Lake City, Minn. -- John and Barb Marshall's seven-and-a half acre vineyard across the road from Lake Pepin has grown into a Highway 61 stopping-off point. "Peoplecome and just walk around the place and look," John says. "We love that."

The Marshalls own and operate Great River Vineyards in Goodhue County where they grow table and wine grapes and raspberries. They also press grapes for juice and grape jelly, and that's where AURI stepped in four years ago.

In 1993, the Marshalls met Bill Stoll, then AURI general manager in Waseca. AURI had just awarded the University of Minnesota a grant to look at the characteristics and consumer acceptance of cold-hardy grape cultivars. Looking over the study's positive results, the Marshalls decided to try pressing grapes.

Stoll encouraged them to apply for an AURI loan to install USDA-approved equipment at the vineyard, including a crusher, juice pump, press and gravity bottler. They pressed their first grapes in the fall of 1994.

"We found the market for both the table grapes and grape juice grew more quickly than we expected," John says. "The limiting factor is the availability of Minnesota-grown grapes."

Demand for Minnesota grapes is much greater than supply, with only 100 acres of grapes, 20 commercial growers and three wineries in the state. Grape vines take four or five years to mature, and few in Minnesota have the knowledge or experience to grow them commercially -- something the Marshalls would like to change. They're actively seeking out more growers.

As a young adult, John became fascinated with growing grapes when he helped his father plant a vineyard in St. Paul. At the University of Minnesota, he discovered that in the 1850s Minnesota settlers brought Concord and Delaware grapes from the eastern United States; they buried vines in trenches over winter to keep them from freezing.

Around the turn of the century, the U of M started a grape hybridization program. Hundreds of grape crosses were made, and researchers developed four hybrids that tasted sweet and could survive Minnesota winters.

One of those hybrids was "Bluebell." A horticultural technician who knew of John's interest suggested propagating one of the last Bluebell vines left in Minnesota, which John did at his father's St. Paul vineyard. When the Marshalls moved to Lake City, they brought the Bluebell with them. "We really love it," John says. "It's hardy to at least 35 degrees below zero."

In the last four years, the couple has experienced two extreme winters that injured vines. Nevertheless, they've continued to increase the size of their vineyard and now have about 1,500 Bluebell and Valiant grapevines.

The weather was perfect for grape harvest in 1997 -- the temperatures remained moderate, and the grapes "ripened beautifully," John says. The Marshalls harvested four to five tons of grapes, and made just over 600 gallons of grape juice. "We've had our best year ever."

It takes 12 pounds of Bluebells or 15 pounds of Valiants to press one gallon of grape juice. The fresh juice is cooled in a stainless steel bulk tank, then bottled and sold off the farm, at the Rochester Farmers Market and in several Twin Cities co-ops, including Mississippi Market, Hampden Park Foods, North Country and Linden Hills.

The Marshalls want to expand markets, but until they can get more Minnesota grapes, there isn't much point. "We had to quit selling table grapes the first week of October just because we were out of grapes," Johns says. "That's the thing that limits us."

As secretary for the Minnesota Grape Growers Association, John has also fought for more grape research funds. A hybridization program under the direction of U of M viticulturist Peter Hemstad has delivered a number of cold-hardy varieties that look promising. Last year, efforts by the grape growers convinced the Minnesota legislature to fund a U of M enologist (wine maker), and an experimental winery is being set up.

Ultimately called "Appetize," the product is an all-natural, patented blend of cholesterol-removed animal fat and vegetable oil. Kiley worked with scientist K. C. Hayes from Brandeis University in Boston, Mass. to develop Appetize. Once they discovered Appetize reduced blood cholesterol in lab animals, Kiley asked Craig Hassel, a University of Minnesota Extension nutritionist, to conduct human trials. AURI matched funds for the human studies and provided technical support.

A group of 29 post-menopausal nuns, the Sisters of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minn., agreed to participate in the study. In three separate trials in 1993-94, the women consumed food made with Appetize. In the spring of 1995, the results showed average blood cholesterol levels dropped by about 15 points. That study made it possible for Kiley to claim that Appetize is the only shortening to lower consumer cholesterol levels.

Bunge, Inc., a worldwide oils and fats manufacturer, recently started producing Appetize from its Fort Worth, Texas plant. The Sysco Corporation is handling national distribution. Source Food Technology also manufactures and distributes Appetize throughout Minnesota.

"It's found in places like Grandma's restaurants, Timber Lodge Steak Houses, and Goodfellow's restaurant in Minneapolis," Kiley says. Appetize is available in several different forms, but is primarily used for deep fat frying.

"Appetize has a long fry life, great taste, super mouth feel and contains no man-made ingredients," Kiley says. "That helps sell this product."

Appetize won the prestigious Food Processing Award in 1995 for "the most significant contribution to the food and beverage processing industry." This distinction is awarded once every two years by an independent panel of industry experts.