Round Lake Vineyards and Winery - Round Lake Minnesota

Round Lake Vineyards and Winery - Round Lake Minnesota

On our cross country roadtrip getaway, we stopped at Round Lake Vineyards and Winery in Round Lake, Minnesota, a further exploration and discovery of Midwestern Wines. Round Lake Vineyards is the family owned and operated enterprise of Scott Ellenbecker and Jenny Ellenbecker, and their two sons, Logan who serves as winemaker, and Mason who manages events and marketing.

Scott Ellenbecker, CEO, and Logan Ellenbecker,
Winemaker

We started our trip with a visit to Galena Cellars Vineyards and Winery in northwestern most Galena, Illinois. I wrote in an earlier blogpost about Galena Cellars' efforts to determine the ideal grapes for the unique terroir of their Northern Illinois site - the exposure, soils, drainage, climate and elevation - all the elements that contribute to and manifest themselves in the wines produced from grapes grown on the property. 

For our visit to Round Lake, we met and were hosted by founder proprietor Scott Ellenbecker who took us on an extensive tour of the vineyards and the production facilities. 

Round Lake has taken great care and put much attention to the careful selection of grape varietals that are best suited to their unique site. They have twenty-two acres planted to vineyards on the thirty acre estate on the shore of Round Lake, which provides some micro-climate moderation in extreme weather.

The Round Lake Vineyards were first planted in the spring of 2007 in three grape varieties: La Crescent, Frontenac Gris and Marquette which are some of  their most treasured vines producing some of their best and most award-winning wines. 

In 2008, they planted two more blocks in the grape varietals St. Pepin and Brianna, which source two of the most distinct wines produced by the winery. They also added to their Marquette plantings.

 

Since then, they have added Petite Pearl, Sabrevois, King of the North, Petite Amie, Frontenac Blanc and Louise Swenson grape varietals.

Most recently, they also planted the Itasca grape developed by Peter Hemstedt who at the time was at the University of Minnesota. 

The Marquette grape has proven to be especially well suited to the distinctive terror of the site and produces strong canes and beautiful bunches. 

Round Lake's south-facing slope runs from the crest of the hill north of the winery towards the south and has sandy loam soil with great drainage for both water and air and rich topsoil that holds great nutrients - an ideal vineyard location to grow grapes.

Marquette grapes due
to be picked in a couple of weeks

Round Lake has had the most success with the Marquette grape of which they have three different blocks, each producing fruit with distinctive characteristics - one lighter and fruity while the others are richer and more complex. 

The Round Lake property has rich black soils that are streaked with fractions of sand and gravel that provide good drainage and also gives the wines great mineral character. The well water on the property reflects the strong odor of iron and minerals, which also translates to the wines we grow. 

Today Round Lake grow over 19,000 vines across four vineyards in seven blocks. They also source grapes from contract growers across the region as well as sources as far away as California.   

Wines produced by Round Lake are branded and labeled according to their source and are attributed to Estate wines, Minnesota Wines and American Wines for grapes sourced from outside the state and region.

During our visit they were amidst the crush of several ton of Brianna grapes that had just arrived from their source in Iowa and we were able to witness them 'crushing' and de-stemming the grapes and pumping the juice into the stainless steel tanks for fermentation - overseen by winemaker and production manager Logan. 

 

 We also toured the bottling and labeling line and the barrel storage cellar. Scott shared the challenges they have faced in the past year with their supply chain - experiencing severe difficulties in sourcing barrels, bottles, corks and supplies. 

 

Scott showed us the barrel storage facility which is being readied for filling, that includes barrels sourced from leading French cooperages that used to operate out of Napa Valley, but have since closed, forcing them to ship barrels from France through the port of Norfolk. He also sources new American Missouri oak barrels from the Oak Cooperage in Higbee, Missouri.

We toured and wrote about the Cooper's Oak Winery and OAK Cooperage facilities during our Missouri Wine Experience a few years ago, when we got the chance to watch them cut and shape the wood, assemble and toast, then trim the barrels. Oak produces barrels for some of the top producers and brands in the United States, France and beyond, including, most notably, the cult Napa Cabernet producer Silver Oak, who have since acquired the business to ensure an ongoing supply of their specified optimal barrels for their wines.

Round Lake do a great deal of marketing and promotion of their venue which sits on the shore of Round Lake, as a site for special events including weddings. Scott talked at length about his culinary preparations and the many dishes he created for wine dinner special events at the winery. 

Round Lake have a Bistro restaurant and host live music at events and on weekends. They also host many wine dinners paired with Round Lake Wines. Scott shared with Linda many of his culinary creations that he has crafted for such events.

We dined at the Round Lake Bistro restaurant and did a wine flight tasting outside on the veranda adjacent a small pond and fountain. 

Round Lake produce a broad portfolio of wines - Red, White, Sweet and Sparkling.  

We tasted a Red Flight of the following labels:

• Round Lake Vineyards Sangiovese 2019 - This is actually sourced from the Sierra Foothills, Amador County California
• Round Lake Vineyards Heron Red Blend 
• Round Lake Vineyards Gander Red Blend
• Round Lake VIneyards Petite Pearl 2019
  

 
We also tasted Round Lake Brianna - one of their most popular white wines. It is a grape that is most consistent and natural in reflecting the source fruit.

The restaurant and adjacent grounds with live musicians performing on the lawn.

 

https://www.roundlakevineyards.com/

 

Galena Cellars Vineyards and Winery

Galena Cellars Family owned and operated Vineyards and Winery in historic Galena, Illinois

We took a cross-country driving getaway road-trip for a week and pursued our interests in wine, Frank Lloyd Wright architecture sites, historic landmarks and magnificent scenery. 

Our journey started in historic Galena, Illinois, where we stayed in the 'Old Farmhouse' country house amidst the vineyards of Galena Cellar Winery and Vineyards.

Galena is known as the hometown of legendary civil war general Ulyses S Grant who went on to be President of the United States. US Grant is featured on two of the Galena Cellars flagship wines, a red and a white. 

Sourced from their website, Galena Cellars has a long storied history in Midwest wines dating back to 1974 when Robert Lawlor took a class in home winemaking in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 

In 1976, Christine Lawlor graduated with a Degree in Enology from Fresno State University and opened Christina Wine Cellars in MacGregor, Iowa, producing 200 cases of Cherry Wine.

In 1980, the Lawlors opened a second winery in an old Milwaukee freight depot in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. 

Galena Cellars was born in 1985, when the Lawlors, during a trip to purchase grapes, seized the opportunity to open a third winery in Galena, Illinois. They called up Christine’s brother, Scott, and his wife, Karan, to move to Galena to help with the project.  They restored an old historic 1840’s grainary building on Main Street in Galena. Galena Cellars celebrated its first annual “Beaujolais Nouveau” Wine Celebration and was featured on the Today Show.

In 1990, they acquired the current farm vineyard site on North Ford Road, just outside of town, and began growing experimental grapes. They moved the wine production to the vineyard location. The family decided to focus production in Galena and closed the McGregor and LaCrosse locations.

Christine Lawlor-White was honored as “Winemaker of the Year” by the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association. She went on to win this award again in 2008, and 2017.

Cousins Eric and Sarah, Christine’s Son and Scott’s Daughter, pursue formal education in winemaking at California Polytechnic State University and Fresno State University, respectively. Upon graduation, they both embarked up winemaking careers. 

Scott, Karan, & Christine Lawlor retired after the passing of their parents and Galena Cellar founders and first generation winemakers, Robert & Joyce Lawlor. The third generation was called on to return from California, Britt White returning to take on operations of Galena Cellars, and Eric White to become Winemaker & President.

In 2019, Christine Lawlor had the honor of presenting the “Winemaker of the Year” award by the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association to her son, Eric White.

The challenges to produce great Midwestern wines are numerous, starting with finding the ideal terroir - sense of place - combination of climate, terrain, soil, drainage - all the elements that manifest in the grapes that make up the wine. When we lived in California, we missed three notable things from the Midwest - steak, corn and tomatoes. All the elements of Midwest climate and soil that provide ideal conditions for corn and soybeans and such, are opposed to the environments and conditions best suited for vini vinifera - wine grapes , which are best served when starved and stressed in poor soil and arid climate.

Galena Cellars vineyard grapes

Another element affecting Midwestern wines is the quest to find or craft the ideal grape varietal to suit the specific terror of a location. 

'Old World' wine producers, in Italy and France, have been producing wines for six, even seven centuries or more, while 'new world' wine regions such as Central Coast and Northern California counties such as Napa and Sonoma, Washington and Oregon Columbia Valleys, have been producing fine wines for half a century. 

The new world is still experimenting and fine tuning the vineyard plantings to find the optimal grapes for each site. 

So it is that the Midwest is a newcomer to the wine business and are still in the early stages of finding or grafting and crafting the optimal grapes for their environs and sites. 

Although, this might be disputed as we learned and posted from our Missouri Wine Experience last year. Missouri has a long history of viticulture and winemaking dating back almost two centuries with some of the oldest wineries in the US, and some of the historic largest wineries and highest producing wine areas in the US. As early as 1850, there were nearly sixty wineries in the Hermann, Missouri area producing more than 10,000 gallons of wine per year.

By 1904, there were more than 100 Missouri wineries, the Hermann area alone produced 3 million gallons of wine, mostly by small wine grower/producers.When France’s vineyards were plagued by the phylloxera louse that threatened their entire wine industry, it was Missouri that came to the rescue. When nearly all France's grape vines were destroyed, Missouri’s state entomologist, C.V. Riley, was among the first to discover that Native American grapes were resistant to the pest. Missouri winemakers shipped millions of phylloxera-resistant rootstocks across the Atlantic, ultimately saving the French wine industry.

Missouri is also home to the first designated AVA, American Viticulture Area in the US.

Today, Galena Cellars are on the forefront of the effort to create or find the ideal grape and produce wines that best exemplify Northern Illinois is Eric White, President and Winemaker for Galena Cellars.

Eric grew up in the wine business of his mother, Chris Lawlor, who planted vineyards, tended the vines and crafted wines from the time he was yet a toddler. Several of the wine labels today still bear the branding of Lawlor Family Vineyards. Eric was exposed to all aspects of the business and as early as 1999, when he was but 12, Chris gave him his first opportunity to help make - now Galena Cellars’ flagship wine - Eric the Red. 

Eric studied winemaking and earned a degree in Enology from Cal Poly Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo, CA. He worked internships at wine producers in the Paso Robles and Napa Valley wine regions during his studies. Upon graduation and completion of his harvest internship, he worked at legendary Heitz Cellars, one of the oldest family-owned wineries in the US working alongside David Heitz.  

Eric went on from harvest intern to Associate Winemaker where he crafted the 2010-2012 vintages of the notable estate label. The final vintage he worked at Heitz Cellars went on to earn 100 points from Wine Enthusiast Magazine.  

In 2015, Eric went to cult-cab Napa Valley producer Brand, sited up in the esteemed Pritchard Hill AVA in the Vaca Range overlooking southeast Napa Valley. It was during this time at Brand that he worked with Phillipe Melka, one of the most renowned winemakers in California.

Readers of this column know we are huge fans of Phillipe Melka and collect numerous labels crafted by him, both under his own brand, as consulting winemaker to many other leading brands, and as contributing winemaker to the Long Shadows Vintners Collection project in Washington State. 

During his time working for Melka at Brand, Eric met his wife, Oniqueh, who was also working in the wine industry in California. 

Eric returned to Galena in early 2018 at the request of his mother and his grandfather's wishes, to became the winemaker and to oversee the business of Galena Cellars.

Galena Cellars produce estate wines, crafted from grapes grown on their four vineyards on the property, as well as wines from grapes sourced from growers across the Northern Illinois and Iowa region, across Illinois, and from growers in Northern, Central Coast and Central Valley California. These wines are labeled as Estate, or 'Illinois', 'Upper Mississippi Valley Region', vineyard designated, or 'American' accordingly.

One of Galena Cellars vineyards is devoted to research in the study of grape varietals seeking the varietal best suited to Northern Illinois terroir. The nearly two acre vineyard is devoted to a non-profit research project in conjunction with the Northern Illinois Wine Growers Association and planted to more than twenty different varietals in search for those best suited to the region (shown below). 

Northern Illinois Wine Growers non-profit
research vineyard plot

At the winery site where there are guest rooms in the main house, that once also served as a tasting room, a guest house in the old historic original farmhouse, which is adjacent to the winery, a large tasting room, wine cellar shed and bottling building.  

Galena Cellars produce a broad portfolio of two dozen labels of wines - red, white, sparkling and port style - offered in create your own tasting flights, BTG - By the Glass, and of course by the bottle, at their wine center retail tasting center downtown and at the winery vineyard site outside of town.  

In our tasting flights we tasted the following wines:

From the Wine Club Member Exclusives flight, Red Wines:

• Galena Cellars Malbec 2020
• Galena Cellars Frontenac Amphora 2020 - This is a locally sourced wine sourced from Galena Cellars Ryndak Ranch Vineyard
• Galena Cellars Chambourcin 2019 - This is sourced from the Wayside Ridge Vineyard in the Shawnee Hills of Southern Illinois

Galena Cellars Proprietor's Reserve Wines

Red Wines 

• Galena Cellars Cabernet Franc 2020 - This is sourced from the Wayside Ridge Vineyard in the Shawnee Hills of Southern Illinois
• Galena Cellars Generals Reserve Red - Blend of unspecified European Varietals
• Galena Cellars Gambler's Red - a blend of 80% Zinfandel, 18% Marquette and 2% Petit Sirah
  

Galena Cellars Red Wine Flight

White Wines 

• Galena Cellars General's Reserve White
• Galena Cellars Viognier  - This is sourced from the Wayside Ridge Vineyard in the Shawnee Hills of Southern Illinois
• Galena Cellars Oktoberfest - A German style semi-dry wine, a blend of Traminette, Riesling and Muscat Grapes 

Galena Cellars White Wines featuring
General US Grant and Proprietor Manager Britt White

We also tasted selections from their Dessert wine collection:

• Galena Cellars Maple Cask Niagara - Sherry Port style
  
• Galena Cellars Red Raspberry Framboise - Port style
• Galena Cellars Frontenac Port - Port style from locally grown Frontenac
  

Galena Cellars Dessert Wine Flight selections

Other examples of the breadth and depth of the Galena Cellars portfolio of wines ...

• Eric the Red
• The Secret Garden Edelweiss
• Frontenac Gris
• Señor Sangria
• Bubblin Blanc
• Muscat Canelli
• Chambourcin Rosé
• Britt White 
• Gratitude
• Cabernet Franc
• Peach
• Marquette
• Foxy
• Cabernet Sauvignon
• Vineyard Rosé
• Honey Mead
• Sparking Frontenac Gris
  

Galena Cellars Tasting Room,
Main Street, Downtown Galena

 

 We stayed in the 'Old Farmhouse' guest house sited on the Visitor Center property, adjacent the winery, cellars, bottling shed and the tasting room, overlooking the vineyards and farm fields to the horizon.

Great fun taking our wine flights back to the front
porch overlooking the vineyards.

https://galenacellars.com/

Boy's Night Out Cellar Tours Wine Tasting

Boy's Night Out Cellar Tours Wine Tasting 

Son Ryan and neighbor Dave M hosted a wine tasting opening their two cellars and a flight of spectacular wines accompanied by artisan cheeses, smoked salmon, charcuterie and assorted eats.

Evening hosts, Ryan M and Dave M

Dave is the principle of Elements, the banquet meeting facility, wine and food service associated with Hotel Indigo in Naperville (IL). We recently hosted our global team summit there for a week, where we met,  and learned he was my son's neighbor and a fellow oenophile and serious wine collector, and hence the planning began for wine get-togethers such as this!

Dave's Cellar

Ryan anchored the tasting flight with a couple of ten year old labels and suggested I bring some vintage in five or ten year increments in light of my cellar collection spawning several decades. I pulled from my cellar two twenty-five year old labels from the 1997 vintage to round out the tasting.

What great fun and how special to share a father-son shared interest experience such as this.

Ryan started with three classic Napa Valley labels from his cellar, accompanied by a selection of artisan cheeses and charcuterie. 

• Dominus Napa Valley Proprietary Red 2012
• Vineyard 29 Napa Valley Aida Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2012
  
• LaJota Napa Valley Howell Mountain Cabernet Franc 2018

From my cellar we opened two vintage Napa Cabernets.

• Lokoya Napa Valley Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon 1997
• Plumpjack Estate Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1997
  

My tasting notes of these labels appear in a separate blogpost here. 

We moved around the corner to Dave's house with his magnificent cellar from which he offered our choice of wines to open.  His home is full of wine themed artwork and artifacts besides the incredible rec room, wine room and cellar. The formal dining room features this spectacular wine art from famous wine paintings artist Eric Christensen. This rare Giclée oil print by America's Watercolor Master is a hyper-realistic oil featuring the Napa Valley producer Duckhorn and their Discussion bottle with many imaginative and intriguing reflections. 

Once down in the cellar - we focused on selecting the continuation of the evening's wine flight. Dave has set the tone having opened the legendary producer Scarecrow and their Napa Valley Red M Etain. 

Ryan pulling down an OWC
(original wood case) from Dave's
cellar collection

We pulled from Dave's extensive cellar collection and tasted a spectacular flight of extraordinary Napa Valley Cabernets.

• Scarecrow M Etain Napa Valley Red 2017
• Continuum Napa Valley Red 2014
  
• Realm 'The Tempest' Napa Valley Red 2014
• Hall Vineyards Kathryn Hall 2015  
  
  
  

  

And from Argentina, Nicolás Catena Zapata, Adrianna Vineyard in the Gualtallary District, Tupungato Alto Region, Uco Valley, Mendoza, Argentina this Malbec,

• Adrianna Vineyards River Stones Malbec 2015
  

To end the evening, late into the early morning, we retired to Dave's outdoor patio for closing out the remaining wines, some aperitifs and cigars. 

 

What a spectacular evening, looking forward to our next Caroline Crew wine event.

Grand Cru Bordeaux 2019 Vintage Release Tour Chicago

Grand Cru Bordeaux 2019 Vintage Release Tour Chicago

After a Covid pause, the UGC Bordeaux (Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux (UGCB)), annual release tour returned to Chicago this week unveiling/showcasing their 2019 vintage release wines. The event was postponed last January and rescheduled to this week. The Union is the association of 134 of the top premier estates from the most prestigious Bordeaux appellations. This year's North American tour visited Houston, Miami, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.

As in previous years, our 'Pour Boys' wine group helped conduct the event in Chicago. It is such a pleasure, honor and privilege to work the event, meet the producers, and of course taste the wines. From our service to the event over the last dozen years, we've developed many contacts and friendships with the winemakers, owners, ambassadors and commercial directors of our favorite and long-time collected Bordeaux estates. We greatly appreciate their effort to conduct this tour and to visit our fair city each year. 
 

Breaking from tradition, the event moved from the Drake Hotel and its magnificent grand ballroom to the Great Hall of Chicago's Union Station. The Great Hall proved to be a spectacular setting with its magnificence. This was ironic and very special for me as my office for my 'day job' is actually in the office tower built over the operating Union Station  “double-stub” station, where the 24 tracks approach from two directions, the only such one in the United States. I commute into this station each day that I work in the office.

Chicago Union Station is a iconic building originally designed by legendary Chicago architect and city planner Daniel Burnham. It opened in May 1925 after ten years of construction at a cost of $75 million ($1 billion in today’s dollars). 

Today, Chicago Union Station is the nation’s 3rd-busiest station overall, and it is Amtrak’s 4th busiest. It serves more than 300 trains per day carrying more than 3 million Amtrak customers and 35 million Metra passengers annually. Six of Chicago Metras' 11 routes operate into and out of Union Station with nearly 130,000 Metra passengers passing through the station on an average weekday, and more than 42,000 each weekend. 

Its awe-inspiring looks are the result of sweeping Indiana limestone exteriors and larger-than-life ornate interiors. This grandeur centerpiece is the Great Hall, the station's main waiting room spanned by a 219-foot-long, barrel-vaulted skylight that soars 115 feet over the room. The skylight ceiling was blacked out during World War II in order to make the station less of a target for enemy aircraft.

 The Grand Staircase in the Great Hall was made famous in the modern era when it was featured in the movie The Untouchables, noted by several of the visiting wine producers. 

We work with the UGCB Events Manager, Olivier Crombez, host Mike Wangbickler and his Balzac Communications team preparing the room and the wines, checking in trade registrants, and standing in for producers who faced travel or other disruptions, presenting and pouring their wines. 

Several times over the years, several producers or their representatives were delayed in travel or had other disruptions and we were called in to service to pour their wines, hence we earned our moniker, the 'Pour Boys'.

One hundred and four producers were represented at the event that was attended by over five hundred members of the trade, media and industry. The evening event, open to the public, again was sponsored by Doug Jeffirs, Wine Director for Binny's, the midwest beverage super store, was attended by over four hundred wine enthusiasts.

 

Working and attending this event is the penultimate highlight of my wine interests and activities each year, meeting the producers, and of course, tasting the latest vintage release.

 

The 2019 Vintage is especially notable for me since we were in Bordeaux during this vintage season. It was unseasonably hot during our visit to the Left Bank and it was quite dry and producers were hoping for some rain. Some wines in 2019 were heat stressed due to the dry summer which may introduce some prune notes to some wines, but in the end it appears was not excessive so as to diminish the outcome generally. 

 

The searing summer heat was one of the hottest on record for Bordeaux. By July, many of the vineyards were suffering from the extreme rain shortages. By the very end of July when we were there, they saw some heavy rains bringing much needed relief to the vines.

 

Based on the weather conditions of the year and the balance and character of the wines, this is a superb vintage, one with serious aging potential. After a humid spring came the dry, hot summer, with intense heat waves at the end of June and in July. During our visit, staying in Margaux, we actually heard the canons in the middle of the night, fired into the storm clouds to disrupt potential hail that could damage the vines and delicate fruit. We then journeyed to Paris from Bordeaux and it was over 100 degrees there for several days. 

 

Fortunately, the rainstorms in July and August, and again in September came just when needed and helped the grapes hold acidity, which resulted in wines with nice balance and freshness. Some say tt was a year when Cabernet Sauvignon grapes shone. 

 

Opinions on 2019 ranges from 'aromatic, seductive like the 2015s and the structured, classic, truly great 2016s', others call it a mix of the structured 2010s and open, plush 2009s or opulent 2015s, with more purity and finesse'. 

 

I was called to duty to pour the Chateau Troplong Mondot from Saint-Emilion. Aymeric de Gironde, CEO sees 2019 as “a dual vintage, with charm and sexiness, but also backbone and length.” 

 

Over one hundred producers attended the event, and as stated, we greatly appreciate their effort to conduct this tour and to visit our fair city. Some of the usual suspects, friends, favorite labels and attendees are shown below.