If you go ...
What: Tasting of eight different wine varieties, mostly fruit, with food pairings
Where: Minhas Craft Brewery, Monroe
When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., each day during Green County Cheese Days, Sept. 16-18
Cost: Tastings for the winery, brewery and distillery will each cost $12. Tastings include samples and a souvenir.
MONROE - If you think Cheese Days is all about cheese and beer, Minhas Winery might just change your mind.
The winery, an offshoot of Minhas Craft Brewery and Minhas Distillery in Monroe, first attempted to import wine in 2005. According to the company's website, that endeavor "failed miserably."
But 11 years later, brother-sister team Manjit Minhas and Ravinder Minhas are adding to their family's brewery and distillery lines with Dragon's Tears wines.
The winery began offering tastings of its wines in June under a bright white tent, erected as work continues to renovate old storage space just east of the distillery area into a wine bar to be utilized at some point early next year.
More samplings will be available during the upcoming Cheese Days festival.
Behind the Dragon's Tears line is master winemaker Matt Rolli, who helped Minhas cultivate its wine presence. Rolli will lead the guided tasting of the six wines paired with artisanal cheeses, crackers, herbs, fruits and more during Cheese Days."We're going to do all of our own wines to be tasted with foods," Rolli said. "This is going to be a great time for people to come. We're getting ready to launch nationally. We're really excited to finally get it into the customers' hands."
In the beginning, Minhas sought Rolli for feedback. The 41-year-old winemaker is a Gratiot native, who now resides just a few miles away from the family farm which he grew up on.
His path first led him to wine in a somewhat untraditional way: He began as a designer, aiding businesses like bars, restaurants and even wineries. After five years, Rolli said, he ended up "loving it" and became a vineyard manager and winemaker in California before returning to the area to work at Hawk's Mill Winery in Browntown. Rolli said he returned to be closer to family and is happy to be just miles down the road from his parents.
Eventually, Rolli was recruited to Minhas to help with the wine.
"It's great," Rolli said. "I was looking for the opportunity to come back."
There will be six fruit wines available at the Cheese Days sampling: pear, mango-strawberry, pineapple, blueberry, raspberry and plum. Two more traditional wines will be available as well. One is a Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon, a dry, red wine, and the other is a sweeter, white Sauvignon Blanc.
During Cheese Days, Minhas will also be offering a guided tour of the brewery and a guided tasting in the distillery. The tour and tastings will be offered each day of the festival from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and are expected to run every 15 minutes. The small tent currently offered for wine tasting holds 25 people at a time. The larger tent to be used during Cheese Days can hold up to 150 participants at a time.
The winery, an offshoot of Minhas Craft Brewery and Minhas Distillery in Monroe, first attempted to import wine in 2005. According to the company's website, that endeavor "failed miserably."
But 11 years later, brother-sister team Manjit Minhas and Ravinder Minhas are adding to their family's brewery and distillery lines with Dragon's Tears wines.
The winery began offering tastings of its wines in June under a bright white tent, erected as work continues to renovate old storage space just east of the distillery area into a wine bar to be utilized at some point early next year.
More samplings will be available during the upcoming Cheese Days festival.
Behind the Dragon's Tears line is master winemaker Matt Rolli, who helped Minhas cultivate its wine presence. Rolli will lead the guided tasting of the six wines paired with artisanal cheeses, crackers, herbs, fruits and more during Cheese Days."We're going to do all of our own wines to be tasted with foods," Rolli said. "This is going to be a great time for people to come. We're getting ready to launch nationally. We're really excited to finally get it into the customers' hands."
In the beginning, Minhas sought Rolli for feedback. The 41-year-old winemaker is a Gratiot native, who now resides just a few miles away from the family farm which he grew up on.
His path first led him to wine in a somewhat untraditional way: He began as a designer, aiding businesses like bars, restaurants and even wineries. After five years, Rolli said, he ended up "loving it" and became a vineyard manager and winemaker in California before returning to the area to work at Hawk's Mill Winery in Browntown. Rolli said he returned to be closer to family and is happy to be just miles down the road from his parents.
Eventually, Rolli was recruited to Minhas to help with the wine.
"It's great," Rolli said. "I was looking for the opportunity to come back."
There will be six fruit wines available at the Cheese Days sampling: pear, mango-strawberry, pineapple, blueberry, raspberry and plum. Two more traditional wines will be available as well. One is a Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon, a dry, red wine, and the other is a sweeter, white Sauvignon Blanc.
During Cheese Days, Minhas will also be offering a guided tour of the brewery and a guided tasting in the distillery. The tour and tastings will be offered each day of the festival from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and are expected to run every 15 minutes. The small tent currently offered for wine tasting holds 25 people at a time. The larger tent to be used during Cheese Days can hold up to 150 participants at a time.