Free Live Music: Andrew Walesch, Moonshine boom.

5/22/15  3:30 pm Good Afternoon:      A fairly quiet week except for the cold Monday night.  The open buds on grapes are very susceptible to frost now, this can cut your crop by over half.  It was close but it missed by two degrees.  With the forecast for this coming week as warm weather, bring the heat on.      Also this week I was able to get all the oil changed on the tractors and gator. On Monday we also picked up a one ton van for the winery.  More of our wine is now going into the wholesale market.      This morning Anna and I worked on our numbers for insurance renewal and found that we are now selling at least 1/3rd of our wine into the wholesale market, that's a liquor store or bar near you.  This vehicle will be a gas hog but it can haul a very good load.  I'll tell you by the end of the year if it was a mistake.      Last Saturday Mary and I attended a wedding celebration in Pierz, MN.  My childhood neighbor's son was married, we are also cousins  by way of my Grandma Millner who was a Gruber.  My dad told me the Gruber relatives first came over by sailboat in the middle to early 1800's.      The next day before leaving Pierz we stopped at the nursing home to visit my Aunt Marceline.  At age 97 her mind is really sharp, it was fun for me to ask questions about the stories my dad had told me as a kid.  She matched up very closely on the moonshine story about how they blew out the windows on the house.  You see they'd hold a tub of moonshine behind the wood-stove to keep it warm so it'd age faster, so they could sell it sooner.  Aunt Rose was ironing cloths using flat iron on the stove.  These are the old irons that have a detachable hand and are heated by setting on top of a hot stove.  Because she was working hard she was firing hot, the alcohol vaporized, and exploded blowing the windows out on first floor.  The kitchen curtains caught fire but the house was not lost.  I don't think this happened a second time. ___________________________________ I have to report that we are sold out of MN Crisp in the 22 ounce bombers.  WE do still have inventory of the 1/6th barrels.      Mein Onkel is moving very fast As a semi-sweet, this vintage seems to have acquired a candy type flavor.  You'll have to try for yourself at a tasting. Free Live music at  Millner Heritage! This week our performer is: Andrew Walesch Playing Saturday and Sunday 2 - 5 pm The video below was just released, you don't want to me him this weekend. Thank you! "Can't Buy Me Love - Andrew Walesch"

4/10/15 newsletter

4/09/15 9:330 pm

Good Evening:

Another week has slipped into history. This week Jon hauled two loads of wine and cider to our two distributors. While he was in the metro last night with the second load, he called me with news he had a flat tire and wanted to know if I had triple A. He solved his problem by borrowing a mobile air pump, inflated the tire, and was able to drive home. Today our repair garage found a big nail still in the tire, hence plugging the hole giving him time to drive home. It happens. In the old days my parent would have said he spun his wheels too much, but than it was in a rear tire on a front wheel drive.

Last Sunday we celebrated Easter in the evening. Iza came with a basket full of plastic eggs to hide. She is now having more fun hiding the eggs and watching for if we can find them. She is growing up so fast and yet she is only in second grade.

Last Saturday Iza got the idea to sell lemonade at the winery to earn some money. The day before she bought some lemons, a bag of sugar, and some paper cups using her own money. On Saturday morning Anna helped her make her lemonade and set up her table in the winery. The lemonade was good and she sold out plus got some money as tips. In the end she ended up with $23 total. She talked about that if she puts the money in the bank into her savings account, Jon would then match this money. Mary and I did the same when our kids were small, I still think it was a good lesson for our kids to save.

In the end Iza took a different path, Jon saw her with the neighbor kids with $5 worth of candy. He first thought the other kids persuaded her to buy their candy, in the end Iza fessed up that she drove her bicycle to the store and bought the candy for the neighbor kids. Hearing this it scared Jon and Anna that she took off to the store alone, given today's world. It was nice she wanted to share her good fortune, but she knew going alone wasn't allowed. On Sunday Jon told us they gave her a Don Millner punishment. What's that? She got to pick her own punishment with the condition that if it was too easy, they'd give her a really big punishment. From what I hear, Iza chose to do cleaning, including scrubbing toilets. Sometimes the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.

_______________________________________ As of tonight we are now down to about 3/4 of a row of Marquette left to prune. Today we worked in the drizzle and tomorrow we are planning to finish-up. After that

we need to tear all the cut canopy from the top wires to get it ready for the spring fungal spray. One spray in the spring is standard in grapes to kill one type of spores, it needs to happen before the buds open, that the grapes are still dormant.

We had a scare in the vineyard yesterday. My son Scott was pruning with me when he suddenly screeched out. In the corner of my eye I caught that he had both hands on his long handled loppers so his hands should have been safe. It turn out that he had his little pruner in a chest pocket on his coat and he pressed it closed with one of his finger between the blades as he was pushing with the loppers to cut a big grape trunk. He cut the finger but at least didn't cut it off. It bled good, he wrapped with tape and later sealed it with super glue. He was back to work today, he should be OK.

___________________________________________________ On the Wine side today Jon unloaded the 2013 vintage of Draga, made with the Marquette grape, from the barrels and loaded the 2014 vintage to start the barrel aging for this vintage. The 2013 vintage is now ready for bottling.

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4/3/15 newsletter

4/03/15 11:00 pm

Good Morning: Before anything else, Happy Easter. I know today is Good Friday, but you may-not read this until Sunday. This is the first year we will be open on Easter Sunday, when you are done hunting eggs, come hunt for some wine. After 6 pm we will celebrate Easter.

Last week's news was the wine Little Iza is back on our shelves, this week we have MN Crisp, our hard apple cider, back on our shelves also. This is in the 22 ounce bombers, I believe this is the last cider bottling for this year. It goes fast, if you'd like to buy some do it now. For us it has been interesting to see how fast the cider has sold. Jon has been receiving calls from beer wholesalers wanting to include MN Crisp in their inventory. We are in the process of ordering three more 1,600 gallon tanks for next year, this should help very much to increase the quantity of MN Crisp. Below are to piece of art submitted by Shawn and Heather Orton from one of their sons. The first is Little Iza and the second is MN Crisp. I like them, the originals will be posted at the winery today.

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This week I have been working the vineyard quite regularly. We have just 5 rows of Marquette grapes left to prune. This grape has been more work than the others to prune this year because of damage they received two winters ago, the cold winter. What happened according to John Thull, from the U.of M., the extreme cold and wind dehydrated the trunks and cordons of the plants that now this thick woody part of many of the Marquette grapes are cracking. All we can do is to cut off this big wood and grow new from the ground level. I guess this too is called "Farming" and a part of our life. ____________________________________________________

Mother's Day is May 10th, below is our flyer. __________________________________________________

1. Note: Easter Sunday April 5th, we will be open at the winery until 6 PM. Our family get-together will be that evening. Iza will have to hunt for eggs by sunset lighting.

2. We are now back to our Thursday to Sunday store hours.

3. If you'd like to be part of a bottling crew, email me at donmillner@gmail.com with the subject line "I love a good bottling party." Try it, You'll Like it! Very important, please be sure to include your best phone number with this message. Thank you _______________________________________________________

Time for Trivia and Free wine.

It is time for a new trivia contest. About 3 wks ago Mary, Iza, and our youngest son Scott did an afternoon painting with acrylic paints. Below are all three painting they did together. To win a free bottle of wine, attach the correct name to each painting. The painting are labeled A, B, & C for your reference. Painting A Painting B Painting C Send your answers of matching A,B, and C with Mary, Iza, and Scott to donmillner@gmail.com with the subject line "No Way Monet". (The letter t on Monet is silent.) To read more on Monet the artist, click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Monet

Thank you for your time.

Don Millner Millner Heritage Winery www.millnerheritage.com 320-398-2081 April 1st through December 31st Open: Thursday 11 - 7 Fri. & Sat. 11 - 8 Sunday 11 - 6

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02/20/15 newsletter

02/20/15   2:00 pm Good Afternoon:      Today 63 years ago I had been told by my dad that we had a very good snow storm.  He drove my mom and I to the Little Falls hospital being in labor for my birth.  After delivering us to the hospital he returned home to tend to the cattle as the coming blizzard would stop all transportation.  He got home OK, I got born OK, three days later he was able to return to see us.  He always joked that the blizzard so delayed him that I might have hair and teeth before he returned, I did have hair.  In this time of googling everything, I found the weather data on my day of birth and yes we did have 9 inches of snow, quite different from this year.      Today I am 63, below is the birthday drawing I got from Iza this morning, she stayed at our house last night.  Jon worked till 10 last night and Anna is in Hungary.  Her mom had some extensive surgery and she will be there for two weeks to help her.  At first Anna was not able to see her mom in the hospital because of a flu quarantine.  Over there they  literally stop the public from entering the hospital, Jon told me that to bypass you just bribe the nurse.   I guess their health system must be getting better because they refused Anna's bribe, by now the quarantine was lifted and she got in.      The word quarantine comes from the Italian (seventeenth-century Venetian) quaranta, meaning forty, which is the number of days ships were required to be isolated before passengers and crew could go ashore during the Black Death plague epidemic.  A little trivia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarantine . I thought it was really nice that Iza has me as 36.  I told Jon that I hope she doesn't have dyslexia. __________________________________________________________           Thank you to all who came to our Valentine's Party, it was a very nice evening. Thank you again from all of us Iza, Anna, Mary, Holly, Jon and myself. ________________________________________________________      I think it is time to give away a bottle of wine.  I recently was watching a wine movie on netflix and heard two words that sound very much alike but are different.  The two words are viticulture and viniculture.  The word viticulture is the study of growing grapes.  Another neat word is Enology, sometimes spelled Oenology, this is the study of wine and making wine.  Without googling finish the sentence, Viniculture is the study of ......... Send your answer to donmillner@gmail.com with the subject line, "I'd like a free bottle of wine." _

Thank you for your time.   Don Millner  Millner Heritage Winery www.millnerheritage.com 320-398-2081

02/05/15 newsletter

To Join our Newsletter, email to donmillner@gmail.com (subject: newsletter) Millner Heritage Winery, 32025 MN Hwy 15, Kimball, MN 55353 320-398-2081  April 1st through December 31st Open: Thursday  11 - 7 Fri. & Sat.  11 - 8 Sunday  11 - 6 January 2nd through March 31st Open Saturdays 11 - 7 pm (With Free Mulled wine every day) 02/05/15   3:00 pm Good Afternoon:      Another week has passed and we have settled back into our routine of life, back from the Caribbean.  This week Mary came down with bronchitis, lots of hacking and poor sleep.  Today she seems to have improved some, I told her this morning that this sure gives her a sexy voice.  She smiled a little, so she must be getting better.  Tomorrow we start the Minnesota Grape Growers Association (MGGA)  annual convention, this year in downtown Mpls.  Jon and Anna will leave early, I'll leave to avoid rush hour, and all of our workers are also going down this year.  Mary will be staying home with Iza and I will be back at the winery on Saturday, with free mulled wine to take off the winter chill.      On this convention I look forward to seeing the other vineyard and winery people that we have gotten to know from prior years.  I also enjoy the Friday night wine stroll.  We'll have our booth and pouring samples, work the crowd getting them to laugh and just plain have fun.  We will be premiering two new products this year, Minnesota Crisp our apple cider and a new fruity, dry red wine made from the grape Marechal Foch.  This one is noted for its good taste and eye catching label.  I even have a 30 second jingle already worked out for this wine.      I just got off the phone with Jon, he is having a problem with the Minnesota Crisp but it is a good problem.  He made a 1,000 gallon batch first and most of this went into kegs with a smaller portion in bottles.  The kegs are selling good at the bars and restaurants, the problem is with the bottled portion, the cases are flying off the shelves for the wholesale market.  He is holding back some cases to sell at the winery.  A second 1,000 gallon batch will come into bottling later this month, all in bottles.  Definitely a good problem, on wholesale the buyers are tasting from sample bottles and must like what they taste.      ______________________________________________________________      Do you remember last week's trivia question?  Read below to refresh your mind. 1. Leaving on the above cruise I was sure to pack my close friend of over 10 years in my suitcase.  He traveled fine with the airlines but the cruise line put him in solitaryconfinement.  The first night on ship I had no suitcase and nearly no cloths.  The next day security finally made contact that my suitcase with my friend inside was being held because it had a weapon inside. My friend has the initials of L.M.  Who is my friend? The correct answer to this one is my Leather-Man Multitool. (I guess technically the initials are L.M.M.)  The winner is Bill Ludwig of Paynesville. 2.  Above I mentioned that we ate toooo much, this really reminded me of the ducks and geese that are force fed in France to make  a popular and well-known delicacy in Frenchcuisine. Its flavor is described as rich, buttery, and delicate, unlike that of an ordinary duck or goose liver. Sometimes I think after eating I even waddled like a duck.  What is the name of this French delicacy? The correct answer to the force fed ducks and geese is Foie Gras.  The winner of a free bottle of wine is Sandy Pierce. Congratulation to both winners. _____________________________________________________________          If you are interested in our Valentine's Party, book now.  I already have 78 of 112 spots reserved.  If you'd like to hear the professional radio ad for this event  Click here. The radio advertising just started yesterday,  if you know you'd like to book please do it now. "Have I told you lately that I Love you..." Join us for an   " I Love You Valentine's Day Party"  Saturday February 14th. Charcoal Grilled Pork Loin with BBQ Sauce Chicken Alfredo Garlic mashed potatoes Baby carrots and full length Green Beans Asian Lettuce Salad Dinner Rolls & Butter Plus 1 glass Millner Heritage Wine Minnesota Crisp Apple Cider, Mixed Drinks and Beer Additional cost. Also don't miss Free Wine Bingo and more Valentine Games. Live Music by: Cathie English, Performing 5:30 - 8:30 Central Minnesota singer/songwriter whose American finger-style guitar playing an easy listening Americana folk music. Seating & Social starting at 5:30 with Serving Time Promptly at 6:30 pm Priced at $22 plus tax/person, secured reservations required. For reservations call 320-237-1958 or email to donmillner@gmail.com, include return phone number. ______________________________________________________ Thank you for your time.   Don Millner  Millner Heritage Winery www.millnerheritage.com 320-398-2081 April 1st through December 31st Open: Thursday  11 - 7 Fri. & Sat.  11 - 8 Sunday  11 - 6 Join our newsletter! Always be in the know! To Join Send an email to  donmillner@gmail.com with the subject line  "Newsletter"

01/29/15 More Little Iza found, Double Trivia, Valentine's Half Full already, Home from Caribbean

01/29/15   10:00 am Good Morning:       Did you notice that last week I had no newsletter?  For good reason, Mary and I were on a Caribbean Cruise with 4 other couples.  We sailed out of Puerto Rico, visiting 4 islands.  We did two snorkeling outings, a sunset cruise, an under the water glass bottom boat over a sunken German ship, and zip lining and more.  All went well other than one hitch upon our arrival onto the ship, details below.  We ate too much, drank enough, and came home tired.  Again, it is a good vacation when home looks good, I wouldn't trade Minnesota for living on any of the islands, maybe that's just me. If you'd like a short action video click below: ZipLineDon3       I think this is as good of a time to give away two bottles of wine.  Be sure to submit your answers separately. 1. Leaving on the above cruise I was sure to pack my close friend of over 10 years in my suitcase.  He traveled fine with the airlines but the cruise line put him in solitaryconfinement.  The first night on ship I had no suitcase and nearly no cloths.  The next day security finally made contact that my suitcase with my friend inside was being held because it had a weapon inside. My friend has the initials of L.M.  Who is my friend?  To enter send to donmillner@gmail.com with the subject line "Who is my Friend?" 2.  Above I mentioned that we ate toooo much, this really reminded me of the ducks and geese that are force fed in France to make  a popular and well-known delicacy in French cuisine. Its flavor is described as rich, buttery, and delicate, unlike that of an ordinary duck or goose liver. Sometimes I think after eating I even waddled like a duck.  What is the name of this French delicacy? To enter send to donmillner@gmail.com with the subject line "Waddle like a Duck!" _____________________________________________________________    On to more news: This is good news for all Little Iza lovers.  We have been sold out at the winery of the label Little Iza since December 20th.  Jon has just informed me that much of the metro liquor stores likely still have some inventory, the locations are listed below. The new vintage of Little Iza in the tank is about 1,500 gallon, up about 500 gallons.  We apologize for selling out of this label, we are trying to avoid this problem. At the same time this is a good problem, thank you. Mac's Liquor - Hopkins MN 952-935-9291 River Liquors - Minneapolis MN 612-781-4545 Lowry Hill Liquor - Minneapolis MN 612-871-2500  South Lyndale Liquor - Minneapolis MN 612-827-5811 Richfield Liquor Cedar Ave - Richfield MN 612-861-9370 Liquor Barrel - St. Louis Park MN 612-861-9370 MGM - Burnsville MN 952-435-5000 Viking Liquor Barrel - Prior Lake MN 952-447-2127 Central Spirits - Blaine MN 763-780-1168 Lakeridge Wine & Spirits - Champlin MN 763-333-2411 Crystal WIne & Spirits - Crystal MN 763-537-5945 Coyote Liquors - Dayton MN 763-428-0200 Angel Liquor - Maple Grove MN 763-420-6215 Haskell's - Maple Grove MN 763-400-7888 Princeton's Liquors - Maple Grove MN 763-559-3257 Premier Wine & Spirits - Osseo MN 763-425-4680 Cellars - Plymouth MN 763-559-2114 MGM - Plymouth MN 763-557-1080 Robbinsdale Wine & Spirits - Robbinsdale MN 763-537-9012 St. Anthony Village Wine & Spirits - St. Anthony MN 612-782-3452 Cellars - Eagan MN 651-405-6681 Wine & Roses Liquor - Forest Lake MN 651-464-7130 Furlongs Liquor - Oakdale MN 651-779-7757 MGM - Rosemount MN 651-344-7700 Cellars - Roseville MN 651-636-4404 Wine Time - Roseville MN 651-697-0162 Lowertown Wine & Spirits - St. Paul MN 651-222-3661 Grayscale Liquor - Vadnais Heights MN 651-483-0159 Lakeridge Liquor - Vadnais Heights MN 651-483-6272 Cellars - White Bear Lake MN 651-426-1028 Cellars - Woodbury MN 651-738-8110 Liquor Works - Wyoming MN 651-408-2337     _________________________________________________          If you are interested in our Valentine's Party, book now.  We are already half filled. "Have I told you lately that I Love you..." Join us for an   " I Love You Valentine's Day Party"  Saturday February 14th. Charcoal Grilled Pork Loin with BBQ Sauce Chicken Alfredo Garlic mashed potatoes Baby carrots and full length Green Beans Asian Lettuce Salad Dinner Rolls & Butter Plus 1 glass Millner Heritage Wine Minnesota Crisp Apple Cider, Mixed Drinks and Beer Additional cost. Also don't miss Free Wine Bingo and more Valentine Games. Live Music by: Cathie English, Performing 5:30 - 8:30 Central Minnesota singer/songwriter whose American finger-style guitar playing an easy listening Americana folk music. Seating & Social starting at 5:30 with Serving Time Promptly at 6:30 pm Priced at $22 plus tax/person, secured reservations required. For reservations call 320-237-1958 or email to donmillner@gmail.com, include return phone number. ______________________________________________________      Now if you are a video person, please try the video below. Again, I gave it all I had telling about the Valentine's Party.  Don You are invited to Valentine's Day with your sweetie! Finally a pay check, from Jon! Below is a copy of Jon's comment on facebook about the last 10 years.      Today is actually a historical day for myself, but also for the winery. For those of you who don't know, the winery business in general is not as easy to make money at as some might think. The big reasons for this are the long lag time between starting the wine and actually bottling it, (often 6-18 months) let alone selling it. The upfront capital needed to start it up is a lot higher than most start up businesses. All the pumps, stainless steel tanks etc... aren't cheap. Also, it's a competitive market. If people couldn't get wine from anywhere in the world and were willing to pay $50/bottle, I suppose we'd be rich, but that's clearly not the case. And then the last thing for us has been expansion. Expanding tanks and press and all of this once again is another big capital outlay. This last one is a big one for us as our production has more than quadrupled from when we first started. What happened today could've happened a fair amount sooner if we weren't expanding so fast.      So, what's historical about today? Today I signed my first profit check. I am a paid employee of the winery, but I'm also part owner, and today is the first day where I got something beyond my regular salary. It was about this time 10 years ago that we first started scouting for land. It was fall of 2005 when we bought the property we are currently on. We opened to the public in 2009, but most people don't know of the years prior to opening. We were searching in 2005 already. So, this year, it's basically 10 years on project, and finally now with first profit check coming in, feels a little bit like the plan is working out pretty much as hoped smile emoticon I think we always felt there was money in this industry, but boy you have to fight for it I think a lot more than some businesses. My dad always used to joke that I should've gone into dentistry. Far easier money.      Here are some fun facts about how things have changed from the beginning of the winery: - 2006 was first planting. Planted about 400 vines. Now we have about 5,000. - 2008 was first crush. I made 2,800 gallons of wine. This year, we're going to be over 12,000. - My dad was doing about 30 hours a week at the dental office and probably another 30 hours a week at the winery from 2006 till April 2014 when he retired from dentistry. Now, I think he mostly works at the winery just to have something fun to do. - Anna was here with us when we were staking out the very first rows of vineyard. - Izabella Millner, whom the famous wine Little Iza is named after wasn't even conceived yet. In May she'll be 8. - I think we were the 21st winery to open in MN. Now, I think there are like 70. Most cideries fall under winery license too though as it's considered wine in MN. - I think when we started, we were like the 9th largest winery in the state out of 21. Now, I would suspect we are likely the 6th largest of about 70. - Every year I make Little Iza, it sells out. I'm sorry, I'm increasing quantity pretty much every year and we still can't make enough. Sorry... It seems as I make more, the demand goes more too. - My mom, mother Mary used to come out to the vineyard early in the morning when we first started to "check up" on the vines and make sure they were doing fine. First time she did this, my dad woke up wondering where she went. - We still bottle all by hand. - My dad has always sung at the winery. Just now, he wrote songs about the wines and sings his own tunes instead of someone else's. - Anna probably weighed about 15lbs more after having Iza than she currently does. So, she lost some weight. On the other hand, I weigh about 15lbs more now then I did then. - We started with 10 wines. As of this year we will be up to 16 wines and 1 hard cider. - We also didn't have any beer or mixed drinks on site available. Hard to book weddings without at least having those as options... - I didn't know Hungarian dance when we first started up. Began that February 2010. - In 2006 and 2007, I went back down in the winters to make wine in Iowa before we had wine of our own to make here in MN. - My dad worked on every single post that got pounded at the winery. I actually wasn't. I was there for about 90% of them but sometimes some got pounded while I was in Iowa. - First year of grape growing, the first 400 vines was mostly my parents work. Anna and I stayed down in Iowa as it wasn't enough work to be full time for us in the summer. Following year we put in 2900 more vines and that's when we came back up to work full time in the summer. - Marquette, the last grape from the U of MN just came out in 2006. Now, the U of MN is releasing their next grape this spring. Sorry, I don't know details yet... - When we started, Frontenac was the most planted grape in MN, followed by Frontenac Gris and then La Crescent and then Foch. Now Marquette is the most planted, Frontenac Gris is still #2 and to be honest I'm not sure what number 3 is. I suspect it might be Frontenac, LaCrescent or possibly Prairie Star... not sure though... I know Foch isn't really high on the list anymore though as the U's grapes and Swenson varieties are replacing some of the earlier French hybrids. - At first we only sold in probably the 30-40 liquor stores relatively close to us. I think now, we're probably in around 200 and climbing. We sell in central MN, in the cities and south east quadrant. The cider will be going into bars/restaurants mostly I think. - I started with 8 tanks and a dairy for racking. Now, I have 14 wine tanks and 1 brite tank for carbonating. - I have a lot more grey hair now, and a little more wisdom along with it.

Thank you for your time.   Don Millner  Millner Heritage Winery www.millnerheritage.com 320-398-2081 April 1st through December 31st Open: Thursday  11 - 7 Fri. & Sat.  11 - 8 Sunday  11 - 6 Join our newsletter! Always be in the know! To Join Send an email to  donmillner@gmail.com with the subject line  "Newsletter"