March 4, 2020
March Madness!
Can you believe it's MARCH! 2020 has flown by so far and it doesn't seem to be slowing down! Here's what we have been up to in the last couple of weeks:
Shane and his crew from Gateway continue to make progress each week. Because of the delays we experienced on our project with the weather last fall, and coordinating with other contractors, they are now late on a couple of other projects they committed to. This means they are splitting their time between the winery and the other jobs and there are only so many man hours available. With that said, they have done a nice job keeping all the plates spinning - the roof has now been installed, the sheet rock has been hung, the building has been wrapped with tyvek and is now ready for siding, and the vestibule has a door. We have a front door! It's a construction door, but a door none-the-less!
Central Suspension out of Alexandria has been here off and on getting the ceiling tile grid set so the electrical work can continue. They will be back this week to do the tasting room and install the rest of the tiles! Is there any way I can make ceiling tile sound interesting? I'm sorry, I don't have it in me today 🙂
Mark and Linda Colden from Starbuck have been busy working on getting the walls mudded, taped, textured, and painted. They have been GREAT! There were evenings where we stopped out at the site and rooms were magically finished - we had no idea they had been out working. Mark said over 35 gallons of paint has been used - crazy! We hope they enjoy their upcoming retirement - they deserve it!
The floors have started to get installed too! My office is done (YAY!) and now the main level rooms are going in this week! Terry from Affordable Flooring in Starbuck was so patient with us through this whole process. We had our choices made, and then decided to change our minds, but then went back to our original choices in the end. HA! Who does that? LOL. Terry has been great to work with - he helped with some of the state code that we had to work around, he coordinated with our contractors, and he lined up the installers. Who, by the way, has also been great to work with too! Paul Papesh has been up to his elbows in floor glue, but really made these rooms sparkle!
Mission Mechanical has been busy getting the final mechanicals installed, sinks hooked up, and finally the chiller loop for the tanks! We are getting soooo close!
And what do you see here?
If you guessed the pieces for the tasting bar, you are correct! It's going to be BEAUTIFUL when it's all put together. Pat Rooney from Dreamwood Inc is the mastermind behind all of our cabinetry that's going in the winery. Rumor has it the bar will be set before the weekend! Who's excited!?!?!?
And all while progress was being made at the winery site, we took a long weekend in February and attended the Minnesota Grape Growers Cold Climate Conference in Rochester. We have been members of the MGGA for over 10 years, and this year’s conference was by far, one of the best we have attended. The material that was presented was pertinent and full of lots of great information.
If you are interested in our cold climate grapes and want to visit more wineries in the Midwest, the MGGA Winery Passport is a great way to try wines from many wineries for a great value. We hope you ask about them when we open!
