Blogging buddy Lenn has written up his impressions of the Minnesota wines I sent him for his “50 in 50” virtual tasting tour over at Wine Sediments. I picked the wines I did from one of the best wineries I have tasted at here because they were the best tasting to me on the day I visited the winery. I fully expected the Riesling or Gewürztraminer to be selected, but I found both wines to be very lean and not showing very well right now (I think these new releases are too young).
Lenn was encouraging in his write-up, but mentioned my downplaying of the quality of wines coming from my state of residence. This got me thinking about why I should expect more from local wines and spend more time seeking them out. So from today forward, I will be on a quest for the best wine in Minnesota. This means tasting at all the wineries in the state or at least picking up some local wines more often in Twin Cities wine stores. I will blog my adventures and encourage local readers to post their suggestions for the best Minnesota grown wine (not wine made here from out-of-state grapes). At the end of the year I expect my quest to take, I will pull together all the standout wines for a blind tasting to determine the winner and create a special podcast around this experience.
I know it’s out there, but I haven’t yet found it… who makes the best wine in Minnesota?
Some relief from your quest finally! Coming from Minnesota’s #1 wine aficionado.
To gain experience and exposure for my Minnesota Wine Touring business, I have had the opportunity to sample several of the Minnesota grown wines. Your quest poses quite a challenge in a good way.
Lately, I have found myself savoring every drop of Fieldstone Vineyards Reding Reserve Frontenac and their New Moon White. WineHaven gets my kudo’s for receiving over 100 awards for their wines. My recent favorites are their Marechal Foch and Honey wine. I used Goose Lake’s Apricot wine as a delightful addition to my grilled lamb marinate sauce and served the wine with dinner. Very elegant . . . had me wishing I had invited guests over for dinner. I often bring Morgan Creek’s Redtail Ridge as a hostess gift. Very well received and people are usually amazed that a wine tasting that great is pure Minnesota. My list does go on and on but of course I’m an adventurer and partial.
If you are up for more Minnesota Vineyard Touring, let me know so we can arrange a memorable tour experience for you.
Kristi,
Thanks for your comment and tips on nice local wines to try. I’ve pretty much tasted everwhere near the Twin Cities, so I’ll have to venture a little further up the road for some of the wines you mentioned. In the meantime, I’ll look for them in the wine stores and blog my tasting notes.
Best of luck on your business and hope I can send you some clicks; I’ve linked in the “Wine Links” on the right.
Cheers!
Hi Tim,
Thanks for the link. We made some recent updates to our site for new partnerships and set up a reciprocal to Winecast.
I have had some opportunity to do some more Minnesota Wine Touring recently and found some more Minnesota made wines worth noting. On our Minnesota Spokes-n-Folks Ribfest weekend campout we sampled the fruit wines made at Lanesboro’s Scenic Valley Winery. Just a small tasting of their Raspberry wine releases an explosion of intense fresh raspberry flavors. Also met Kerry Lea for a preview of the Diamond Ridge Winery, slating to open June 2007. Their Jalapeno Grape wine named Hot Lips is refreshingly unique and wild. At a summer barbeque we discovered the pleasantly balanced and soft red Bacchanal from Morgan Creek Vineyards. The label inspires good comedy, bearing a picture of a medieval renaissance portrayal of Georg Marti.
Wishing you well on your pursuit of Minnesota’s best.
Kristi
Kristi,
Thanks once again from some great suggestions for MN vino. I’ve made poor progress this summer on getting to the wineries but I’ll pick up the bottles you recommend and blog my tasting notes this fall. Perhaps I’ll have better luck on the wine tasting trail next summer or get out this weekend for a bit of late harvest action…