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hometownsource. com / heartland / Stories of the Heartland • Sunday, April 19, 2026 Page 37
When Arlyn and Katie met in 2012, some of their early dates took them to wineries around the region. It was something new for both of them, something enjoyable, something just different enough to stick. Before long, the idea of one day having a vineyard and winery of their own had worked its way into their conversations.
At first, it was the kind of dream people file away for later. Someday. Maybe when the careers were winding down. Maybe in retirement. Maybe when life opened up enough room for a leap like that.
At the time, Arlyn was working in technology sales. Katie was in the pharmaceutical industry. The winery dream was there, but it was still parked in the future. But someday came early.“ Some doors closed, and other ones opened,” Katie said. In 2013, they planted grapes. Not a sprawling vineyard. Not some sweeping launch into a brand-new business. Just a row.
Arlyn laughs now at how small it started and how little they really knew then compared with what they know now. In those early days, there was no polished blueprint, no tidy long-range master plan. There was curiosity, a field with potential, and the desire to see what might happen if they put grapevines into the ground.
Much of what followed became a learning experience for Arlyn Wall, who taught himself the craft as Brookview took shape.
“ We just wanted to see what growing grapes was like,” he said.
That first step led to another, then another. Over time, a single row became more rows as curiosity became a commitment and a hobby grew into something much larger. Farming, just in a different form For Arlyn, the agricultural pull was not entirely new. He grew up on a dairy farm in the Onamia area, surrounded by the rhythms and responsibilities of traditional agriculture. Farming was in his DNA, even if he did not envision returning to it in the same form. Katie sees that clearly.“ Farming is in his blood,” she said. That distinction matters. Brookview is not a rejection of traditional agriculture so much as a different expression of it. Instead of milking cows twice a day, every day, this kind of farming revolves around vines, harvested fruit, harvest windows, fermentation schedules and
Katie and Arlyn Wall are pictured at the Brookview Winery, located east of Highway 169 between Princeton and Milaca. The Walls grow and harvest grapes from the winery’ s vines for wine production and make hard cider from apples they bring in from area and regional farms.
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