Grape experimentations

We’ll drink no Minnesota wine before it’s time…It’s time.

Time was that you could say “Minnesota winery” and the truly snobbish would turn up their nose at you as if they’d smelled a most offensive kind of corked vintage. Well, those times are changing. Today, local wineries spread across the state from far north to southern Minnesota in enough concentration to see cottage industries dedicated to conducting tours of the vineyards and a self-guided wine trail (threeriverswinetrail.com) that guides thirsty and curious tourists to six of the state’s different wineries. The wines show up on many a local menu and Minnesotans, or visiting Iowans and Dakotans, take home bottle after bottle to drink themselves or share with friends.

While we doubt that Californians will be busting down the doors to try our wines anytime soon, there’s no denying that the industry has exploded. The Minnesota Grape Growers Association estimates that there are roughly 100 acres of commercial vineyards, and about 25 commercial vintners in the state. That’s pretty impressive given that one of the most enduring, and most endearing, Alexis Bailly Vineyard, was started by Bailly patriarch David, just over 30 years ago. (The Minnesota Grape Growers Association itself formed in 1976 to discuss the ways that grapes could be grown in this climate, so even it rode David Bailly’s coattails in some regard.)

Like any true pioneer with entrepreneurial qualities, Bailly met with great disdain when he began gathering the information that he needed to get his vineyard started. In fact, viticulturists—the experts behind the cultivation of the vines that grow the grapes that become the wine—said that it couldn’t be done. To make matters more difficult, he selected grapes based on their varietals rather than their hardiness. His refusal to take no for an answer led him down a road never traveled in the state, and he toiled greatly on his 20-acre vineyard in Hastings, bending the will of the vines to his own ways, rather than the other way around. Today, Alexis Bailly is the state’s oldest vineyard and winery in operation and produces more than 60,000 gallons of vino and it’s got 40-some awards to testify to its quality to boot.

The state’s vines have changed greatly with time, and much of that growth and development is thanks to researchers at the University of Minnesota’s Horticulture Research Center, who are instrumental in creating grapes that can withstand Minnesota winters. These intrepid souls have created a handful of cold- and disease-resistant hybrid grapes, and continue to develop and test grapes at the center. Much of the work now is focused on growing grapes that produce ever more drinkable wines. (So, watch out California!) Interestingly enough, this exploration hearkens back to some of Minnesota’s early roots.

According to its Web site, the University of Minnesota has had a breeding program for grapes since 1907. Cold-hardy grape experimentation got a boost mid-century thanks to work done by a Wisconsin farmer named Elmer Swenson, who worked for 50 years developing the grapes that are grown in many cold climates today. Two of his better-known works are the Saint Croix red wine grape and the LaCrosse white wine grape.

Ask any winemaker and they will tell you that it is anything but easy to be a Minnesota winemaker. In fact, despite the bucolic settings and visions of walking among grape-laden vines in the early morning fog, you can pretty much banish all ideas of the romance of winemaking. For Minnesota growers, many of whom toil in the fields and run the business behind the bottles, this is an example of being fueled by a driving passion for the work, and the occasional nip of your hard labors. In order to get the French grapes that were planted to survive our, shall we say, tenacious Minnesota winters, the grapevines are buried each winter, which extends the busy season by a couple of months at the very least. The Bailly’s are well known for a phrase coined at the vineyard: “Where the grapes can suffer.” At closer inspection, it seems like the grapes have it made and it’s the Bailly’s, and other Minnesota winemakers, who do the suffering.

Let’s make it worth it for them and raise a glass of your favorite local vintage.

Want to dig into the topic deeper? Log on to www.arboretum.umn.edu/programs for more information about the research being conducted at the University of Minnesota’s Horticulture Research Center. Best of all, get a gander at the grapes in action and learn about adding Minnesota wines to your menu, visit one of Minnesota’s wineries.

For a list of the wineries, and to learn more about growing grapes in Minnesota, contact the Minnesota Grape Growers Association at 3725 14th Avenue South or head to their web site at www.mngrapes.org.