Mount Bethel Winery

Mount Bethel Winery
5014 Mount Bethel Drive
Altus, Arkansas
USA 72821
Phone: (479) 468-2444
http://www.mountbethel.com/

Contact: Eugene Post
Email: [email protected]

Mount Bethel Winery has its roots in the renowned grape growing regions of Europe. In the early 1880’s, the German and German speaking Swiss ancestors of the Post family brought to Arkansas, the time-honored European tradition of growing grapes and venting wines for personal use. The westward expansion of the railroad provided the means of transportation and employment for most immigrants of the time. One of the stopping places of the train was the town of Altus, Arkansas, a thriving coal mining community in the Arkansas River valley. The Post family found Altus to be the perfect place to live and to grow grapes and other crops that could provide food and a source of income. However, what started as a personal way of life soon became a business when the public discovered the wine making skills of Jacob Post. Although the prohibition years or 1918 through 1934 halted wine sales, it did not stop legal wine making for personal consumption by the Post family.

The end of prohibition was the beginning of a new era for the Post family and wine making. In 1935, Mrs. Joseph (Katherine) Post, daughter-in-law of Jacob Post, acquired a federal bonded winery permit and an Arkansas license to manufacture and sell wine. With the help of her children and grandchildren, she made and sold wine for many years. Her grandson, Eugene Post, tells of the wonderful times he spent helping her serve cheese, sandwiches and wine that she sold to customers and guests in the family homestead. After Katherine’s death, Eugene’s father, James (Jake) Post, recognized his son’s love and affinity for wine making and encouraged him to learn all that he could about wine making that would help to continue the family tradition. Eugene subsequently earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Arkansas, with the goal of merging the time-honored family wine making methods with modern technical knowledge. In 1956, he chose to open his winery in the old underground cellars of the original Mrs. Joseph Post Winery where the Post family wine making tradition had its roots. He purchased the family homestead with the cellars and the vineyard land from his mother. The name he gave his winery, Mount Bethel, was in keeping with tradition. It was in honor of the local grape-growing district on top of Pond Creek Mountain, named after the landmark Presbyterian Church and public school located there. In 1984, this Mount Bethel grape growing area, a viticulture area that Eugene considered so important to the wine industry that he named his winery after it, received federal designation as the Altus Viticultural Area.

Striving to make a new winery out of the remnants of the old, Eugene and his wife, Peggy, turned to Peggy’s father, Russell Murray for help. His invaluable engineering and design skills enabled them to construct fermenting and bottling facilities. As the winery grew, so did the Post family. The children of Eugene and Peggy: Debbie, Mary Jane, Eugene, Jr., Linda, Janet, Michael, Peggy Ann, and Robert grew up making wine. Working beside their parents, they learned the skills and patience of dedicated vintners. They pruned, hoed, plowed, tied, cut and fermented the grapes. As with the generations before them, the children learned the joys of winemaking from beginning to end.

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