Holy Grail Winery wants to move to Warren County

By Adam Rollins, Record Staff Writer
Posted 11/7/19

The owners of a winery near Augusta say they have outgrown their current location and want to move their business to Warren County. Lonnie and Sharon Stonebraker, who own Holy Grail Winery, laid out …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Holy Grail Winery wants to move to Warren County

Posted

The owners of a winery near Augusta say they have outgrown their current location and want to move their business to Warren County.Lonnie and Sharon Stonebraker, who own Holy Grail Winery, laid out plans for a new location in Holstein during a meeting with the Warren County Planning and Zoning Commission on June 15.The Stonebrakers need a conditional use permit (CUP) to establish the winery and have retail sales at their new site. The winery would be at the southeast corner of Highway N and Mill Road.“Holy Grail’s atmosphere is a quiet, relaxed setting with quiet music,” Lonnie Stonebraker said. “In expanding into Warren County, Holy Grail’s principles will remain the same.”Day to day, smooth jazz is the music of choice at their winery, he said.The site would be built to accommodate 50 to 75 vehicles, Sharon Stonebraker said, although the owners did not have a solid prediction of how many individual customers they could host at one time.After prompting from commission members, who regularly include restrictions on the number of guests as part of CUPs, Sharon said they probably would have a maximum of 125 people.“We’re a boutique winery. We would like to stay that way,” she said. “We’re not interested in large crowds.”Eventually, the Stonebrakers plan for their winery to be available for weddings and other special events. That could change the amount of noise and style of music coming from the venue.The Stonebrakers intend to renovate an existing structure at the site for use as the winery building. They would also add a large tent to be able to host special events.The owners said they plan for the new winery to be the same type of venue as their current location in Augusta, and that any Holstein residents who have concerns can go to Augusta to see what it’s like for themselves.Lonnie Stonebraker said his family has a long history of winemaking in this area, and that he has been making wine for 30 years. Holy Grail Winery was established in Augusta in 2012 and currently also has a vineyard in Dutzow, he said.If their CUP is approved, the Stonebrakers will be required to plant another vineyard at the site of the new Holy Grail in Holstein. That’s because Warren County zoning code requires a business to both grow grapes and make wine at the same location to be considered a winery.Neighbors’ reactionHolstein residents who attended the planning and zoning meeting had mixed reactions to the idea of a new winery. Some said they don’t mind, as long as the customers don’t cause any trouble or traffic accidents. One man who spoke out, though, said getting away from the wineries in Augusta was the reason his family moved to Holstein.Jerome Struckhoff said he had lived in Augusta all his life, and he and his wife lived there together for 13 years before they moved.“When wineries first started moving into Augusta, it was fine,” Struckhoff said. “Then as more wineries moved in, the city people (came). I’m not denying it was good for the town of Augusta, as far as tourism goes, but for the people who grew up there their whole lives, it just became a total fiasco.”On the other hand, David Schomberg, who said he has lived all his life in Holstein, remarked that it would be nice to have a business bring new life to the town. Schomberg lives next to the proposed winery site.“I remember when Holstein had the church and the school, two garages and grocery stores. I would like to see something liven Holstein back up,” Schomberg said. “What I have on the other side of me is a junkyard. ... I would much rather see a vineyard than junk cars.”Planning and zoning commissioners did not act on the CUP proposal, following their normal procedure to set out the permit conditions at their next meeting July 20.The meeting will be open to the public, but no additional public comment will be accepted during the meeting.Winery


X