Anna Pesä Wines
Handcrafted traditional European wines
Anna Pesä wines take the winemaking heritage of fifth generation winemaker Sandi Vojta back to where it began, with her great-great-grandmother, Anna Pesä.
Before immigrating to the Dakota Territory in the late 1800s, Anna made traditional European wines for her family in Moravia, Czechoslovakia. Coincidentally, she left the “old country” when the phylloxera epidemic was taking off throughout Europe and just before it wiped out most European vineyards.
She brought along a few essentials, including her winemaking supplies and the family’s Czech crystal wine glasses. But, when she arrived at her new home near Mound City, she found only prairie berries — chokecherries, buffaloberries, wild plums, and currants — and she had to adapt her winemaking traditions to match the landscape.
At that time, winemaking was a means of saving each summer’s bounty to enjoy during the long, cold winter. Life wasn’t always easy, but the family easily found joy in sipping wine from their Czech crystal glasses.
Many things have changed since our family first settled in Dakota Territory, but not everything. We’re still handcrafting wines following passed-down family recipes and we’re still taking time to stop and enjoy the simple pleasures in life.
From our light bodied, semi-dry Riesling to our pleasant, easy to drink style of Zinfandel, our award-winning Anna Pesä wines are old world wines that are rooted in tradition. They connect the beauty and heritage of our family’s past with the possibilities of today.