1891 Winery brings a taste of yesteryear to Greenwood
Greenwood’s old Centuries on Main building has found new life as 1891 Winery, owned and operated by Chuck and Casey Susa and Dan and Jessica Wolf.
“It’s been a lot of fun to meet all the people that drive through. We’re enjoying it,” said Jessica.
Like many small business ventures, it took patience and determination to bring the idea to life.
“For years, we were looking for land — we were hoping to build a house and then from the house, we would open the winery,” said Casey.
However, the property they were looking at didn’t pan out. As they continued searching, their good friends Jessica and Dan Wolf got involved.
“I’ve never tasted a bad wine that Chuck made,” said Dan. “One day, my accountant came over to my place and says, ‘You should buy a winery up north — Munson Bridge’ (near Withee). So immediately when I heard that, I got ahold of Chuck and said, ‘Hey, you wanna go in on this and buy a winery together?’ I just out of the blue thought of it and I didn’t know he was already thinking about it. So that’s kind of how I got involved with it.”
“We put a lot of effort into our attempt to purchase Munson Bridge,” said Chuck.
However, that plan fell through as well. It was sold to someone else.
“It actually was a good blessing for us, because that was someone else’s baby that they built. So it wouldn’t have been as fulfilling and personal for us to take it on. And we would have had to move out of Greenwood and move on location up there, and it would have been very hard to leave our house and our community,” said Chuck.
The two couples turned their attention to closer locales and contacted multiple agencies in an attempt to acquire land. They had wanted to buy land by the Black River, but to find a piece of land for sale at a reasonable price that they could build a facility on was proving to be challenging.
“Finally we thought, ‘Why don’t we just look at the Centuries building?’” said Chuck. “We were like, ‘Yeah, what the heck? We’ll look at it so then we can at least cross it off the list.’ But when we saw it, we realized, ‘Wow, this could actually work out really well.’” They decided to put in an offer. The previous Centuries owners received multiple offers on the property, but ultimately chose the Susas and Wolfs.
“They liked our idea and what we wanted to do, and we were the only local buyers,” said Chuck.
The Susas and Wolfs purchased the building in November 2022 and began the long process of securing the proper permits to not only sell wine but make their own wine on site — an extensive process with multiple steps at the state, federal and local level. They also worked to clean out the basement to use as the production room. Finally, everything was ready and they opened for customers on Aug. 18.
Chuck has been making wine for years, as a family tradition he inherited.
“It all really started with my mom having a really good crop of grapes years ago. And she asked a neighbor lady what she should do with all these extra grapes and the neighbor told her, ‘Make some wine! That’s what I do.’ So she did. And I kind of picked up where my mom left off,” said Chuck.
He said it’s typically a three-month process to make the wine. Each batch is carefully monitored with a hydrometer to determine how much sugar remains. The liquid also needs to be kept at a consistent temperature.
“It takes time and warmth. The yeast likes it at about 70 degrees,” said Chuck. “The wine will tell you when it’s done.”
As of Aug. 24, they were selling 10 varieties of wine, including seven sweet/semi-sweet varieties and three dry wines. The dry wines are named after early settlers of Greenwood: Lambert Red, Van Dusen Oak and Waterman White.
The Susas and Wolfs try to use locally-sourced products when possible. For example, their cranberries come from Edlen Cranberry Company in Humbird. Other fruit-flavored wines include blackberry, raspberry, peach apricot and strawberry watermelon.
In addition to wine, they have a small selection of beer. They also offer water and soda, cheese, crackers and Clark Electric pizza.
“We’re trying to offer an assortment so even if someone doesn’t like wine, they can still come and enjoy a drink and spending time with their family or friends,” said Casey.
They are also selling local products: 1906 Farmstead Soaps made by Danae Stieglitz and home decor signs made by Jane Braun, Chuck’s grandma, with plans for additional items coming soon.
They chose the name “1891 Winery” because the City of Greenwood was incorporated in 1891.
“We like history. We want to embrace our history and our little town that raised us,” said Chuck. “So that’s why we named it 1891, because it’s really for our town and community.”
Thehistoryof thesmalltownisreflectedeverywhere in the shop, from the furniture to the artwork on the walls even to the names of the wines.
On the walls are enlarged pictures from postcards showing Greenwood scenes from yesteryear. Steve Roberts of the Clark County Historical Society assisted with enlarging the photos. Also displayed are license plates from the 1930s, from Casey’s grandma. Wood for the tables came the large power poles that were taken down south of Loyal and Greenwood. The supports for the rectangular tables are old sewing machines, donated from friends and family members. The spools underneath the round tables came from Clark Electric.
The wood for one of the business signs came from the door of the old Hendrickson House, which belonged to a prominent family in Greenwood. The tin for the letter work on the signs came from a pole shed behind what used to be Speich’s Ford dealership.
The Susas and Wolfs have also endeavored to preserve the history of the building itself as much as possible. For example, there are small holes in the floor from when the building was Hoehne’s Hardware Store and there was rope coming up through the floor from spools in the basement.
The 1891 Winery owners feel it’s important to keep the Greenwood downtown thriving.
“We own some other businesses in Greenwood. Trying to help the community is the biggest thing. We want to keep our local businesses going,” said Jessica.
The Susas and Wolfs said one of the best parts of owning the winery so far has been chatting with the patrons that come in. They’ve already had folks visit from out of state and even someone from Japan who happened to be in the area. Some people like to go winery hopping and look for specific flavors. Others just enjoy having a fun place to socialize.
“We just want it to be a nice, relaxing lounge. It’s been very rewarding and fulfilling to see it open. It’s nice to see people talking, hanging out, relaxing and just having a good time,” said Chuck.
“That first Friday night we opened, there was just so much laughter. And laughter really is great medicine. It’s been a very positive atmosphere,” said Jessica.
The Susas and Wolfs are excited to watch this adventure unfold. They extended their appreciation and gratitude to Jeff Bemis of Bemis Bluff Winery in Eleva.
“He served as a mentor and really helped us to navigate the whole process,” said Chuck.
The business address is 105 N. Main St., Greenwood. Since the owners are employed full-time outside of the winery, the winery’s hours will be on the weekends, including Fridays from 4–7 p.m., Saturdays from 11 a.m.–6 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Additionally, they will be open for Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys games. Jessica’s son-in-law Jorden Anderson will also periodically play guitar and sing there.
They plan to be open from April or May through December each year. Along with the regular hours, they plan to have extra hours for holidays such as New Year’s or Valentine’s Day. They also are looking at distributing their wine to various area retailers.
For the latest updates, follow “1891 Winery” on Facebook. You can also message them with any questions.
Prior to it being 1891 Winery, Michelle Lucas and Tonia Wuethrich ran the floral and gift shop Centuries on Main at that location for approximately 15 years.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO AND BY VALORIE BRECHT/STAFF
