About Us

Last Update August 26, 2007

    In 1995, the Thomsen family moved back to the village of Port Lions located on Kodiak, Island. Lisa was born and raised there and Steve moved there with his parents, who were school teachers,  in 1977. They decided that they needed a change of pace from the hustle and bustle of Anchorage. Unfortunately, jobs are scarce in the Villages on Kodiak Island, and Steve's opportunities were limited to on call logging  and seasonal work with the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, both of which took him away from his family. Steve and Lisa begin brainstorming of businesses they could start that could keep them together as a family.

    When Steve first approached Lisa with the idea of a winery, she was extremely skeptical. Steve holds a Fisheries Research Degree and had never made wine before, except for his experiences while homesteading years earlier in Skwentna, Alaska, which consisted of making what locals affectionately called 'tater juice'. Steve started experimenting with salmonberry wine and blueberry wines first, and lo and behold, they were GOOD. With encouragement from many friends and family they decided to put their plan in motion.

     The next step was to draw up a business plan and get local legislation passed in order for wine to be produced in the village of Port Lions. In order to produce and sell wine in Port Lions we had to pass a local option to allow all alcohol sales with no exception. We did not feel that was appropriate in the village, so we pursued changes in state statutes limiting alcohol sales while allowing a winery to operate. In 1998, with the help of Alan Austerman's office, our State House Representative at the time,  the State Alcohol Board and others we introduced House Bill 411 which allowed a local option allowing the production of wine and sales only to those holding a liquor license. We got the signatures necessary to put the local option on the ballot but lost by eight votes.  Our next step was to move to the city of Kodiak, buy a house and build a winery. It took several months of hard work, but by January 1, 2000, our winery was officially open for business.

     Anyone in business knows it is difficult to run a business and work a 'day job', yet Steve and Lisa do just that. Steve is a biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish & Game and runs the limnology lab. Lisa also works for the State as an Administrative Assistant for the Department of Natural Resources, Division of Parks. Both work full-time seasonally and raise their four children. Meagan and Natasha are now 'out of the nest' and attend college within the State. Lauren and Alex are both attending Junior High this year. 

Alaskan Wilderness Wines

Steve & Lisa Thomsen

498 Shearwater

PO Box 3574
Kodiak, AK 99615

(907) 486-1420

Cell: (907) 539-6328

Email: alaskawildwine@gci.net