It's the 15th of April and when I left the house to go to Heidi’s it was 14 degrees and there was about an inch of snow on the ground. Yep; got to love the weather in Minnesota. After arriving at Heidi’s we decided that it was time to try out our first winery together. Heidi suggested that we try Millner Heritage Vineyard and Winery in Kimball MN. When we arrived at the Winery there were only two cars in the parking lot and the vineyard was still in its winter hibernation. The vineyard sits on 10 acres and has a large building being used for the winery and event area. When we entered the building we were greeted by a cheerful woman behind the bar. As we shook off the cold we looked at the menu and she described our options.
We had the option of ordering a flight of 6 different wines or doing a tasting of 12 different wines. Of course, we chose the tasting of 12 wines. Minnesota wines have come a long way in recent years. The wine that had been Heidi’s favorite, the Draga, was outshined by the other varieties.The varieties that we tried included 2 white, 5 reds, 2 rose’s, 2 hard ciders, and a port. As she poured each wine,she shared information about the grapes used, the provenance of each wine, and the family stories that went along with it. It was very interesting to hear about the grape varietals and how they named each wine.
For reds, we really enjoyed the What the Foch! and Mein Onkel. For those who prefer a sweeter red, the Nordsuss is very nice. Both of the Rose’s were good and we ultimately selected a bottle of the Naplemente to take home. The other rose’ was true to its name, A Very Good Wine. Both of the white wines were bright and refreshing. The white port was really a treat and would be a great finish to a summer meal.
There were 2 other drinks that were in a category all their own. The Minnesota Crisp is a hard cider made from 5 different types of apples, all Minnesota grown from an orchard in the Faribault area. The other hard cider was Attila the Fun’s Fruit Bubbly. It was indeed fun. Both of these ciders sell for about ½ the price of a bottle of wine. All of their wine prices were reasonable, between $15-$20 per bottle. Millner’s wines are also available in local liquor stores however it sounds like they will be dialing back their liquor store inventory to keep plenty on hand at the winery for the summer season… which is of course the best place to try their wines and enjoy the beautiful vineyard and tasting room.
After an enjoyable afternoon of sampling the delicious wines at Milner we walked around the grounds in the cold spring air for a bit and I tried to imagine how beautiful it would be in the summer. We decided it was time to warm up and get something to eat. Not knowing the area well, we searched for a place to have dinner on the map on my phone. There were a couple of good options but the name of the place we picked stood out and I said we had to try it. We drove the short distance to Muddy Cow in Litchfield MN. Muddy Cow is a regional chain restaurant with locations around the twin cities area. The restaurant might be part of a larger group of restaurants but each location sources their fresh ingredients from farms within 300 miles of its location. This location had its own personality that made it unique to its community. The first thing that we noticed was the interesting architecture that was a mix of farm and medieval castle. The front of the building had something that looked like a silo that was turned into a tower from a castle.The other thing Heidi pointed out was this location was the local VFW post with military armaments being displayed in front of the building.
The restaurant interior was warm and inviting with plenty of seating. The decor was unique and fun. There was a pair of fiberglass cows that greeted you when you walked in the door and a repurposed popcorn machine that was being used to dispense cheese balls for a pre-meal snack. They have an extensive menu that includes the usual bar fare. All the choices made it hard to pick just one thing we wanted to order. We decided to order a couple of appetizers to share as our meal. The first appetizer was the bacon cheeseburger egg rolls. The ingredients of a cheeseburger, including the pickle in an egg roll wrapping. The other appetizer we shared was the whiskey glazed potstickers. The potstickers were an interesting combination of flavors as well. The big difference from a traditional potsticker was the sweet and smokey whisky glaze that complemented the pork filling. Both appetizers were delicious and were enough to fill us up. After our meal we took a couple of photos with the cows that welcomed us to the restaurant and headed home for the night.
This might have been our first winery experience together but it will definitely not be our last. The more we explore, the more we want to find new things to experience together. We might only have the weekends for now but we intend to make the most of our time together and plan on sharing our experience along the way.
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