Pilgrims In A World Of Color
Following The Three Rivers Wine Trail
In Minnesota, autumn is a season of pilgrimages.
Even with current gas prices, we celebrate life and color by taking those traditional autumn weekend drives in late September and early October. (Perhaps this is because, as Minnesotans, we know what happens after that.)
PHOTO BY DEB BARNES
Some of us journey as far as the North Shore; some take a stroll in the apple orchard.
And some of us have discovered the grape.
The Three Rivers Wine Trail
In 1975, there were 580 wineries in the U.S. A decade later, that number had grown to 712. Twenty-plus years after that, there are now more than 4,000 - some say 5,000. A number of them are in our own back yard.
Minnesota boasts 18 wineries, its oldest being the 34-year-old Alexis Bailly Vineyard in Hastings. The St. Croix Vineyards & Winery is a stone's throw from Hugo down Manning Avenue.
Northern Vineyards Winery is in Stillwater within sight of the lift bridge. WineHaven Winery & Vineyard is in Chisago City, just north of Forest Lake.
If you can get past the idea that a state with a five-month growing season can generate a viable wine industry - and you should - visiting wineries in the fall can be a lot of fun. Like the apple harvest, the gathering of the grapes is a time to celebrate the good things that result when clear vision, careful husbandry, and a pinch of zaniness result in success.
To celebrate the maturing of the Minnesota wine industry, the Three Rivers Wine Trail was created last year.
All six wineries on the trail are located within the St. Croix, Mississippi and Cannon River valleys, about 80 miles from north to south. The average distance between neighboring wineries is about 22 miles.
Upcoming Three Rivers Wine Trail events include "Cheese & Chocolate Sunday," slated for November 18, 2007.
So make a day of it! You're pretty much guaranteed a successful wine tour if you do a little homework: each winery has a Web site, with hours listed (see our Fall Outdoor Guide, Insert, for detailed winery hours and contact information). You can purchase bottled wines on Sunday aft er 12 noon, thanks to the Minnesota Farm Winery Act.
We suggest you bring a designated driver to more fully - and safely - enjoy the tour.
Stop #1: WineHaven Winery & Vineyard, Chisago City.
Three generations ago, the Peterson family first produced honey and fruit in the St. Croix River Valley. WineHaven has won more than 100 awards for winemaking excellence during the past 10 years, and three gold medals this spring at the 7th annual Finger Lakes International Wine Competition in New York. At approximately the same latitude as the great winemaking regions of Bordeaux and Burgundy, the Chisago Lakes area produces wines with intense fruit flavors and high natural acidity due to its rich soil and unique microclimate. Open 7 days a week, this is a great place to start your wine tour!
Stop #2: Northern Vineyards Winery, Stillwater.
Located in historic downtown Stillwater, this winery offers year-round complimentary samples of their Gold Medal winners produced here by the members of the Minnesota Winegrowers Cooperative from Minnesota- and Wisconsin-grown grapes. The back terrace of the winery overlooks the St. Croix River and has a stunning view of the historic lift -bridge. Tours available by appointment. Live music on Sunday nights!
Stop #3: St. Croix Vineyards & Winery, Stillwater.
Nestled within Aamodt's Apple Orchard, the vineyard - established in 1992 - produces an array of award-winning wines.
Visitors are ushered into the rustic St. Croix Vineyards tasting room, located in a restored, century-old barn, to try complimentary samples.
Wines range from the dark, intense, oak-aged Frontenac to the semi-sweet Vignoles, reminiscent of a fi ne German Riesling. Owners Paul Quast, Peter Hemstad, and Chris Aamodt invite visitors to stop out and take a stroll through their picturesque vineyards.
Stop #4: Alexis Bailly Vineyard, Hastings.
French winemakers have long believed that grapes must go through hardship to be great.
Minnesota's oldest winery touts the motto, "Where the grapes can suffer." The elegant dry table wines made from those suff ering grapes in the Hiawatha Valley of the Upper Mississippi have earned national acclaim. Founder David Bailly planted his first grapes in 1973 and opened the winery's doors five years later, with wines produced from 100% Minnesotagrown grapes. Today, Nan Bailly carries on her father's romantic fantasy of producing world class wines from a vineyard in Minnesota.
Stop #5: Falconer Vineyards, Red Wing.
Located among the picturesque Mississippi River bluffs, this vineyard and winery specializes in the production of northern variety award-winning wines, including Frontenac, Frontenac Gris, LaCrescent, Prairie Star, Seyval, and Marquette. With a slightly diff erent twist on the grape harvest, Falconer Vineyards opens its doors on designated days to volunteers who want to help pick the grapes and participate in the evening's grape stomp! Open for wine tastings, sales and tours.
Stop #6: Cannon River Winery, Cannon Falls.
Located in historic downtown Cannon Falls, this winery produces award-winning wines using grapes from the beautiful Sogn Valley nearby. It's the perfect day trip: the winery is located close to downtown antique shops, art galleries, bed & breakfasts and the popular Cannon Trail. Wine tastings, guided tours of the winery and walking tours of the scenic vineyards are offered. Grape juice for the kids! The "Wine Appreciation 101" class features a private gathering with master winemaker, Vincent Negret - and it's popular - the November class is already sold out.
An Explosion Of Purple
The nation's wine-making successes of 2007 didn't happen overnight.
When Leif Eriksson stumbled upon North America, he seems to have recognized its full potential, christening it "Vineland" after the native grapes he saw.
When the Pilgrims (the real ones) arrived, they also made note of an abundance of grapevines growing in the wild.
But wine-making in America didn't really get off the ground for over two hundred years, when the Spanish began their wine-making tradition in California. By the late 1800s, California was producing large quantities of excellent wine to international acclaim - 2.3 million gallons in 1876, by some estimates.
Two generations later, however, beginning in 1920, Prohibition virtually wiped out the American wine industry. By 1933, the only wines produced in the United States were mass-produced, sacramental wines.
It wasn't until the 1970s, when California vintners decided to give it another go, that American wine-making eff orts began to bear fruit, according to expert Kevin Zraly in his excellent book, "Windows On The World: Complete Wine Course."
This time around, Zraly says, producers elected to name their wines for the varietals from whence they came: thus, instead of the Chablis, Burgundy, and Chianti labels of the 1960s, Americans began to see wine bottles labeled aft er the grapes that grew in the fields: Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir, for example.
Since then, there has been an explosion of purple. Though today California produces an estimated 90 percent of the nation's domestic wines, every state in the nation - even Alaska - produces its own.
Washington and then New York follow California as the top wineproducing states.
Few other states have to cope with the challenges posed by Minnesota's cold climate, however.
Our less climate-challenged neighbor to the south, for example, had 13 wineries in 2001: by the end of 2005, Iowa had 55!
But the Minnesota grapegrower seems to have put down roots - and cultivated a sense of humor along the way. Where would you fi nd a winery called "Two Fools Winery" but in northern Minnesota?