At Colorado's East Canon prison complex, inmates have taken their winemaking to the next, and legal, level by creating a chardonnay blush with hints of a sweet bouquet. However, this wine will not serve as a fine accompaniment to their meals. 

Across 28 acres of vineyard, East Canon inmates can be seen plucking grapes just before they ripen. Once harvested, they are shipped to the Holy Cross Abbey Winery where vintners blend a combination of white and red grapes into their own Wild Canon Harvest.

“It's a fun, sweet wine,” says Abbey Winery owner Larry Oddo. “I call it my cotton candy wine; it has a scent of strawberries and cotton candy. It's a wine supported by the community, too. People love it, not only because the grapes come from the inmates, but because it tastes good.”

Since 2001, Abbey Winery has purchased plucked grapes from the self-funded Colorado Correctional Industries program, a division of the Colorado DOC that employs pre-release inmates.

“We are always looking for ways to put inmates to work, and for us this is a cash crop. It brings in more money every year, it's labor intensive and it keeps our offender population busy,” says Steve Smith, CCI's agriculture business manager.

Typically, CCI will produce three to four tons of grapes per acre, or about 112 tons every season. Depending on the fruit's quality, each ton can be worth between $800 to $1,000.  Last year, the more than 1,000 cases of Wild Canon Harvest were produced from sloped prison acreage.

In the vineyards, typically 15 to 30 inmates prune grapes for eight hour shifts. When harvesting time comes, 40 more inmates are added to the project. 

“Initially, we started off with seven acres of Chardonnay, and we've recently added another 21 acres to grow white zinfandel, cabernet and merlot,” Smith explains. “We're experimenting to see what works in our climate.”

The vineyards are a productive and profitable venture for the CDOC and CCI, but Smith says that some grapes do not flourish in the Colorado environment.

“We're constantly training and learning. There is such a small window to prune grapes in. You can prune apples for months, but grapes can only be pruned until March,” Smith explains. “The abbey has been a great help to us. They help us train the inmates and they let us know where we can improve. We realized very early on that you cannot just tell someone to prune a grape plant. It's a delicate process.”

CCI's early attempts at a merlot vineyard have not been very successful, while recent growth spurts of Riesling grapes have proved profitable. In an effort to produce the best grapes possible, inmates and officials recently installed a drip irrigation system in the vineyard and this year, CCI anticipates producing more grapes than the abbey can handle.

“The irrigation system has really helped us,” says Smith. “It allows us to control the amount of water each plant gets. We're really focusing on having the right slope to the ground which affects the way the grapes grow, and we've also ensured that there is a lot of drainage so the plants don't sit in water. We're focusing on quality over quantity.”

As the DOC and CCI make strides to improve the quality of their wine crop, abbey officials say they have seen constant improvements in grapes over the last three years.

“We're continuing to work with the DOC to see what will work,” says Oddo. “Overall, though, this partnership is working out pretty well and we're encouraging the DOC to become more involved in the industry. Obviously, this is a very specialized industry, but if the DOC continues to focus on training, it could be very lucrative.”

Even though the prison vineyard requires constant upkeep and care, Smith says the project is a great fit for corrections.

“I would certainly recommend this program to other states if their climate allows for it,” says Smith. “If you're looking for something that puts a lot of inmates to work, this is it. Start out with five acres and see where that goes. Then you can grow into it, so to speak.”


Resources:

The Abbey Winery: www.abbeywinery.com

Colorado Correctional Industries: http://www.cijvp.com/