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Domaine SereneTODOTC.com To Do in the Twin Cities Wine TastingDomaine Serene TastingDate: Aug 20, 2024North Loop Wine & Spirits218 Washington AveMpls, MN 55401Phone: (612) 338-5393www.northloopwine.com |
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Domaine SereneTODOTC.com To Do in the Twin Cities Wine TastingDomaine Serene TastingDate: Aug 20, 2024North Loop Wine & Spirits218 Washington AveMpls, MN 55401Phone: (612) 338-5393www.northloopwine.com |
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Domaine Serene Wine tasting at North Loop Wine & Spirits
Every Friday night E & I watch the evening news and then feel a need to drink so we drive downtown Mpls to North Loop Wine & Spirits at 218 Washington Ave N Minneapolis for free parking and a free six vintage wine tasting. It takes about fifteen minutes, and we learn about wines, countries, agriculture, the great new restaurants and wine bars the metro have to offer. The fact that we know most of the wine presenters and Lisa the owner is a major plus. Don’t COST NUTHIN!
Knowing Lisa, the owner of North Loop Wine a Spirits gets us information and invited to events most casual drinkers would not. So, when Lisa said she was bringing Domaine Serene winery of Willamette Valley, Oregon, founded by UofM Twin City grads, all we had to ask Lisa is where do we sign-up? I forget what we paid, but it was worth every penny.
The tasting was held on Tuesday, Aug 20th in the basement tasting room of North Loop Wine & Spirits and about 50 people attended, it was sold out. Lisa has a weekly Thursday email blast and posts on Eventbrite.
Let me digress. Every fourth of July with a few free days we fly to a US wine region and tour the grapes as they are setting for the fall. A few years ago, we went to Willamette Wine region, rhymes with Willamette Dammit which is south of Portland, OR. For those that are also into airplanes, as I am ex-USAF the largest aircraft at the time of WWII the:” Spruce Goose” designed and flown my Howard Hughes is in a hanger in that area. I did an article on it xxxx. I also did about eight articles on the region, wineries and accommodations in the region.
So, our first day at Willamette we were driving around up the hill from our hotel. We normally stay at a winery for two hours and have a tasting. A tasting is typically about four one-ounce pours. IF, in fact it takes two eight ounces glasses of wine to get the average person legally intoxicated and your body can process a glass of wine an hour, if you go to a winery an hour or two, you rarely run into an alcohol issue. That said most days we still take a driver.
Anyway, we arrived in Portland early in the morning. Drove and saw the Spruce Goose and were settled in our hotel about noon. We then drove up the hill in back of our hotel to a winery and Olive farm. We learned a ton about their wines and olive production. After two hours there, we drove further up the hill. We then stopped at White Rose Winery with an incredible view of the Willamette wine region. But further up the hill we saw this HUGE Italian Villa. E asked what that was. We were told it was Domaine Serene and it being just past Covid and their exclusively we were NOT getting in THERE today. Hell, it had an electronic gate and Everything.
I turned to E and said, get us a tasting today. Two minutes later I heard E say, sure we can be over in 30 minutes. We’ll leave right away. The people around us asked how she did it. I simply said I married well. And being a food/wine/events writer is a good gig.
Anyway, we got into Domaine Serene and heard their story about the MN Founding couple and tried their wines and toured their incredible estate. Here’s the article I wrote xxx.
My degree is in marketing, and we own several small businesses. I’m your favorite friend when touring an event. When we got to the North Loop Domaine Serene Tasting we talked briefly with the manager of Domaine Serene. We told him what a great winery he had and the incredible way we were treated at his winery. He thanked us, we sat and awaited the event. During which several of our wine friends showed up and said HI. Hey, it was one of the premier tasting events in the metro. I helped the show a bit by asking some great questions I mostly knew the answer to.
They had a great hour plus info session about the winery and wines as we tasted and had the local reps & winery manager to answer our questions. Guys/friends we had tasted from at North Loop before. I believe we had eight wines now available at North Loop.
One note. These great wines are not cheap, i.e. $40 a bottle. We buy nearly all our bottle wine at North Loop after tasting, except for our weekly box wine. But last year or so we went to a wine bar in the parking lot of Ridgedale. Here is my review xxxx. At that wine bar you can get a glass or half a glass of several of the Domaine Serene wines to see I you like them. At least they had Domaine Serene wines when we were there. So, if you are interested in learning about and tasting a local favorite MN Wine from Willamette, that might be a great place to start.
Anyway, Lisa said she will be having and upcoming Reidle, rhymes with Needle, wine glass tasting coming up this fall. But don’t tell no one… it’s a secret, but we’ll be there!
Anyway, enjoy life and drink great wines, for rumor has it the end of the world is just around the corner. And if we are wrong, you lived the good life. Later from D&E
Contact us Dennis@ToDoTC.com