Welcome to Shelf Stars, The Growler’s cheap wine column in which we discover the best under-$15 bottles in town. This edition of Shelf Stars is brought to you with underwriting support from Central Avenue Liquors. Every spring, my good friends down the block host a gathering in their backyard called the Vinho Verde Opener. It’s … [ Read more]
Georgia On My Wine
April 3, 2020 by
A number of countries claim to be the birthplace to winemaking—Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, etc. However, perhaps one of the richest, oldest, and most relevant histories of modern winemaking comes from the Republic of Georgia. Georgian wine has experienced a great many changes to its political and geographical landscape over the years: facing the phylloxera epidemic … [ Read more]
Wine Time: Heroes Get Remembered, But Legends Never Die
February 24, 2020 by
There are some wines that are famous even to the driest of teetotalers. These wines are spoken about with reverence, passed between wealthy hands at auctions for high price tags, and only on rarified occasions opened and sipped as though they are the elixir of life. These wines—like Cheval Blanc, Pomerol, vintage Dom Perignon, and … [ Read more]
Get On Board with Off-Dry Wine
January 27, 2020 by
I have been working in the food and beverage industry for over a decade now, as a bartender, cook, server, and so on. I truly care about what my guests enjoy and in each encounter I have with a potential consumer about wine, I inquire what they like in a wine or what flavors they … [ Read more]
Brava! A new North Loop bar is removing the mystique of natural wine
December 23, 2019 by
Wine is hard, but natural wine is even harder. What exactly is it? How can we identify it without any help from labels? Why is it sometimes cloudy? Why is there more bottle variation than with other wines? Enter Jill Mott and Dan Rice, two of the forces behind a new natural-wine bar in a … [ Read more]
Wine Time: Grapes of Cognac & Armagnac (Or, the virtues of neutrality)
October 28, 2019 by
Stay neutral.” Two words designated to Switzerland, minimalist millennials decorating their apartments, and grapes used for distillation—specifically for Cognac and Armagnac. When we think of beverages made from grapes, we immediately rush to wine (especially when reading a wine column.) But, let us take a moment to examine the grapes of the much-loved Cognacs and … [ Read more]
Royalty In Rot: For wine grapes, a death deferred by a Noble fungus
September 30, 2019 by
Winemakers spend lots of energy during the growing season battling pests and fending off vine diseases that seek to destroy grapes. But there’s one they actually welcome—the so-called “Noble Rot,” or as it is formally known, Botrytis cinerea. Botrytis is a fungal disease that typically lays dormant in almost all vineyards at all times. It … [ Read more]
Wine Time: Blood, Sweat, and Tears – aka, The Grape Harvest
September 13, 2019 by
It’s easy to get cerebral and abstract about wine. But let’s remember one thing: it comes from grapes farmed in a vineyard—it is an agricultural product. And there is perhaps no better reminder of this than the actual grape harvest, which is taking place all over the Northern Hemisphere in these early-to-mid-autumn months. In the … [ Read more]
5 Exceptional Minnesota Wines for the Harvest Season
August 29, 2019 by
September is harvest time for our local grape-growers and it’s an excellent month to head out to the vineyard. You might catch a glimpse of the harvest in progress, and some wineries even organize days for the public to help out. It’s hard work but a satisfying experience—being out amongst the vines on a breezy … [ Read more]
Earth, Wind and Fire: West Coast vineyards are now faced with the challenge of smoke-tainted grapes
August 1, 2019 by
It has been a horrifying couple of seasons of wildfires in both California and Oregon wine country. Vineyards have had to ensure their harvests deliver a product free of “smoke taint,” which occurs when wood burns and releases a compound called guaiacol that can drift on the fiery winds, onto grapes, and through their skins. … [ Read more]
Back From The Brink: Three near-extinct wine grapes that have received a mighty second wind
July 2, 2019 by
T he sheer number of wine grapes in the world is staggering. But while the varieties of Vitis vinifera number well into the thousands, the forces and trends driving the wine market have pushed many grapes to the edge of extinction. It takes a great deal of commitment and dedication to produce a wine that … [ Read more]
Wine Time: Volcanic Wines Aren’t Just Trendy, They’re Timeless
May 28, 2019 by
Acutting edge. A little spice. Some heat. A walk on the wild side, perhaps? It’s easy to get caught up in wine trends. They often present themselves with a splash, a tagline, maybe as a little taboo, and they’re gone before we have time to consider: “Do I really want to commit to this?” Still, … [ Read more]
The 20/20 Rule: Chilling all wines (yes, all) to get the most out of the bottle
April 29, 2019 by
Most wine drinkers know to chill white wines before enjoying them. Fewer know to chill reds. And even fewer know the 20-20 Rule. Serving a wine at the right temperature showcases all its best features, like a professional photographer taking your portrait: The head tilts slightly, the chin tips down, and the snapshot is taken … [ Read more]
Let It Breathe: When to decant a bottle of wine
March 26, 2019 by
To decant or not to decant, that is the question. Hold up—what is decanting anyway? In the simplest terms, it’s the act of pouring a liquid (wine) from a vessel (bottle) into another vessel (usually a glass carafe). Sounds easy enough. But should you do it? And why? Some people think decanting is completely unnecessary … [ Read more]
Wine Time: The Chain of Custody from Vineyard to Glass
February 25, 2019 by
Welcome to our new monthly wine column: Wine Time. This monthly journal will be filled with practical knowledge about the world of wine. This month, Brie Roland explains all the hands your bottle passes through from vineyard to shelf. I t’s almost too easy to buy a good bottle of wine in the Twin Cities. … [ Read more]
