Live Music Ordinary Folk, Harvest Parties, Hungarian Fest Sept 12, Oct. 3 & 4 Rockin Stompin Grape Stomp!

The Best Vineyard & Winery Tours in Minnesota!

Millner Heritage Winery 32025 MN Hwy 15 Kimball, MN 55353 320-398-2081

8/20/15 Good Morning:    9:00 am      In short I start with hot news this week.  The International Cold Climate Wine Competition (ICCWC) was held on  Tuesday of this week at the Minnesota Arboretum.  We won 5 medals, one Gold and 4 Bronze with the gold also being rated as the "Best of Show" in the Specialty wine category.  The label that won as the best was  Müllner Nice, our ice-wine. This is a very big win, congratulation Jon.  Our bronze winners were Rona, Mein Onkel, Salier, and Schnickelfritz. Nice job Jon.  For all the results click on the logo below. _________________________________________________      Also this week I was able to assemble the flyer for our Grape Stomp.  We've changed the music format to Jazz, Country, and Classic Rock.  I'd call it as more upbeat music. Of   course we'll have grape stomping all day long both days.  It is titled as "The Rockin Stompin Grape Stomp!" __________________________________________________________      This Saturday looks to be a very busy day at the winery.  We start out with a  tourbus at noon, then 1:30 and 3 pm tours, plus a bachelorette party at 5:30, and a 250 guest wedding starting at 4 pm and into the evening.  But I am told that when you are the CEO, you have to learn to delegate.  I will practice delegating this Saturday evening, it is also my 45th high school reunion at Pierz, MN.  I hope to leave the winery by 6 pm and hold up somewhere in Pierz that night. ____________________________________________________    Don't miss that this event in also includes Grape Stomping! Hungarian Harvest Festival & Grape Stomp Saturday September 12th,  11 am to 8 pm - Hungarian Dancing and Music -Grape Stomping -Games -Kids Activities -Photo Area with Costumes -Delicious Hungarian Foods -Also a Mustache Contest ________________________________________________________ Update: The list is growing, Jon told me this week that it may be a record harvest.  I cross my fingers because I know that his is farming and the crop is't in until it is in.     Harvest  Parties!      If you like a party, this is the time to sign up.  The list is growing, Jon told me we could have a record harvest this year.    If you'd like to be part of a harvest party follow the instructions below.  If this is new to you:  1.Being a harvest volunteer means working about 4 hour in the vineyard cutting off clusters of grapes into pails, those pails then dump into bins right in the vineyard.  2. We then haul the bins to the winery for processing.   3. Usually we start about 8:30 in the morning  complete by 12:30.   4. Then we bring in a very nice meal, all the wine you'd like to drink.   5. Then send bottles of wine home with you.  I don't have specific date now, to register I need your name, a good phone number, days of the week when you can come, and how many people in your group. Some of the harvest is on weekday and some on weekends, the variable is how the when the grapes are a peak flavor to harvest.  All of our contact is via phone voice, not texting, therefore a good phone number is important. email to donmillner@gmail.com with the subject line "2015 Harvest Party!"   Remember this video? ____________________________________________________

Free Music this Saturday and Sunday! Playing both day from 2 - 5 pm will be:    Ordinary Folk,  Gary & Phyllis Jorgensen, Dave Rogers - Playing Old Style Mountain Instruments.

Live Music "Duke Zecco", Corvette Car Club, Hungarian Fest & Grape Stomp, Harvest Parties Sign-up

April 1st through December 31st Open: Thursday 11 - 7 Fri. & Sat. 11 - 8 Sunday 11 - 6  The Best Vineyard & Winery Tours in Minnesota! Millner Heritage Winery 32025 MN Hwy 15 Kimball, MN 55353 320-398-2081 8/13/15 Good Morning:    10:30 am    In a single sentence, "The grapes are growing."  The Valiant grapes are into full verasion (changing color for ripening) and the Marquette grapes are starting verasion.  We have some heat coming for the next three day, the grapes love it.      Yesterday Iza (8 yr. old granddaughter) went with me to pickup supplies for this weekend.  After we loaded we ate big at an Asian buffet and still went to Cokato Corn days and age more sweetcorn. We were full.  It is good to do these jobs with her.  On the way home I told her that people my age sometimes die suddenly.  If I were to die suddenly, it's OK for her to cry but then go on with your life and be happy.  She asked me, "Should we have a party?"  I said, "Yes by all mean.  You can have it at the winery, tell stories and have fun."   It's good to cover you bases, you never know. __________________________________________________________ Do you like pretty Cars? This Saturday August 15 we have a Corvette Car Club coming to the winery. Twenty two corvettes are scheduled to arrive at 12 noon.  They are doing our tours and tasting, how long they stay?  Come early to not miss them.  Corvettes are fast cars so I don't know when they'll be gone. Are they faster than a speeding bullet? ____________________________________________________      We have a party coming to the winery: Hungarian Harvest Festival & Grape Stomp Saturday September 12th,  11 am to 8 pm - Hungarian Dancing and Music -Grape Stomping -Games -Kids Activities -Photo Area with Costumes -Delicious Hungarian Foods -Also a Mustache Contest ________________________________________________________ Harvest  Parties!      If you like a party, this is the time to sign up.  The list is growing, Jon told me we could have a record harvest this year.    If you'd like to be part of a harvest party follow the instructions below.  If this is new to you:  1.Being a harvest volunteer means working about 4 hour in the vineyard cutting off clusters of grapes into pails, those pails then dump into bins right in the vineyard.  2. We then haul the bins to the winery for processing.   3. Usually we start about 8:30 in the morning  complete by 12:30.   4. Then we bring in a very nice meal, all the wine you'd like to drink.   5. Then send bottles of wine home with you.  I don't have specific date now, to register I need your name, a good phone number, days of the week when you can come, and how many people in your group. Some of the harvest is on weekday and some on weekends, the variable is how the when the grapes are a peak flavor to harvest.  All of our contact is via phone voice, not texting, therefore a good phone number is important. email to donmillner@gmail.com with the subject line "2015 Harvest Party!"   Remember this video? ____________________________________________________ Free Music this Saturday and Sunday! Playing both day from 2 - 5 pm will be:    Duke Zecco  Enjoy live music by Duke Zecco 50's, 60's, 70's on his 12 sting guitar.

Millner Heritage Winery: Live Music "Just Jerome", Harvest Parties Sign-up, Went Coal Mining

April 1st through December 31st Open: Thursday 11 - 7 Fri. & Sat. 11 - 8 Sunday 11 - 6  The Best Vineyard & Winery Tours in Minnesota! Millner Heritage Winery 32025 MN Hwy 15 Kimball, MN 55353 320-398-2081 8/07/15 Good Morning:    6:30 am    It rained again last night.  Grapes do need water like any other plant, at the same time frequent rains can be a problem with fungal growth in the vineyard.  Grapes all around the world always have this struggle and our weather conditions here can easily be detrimental.  Fortunately because our grapes are bred with the american wild grape, vitis riparia, we have a high level of resistance.      The valiant grapes are now very well into verasion, when they change color and the ripening process is occurring.  This brings me up to the next subject: ____________________________________________________ Harvest  Parties!            Harvest could well be starting later this month.  If you'd like to be part of a harvest party follow the instructions below.  If this is new to you:  1.Being a harvest volunteer means working about 4 hour in the vineyard cutting off clusters of grapes into pails, those pails then dump into bins right in the vineyard.  2. We then haul the bins to the winery for processing.   3. Usually we start about 8:30 in the morning  complete by 12:30.   4. Then we bring in a very nice meal, all the wine you'd like to drink.   5. Then send bottles of wine home with you.  I don't have specific date now, to register I need your name, a good phone number, days of the week when you can come, and how many people in your group. Some of the harvest is on weekday and some on weekends, the variable is how the when the grapes are a peak flavor to harvest.  All of our contact is via phone voice, not texting, therefore a good phone number is important. email to donmillner@gmail.com with the subject line "2015 Harvest Party!"       If you  prefer video of harvest click on the image below.  If you watch, Jon and I did all the talking, but Iza was the real star. ____________________________________________________      I had no newsletter last week because Mary and I were gone on a bus tour with our local power company, Meeker Coop.  Ten of us travel together on the bus, it was a very good quick vacation.  We ate too much, drank enough wine, and learned a few things.  I have a few photos below. Dragline moving earth Dragline Close-up view with tractor Mary entering Power Plant View into Fire Chamber, temperature 2,800 F. Free Music this Saturday and Sunday! Playing both day from 2 - 5 pm will be:    "Just Jerome" Playing clarinet, saxophone, keyboard, and voice. Performing a variety of music Genre.

Live Music Terry Nelson, Iza's Gummy Lemonade, Nice and Hot

April 1st through December 31st Open: Thursday 11 - 7 Fri. & Sat. 11 - 8 Sunday 11 - 6  The Best Vineyard & Winery Tours in Minnesota! Millner Heritage Winery 32025 MN Hwy 15 Kimball, MN 55353 320-398-2081 7/24/15 Good Afternoon:    Yes it is a little hot out today.  All I can say is that this is  good grape growing weather.  Humidity we don't need, but hot is good.  The vineyard   tours are now getting into prime time.  Soon the grapes should be going into verasion. Quoted from my google search, "Véraison is a viticulture (grape-growing) term meaning "the onset of ripening". It is originally French, but has been adopted into English use. The official definition of veraison is "change of color of the grape berries.""        Normally our Valiant grape, used to make  our wine called Nordsuss,  is our first variety to start the color change.  The white grapes also change color going from green to a whitish tone and at this time the flavor compounds and sugars in the grapes are developing.      Harvest could well be started in about a month.  If you'd like to be part of a harvest party follow the instructions below.  If this is new to you, being a harvest volunteer means working about 4 hour in the vineyard cutting off clusters of grapes into pails, those pails then dump into bins right in the vineyard, we then haul the bins to the winery for processing.  Usually we start about 8:30 in the morning  complete by 12:30 then we bring in a very nice meal, all the wine you'd like to drink, and then send bottles of wine home with you.  I don't have specific date now, to register I need your name, a good phone number, days of the week when you can come, and how many people in your group. Some of the harvest is on weekday and some on weekends, the variable is how the when the grapes are a peak flavor to harvest.  All of our contact is via phone voice, not texting, therefore a good phone number is important. email to donmillner@gmail.com with the subject line "2015 Harvest Party!" _______________________________________________      Last weekend at  our festival Iza, our 8 yr. old granddaughter, did quite well on her lemonade stand.  She sold out all except for the little bit at the very bottom of her glass container.  Do you remember when you were a kid how on an ice-cream on a stick Yuck! after the ice-cream is gone how one last lick of the stick seems to be attractive?  Well I must still be a kid. Late Saturday after Iza was gone playing I though I'd test her lemonade and just the bottom of the jar was left and almost no cups.  Tilting the jar I got about half a cup out, walked away and took a sip.  Not bad until I saw that someone had already used this cup and stuck their chewing gum in bottom of it, yuck Gross!      Iza did well enough on her lemonade stand   that with this money  and her gumball machine money she bought a Barbie house.  I think that it is good to see her managing to buy something using her own money.  I wonder if the gum in the bottom of the glass came from Iza's gumball machine.  Does it then mean that someone helped Iza twice?  (It still was gross to see.) __________________________________      This week I received a letter in the mail with return address that didn't look familiar and seemed to have the feel of something out of ordinary.  Upon opening it I was correct, it was a thank you note from visitors earlier this summer.  Early on a Saturday morning I was cleaning out the grease trap in the dish-room.  I don't like doing this on a day when customers are coming, but the drain was blocked and I had to do it.  Consequently I had all the door open and the air ex-changer running to get the smell out.  This is not a fun job, but when you are CEO you get to  do everything.       About 1 1/2 hours prior to opening time, I was just finishing up on my project, when a car  pulls into the lot with two couples from the metro area.  They had been on the road a while driving out especially to visit our winery.  They then realized that they had miss read our opening time on line.  What does a good host do?  Open the bar, no problem. Click to read Letter ____________________________________      Sometimes life is life.  I received a very sad phone message this week.  One of our winery volunteers and avid advocate for our wine, especially MN Crisp Cider, died. Click to view Obituary His name is Ken Thorseth, his wife is Jane.  Ken and Jane are from Sauk Rapids.  Ken helped us quite a lot on bottling the past year. He was a joy to work with and he enjoyed MN Crisp by the keg, I think I sold him his last keg.  One just doesn't know how long we'll be on the earth, enjoy while you can.  Our condolences to Jane and we'll remember her and Ken in our prayers. _____________________________________ Last week's trivia question was, "What did this group paint?" The correct answer was a tree and the winner isAlice Karg.  Congratulations on an easy bottle of wine. _______________________________________________________________________ Free Music this Saturday and Sunday! Playing both day from 2 - 5 pm will be: Terry Nelson  Playing Country

7/2/15 Free Wine on the 4th, Iza in the Tub, Anni./Ethinic Fest. 2 wks. away

April 1st through December 31st Open: Thursday 11 - 7 Fri. & Sat. 11 - 8 Sunday 11 - 6  The Best Vineyard & Winery Tours in Minnesota! Millner Heritage Winery 32025 MN Hwy 15 Kimball, MN 55353 320-398-2081 7/2/15 Good Afternoon:      The 4th of July will be her really fast, I didn't realize it until last Sunday.  Don't miss our Free wine tasting on Saturday.  It is a free wine tasting of five, any five , of our table wines, we're also pouring our    MN Crisp Hard Apple Cider free.  O f course you can for $6 additional taste all 16 labels of wine including the specialties.  This is probably what I'd do.      _________________________________       In the vineyard the crew are already doing some hedging of the grapes.  This iswhere you cut off excess canopy so it doesn't shade the grapes.  Also leaf thinning will begin soon, this is where you work 8 hours per day just tearing of leaves around the fruit area.  The idea is to allow sunlight to shine onto the grapes to better form the flavor compounds and sugars.  Large vineyards do this with a machine, we have only the human machine. ____________________________________________      I didn't get too much work done yesterday, Iza our 8 yr. old  granddaughter came tovisit.  We went to the park behind our house twice, a lot of swinging and some tree golf, also a lot of swinging.  What is tree golf?  We pick a tree and the first one to hit it wins.  You can hit it high or low, both are good.  Iza uses a putter, often smacking the ball very good.  On our second trip to the park a red fox came trotting across the mid grassy area.  I thought it nice for Iza to see it also. ______________________________________________      After a hard day of playing, Iza wanted to take a bath.  Of course she wants to use the upstairs tub that has the power jets.  After she should have been done already I checked on her and found a real bubble bath.  She said she, "Only put in three squirts of soap!" Grandma said she really smelled squeaky clean. Don't miss our 4th of July!!! Our Free Live music at Millner Heritage! Our live music this Saturday and Sunday July 4th and 5th Playing 2 - 5 Will be Duke Zecco and his 12 sting guitar. Click on the photo for the sound! Click on Photo for Details         Don't forget on July 11th, Jon will be in the St. Louis Park area at the Summer Wine Festival & Market.  He will be doing wine tasting and can also sell wine by the bottle and glass.  For this event I believe he can sell up to six bottles per person. There will be over 30 wineries and food vendors present. For more info click on the picture below. Anniversary  and  Ethnic Festival   July   18th & 19th Come help us celebrate the last six years with a party!   Free Entertainment, Free Wine-Tasting, and food by Larson Catering. Saturday the 18th: -The Videki Hungarians Dancers (In totally new Costumes), -Charlie Roth and the Shamrocks plus the St. Paul Irish Dancers  Sunday the 19th: The S.G. Edelweiss Bavarian Dancers  The Singing Slovenes Hours: Saturday 11 - 8 Sunday 11 - 6 Millner Heritage Winery 32025 MN Hwy 15, Kimball 55353 www.millnerheritage.com

Father's Day all Free Tours, Free Live Music Verlyn's 1 Man Band, Last Call Free Case Club Party, Anniv./Ethnic Fest. July.

6/19/15  11:30 pm Good Morning:      To start with, happy 35th birthday to Doug, our oldest son living in Texas, it was yesterday.      Second, Happy Father's Day this Sunday.  I googled the origins and found this.      "Washington State celebrated the nation's first statewide Father's Day on July 19, 1910. Slowly, the holiday spread. In 1916, President Wilson honored the day by using telegraph signals to unfurl a flag in Spokane when he pressed a button in Washington, D.C. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge urged state governments to observe Doug & Lisa Millner Father's Day. "      My opinion: I know that mothers are important in the family unit, the sad thing is that fathers also important but too often absent or non-nurturing in the family unit.  I think that a mom's perspective and a dad's perspective being different by nature of our genders together can give children an overall better balance in life.       Given this, please visit us this Sunday, Father's Day.  All our tours are Free this day for everyone as a thank you to  our fathers. _____________________________________      We have been busy in the vineyard again this week.  Still working on tying cordons in two varieties and tucking the new growth.  Tucking means manually pushing the new growth between pairs of canopy wires where it Photo by Shawn in our vineyard. than can climb up high as it grows.  Much of the grapes are also now in bloom.  They have flowers, but not showy colors.  Because the grapes are self pollinating, I believe this is why over the centuries they've not developed colorful flowers. ________________________________      This week is last call for our Free Case Club party.  Know that if you don'thave a bag?  Buy a full case, 12 bottles, at the party and we'll still include you for the party.  The food, the music, and the party will be fantastic, enjoy.  Total details below. _________________________________      Welcome to vendors for Our Anniversary and Ethnic Festival on July 18th and 19th.  If you'd like to be a vendor, please email me at donmillner@gmail.com .  I will return a vendor application to you. On Wednesday I recorded our radio commercial for this event. Below I incorporated this sound tract with photos of prior years. Free Live music at Millner Heritage!   Our live music this Saturday and Sunday is  Verlyn's "Four Wheel Drive 1 Man Band"  Each day performing  from 2 - 5 pm. For only playing solo he sure puts out quite a range of sounds. Father's Day June 21st. Free Tours for Everyone! Dads are very important people.  You can thank your dad by bringing him to our winery and enjoying our tours together. We have the best Vineyard and Winery Tours in Minnesota. We are above the 50 count, plenty of room for more.  Call or email me today. 320-237-11958 or donmillner@gmail.com CASE CLUB APPRECIATION PARTY!! June 28th!      Do you recognize this bag? If you bought a case of wine at Millner Heritage Winery in approx. the last two years, you received a bag like this.      As you probably already know this bag always gives you case discount on just buying at least 6 bottles, forever.      This bag is also the entry ticket for two guests for our case club up-coming appreciation party. Don't have a bag? Buy a full case, 12 bottles, at the party and we'll still include you for the party. June 28th 11:30 - 2:30 pm, with Serving time promptly at 12:30. The Huge Sound of Route 55 Jazz Band will be performing, a twenty person performing group.  Click to see Route 55 Jazz Band The party includes live music, a buffet meal for two served on china with linen, and a glass of wine for each person. The menu: Baked Chicken, Garlic Mashed with Butter  & Chives, Sliced Carrots, Italian Pasta Salad, & Mini Cheesecakes. The Banquet, Wine, and Music are all FREE.         We do require that each couple at least fill their bottle bag with six bottles to take home, priced at case discount. That's just 3 bottles per person of your favorite wines.  Seating is limited and RSVP required. To reserve call Don Millner at 320-237-1958 or email to donmillner@gmail.com with the subject line "Free". Include your phone number and number of guests. I will return call to finalize. Remember, you have to bring your 6-pack bag along to the event to enter. If you have more than one bag, bring another couple. Again remember, don't forget your bottle bag and advanced reservations required. This date is open to everyone with a 6-pack bag regardless of previous parties attended. Thank you Anniversary  and  Ethnic Festival July  18th & 19th Come help us celebrate the last six years with a party! Free Entertainment and Free Wine-Tasting Saturday the 18th: -The Videki Hungarians Dancers (In totally new Costumes), -Charlie Roth and the Shamrocks plus the St. Paul Irish Dancers  Sunday the 19th: The S.G. Edelweiss Bavarian Dancers  The Singing Slovenes Hours: Saturday 11 - 8 Sunday 11 - 6 Millner Heritage Winery 32025 MN Hwy 15, Kimball 55353 www.millnerheritage.com 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"

Free Live Music: Duke Zecco, Free Case Club Party, Anniv./Ethnic Fest. July, Gemutlichkeit Soooooon.

5/30/15  8:30 am Good Morning:      Last newsletter we were within 2 degrees of a frost, now the grapes are starting to shoot out.  Jon is particularly pleased with how the Frontenac and  Frontenac Gris are growing.  The Prairie Star and Marquette are not quite as good.  This year  our start has the potential for an excellent crop but then this is farming and much can go wrong before harvest.  The forecast for hot weather next week is good to see for me. _______________________________________________           On the subject of wine, Jon did his second filtering of the new vintage of Gemutlichkeit wine yesterday.  This is the wine that drinks like a moscato and I know customers have been waiting for this one to be back on the shelves. If our bottling supplies for this label arrive it will soooooon be available. _______________________________      Free wine tasting! I received an email from Dan, our metro sales rep, announcing a tasting he is doing. "Hi Don,      I will be pouring a selection of Millner Heritage Wines June 4th from 4:30-6:30.  It will be at South Lyndale Liquors  5300 Lyndale Ave S MPLS MN 55419.  Not sure about how many to pour yet but thinking 3 whites, Freizeit, Salier, Little Iza.  If I do a red it will be Neuhaus as Draga already sells well there." __________________________ Don't miss below our upcoming events.  Our live music, Our first case club party of 2015, and mark you calendar or smart phone for our Anniversary & Ethnic Festival July 18th and 19th.  Thank you Don Free Live music at  Millner Heritage! This week our performer is: Duke Zecco Playing Saturday and Sunday 2 - 5 pm He plays 50's, 60's, and 70's on his 12 string guitar with his calloused fingertips. CASE CLUB APPRECIATION PARTY!! June 28th!      Do you recognize this bag? If you bought a case of wine at Millner Heritage Winery in approx. the last two years, you received a bag like this.      As you probably already know this bag always gives you case discount on just buying at least 6 bottles, forever.      This bag is also the entry ticket for two guests for our case club up-coming appreciation party. Don't have a bag? Buy a full case, 12 bottles, at the party and we'll still include you for the party. June 28th 11:30 - 2:30 pm, with Serving time promptly at 12:30. The party includes live music, a buffet meal for two served on china with linen, and a glass of wine for each person. The menu: Baked Chicken, Garlic Mashed with Butter  & Chives, Sliced Carrots, Italian Pasta Salad, & Mini Cheesecakes. The Banquet, Wine, and Music are all FREE.         We do require that each couple at least fill their bottle bag with six bottles to take home, priced at case discount. That's just 3 bottles per person of your favorite wines.  Seating is limited and RSVP required. To reserve call Don Millner at 320-237-1958 or email to donmillner@gmail.com with the subject line "Free". Include your phone number and number of guests. I will return call to finalize. Remember, you have to bring your 6-pack bag along to the event to enter. If you have more than one bag, bring another couple. Again remember, don't forget your bottle bag and advanced reservations required. This date is open to everyone with a 6-pack bag regardless of previous parties attended. Thank you Anniversary  and  Ethnic Festival July  18th & 19th Come help us celebrate the last six years with a party! Free Entertainment and Free Wine-Tasting Saturday the 19th: -The Videki Hungarians Dancers (In totally new Costumes), -Charlie Roth and the Shamrocks plus the St. Paul Irish Dancers  Sunday the 20th: The S.G. Edelweiss Bavarian Dancers  The Singing Slovenes Hours: Saturday 11 - 8 Sunday 11 - 6 Millner Heritage Winery 32025 MN Hwy 15, Kimball 55353 www.millnerheritage.com 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"

Free Live Music, Iza's Birthday, Mein Onkel wine back, Our sixth Anniversary.

5/16/15  7:30 am Good Morning:     Yesterday was special and today is also special.  Yesterday 5/15/15 was our sixth anniversary of opening Millner Heritage Winery and today is our granddaughter Iza's eighth birthday.   She has really grown in the last six years, her height is now almost to my collar bone, but then I am not very tall.  Back on her second birthday I got her a tiny toy John Deere Gator, we rolled it down a board to make it go across the room.  She has always liked riding in our gator, soon I am sure she will be pushing to drive the it. ___________________________________     Thank you to everyone who came to our Mother's Day Event.  We did have some rain but all still went very nice. _______________________________      Yesterday we bottled the 2014 vintage of Mein Onkel.  The consensus is that this is Jon's best vintage of this label.  It is still a semi-sweet, this vintage seems to have acquired a candy type flavor.  You'll have to try for yourself at a tasting. ________________________________       Yesterday was another mile stone, we finished tying the twine for this season.  After pruning all 5,000 vines then the process is to go back and re-tie the condons to the trellis wires.  It tends to be about ten ties per vine therefore 50,000 knots, we didn't count.  We almost used eight balls of twine, the same twine used for baling hay.  We use the thinner version giving us more length of material.  We had a good dedicated crew, including myself, so the job though tedious went very good. _________________________________________________________      Last week I forgot to select a winner from the previous week's wine give away.  The deal was that if you listened to my radio interview with slide show, you could win a bottle of wine. In the entries there were a number of very nice responses.  The following stuck out best to me. "Love that you were a dentist for 35 years before opening the winery! It's never toolate to try a new adventure!Also like that you enjoy gin and tonics (my favorite drink!). So--you thought you'd be like Ben Cartwright of the Ponderosa with yourboys doing the work of the vineyard, but it turns out your life is more like Hop Sing's! Yup--so it goes! : )      And your granddaughter is 8! How great that her namesake wine, Little Isa wonthe Governor's Cup Award in 2013 for best wine in MN! Very impressive! I will have to try that one the next time we visit!Enjoyed the story of how your son and Hungarian daughter-in-law met. Most of all I like how much you and your family enjoy what you do and have fun with it! You're creating a great legacy! Cheers!"  This person really listened to the entire interview and must have written notes, wow I was impressed.  Now for the winner drawn at random from all the responses is Carol Bungert. ________________________________________________________

Free Live music at Millner Heritage! This week our performer is: Verlyn's Kling "Four Wheel Drive 1 Man Band, Playing Country music Saturday and Sunday 2 - 5 pm

4/23/15 newsletter

4/23/15 8:33 am Good Morning:

All is well here this week. Yesterday we had our oldest son Doug arrive home with his wife Angie and daughter Lisa, two year old. Last night we played with Lisa and Iza at Iza's house. I really had a problem getting the names mixed up with Lisa and Iza when talking.

Jon arrived home safely early Wednesday morning from Vegas. He sounded to me like everything out there is now expensive and home looked good upon his return. Yes, to me that is a vacation.

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If you like Minnesota Crisp come to the winery now. We do have some of the 22 ounce bomber left, but leaving fast.

Speaking of MN Crisp, I received a nice email last night from an upcoming bride.

" Hello, I am curious...do you sell kegs of Minnesota Crisp? We are enjoying a glass of it right now in Faribault and fell in love. It is delicious! We would love to serve it to our guests at our wedding. Please let me know. Thank you so much!"

Letters like this keep me going when cleaning, repairing, and maintaining.

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This morning I awoke with a thought in my head for a video, here it is. It is called the "Who You Mauma Rap." We are now up to 42 on our reservation list, call now. 320-237-1958 or email to donmillner@gmail.com include your best phone number, I'll return call for cc number. thank you, don.

Who You Mauma?

4/18/15 newsletter

4/18/15 10:33 am Good Morning:

I guess this was a good news week for someone, how's that? We are now living in Dassel, we lived almost 35 yrs. in Paynesville. We still receive the local Paynesville newspaper and each week when it arrives I have two things I look for on my quick scan. First the front page, if anything really big happen in town and second, yes you guessed it, the obituaries. I know many of the people in this section from the dental practice, all nice people. Well this was a good week because no-one died, not bad.

In other news, Scott our youngest son is cooking this evening. He is planning to cook shrimp seasoned with cilantro, sweet basil, and rosemary with assorted seasonings. We may be playing some cards later. He made a pan of his recipe one evening a earlier this week and wanted to know if I wanted to taste it, turned our I ate every bit of half, thanks Scott.

Also Jon is leaving today for a quick vacation to Vegas, traveling with another guy. They are considering to tour the Grand Canyon and maybe death valley. He is over due for a vacation, but then it's hard to get away when you are the wine maker and vineyard manager. I told him many times before that he should have gone to dental school.

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If you like Minnesota Crisp come to the winery now. The last of the 22 ounce bombers are in the bottle shop, I think they will sell out in the next couple of weeks, by the keg we have more inventory.

You can still sign-up as a bottling volunteer. It is always fun. Soon we should be hitting the bottling with vigor. This is the only job I know of where you can drink on the job.

To join us send your info to 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 and also very helpful to include what days of the week you are available. Thank you _______________________________________________________

Yesterday we bottled our new label, "What the Foch." Made from the grape Marechal Foch.

I have to tell you that this is a slightly sweet, or also called an off-dry, wine with very much fruity flavor. (The fruitiness derived from a fermentation with a white wine yeast.)

Also, the name is eye catching intentionally for the wholesale, liquor store sales, where you are competing on the shelves with thousands of other names. So don't be offended by the name. The word foch is pronounce with an "O" sound. The official pronunciation click here.

Enjoy this wine, it is a very good flavor between dry and sweet.