Sampling The Best Minnesota Wines at Clink Sip + Savor Wine Market
What happens when you get a bunch of like-minded women together for a fun weekend of sampling the best Minnesota Wines? That old Vegas saying comes to mind. While I do think some things should stay at Clink Sip +Savor Wine Market, there are a few stories that I think can make it out of the room.
This post was in partnership with Clink Sip +Savor Wine Market and Visit Shakopee. As always, my opinions are my own.
Normally when I go to events in the city, I wouldn’t stay in a hotel. But because of the nature of this event, a hotel was necessary. With my partnership with Clink, they provided a hotel stay at the Holiday Inn Express right next to Canterbury Park.
They offered special rates for all guests planning to attend Clink and provided you with a free shuttle to get back and forth.
This was very helpful because we were planning on spending our time sampling wine from over 20 different Minnesota Growers. Did you know there are 11 Wineries and Vineyards just minutes from the Twin Cities?
The Best Minnesota Wines
At Clink’s Wine Sip and Savor event groups of wine lovers from all over the state congregated in Shakopee. Each guest got their own glass to fill up and start making the rounds.
Stopping at each booth, they were offered 5 different varieties to sample from each of the vineyards present. Clink was different from other tastings on locations. At a winery visit, most people like to take things slow, start dry white to sweets, and then on to the reds.
Here, they could jump from a sweet white to white dry, to sweet white, to even a port. Or they could go the more traditional way. Or they could go to each booth and try every single LaCressent and compare!
Walking around there were groups of girls bumping into each other and having a good time. Waiting for a new sample in a short line wasn’t that big of a deal, because most people were chatting and they still had a full glass from their last tasting.
At tables, everyone found so much in common with everyone else. It was like finding your new best friend in every direction you looked. They all reminisce about the different booths they’d tried, which wineries we visited in person, and which ones we’ve Stomped at!
At Clink, guests could purchase up to 6 bottles to take home. People just made their purchases at the booth, and then on your way out, you could collect all your wine from the front. This way, no one was stuck carrying around all their spoils.
The event was very well-rounded with other types of food sampling to keep you going. They had a photo booth sponsored by The Brand Booth and ongoing wine-related education.
Later in the day, we learned about the latest cold-weather grape that’s making its debut, the Itaska Grape. It will produce a dry white wine. We should be seeing the newest grape making its way into our wine starting in 2020.
Minnesota Grown
There’s more to Minnesota Grown than just wine, that’s why they had a bunch of different food options to sample. Most of it revolved around cheese. There are hundreds of different Minnesota Creameries around the state, each turning out a different product.
These Minnesota cheesemakers have taken a simple product and transformed it into tons of different variations of flavorful delicacies. In addition to cheese, we also got the opportunity to sample other MN-grown products like popcorn, salsas, and syrups. It’s heaven all wrapped up in one amazing event.
Back at the hotel, I met up with a fun group of girls that were continuing to enjoy the spoils of their day. It’s a girl’s weekend after all! I learned about that, most of their girls weekends included wine in some form or another. It’s a tradition that they were able to keep up with this weekend.
The Clink Sip + Savor event was one that opened my eyes up to all MN has to offer. My hubby and I are already starting to plot out the summer’s trip and now a few additional stops have been added. We want to visit some of these locations to sample some more of the best Minnesota wines on location.
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