WAHPETON (AP) - North Dakota's wine industry is still young, but it's drawing Red River Valley farmers who see a new adventure in growing grapes.

Don and Donna Thiel, who own farm land in Mooretown Township, began Double D Vineyards in 2001, when they planted their first vines. After a visit to a Nebraska winery, Don Thiel said he began to do research on grape growing. He and his wife took a chance and planted half an acre.

"The first few years, I had trouble with rabbits in the winter time," Thiel said.

The Thiels worked past the setbacks and started to get a University of Minnesota red grape crop, called Frontenac, in 2005. Their crop increased in 2006, and the following year they hit it big, harvesting 129 pounds. It made 14 gallons of the Frontenac, totaling 73 bottles of wine.

The Thiels also harvested five gallons of Sabrevois, a white grape, and made a white wine blend with their Louise and Prairie Star crop. Both the Louise and Prairie Star grapes are from a breeder in Wisconsin.

Daniel Rouse, an attorney for the North Dakota Tax Department, which licenses domestic wineries, said the state has seven of them. He also said some are interested in growing crops in partnership with the wineries. "We've seen that more and more - sort of a cooperative endeavor," he said.

Much of the day-to-day labor includes trimming out weeds and training the grapes to grow a certain way.

The Thiel family spends about 15 hours a week in the field tending to the grapes. Their daughter, Sarah, recently won an FFA award in fruit production for her help.

If the grape tends to grow up, as the Frontenac, it's important to train it low so the grape has the room to develop, Thiel said. If the grape tends to grow downward, as the Louise grape does, he trains the crop high so it has the room to grow down.

While a grape harvest is rewarding, Thiel said, it doesn't come without difficulties. Grapes are very susceptible to farming chemicals, which can kill the crop.

"It doesn't take too much to make them wilt a little," Thiel said.

Most of the farmers, he said, have been cooperative and considerate about spraying when wind is blowing in the opposite direction.

To be licensed as a winery requires an inspection, a secure area and a bottling process conducted in a specific, sterile environment. The Thiels are not quite ready for that.

"It's there, but it's a significant jump, it's going to be a few years," Thiel said.

Although the Thiels are unable to sell their product, they enjoy much of it themselves, and their adventure generates a lot interest from their neighbors.

"It's something different, and they enjoy getting a bottle of wine," Thiel said.

Steve and Lucinda Wallner moved from Wahpeton to Center Township in 2002 and found themselves with several acres of land. After attending a grape convention and many months of research, the couple, who came from farm families, decided to grow grapes.

"This is as close to farming as we'll ever get," Lucinda said.

In June 2007, just three days after a flood, the Wallners planted 200 vines - all in the mud.

"I didn't think they were going to grow at all," Lucinda said. "I was pretty impressed, actually, at how they really grow."

They currently have an acre of land, named Dakota Breeze Vineyard, dedicated to the project, with eight rows, each 10 feet apart.

Lucinda, with help from her husband Steve, spends time training, pruning and keeping weeds out by tilling or weed whacking.

"There's a lot of trial and error," she said.

"You don't really want a crop till the third year," she said. "You want their energy to go into the root system."

The 100 vines just planted have tubes around them to train and protect the root.

"It's amazing, it's like a little greenhouse," Lucinda said.

The Wallners see their project as a sort of adventure, not an endeavor to make money.

"It's an adventure and a challenge, I guess is the way I look at it," Lucinda said. "It's something I can maintain."

Said Steve: "You can't look at it as making money. You have to enjoy being out there."

The couple, along with their dog Rusty, who often roams the vineyard with Lucinda, spend an hour or two an evening maintaining the grapes. If they're training the crop, it can be up to three hours or more. Lucinda said she doesn't mind the work, because it gives her time with her children, Tate, 16, and Tia, 10, when they come to help.

The challenges include worrying about the damage farmers' regular spraying may cause the grapes and attempting to keep the weeds out.

And there are uncertainties. Steve and Lucinda see the vines on one end growing more abundantly than some on the opposite end.

"There must be a difference in the soil," Lucinda said. "I'm hoping the soil sample results will tell us what to add."

A harvest could be expected in 2010. All the grapes would need to be picked by hand.

"Eventually, I hope, maybe it'll be a little bit of an income or a big hobby," Lucinda said. "Maybe we'll even get a bottle of wine out of it, sometime."