Grades to Grapes: Glaciers Edge Winery

Mike Steinert
Washburn Rural High School Biology Teacher Glaciers Edge Winery Co-owner

Mike Steinert looks to his left and stares at the golden vines of his 107 acres at Glaciers Edge Winery, located just outside of Topeka.

“I knew that this was a calling,” Mike said, “something that I just had to do. I was called to this profession. It is a part of who I am.”

But it’s not the winery he is referring to. It is teaching.

Mike, along with his wife, Lisa, opened Glaciers Edge Winery in 2014.

Mike says the idea to open a vineyard came about several years ago because of a challenge from his father, Jim Steinert. Jim had planted several grape vines in Lyons, Kansas. But after the freezer filled up with too many grapes, Mike’s mom demanded that they go.

“She [Mike’s mother] said ‘Either you’re going to make wine or I’m going to make jelly, but one way or another, these grapes are going to be gone before the weekend,’” Mike said as he recalled her reaction to the lack of freezer space.

He couldn’t waste the grapes, so Mike’s dad tried something new. He began making wine from the grapes he grew and was quite proud of his work.

“I had to tell him otherwise,” Mike said with a laugh.

His father told him if he thought he could do better, he should. Mike took the challenge to heart and the idea of Glaciers Edge was born.

That next spring Mike planted 125 vines and hundreds more the following few years.

Whether it was in honor of his late father, a driving passion for his new found hobby, or both, in 2012 the Steinerts decided to buy a winery.

They quickly realized that if the business was going to make any money, they needed a bigger space for seating, tasting, touring and entertainment. The Steinerts added onto the existing winery space, building a new common area with enough space for seating, watching television and listening to live performances.

With both of them working full time in other careers, they soon found that trying to juggle 40-hour work weeks with building a new business was a bit overwhelming.

“I knew it was going to be a very long row to hoe for me to be able to do both things and do them well,” Mike said.

The demands of being an educator of AP, IB and Honors Biology at Washburn Rural High School, along with running his own business, were weighing on him, and he knew he had to choose. In 2016 Mike made the difficult decision to step away from his classroom so that he could have more time to focus on his winery business.

Even though Mike knew he needed to focus on the winery, he also knew he was going to miss his students and his classroom.

“I knew the second I left that I needed to find my way back somehow,” Mike said.

August came around and school began again.

But not for Mike. And with that reality came a deep sadness at the thought that teaching again might not be a possibility for him.

But when you feel like you have been called to do something, often times, it continues to call you back. When Principal Ed Raines asked Mike what it would take to get him back into the classroom again, Mike didn’t hesitate. All he asked was to be able to accommodate a shortened schedule that would allow him to be back in the vineyard in the afternoons.

At the beginning of the 2019 school year, three years after leaving his teaching position, Mike walked back into the classroom that he had left behind, and a part of him came alive again.

Teaching is the “icing on the cake,” Mike said.

Though his love for teaching has him back in a formal classroom setting now, that doesn’t stop Mike from teaching people about wine— especially in a state that is not considered ‘wine country.’

Much like teaching biology to high school students, he aims to teach wine in an approachable manner so as not to be intimidating. Though he doesn’t consider himself an artist, Steinert loves the artistic style of wine making including the taste, smell, and pairing with the palette. Having a third of his coursework in botany is also helpful when it comes to cultivating his land.

“I have learned so much. It is humbling and gratifying that someone would want to spend their hard-earned money on something I made,” Mike said.