Greater Minnesota - Elk River
*This archived article was originally published in Spring 2008.
Minnesota Wine Country
Mix business with pleasure at Minnesota wineries.
BY MARNI GINTHER
Close your eyes. Imagine lush, rolling vineyards and grapes hanging heavy on the vine as the scent of wine wafts from great wooden barrels. No, you’re not in Tuscany or Napa Valley. You’re right here in Minnesota. And you’re at your next business meeting.
Alright, maybe there isn’t a whole lot of business getting done in this little daydream, but as wineries have sprung up across Minnesota in the past few decades, many of them are doubling as event-hosting spaces for company parties and wedding receptions. One even has a conference room—in case you need to get some real work done.
If you’re still scratching your head over how we can possibly make wine in Minnesota’s climate, you’re not alone. The industry is relatively new here, though researchers at the University of Minnesota have been breeding cold-hearty grapes since the mid-1980s and the Minnesota Grape Growers Association was formed in 1979. It’s this research, knowledge-sharing and agricultural development that has fueled the state’s explosion of wineries. While most offer group tastings and tours, here are a few wineries where you can rent a unique space for your next event.
Goose Lake Farm and Winery
About 15 years before she opened Goose Lake Winery, Cindy Ohman started making her own wine from the fruit on her farm. “We had a lot of fruit and I couldn’t keep up making jams and jellies, so I decided to dig out some of my great, great grandmother’s old wine recipes and start making wine,” says Ohman. But her production grew and grew until she needed a license to make any more. That’s when she decided to open a full-fledged winery.
Now in its fourth season, Goose Lake provides a unique setting with its 70 acres of vineyards and orchards, which produce 10 varieties of grapes and 60 types of fruit. Since fruit wines are where she started, all wines produced at Goose Lake are currently made of fruit such as apples, pears, plums and peaches. Ohman has planted several varieties of cold-hardy grapes and hopes to produce wine from them next year.
Ohman also prides herself on the natural, organic operation of her farm. Peacocks, guinea hens, chickens and ducks wander freely on the farm and provide pest control by eating bugs. Horses, cows, llamas and donkeys provide the fertilizer. “People are amazed we can grow the type of product we do and that we have the diversity of animals,” Ohman says.
Events at Goose Lake run the gamut. They’ve done wedding showers, a 60-person private party from Chanhassen Dinner Theatres and a benefit event with an ice cream social and auction, to name a few. Up to 150 people fit comfortably in its outdoor hoop house, an unheated, greenhouse-like structure that isn’t used in the winter. Smaller tasting events and private parties are held in the tasting room, which seats about 25 people. Soon, though, a third event space will be available. Over the winter and spring the Ohmans have been hard at work on an upstairs loft inside the winery that will allow them to host 50 to 75 people. It’s expected to be open for events by May.
Even at events that are purely for fun, visitors at Goose Lake will get a few lessons in winemaking, as Ohman loves to teach about her art. “People can walk outside and I can show them exactly where the apples came from and exactly where the pears came from,” she says. “I’m trying to make it a whole experience— not just going to the store and buying a bottle of wine. I want you to see where it came from and how we got to that end product.”
Cannon River Winery
Almost as soon as you exit off highway 52, the mural painted on the side of the Cannon River Winery catches the eye—a burst of color amid the historic buildings of Cannon Falls’ quaint downtown. Housed in a building that’s been a car dealership and dance hall, the winery is in its fourth year of operation.
Owners John and Maureen Maloney keep it open year-round for touring and tasting. Each month’s calendar is peppered with events like live music, new wine release parties or wine appreciation classes with Vincent Negret, the resident winemaker whose knowledge is culled from generations of his family’s winery in his native Colombia.
Three spaces can accommodate events. The Main Room features a small stage and a tasting bar and is lined with huge metal tanks holding various wines in various states of production. The space can comfortably seat 120 people and has been used for corporate dinners, wedding receptions, benefits and even a local rummage sale. Since the winery is still so new, the Maloneys learn more about its possibilities as an event space with each event they host. “There are so many things we don’t even know yet—events that we want to have here—and people kind of come with ideas and we give them a try,” Maureen says.
The Reserve Room, just off the main room, provides a warmly decorated, intimate setting that can seat about 12 people and has served as a dining room for private parties and a meeting room for local businesses.
Just a short drive from downtown Cannon Falls, the winery’s vineyard is nestled in the picturesque Sogn Valley. The Maloneys recently reconstructed an old family-owned barn on a hill overlooking the vineyard and plan to use it as an event space during warm months. “We’ve always envisioned opening the vineyard to public,” John says. “We wanted to do something special, rather than building just a pavilion or building, in keeping with the feel of the property.” The barn, first built in 1857, ironically belonged to the Volstead family—cousins of Senator Andrew Volstead who sponsored the National Prohibition Act of 1919. The barn has already hosted a wedding and the Minnesota Grape Growers Association’s annual picnic.
Northern Vineyards Winery
If the first rule of business is location, Northern Vineyards has it covered. It’s situated in the middle of all the picturesque, small-town charm that makes Stillwater such a popular tourist destination. “Our location is great. From upstairs you can see the St. Croix River and it’s just a gorgeous view,” says Ali Funk, a winery employee. “In Stillwater there’s so much to do and during the summer months there’s the liveliness and tourist attraction of the whole town in general.”
The winery is open year-round for sales, and you can usually pick up a few free tasting samples, too. The Minnesota Winegrowers Cooperative, a collective of 18 vineyards and 6 contract growers from Minnesota and western Wisconsin, owns Northern Vineyards, so the wines produced there contain grapes from 24 local vineyards from both states.
Though the winery was founded in 1983, since 1999 it’s been housed in a red brick building that used to be a creamery on Stillwater’s Main Street. Depending on the weather, events can be hosted in the main floor warehouse, which holds about two dozen people, or the upstairs wine cellar and terrace, which can accommodate about 40. “That’s where we store all the wine,” Funk says. “So it smells wonderful and you really are in the middle of where the wine is made—in the middle of all the action.” Northern has hosted corporate holiday parties, seminars, and even a performance by the Stillwater Theater Associates, which took place on the small stage in the warehouse. Birthday parties and bachelorette parties are also favorites, and in warm months there’s live music on the terrace overlooking the river and the historic lift bridge.
Although the folks at Northern are flexible in accommodating custom events, they have two pre-planned party packages that can streamline the process for someone who isn’t too particular about the details of the event. The two plans are The Classic and The Grand. Each lasts two hours and includes a winery tour and a sampling of eight wines. The Classic includes hors d’oeuvres while the Grand includes full meals catered by a local restaurant.
