One of the owners of the Maple River Winery in Casselton credits the state’s Pride of Dakota program with helping him grow the business.
Greg Kemple and his wife own the winery and distillery. Maple River Winery began in 2002.
"I was young and naive," Kemple said. "We were like, 'OK -- let's start a small and simple hobby."
Kemple said from that humble beginning, the business has grown.
"When we first started, our goal was to make about 1000 bottles of wine," Kemple said. "This year, we're going to be over 30,000 bottles of wine, and 15,000 bottles of spirits."
Maple River now has three storefronts in downtown Casselton. And Kemple said he’s now shipping wine all over.
"Now it's not uncommon when we open up e-mail in the morning, to look at the Internet orders, and we see wine being shipped to Napa Valley, New York City, Washington, DC," Kemple said. "It's very, very humbling to see."
Kemple said joining the Pride of Dakota program helped make that possible.
There are now a number of wineries across North Dakota.