Region2

In 1993, David Fansler, started his first winery, Rocky Hill Winery, in Montrose CO. It was approximately three times the size of the present winery in Missouri. The Colorado winery was moved, in its entirety, in June of 2003, renamed Grey Bear Vineyards & Winery, and opened for business in the spring of 2005.

Before he got into the wine business, he attended Blackburn College in central Illinois, worked for AT&T during the summer and then he went into full-time farming on the family farm: corn, soybeans and hogs. In 1980, he and his (late) wife moved to Montrose, Colorado, to be part-time farmers. They raised horses, cattle and opened a machine shop, which David had been doing part-time for 20 years.

David also served 18 years with the Montrose County Sheriff’s Posse in Colorado and is currently a First Responder and Volunteer Fire Fighter at Station 2 in Stover, Morgan County, Missouri. David’s experience also included owning a restaurant for five years. “We made good money but got home at 1:30 a.m. most nights and had no time to enjoy our success."

They began growing grapes in 1990 and, in the fall of 1993, started the winery and closed the restaurant. In the process, they bought and sold parcels of land to expand the vineyard. After planting a small vineyard in Montrose, they soon rented, and subsequently bought, another piece of land near Grand Junction, Colorado, that contained vinifera grapes planted in 1982. Soon they were selling grapes to other wineries and retaining the remainder for their production.

During the 1992 and 1993 semesters, David attended the University of California at Davis taking classes in chemistry, oenology, and viticulture, to gain knowledge on growing grapes and winemaking. "There's a challenging learning curve in this business," David said. You have to experiment. Each winemaker has his or her own style. No one makes a bad wine; there are simply some that you like better than others.” “Our wines have won four gold medals, two silvers and three bronze,” all before 2004. “We’ve done pretty well. In Colorado, Riesling, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Gewurztraminer, Muscat Canelli and Seyval Blanc make up most of the vineyard, among others.

David was widowed in 2000. He and his wife, Marschall, were married in the fall of 2001. She had worked with attorneys for most of her career but four of the last few years had her working in various capacities in a high end resort rounding out her experience in the hospitality industry. “We just hit it right off when we met,” David said. “While dating, I knew after meeting her that she was the one.” “We had an old-fashioned 1880’s cowboy wedding. The men were dressed in Old West style clothing, all wearing vintage style single-action revolvers. The women wore Victorian style dresses rented from a theater costume company out of Durango, Colorado.”

We found our new winery location by chance,” David said. “We wanted to build on the vineyard in Colorado, but found the cost of living too high and red tape too long. There are 14 different government agencies to go through for permits. We looked at vineyard properties in Oregon, Wyoming and New Mexico. On a whim, we took off for Missouri after spotting the small Missouri vineyard in a real estate brochure. Seventeen driving hours later landed us in Sedalia to meet the real estate agent.

We visited the vineyard and saw the quality potential and the good condition of the house and grounds. It is hard to find a well-maintained vineyard and we were very impressed. We closed on it in march 2003 and decided it was a perfect place to semi-retire. We have 3.5 acres in vineyards and nearby rent another couple of acres in vines. A fellow grape grower in Hermann will be supplying more grapes for our production and we will also be utilizing grapes from our former Colorado operation. I want to be semi-retired and enjoy life,” he said. “We have hobbies of snow skiing, scuba diving and kayaking that we would like to pursue, in addition to enjoying Single-Action Shooting Society (S.A.S.S.) practice.” The Fanslers have two children, a son and a daughter, and five grandchildren.

David and Marschall have chosen a Deltec design for their winery and restaurant after attending a three-day training seminar in November 2003 in Asheville, NC, to learn more about the design and construction. Their decision was made after researching alternative construction methods such as log, modular, strawbale, rammed earth and adobe but settled on the superior design of a round open space design. The structure consists of 20 panels each eight feet long. The design of the structure is built to withstand hurricane force winds. Homes similar to this design are built along ocean coastlines because of this quality. The basement is where the winery operations occur and is constructed of seven inches of reinforced concrete sandwiched between three-inch layers of expanded polystyrene insulation. This component is often referred to as “ice block” construction due to the appearance. It has a 50R+ insulation rating and will help reduce underground piping costs.

“The first time the cement truck drivers saw the ice blocks, they placed bets that it would collapse,” David laughed. “After seeing the completed basement made of those 13 foot high sections, I should’ve taken them up on the offer.” The round design with no structural bearing walls on the interior makes it unique. The roof is completely self-supporting with a free-space joist system. You have over 2000 square feet of open floor space to live in with this style. The panelized construction goes up faster than regular construction methods, usually within two to three weeks after the foundation is laid.” There are two known Deltec homes in the lake area of similar design, but neither has the unique basement construction used at Grey Bear Vineyards and Winery. The Black Canyon Ale House Brewery & restaurant on the 1st floor over the winery has 360 degree views that overlook the vineyard. Future plans include a 2400 watt photovoltaic panels and wind generating system to help reduce the environmental impact on the winery. The system will also allow electricity to be run back into the electric grid to reduce electrical bills.