Page 1 of 1

Wine

Posted: August 31st, 2014, 12:16 pm
by Wedgeguy
Well, they make some nice wine around the islands in Ohio: why not here? They're just called "wineries" over there, though.
There are wineries here in Minnesota if you would take the time to find them. Stillwater and the St Croix valley does have a winery or 2 there. So OHIO does not have anything up on Minnesota.

Goggled Minnesota Wineries and came up with 2 pages of wineries in the state, that would be near 50 wineries. They are also spread over the state so they are not concentrated in one area of the state. But the East river border region does have a nice concentration along it's area. From near Winona/Lanesboro up the Mississippi with a few near Red Wing and more along the St. Croix river valley.

Re: Southside - General Topics

Posted: August 31st, 2014, 2:13 pm
by Nathan
I feel like we produce some good whites but the reds are always kinda bad lol

Re: Southside - General Topics

Posted: September 1st, 2014, 10:32 pm
by Jenny on the Block
I manage a tasting room at a Waconia winery. There are many, many grape varietals that survive our climate and make great dry/off-dry wines (yes, even red wine- contrary to the comment above & implied in the bizjournal article). I'm surprised that folks interested in this board & development of our cities/economy would knock a growing industry in its infancy without even having tried it.

For those curious who want to learn more:
Mngrapegrowers.com
http://www.grapes.umn.edu/
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hrd/pubs/farmwine.pdf

Re: Southside - General Topics

Posted: September 2nd, 2014, 9:30 am
by Nathan
I love the idea of MN wines, don't get me wrong I think it's great, there is actually a small vineyard starting up near my cabin in Glenwood! I'm very excited. I just haven't had a fulfilling red, but if you wanted to prove me wrong at some urbanmsp event or something I'd be more than happy to be proven wrong!

Re: Southside - General Topics

Posted: September 2nd, 2014, 9:40 am
by mattaudio
I was at a wedding at a central MN winery on Sunday night, but I just drank beer.

Re: Southside - General Topics

Posted: September 2nd, 2014, 10:06 am
by mamundsen
I'm not sure where it can be found besides the winery, but I'm a fan of Carlos Creek out of Alexandria. They have a few good reds.

Re: Wine

Posted: September 3rd, 2014, 1:47 pm
by Gman12
I went to a wedding recently at a Winery in Pepin.

http://www.villabellezza.com/

Re: Wine

Posted: September 3rd, 2014, 1:49 pm
by seanrichardryan
The Dahlens live in MPLS. Lovely folks and a beautiful winery.

Re: Wine

Posted: September 3rd, 2014, 9:53 pm
by Jenny on the Block
Lots of beautiful wineries to visit & lots of reds to try! No time like harvest to see what's happening with the local winemaking entrepreneurs.

Unlike many local breweries, local wineries are "all Minnesotan"- locally grown grapes (vs out-of-state sourced hops & grains). It's an exciting and fledgling industry to be a part of.

Re: Wine

Posted: September 4th, 2014, 7:51 am
by mplsjaromir
So are there any truly dry Minnesota red wines available? Every Minnesota wine I have ever tried has been very sweet. We did a winery tour around Cannon Falls area and every single "dry" wine tasted like Hi-C fruit punch. It probably not fair to compare Minnesota wines to wines from established regions, but the quality delta seems to be too great. At least with taprooms one doesn't have to drive out to the exurbs to have a product that most would consider not be high quality.

Re: Wine

Posted: September 4th, 2014, 11:46 pm
by Jenny on the Block
Yes there are dey red wines made from grapes. See Bill Ward's Strib Taste aarticle/blog from today: http://m.startribune.com/?id=273788711

Reason you don't see winery tasting rooms in the city is due to how the current legislation was written (requiring minimum thresholds of local content in the wine + winery must be on 10 acres + agricultural land.

Give it a try!!

Re: Wine

Posted: September 5th, 2014, 3:02 am
by tabletop
I went to the winery in Stillwater next to the coop. I thought they had good reds, and they let me sample before I bought. They also have a really nice deck that overlooks the St. Croix!

If your looking to buy local, I know Thomas liquors in St Paul is a good place to go and so is Zipps on Franklin and 27th, The Wine Thief might be good too judging by the beer selection of the Ale Jail connected to it.

Re: Wine

Posted: September 5th, 2014, 7:41 am
by mattaudio
Good thing they're building a brewery in Stillwater next to the winery for us beer drinkers.

Re: Wine

Posted: September 11th, 2014, 12:14 pm
by SteveXC500
Do visit the wineries in Waconia! They are fantastic!

Additionally, for those looking to make a trip to Waconia, a brewery AND distillery will soon be opening for business.

Wine

Posted: September 18th, 2014, 6:16 pm
by Anondson
The UofM Extension posted this on the local wine industry in Minnesota.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/source/spr ... o-its-own/

Re: Wine

Posted: September 18th, 2014, 7:12 pm
by Minneapolisite
I've had some rather respectable box wines. Franzia ain't your only option. Thank god.