From the Minneapolis Star Tribune: "While this spring's frost and hail hit growers hard, most said that customers remain loyal and that they are looking forward to a busy fall."
From the Tri-County News: "The winery grows eight varieties of cold-tolerant grapes, most developed in Minnesota or Canada. They also buy grapes from other Minnesota growers, providing greater quantities of grapes than what they can grow in the 12 acres here."
The seventh annual Minnesota Grape Growers Association Cold Climate Grape and Wine Conference, focusing on winemaking and grape growing in the northern U.S., will be held Feb. 17-19, 2011. We'll leave out the jokes about how cold it will be for the conference.
From the Mankato Free Press: "On a below-zero day last December, the Ray and Lisa Winter family was
doing something you wouldn’t expect in Minnesota — picking grapes in
their vineyard."
Thieves stole grape vines from the University of Minnesota's Horticulture Research Center in Victoria. The vines that were stolen are being developed to create a new grape
that will be used to produce a new kind of wine. The university has
been researching the grape for two years and could patent it.
The state’s wineries face continued legal and legislative difficulties to pour their wines at tastings and business events. Says one winemaker: “We're up against the misconception that wine isn't made in Minnesota, as an industry, and that the wine is bad.”