My NE MN Wine Trip: May 6-8, 2011

This was the 4th annual and means we have hit all the quadrants in the state! But not all the wineries... I have routes planned for next several years. :)

By the time we all met up and got the car packed we were starved! Time for some brunch, unfortunately, the original destination (Tilia) was too long of a wait so we popped next door to Cafe Twenty Eight. That is right, I let us deviate from the itinerary! 28 was super yummy and we got an outside table, which meant I also got my first sunburn of the season. Full tummies mean time to wine taste! So we piled in the car and headed east to New Richmond, WI where we found ourselves at a vodka distillery. I know, I know. Vodka is not wine, but I love 45th Parallel so I had to add it to our stops. We had a quick tour and vodka/gin sampling, then we headed to our rental for the weekend. If there is a word better than perfect I would use it. Someone should invent a word to describe this place! Google maps may have put us on a (unnecessary) dirt road to get here so when we were weaving through rural suburbia for about 2 miles I started to get nervous, but then we saw some water (Kroon Lake) and our driveway. The unassuming house was in a peaceful setting, and then after unlocking the door we all were trying to figure out a way to stay here forever! So many meals, glasses of wine and laughter were shared on that deck perched overlooking the calm water lake. We never even turned on the well equip TV cuz the wildlife provided enough entertainment! We now have a realty show about geese we need to pitch to someone...


We had to tear ourselves away from the house though, we had a gala to attend! A winery about 30 minutes away was hosting an event serving a buffet of local foods. So after attending the Taste of St Croix at Chateau St Croix, we all wished we would have visited another night. If you are expecting 250 guests, why would you set up 4 tables to dine at?? It was a food event! It is hard to eat and drink standing up. And then on top of the $25 ticket we had to still pay another $6 if we wanted to taste the wine. And there were 2 people pouring. Sigh. The whole event was poorly organized, but I will admit the food was good and I ate my share (albeit sitting on the damp ground).


Saturday was a pretty open day, we were only dictated by the operating hours of the 2 wineries we were going to stop at. So that meant we lazed around and fixed a late breakfast, enjoyed on the deck. Once noon rolled around we had to get a move on, friends were meeting us in Stillwater! It was awesome timing but all three cars pulled into the St Croix Vineyards lot at nearly the same time, we were ready for a tasting! About half way through the tasting we found out they were offering a free tour, so we jumped on board that. We learned about growing grapes and the making of wine. I gotta tell you, I have gone on several of these and every time I learn more!

With the tour over and our tasting wrapping up, it was time to think about lunch. The Dock Cafe it was! I just ate here the past September and loved it so happy to return and actually sit on the dock. It was a great lunch and saw some crazy boat-cars.


We were in Stillwater, which meant we had to shop! We wandered in and out of shops til we started to crash, then thought we better hit that last winery cuz nothing wakes you up like wine. :) We only had to drive about 6 blocks til we hit Northern Vineyards. And then we waited and waited and waited. We were tired and didn't have the patience to deal with this crowd or wait. So we randomly pulled bottles off the shelf and figured we would have our own tasting back at the house. Before settling in the night we had to stop at the crazy park we passed several times: Franconia Sculpture Park. I will let the pictures speak for themselves and also say it is a destination to visit in person!






Could the weekend really be over? Ugh. How does this happen every year!? Thankfully we had all morning to make breakfast and sit on the deck and enjoy the sun (before it disappeared behind the clouds as the day progressed). Last winery was on the way out of town, Winehaven Winery. We were in and out pretty quick and on the road home. And I hoped I wouldn't run into any more pheasant...I can't close without mentioning the poor bird I completely destroyed when we were in the St Croix valley. Oh man, I didn't even see it, I guess I took care of things before the next hunter could!