painted prairie vineyard

As of fall 2014 this winery is not licensed to sell. The owners said they recently purchased the vineyard and are waiting for their license. It would have been nice if they had placed a banner across their sign on the highway as we were pulling a camper down their gravel road.

Painted Prairie Vineyard is in Currie, MN which is close to Lake Shetek State Park. If you are staying at Shetek, you should add Painted Pairie to your "to do" list while on vacation. It's a little hard to find (they could really use some better signage) and the selection was limited, but their wines are good - especially considering that they are only in their 2nd year of production. The wine maker, Ben Hause, was very knowledgeable - has a Ph.D. - and it was a pleasure visiting with him about his wines. The Frontenac & LaCrescent were particularly good. The tasting room is in a barn - so it was very rustic (no air conditioning) but had a nice setting with a patio overlooking a pond. Our kids were able to play on the swingset while we sampled the wines. There was a fee of a few bucks for the tasting. Definitely worth the trip.