Park Farm Winery | Bankston, Iowa Winery

Vineyard

Park Farm’s eleven-acre estate vineyard grows specific ‘cold climate’ grape cultivars – from Old World French-hybrids to several newer developments at the University of Minnesota that produce great wine and withstand the harsh winters of the Upper Midwest. Our grape cultivars are also able to produce ripe fruit within the constraints of Iowa’s shortened growing season. This is why guests are often unfamiliar with our grapes’ names. Cultivars like Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon are simply unable to survive or produce quality fruit in our region.

We grow three white grape cultivars – LaCrosse, LaCrescent, and St. Pepin – and three red grape cultivars – Maréchal Foch, St. Croix, and Marquette. We also maintain a small number of other varietals, including Frontenac and Leon Millot.

Amenities

Tasting Room

A tasting room and retail shop that are open year round. Tastings are intimate and informative, as our tasting staff is both well versed in Park Farm wines and knowledgeable of the worldwide wine industry.

Pizza

What could possibly be a better addition to a bottle of wine than gourmet pizza?

Gourmet wood-fired pizza, baked in our on-site brick oven from Italy. Park Farm’s newest addition was made with the ever-growing "foodie" culture in mind. Our gourmet pizzas are made to-order, with over twenty toppings to choose from.

Events

Park Farm has set itself apart as one of the Dubuque area’s top picks for event hosting. We offer various rental spaces that can perfectly accommodate anything from an intimate dinner party to a 200-guest wedding reception. With an on-site catering kitchen, we offer special deals with local caterers whom we feel are exceptional at their craft.

Past events held at Park Farm have included wedding ceremonies and receptions, rehearsal dinners, showers, birthday and anniversary parties, benefits, and charity fundraisers.

Grapes

LaCrosse

White wine

Blue to black grapes with mild cherry, plum and dark berry notes with medium acidity and low tannin.

LaCrescent

White wine

Yellow/gold grapes with intense apricot, peach, and citrus aromas with high acidity

St. Pepin

White wine

Green to gold, large berry grapes. It has unusually thick skin, which makes it a good candidate for making Ice Wine

Maréchal Foch

Red wine

Produces blue to black grapes with mild cherry, plum and dark berry notes with medium acidity and low tannin

St. Croix

Red wine

Dark blue to black grapes of large berry size with low acidity and tannin. When harvested early, the St. Croix produces a wine with berry fruit notes and an earthy undertone.

Marquette

Red wine

One of cold climate’s most promising new cultivars, Marquette has small dark blue to black berries with rich cherry and berry fruit notes, medium acidity, and medium tannin.

Frontenac

Red wine

Frontenac produces very dark black berries with a distinctive cherry aroma and hints of plum and other berry notes, high acidity, and low tannin. Wine produced from this grape have and bright cherry fruit aroma.

Leon Millot

Red wine

A sister seedling to Marechal Foch. Produces similar grapes to the Foch with two major differences: it sets a loose cluster, and ripens about a week earlier than the Foch.

Family History

Park Farm can trace its origins all the way back to 1991, when Dave and Liz Cushman – and two of Liz’s siblings and their spouses – purchased 147 acres of former pastureland west of Dubuque.

Over the years, the property was transformed into a country retreat for the three families, as they established hiking trails, picnic areas, and even built a couple small structures. In 1999, Dave and Liz bought the property outright, and began transforming it in earnest.

They built a small lake and established a large vegetable garden, but still felt the need to do something more productive with the land.

An opportunity arose one day when Liz went to buy a tree at a local hardware store where she happened upon a viticulturist. "Grape growing?" Liz questioned, "You must not get a lot of work around here." At this point the viticulturist opened Liz's eyes to the potential of the emerging industry, planting a seed from which an idea could take off.

Dave and Liz started small, planning to grow a modest-sized vineyard and sell its fruit to a winery, to keep them busy in retirement. Little did they realize that this small endeavor would pique the interest of their children who were spreading out across the country and the world.

Interested in plans for a winery, Dave and Liz's eldest son Dave W. moved back with his family from Colorado to use his civil engineering and construction background to build the winery in early 2004. Soon after Tom, the second oldest, followed by Jim, both moved back from Minnesota to help with construction.

After completion of the winery, Jim became the vineyard manager, Dave General Manager and Annie, the oldest daughter, came back from missionary work in Chile in late 2004 to help with the tasting room and event management on a part-time basis. Soon after Annie married and moved to LaCrosse WI.

The youngest children Mary and Will have become involved in recent history. Mary now works the tasting bar, events and the pizza kitchen when she is not going to class at Loras. Will, a recent grad from Colgate has been putting his journalism major to work helping out with the marketing and the PR aspects of the winery.

Dave (son) and Jim remain involved full-time with the winery and vineyard operations. Jim oversees the vineyard and Dave the winery. Dave (Father) and Liz remain intimately involved, overseeing accounting and operations (Dave), and providing plenty of creative inspiration and cooking during our Sunday Night Toast and Jam events (Liz). Figuratively and physically Park Farm Winery was built by the Cushman family.