Valiant Vineyards sits on 20 acres just outside Vermillion, South Dakota, where Tom and Karen Schmitz turned their grape-growing passion into something bigger. They started with wine in the early 2000s, but Tom’s fascination with distillation led them to add spirits production in 2012. The operation runs out of a 4,000-square-foot facility that houses both their winery and distillery equipment, including a custom copper still they imported from Germany. They produce vodka, gin, and several fruit brandies alongside their wines, making them one of the few dual operations in South Dakota. Tom brings a chemistry background to the distillation process, having worked as a lab technician before diving into agriculture. Karen handles the business side and vineyard management, creating a partnership that’s kept them running for over a decade. They’ve built their reputation slowly, focusing on quality control and local ingredients whenever possible. The couple sources corn from nearby farms and uses their own fruit for brandies, creating spirits that reflect the prairie terroir. It’s not a massive operation—they’re producing maybe a few hundred cases of spirits annually—but that scale lets them experiment and perfect their recipes. Visitors get a genuine farm experience here, not a polished corporate tour. You’ll likely meet Tom or Karen directly, and they’re happy to talk about everything from soil composition to fermentation temperatures. The tasting room overlooks the vineyards, and on clear days you can see for miles across the South Dakota countryside. They’ve got a relaxed approach to tastings, letting you sample both wines and spirits while learning about their dual production process. It’s the kind of place where you end up staying longer than planned, especially if you catch Tom in full explanation mode about his latest distillation experiment.