As most of you know, Jim Voelker passed away July 15th. As a tribute we are posting a link to an interview that our own Sue Staats conducted a few years ago. In it, Jim recalls his first contact with the Purple Foot Club and his Winemaking journey. He will be missed.

You can download the document here:  Jim Voelker’s Winemaking Story.docx

Pete Meulepas has a local source for raspberries.  They are available in units of 28 lbs, frozen, in a pail for $140.   These should be excellent for making really flavorful raspberry wine.   If you are interested, contact Pete at 952-484-3617.

The Minnesota State Fair Ag Hort Bee competitions close tomorrow, August 10th! If you are planning to enter any wines into the Fair this year, make sure you get registered.

The club has arranged for a tour of wineries in the Willamette Valley of Oregon in June of 2024.   The dates are June 9 - 13, 2024, the tour is for club members only, and limited in size to 20 people.   You can find out more about this tour at:  https://www.tastevacations.com/oregon-wine-tour-purple-foot-club-members/   or by contacting Kent Nienaber at 763-221-9619, or email at 'nobber2@comcast.net'.

We are excited to announce that Drew Horton has agreed to give the Purple Foot Club an exclusive presentation centered on high-acid winemaking! Mark your calendars for Saturday, June 10th at 2:30 PM.

Drew is the Enology Specialist for the University of Minnesota's Grape Breeding & Enology Project and is a wealth of knowledge. You don't want to miss this one!

The event will be held at the Prairie Club Room at the following address:

10025 Elm Lane, Corcoran, MN 55374. It's about the first thing you come to via the main gate entrance from Brockton Ave (a.k.a.  Hwy 101). 

The meeting room is in the back, on the right as you enter the clubhouse.  There is a parking lot in front of the building, and the building is small enough, the Club Room isn't hard to find.

As promised, the event is open to all Club members and the Club is picking up the tab for this event. We will also have a couple of Minnesota Wines to taste.

Please send me an RSVP if you plan to attend so that we know how many tables and chairs to set up. 

The club is preparing to order corks again from Amorim.  These will be 1+1 ("twin-top") corks, printed with the Purple Foot name and logo.  The are available in bags of 250 corks, at $50 per bag, which is $0.20 per cork.   You can order online from the website.  Orders must be in by June 15.  We expect to be able to distribute the corks at the picnic in July.   You can find the cork order page under Club Matters.     

                         Or  Click Here

Shirley Moore has graciously offered to update our Purple Foot Flyer. It now includes our website information and a QR code to take people directly to it!

It is a .pdf file that can be downloaded and printed for use by our members and/or posted at retailers that cater to our winemaking endeavors. Take a look here. It is very well done.

For those of you that were not able to attend our annual potluck and election meeting you missed our special guest speakers. Steve and Barb Helsper from All In One Wine Pump. Steve also being quite the good wine maker is the mastermind behind his pump.  His wine pump is a game changer for wine making. You can transfer your wine under vacuum and also save your back at the same time. There are many members in our wine group that already use this pump and would vouch for how wonderful and easy it is to use. If you would be interested in more information on the All In One Wine Pump here is the link. https://allinonewinepump.com 

For those members who were not able to attend our Annual Meeting, here are the results of the Election:

President - Larry Janke

Vice President - Joey DeCarlo

Wine Steward and 2nd VP - Chad Redlin

Treasurer - Nancy Wood

Secretary - Jill Parkins

Director - Kent Nienaber

Director - Laura Schroeder (new to the board)

The vote was unanimous. Thank you to Larry Moore for conducting the election process. These positions will take effect in August 2023.

The minutes from the meeting are posted here.

Our Love Sick Marquette label was born out of a difficult situation that arose during COVID. In early September of 2021, my wife and I traveled to Jamaica. 2021 was unique in the fact that we had to be COVID tested to enter the country as well as for the return to the U.S. We have traveled to Jamaica every year since 2003 and this has become our special time away. As we neared the end of our trip, we looked forward to our plans to harvest our grapes from our small backyard vineyard. We have always enjoyed picking grapes and the camaraderie with friends as we work together bringing in the harvest. This is usually followed by a large meal to share in the celebration of the harvest and being with friends. 

Two days before our departure, we headed to the resort’s nurse station to get our testing done. To our surprise, I tested positive, which meant I was automatically quarantined to a room. My wife tested negative, so she was OK not to quarantine as long as she didn’t stay with me. I would now be quarantined for the next 10 days. It was very difficult for my wife to leave me in Jamaica. As she departed, I waved to her from the new “confines” of my room. Never in my life had I ever experienced a timeout of this proportion. 

Upon her return home, she quickly got to picking the grapes and setting up the crusher. At this point, we began long-distance video chatting through all the steps of getting the equipment together, sanitizing, and testing. She did all the work of getting the harvest in and getting the grapes on the road to fermentation. This included all of the testing in my lab, which she had never done before. As difficult as it was to be apart, she found strength to get it all done and we both enjoyed, to some degree, the video chats that brought some form of togetherness. 

Featured in the February-March 2020 issue of Winemaker magazine, submitted by Purple Foot member Kent Nienaber.