Santa Maria coming to downtown Carroll
Winery originally planned for Willey going to former Wittrock Motors site

By BUTCH HEMAN
Staff Writer



John and Rose Guinan had an epiphany while planning construction of their winery.

The Guinans, who planted a vineyard at Willey in 2006 and intended to build a three-story Tuscan winery there, were learning last year that the proverbial rule of three was proving true: the project was requiring three times as much work, taking three times as long and costing three times as much as they'd expected.

"The cost of new construction is just so high, especially when you've got to put a lot of infrastructure in," John said. "We found it was going to cost 30 percent more than we expected to build in Willey."

John and Rose were driving down U.S. 30 in Carroll last summer and glanced at the former Wittrock Motors property at the Carroll Street intersection.

"We thought that would be a nice place to have a winery," Rose, a native of Willey, said.

How right they were.

The site's in a downtown that recently had its streetscape renovated, is a block away from the restored railroad depot, sits along the historic Lincoln Highway and is a property of historical significance to Carroll.

"There was this 'Duh" moment of why hadn't someone put a winery there before," John said with a laugh.

The Guinans viewed the property, which except for the Chamber of Commerce's temporary stay last year had been vacant since mid-2005 when Wittrock moved to a new dealership at the junction of U.S. Highways 71 and 30.

"It was just absolutely perfect for what we wanted to do," John said.

They began negotiating to buy in September and assumed ownership on Wednesday.

The Guinans' architect is working on plans to have the Wittrock building accommodate a winery. They hope to have the work done in time for a September opening.

Folks in Willey shouldn't worry, however. Santa Maria Vineyard and Winery isn't abandoning your community. In fact, the Guinans are planning a building for the vineyard, located south of the St. Mary Parish where the business got its name, so tours and wine tastings can be held there.

John says Santa Maria will be just the second winery located inside the city limits of an Iowa city.

The former Wittrock property is zoned commercial, and the Guinans say they'll be good downtown neighbors.

"That yeast," used for fermentation of grape juice into wine, "isn't very loud," John quipped.

"It'll be great to have the winery downtown, especially with the depot there and what Carroll County State Bank will be doing with their greenspace," Rose added.

The only change the Guinans plan for the exterior look of the Wittrock property is to build a 10- to 12-foot wall to enclose the front parking area to minimize traffic noise and so they can develop an Italian piazza.

Santa Maria presently offers five table wines that have been blended from eight wines.

Red Twilight and Midnight White are dry wines with no residual sugar, Carroll County Red and Swan Lake White are semi-dry with 2-3 percent residual sugar and Willey White is a dessert wine with 5 percent residual sugar.

The Guinans fermented their first wines at a temporary facility on an acreage south of Willey from grape juice purchased from California, New York and Oregon.

Much of that equipment will be moved to the Wittrock facility, although the business will be adding new crushing equipment, larger tanks and an automated bottling line. John said a portable bottling line might be purchased so Santa Maria can sell that service to other wineries.

"We'll need to fortify the floors for some 2,000-gallon stainless-steel tanks and do some other work inside," he said. "We just love the building with its bricks, the tiled roof, the metal ceilings, all the woodwork, the big garage and the large basement storage area."

Vines planted at Willey in 2006 will yield their first wine-ready grapes this year. Santa Maria will also purchase grapes raised by several farmers in the Willey and Carroll areas, although those won't be ready until next year.

John said the winery will be buying more grape juice this year in anticipation of the move to Carroll and the expanded production the Wittrock property will offer.

Santa Maria wines are available at several retailers in Carroll