Free State Vineyards / Crescent Moon Winery
#4 on the Farm Tour Map
15930 246th St., Lawrence
Owner: Cheryl & Kieth Hand
Facebook: @CrescentMoonWinery
Instagram: @crescent_moon_winery
We are a proud Kansas Farm Winery, growing our grapes and crafting our wines to appeal to anyone! Come sample the wines, enjoy a glass or bottle and stay for the country views!
Welcome to Free State Vineyards and Crescent Moon Winery! We are a family-owned Kansas Farm winery. Our Vineyards were established in 2009 when we planted our first 250 grapevines, followed by expansion of the vineyards in 2010 and 2018. We currently grow 6 white wine grape varietals and 3 red wine grape varietals resulting in over 3000 producing grapevines. These are primarily French hybrid grapes, but we also grow 2 Vitis Vinifera varietals.
In addition, we tend and harvest grapes from the old Heimhoff Winery and Vineyard, south of Leavenworth, one of the first wineries in Kansas. While this Winery is now closed, the grapevines survive and continue to produce, representing one of the oldest vineyards for wine grapes in the state of Kansas. We believe that excellent wines start in the vineyard, which is why we put so much effort into the vines!
We represent one of the few Kansas wineries that produce nearly all the grapes for our winery and will continue to develop and manage our vineyards with that goal. We support other Kansas Vineyards by purchasing their grapes. Kieth and Cheryl are both the grape growers and the wine makers; Cheryl is proudly a 3rd generation Kansas farmer. Crescent Moon Winery was established in 2011 as an extension of our business development. Over the years we have perfected our wine making processes and now proudly produce 20 + wines, including white, rose’ and red, with 11 of these wines winning medals at International Wine Competitions.
We invite the public to walk through the vineyards, where we will gladly discuss the characteristics and differences among the vines. Our winery is Solar Powered and our vineyard supports sustainable farming practices. We offer wine tastings and serve our wines and ciders by the glass or bottle, to enjoy on site or to take home. We have extensive outdoor seating that features our beautiful pond and the gorgeous rolling hills. Sit for awhile and take in the views!!
We are also happy to give details of our wine making processes and we will have our wine making equipment available to view. We enjoy discussing the grape growing industry in Kansas with prospective farmers and meet with both grape growers and wine makers to help them get established. We are members of the Kansas Viticulture and Farm Winery Association as well as the Kansas Farm Management Association.
Our vineyard produces the following wine grapes. Seyval Blanc, Chardonel, Vignoles (official white grape of Kansas), La Crescent, Riesling, Edelweiss, Noiret, Norton, Saint Croix. We produce 20+ wines including whites, reds, rose, dry, semi-sweet, sweet and 2 dessert wines. We produce hard apple and pear ciders as well. These can all be sampled and purchased while on the tour.
We have a lovely Morgan retired show horse named Stella, who loves to have her picture taken! Just not fed….
We offer Vineyard tours, both self-guided or small group led. Our wine tasting room offers wine tastings featuring our Kansas made wines. Our wine making equipment will be on display with input from the winemaker. Wine tastings are offered throughout the tour.
Kids: We offer yard games including horse shoes, lawn darts, Giant Jenga and corn hole. We have several acres of room for kids to throw a ball or just run off some energy. If they bring a fishing pole, they can try their luck in our pond!
