2023:027:036 Two bottles of wine from Valiant Vineyards. Bottle on left is "Courage" and bottle on right is "Northern Valor".
“Wine is a passport to the World.” -Thom Elkjer
Wine has woven itself into history for thousands of years. When it was dangerous to drink water for fear of contamination, wine proved the safer alternative. Since 1996, South Dakota has allowed wineries to grow and enter commercial production. Today’s What’s New Wednesday artifact celebrates South Dakota’s first winery, Valiant Vineyards of Vermillion. Eldon Nygaard, a former professor of Political Science at USD and a fifth-generation vintner (winemaker), wrote the legislation for the South Dakota Farm Winery Act that went into effect July 1, 1996. Beginning in 1993, Nygaard worked with Dr. Anne Fennell of SDSU to choose cold-hardy varieties of grapes, including SDSU professor Dr. Robert Peterson’s propagated grape, Valiant. Valiant Vineyards boasts the bonded winery number, BW-SD-1, as well as South Dakota License No. FW-1. It still takes pride in making South Dakota wine by bringing in Leif Nygaard, Eldon’s son and sixth-generation vintner.
This commemorative wooden box holds two wine bottles from 1996, Courage, a white table wine and Northern Valor, a red table wine. Courage is described on the bottle, “Courage is a blend of white French Hybrid grapes: Kay Gray 25%, La Crosse 26%, and Seyval 49%. This wine has been barrel aged to achieve a toasty aroma. It is semi-dry and should be served chilled.” Northern valor is described as “Northern Valor is a blend of red French Hybrid grapes: Valiant 51%, Foch 24%, Chancellor 10%, and De Chaunac 15%. This wine has been barrel aged to achieve a smoky aroma. It semi-dry and should be served at room temperature.”
If a wine shows the world, South Dakota is worth a stamp on the passport.