Fountain’s Sugar Creek Vineyard and Meadery

Brothers Kevin and Bryan Logue first opened Sugar Creek Vineyard and Meadery  to the public in 2021 in rural Fountain. With the COVID pandemic ongoing, they opened an outside area to accommodate visitors for the first few years. In 2023, in a perfectly timed move, they added an indoor tasting room. Providing an indoor spot proved to be great when smoke from wildfires moved into the area that summer.

Kevin had been making wine since 2003-2004. He added more grape varieties in 2010-2012. By 2016, he had grapes for sale. Bryan retired from his position as a dean of students in Eden Prairie in 2020 and joined Kevin in the business. Initially, the wine was made in the basement of the property’s home.

The duo now grow a wide variety of grapes including Sabervoil, Petite Pearl, Crimson Pearl, Edelweiss, Louise Swenson, Leon Millot, Itasca, Clarion and three varieties of Frontenac – Noir, Gris and Blanc. They chose their grape varieties to provide for people who drink wine, planting varieties that blend well together.

Kevin read a lot about growing and raising grapes and wine making. Kevin, a nurse at Mayo, studied a lot of biology in his undergrad work. Wine-making is really microbiology and chemistry. According to Kevin, it’s important to do as much as possible to reduce acidity levels in the wine. There are a lot of competing organisms involved in producing wine.

Sugar Creek is located in the Upper Mississippi River Valley AVA (American Viticultural Area). Windy conditions at the vineyards dry the vines quickly thus preventing disease. The slope of the land helps water drain from the plants. Climate and soils also affect the grapes. With the wide variety of grapes on the properties, picking times vary. Often picking is done just by Bryan, Kevin and their families; sometimes some customers also help harvest. Only local grapes are used in their wines.

Only on rare occasions are the grapes allowed to sit after harvest. Usually within hours after picking, the grapes are crushed and begin fermentation in the 1,000 pound tubs. Only 500 to 600 pounds of grapes are placed in the tubs to allow space for the fermentation; robust yeast is then added. Red wines ferment with their skins on for three to four days. The skins float to the top and must be stirred back in to prevent spoilage; fermentation happens at the bottom of the tank. After primary fermentation, the wine moves on to secondary fermentation. Wine is racked three to four times and then filtered. CO2 sits in the wine and “blows off the O2.” Wines are sometimes placed in oak barrels to straighten out the flavor.

Cold stabilizes the wine and the acid drops. The wine is kept at 40 degrees with no heat during the process. This crystallizes the acids which then adhere to the sides of the tub. A lot of cleaning of equipment is necessary throughout the wine making process to ensure a quality product.

The Logues commented that they know when they hit a home run on a wine when it’s sold out in a few months.

Bryan has an apiary on his property. Honey from his bees as well as from other area beekeepers is used to produce mead, a fermented product made from honey, water and yeast. It takes a minimum of 3½ months to produce a mead. It’s usually closer to six months with chocolate mead taking as long as a year. Flavors such as blueberry, hibiscus, cinnamon, ginger, orange, apple and even jalapeño are infused into the various meads. Meads are made in small batches of 100 gallons.

Some of the meads that have just returned to the menu after three years are Cyser, made of apples and cinnamon and Day Walker Ginger, which has a lower alcohol content and a “bite” of ginger. The available offerings come down to space and time limitations. The meads, which need warmer temperatures, are produced in the basement of the home at the vineyard.

New meads have included Pymonds which are half wine/half mead. Left Leg Dominate is a popular combination of Frontenac Gris and peach mead.

Between 9,000 and 12,000 bottles of wine and mead are produced and sold each year; 95 to 96% are sold directly to customers at the vineyard. Locally, their wine and meads are sold in Chatfield, Lanesboro, Spring Valley and Rochester. They do not ship due to costs.

Private parties use the vineyard and tasting room for reunions, showers, etc. Occasionally they will have food trucks at the vineyard. Bryan enjoys running the front of the house; his favorite thing is talking to people. Sugar Creek offers glasses, flights, tastings as well as bottle sales. Be sure to visit Sugar Creek at 23661 County Road 8 just a couple miles west of Fountain to enjoy their wines and meads. They’re open Thursday through Saturday from 4-8 p.m. and Sunday from 12-5 p.m. You can call them at 612-986-9177 to plan a gathering.