Camas Prairie Winery is owned and operated by Jeremy and Heidi Ritter – aka Mr. and Mrs. Winemaker.
With humble beginnings in the construction world, Mr. Winemaker began making fruit wines in our living room. It was quickly apparent that he had a gifted palette and was able to coax out the best of what the fruit had to offer. Wild apples, local plums, cherries, heirloom rhubarb, home grown raspberries, strawberries, you name it – if you gave him fruit, he would make a batch of wine out of it – and it was delicious!
With an entrepreneurial spirit, when we found out that North Idaho’s oldest winery was for sale, we met with financial advisors, the founders, a few bankers, and came up with a plan. In the winter of 2010-11, we officially purchased Camas Prairie Winery and took over operations.
With the very first batch of Raspberry Mead we confirmed the wisdom of our choice and earned a Gold Medal at the Idaho Wine Competition that year. Our wines and meads have continued to win over 20 awards and honors under the gifted palette of Mr. Winemaker. We are currently producing 6 different grape wines in addition to our wild plum and 6 different meads. Mrs. Winemaker is smart enough to let Mr. Winemaker handle the actual winemaking process, but participates in filtering, bottling, labeling, and promoting our wines. Her gifts and talents land more on the side of technology and business, ensuring things run smoothly for the winery. You will often find her working quietly on her computer in the back of the winery or doing a Mrs. Winemaker gig at a promotional or tasting event.