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WineEastNews Arkansas Winery Swept Away by Flood New tanks 'looked like beer cans a giant had stepped on,' owner says E ureka Springs, Ark.—A small winery in rural northern Arkansas was swept away during a flood Aug. 7, washing away the building, winesandvines.com almost all equipment Learn more: Search keywords and even its vine "Railway Winery." trellises, cordons and grapes. All that is left at 500-case Railway Winery are the trunks of the vines. The winery sat on 15.5 acres, half of which was planted to hybrid vines with a bit of Cabernet Franc planted in 2009. Owners Greg and Vicki Schneider had just received three new stainless steel fermentation tanks the week before, and they were destroyed along with their existing tanks. "We found some of the tanks downstream. They looked like beer cans a giant had stepped on," Schneider said. He found one fermentor and pounded it back into approximate shape. "We can use it to ferment AM Waterloo_Nov10.qxp 8/26/10 11:36 fruit wines." Railway Winery's 4-foot foundation couldn't keep it safe from a flood in northern Arkansas. All other winemaking equipment, case goods and memorabilia in the winery were destroyed or missing except for a basket press Schneider was able to salvage. He found parts of it downstream. Schneider lived through another flood of Butler Creek a few years ago, which he was told was the flood of the century. Because of the earlier flood, Schneider built the winPage 1 ery, a converted workshop and storage area, on a 4-foot foundation. It didn't help: This onslaught was three or four times higher. Of the thousand bottles of wine that went downstream, the Schneiders found fewer than a dozen. The floodwater also washed gravel out of the creek bed and deposited it on part of the vineyard, burying the trunks of the vines. Schneider hopes that the vines will regrow. He had 1,100 grapevines planted and 400 cuttings growing in a nursery. Schneider said he will rebuild, but he plans to do so on higher ground. Doug Hausler and Edwige Denyszyn, the owners of Keels Creek Winery, the only other winery nearby, have offered space for Schneider to make and sell wines, which will have to be made with purchased grapes. A fund to help Railway Winery recover from the flood has been established at Cornerstone Bank. —Paul Franson Win es & Vin es O C TO B ER 20 13 89