, Crimson Pearl, Verona, Frontenac, Frontenac Gris, Itasca, La Cresscent, and Marquette.
Bear Creek through the years…
