Frontenac was the first of many wine grapes to be developed at the University of Minnesota to survive our cold winters. We make our Frontenac rustic and full-bodies, aged in oak for a year until the wine has mellowed.
The Frontenac grape was developed at the University of Minnesota as a new hybrid designed to survive the extremes of Minnesota’s climate. Unlike the French varieties we grow, Frontenac does not have to be protected to get through the winter, thus greatly reducing our labor practices in the vineyard. The Frontenac has been recorded as surviving -35 degrees below zero, not an uncommon temperature reached in our cold northern winters.
We make a big, robust style of wine from this hardy grape, loaded with black berry fruit and a deep, richly pigmented color. The wine is aged in new American oak barrels made from Midwestern grown wood staves in order to give the wine a smoky, earthy balance to its intensity of fruit.
The wine label for our Frontenac was the very first label that our founder, David Bailly, designed for Alexis Bailly Vineyard, and the first commercial wine label ever used for a Minnesota grown wine. Frontenac is a truly original Minnesota wine.
Style: A full-bodied, dry red wine
Alcohol: 13% with no residual sweetness
Grapes: Frontenac, Leon Millot (Minnesota Estate Grown)
Cellar: Drink now or within 2 – 4 years
Food Match: BBQ, roast meats, robust pastas
