Cannon River Winery

Last weekend, we visited Cannon River Winery in Cannon Falls, MN.

When you go there, there is a mini self-guided tour of their showroom space that covers their wine making process. Actual tours of the vineyard, which is located a few miles away, are sporadic.

Of course, we tasted wines here. For tasting, you have two choices. You can taste their basic wines for $5, or you can pay $7 and taste their reserve varieties as well. Because they were out of one of the three reserve wines, I decided to just do the basic taste. An interesting fact is that this winery creates a white and a red wine for Mancini's Char House in St. Paul. However, you can buy them at the winery too.

I won't comment on every wine I tasted, but I will give you my overall opinion and highlight my favorites. All in all, I enjoyed their white wines more than their reds. This winery, like many minnesotan ones, uses a lot of Minnesota frontenac and foch grapes. These add a slight bitterness that I am not very fond of, which is especially noticeable in red wines because of their higher tannin level.

My three favorite wines:
1) St. Pepin: This one uses a Minnesota St. Pepin grape. Its very light, and has a nose of citrus fruits. The flavor is dry with a citrus flavor as well. This is very light and pleasant to drink.

2) Sogn blanc: This uses the Minnesota Edelweiss grape, which I think is my new favorite! The nose of this wine is sweet like peach and mango, and the flavor is very soft, delicate and sweet in the mouth. I have never had anything like this. I can't even describe the pleasure I had in drinking it.

3) Gunflint red: This red is sweet rather than dry. However, the thing that I remember the most is that the nose of the wine smelled to me like caramel. This was nice when mixed with the sweet wine in my mouth. Very unique.

Overall, this winery puts out a great series of wines that I would recommend you try.

Beajolais Nouveau est arrive!

Its Beajolais Nouveau time!!

What is that you say? Beajolais is a red wine that is only shipped from France to other parts of the world once a year. In fact, French law requires that the wine be released on the third Thursday of November every year. The wine originates from the Burgundy region, where there are about 3,600 Beajolais growers.

The wine is made from 100% Gamay grapes, which have a thinner skin. This produces a lower tannin level. (Tannins are what give red wine that sort of "bite")

Wine experts are especially excited about it this year because it is expected to be the best vintage in the past 50 years, as all growing conditions were perfect! That said, this is generally not a wine to be aged. It is generally recommended to drink this wine within 12 months of bottling. There are some exceptions to this for some of the Crus.

Serve this wine slightly chilled to bring the young, fruity flavors forward.

Alexis Bailly Vineyard

Last weekend I went and visited this winery. I have been there once before and tasted, and I went back again in search of something very special. However, I will get to that in a minute.

Visiting this place is really easy as it is in Hastings just off Hwy 61. Its a nice little trip on a weekend afternoon.

Onto their wines.... in general, I don't really like their wines. They tend to have a sort of nasty aftertaste that I don't like, and the wines lack the body that I look for when I buy.

However... there are two notable exceptions. The Voyageur is a blended red wine that is VERY good. Definitely on the dry side, but it has a deep, full bodied flavor that is really enjoyable. I recommend it very much.

The also have a special reserve CHOCOLATE port right now. That's right, chocolate. And it is goooooooood. It tastes like tootsie rolls in a glass. I love it. Buy some before its too late. Its lovely.