Joe DesJarlais and his sister Tami co-own DesJarlais Farms & Winery, a generations-old, family-run farm and business in Sturgis.
According to Joe, the farm came first and the winery followed years later.
“Well, our family’s been here probably 82 years at the farm, and so we just started working on the winery in 2012,” said Joe. “We planted our vineyard, and we also started the honeybees at the same time. And so, we started processing wine and selling wine in 2020. Since then, we’ve distributed mostly locally here in Sturgis.”
DesJarlais Farms & Winery is also home to a campground known among bikers as the Sturgis Hideaway because it serves as a bit of a hidden oasis in the area.
“So, we have over 20 acres, and we started a campground probably when the bikers started coming. But in the last couple of years, we’ve opened it during the summer months,” said Joe.
During their stay, visitors can book one of the many quirky buildings on the campground, including teepees, sheep wagons and even a caboose bed and breakfast.
“Well, a lot of them [the buildings] were built over the years, a lot of them by my father,” said Joe. “And he has built barns, he has built chicken houses— we have a caboose here on property that we rent out as a bed and breakfast. We have a teepee, we have a sheep wagon, so a lot of unique facilities, plus just regular campground where you can put up a tent.”
While the campground’s only open during the summer months, DesJarlais wine can be enjoyed year-round.
According to Tami, customers can arrange wine tasting reservations for Thursday, Friday or Saturday, simply by making a call to the winery.
DesJarlais Winery offers a wide selection of wines, so there’s really something for everyone.
“We have ten different varieties of grapes that we grow here on property, and so we make regular grape wines from all of those,” said Joe. “We also source from several other vineyards here locally in the Black Hills. We also make fruit wines from the fruit when we have it, plus some local state-grown, like black currants. We do our own cherry wine, we do our own rhubarb wine, rhubarb-raspberry wine.”
The DesJarlaises are proud to grow much of the fruit they use for their wines, and whatever they don’t grow on their farm, they source locally from other producers in the Black Hills area.
Joe hopes to grow the winery into an even larger operation which will facilitate more output and a larger tasting room.
“We’re kind of learning from some of the great examples that have been in the Black Hills, like Belle Jolie and Prairie Berry and Firehouse, all those. We are probably about ten years behind those guys as far as growth, so we would like to grow the amount of wine that we make and distribute it a lot more and expand our tasting room here,” said Joe.
In addition to the campground and winery, the DesJarlaises also keep five honeybee hives on the property and produce their very own local honey.
“I think the honeybees is something that is very important to us, and we do have five hives on property and another one up in the mountains. I think it’s—as far as locally grown honey— it’s very healthy for folks,” said Joe.
According to Tami, the honey is flavored with the local flora of the Black Hills.
“You know, people ask, ‘What kind of honey is it?’ I say, ‘It’s the flowers in Sturgis.’ Anything that everybody grows in this town is the pollen that’s going to be producing that honey,” said Tami.
The DesJarlaises’ honey products are available for purchase both at the farm and in local shops around town.
To find out more about DesJarlais Farms & Winery’s history or to make a wine tasting reservation, visit their website here.
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