Central Iowa’s growing wine industry is due in part to several ISU alumni.

Tim Clark and Matt Nissen, managers of Prairie Moon Winery in Ames, 3801 West 190th St., both graduated from Iowa State, though they received degrees in different areas.

Clark earned a degree in horticulture and later got a master’s degree in agricultural education.

He explained that he became interested in wine when he worked in a Michigan grocery store in the wine department.

“I loved wine, and I thought it was a great thing for the state of Iowa,” Clark said.

He moved back to Iowa and began planting vines for Prairie Moon Winery in 2000.

The winery has been open since August 2006.

According to Nissen, whose parents own the winery, the business started out as a hobby.

“My dad grew grapes one year and decided to keep going,” he said. “It was one of those things where a hobby turned into an idea, which turned into a business.”

Nissen, who earned his degree from Iowa State in hospitality management, said he decided to join in his parents’ winery business because he thought it was a good opportunity.

“I thought it would be good to see it start from the ground,” Nissen said. “I did everything when we first started out, like planting the first vines and distributing our wine.”

The hobby-turned-business currently sells its wine to 80 places across the state.

Those places include grocery stores, liquor stores and some local specialty shops.

Prairie Moon Winery is currently the only winery in Iowa making ice wine.

“It’s when you leave the grapes on the vines until the temperature drops to around 13 degrees Fahrenheit,” Clark said.

“It’s a risky process to grow in this climate because we can lose quite a bit of grapes.”

Nissen added that many of their vines are organic.

“All of them were at one point,” he said, but problems with beetles forced them to change their practices.

“We try to be as organic as we can, but we can’t jeopardize our crops,” Nissen said. “We use sustainable practices. We recycle all excess skins and stems.”

Another major part of Prairie Moon Winery are the events that take place there.

Each Sunday during the summer, the winery hosts live music events for the public.

The summer also brings many weddings, receptions, rehearsal dinners and showers.

Throughout the year, the winery hosts events, such as corporate business meetings and ISU department functions.

For example, they are preparing to host a banquet for agriculture education majors.

Rob Secor, who graduated from Iowa State in 2008, is currently working on founding and building his own winery in Fort Dodge, just 70 miles northwest of Ames.

While pursuing a degree in horticulture, Secor and his father, who already owned a farm, explored horticultural and agricultural possibilities.

“We saw a budding wine industry [in Iowa],” he said.

Secor explained that his family farm had “tons of land, and we were ready to diversify.”

They were also trying to get out of a shrinking hog industry.

While at Iowa State, Secor said he applies what he learned about vine varieties to planting in Iowa climate and continues to learn.

“The vines for Iowa’s climate are much more cold-tolerant than many of the varieties that many people have heard of,” Secor said.

Contrary to what one might think, the problems he has faced have had little to do with the harsh climate in the state.

“It is very difficult to start with the size [of land] that we started with and only have family and close family friends to help get us off the ground,” Secor said.

His winery, tentatively named Soldier Creek Winery, will open next year.