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“Whenever we have a new wine ready to release we throw it a party,” Maureen Maloney said. This party was for a new batch of their popular sweet red wine called GoGo Red.

“There’s usually a lot of momentum with a release party like this for one of our real popular wines,” she said.

Cannon River Winery throws six to eight parties throughout the year. At each release, it gives free samples of the featured wine, has live music, food and socializing.

Maloney said she cannot pinpoint the reason why she and her husband decided to get into the wine business. The couple established and owned a business for 16 years that provided environmental restoration and erosion control services and then became intrigued by the idea of growing grapes in Minnesota, she said.

“Some days you kind of wonder ‘Now why did we do this again?’ because of all the trials and tribulations,” Maloney said.

The Maloneys established their 20-acre vineyard in Sogn Valley, about 15 minutes southwest of the winery, six years ago and opened the winery about three and a half years ago. Cannon River Winery boasts the largest vineyard in the state, growing nine varieties of hybrid grapes developed to survive cold Minnesota winters.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Survey reports that Minnesota’s vineyards cover 150 acres scattered throughout the state, growing 600 tons of grapes per year and producing more than 59,000 gallons of wine.

Although Cannon River Winery harvested 32 tons of grapes in 2007 and has added wholesaling to retailers in the Twin Cities metro area, it and other Minnesota vineyards and wineries are not significant sources of wine production in the United States. In 2008, Cannon River Winery will produce about 5,000 cases of wine or 60,000 bottles.

“It’s still considered a boutique winery,” Maloney said, “but it’s one of the largest in the state.”

Maloney said she has seen considerable growth in the industry and interest in wine since she joined the business less than a decade ago. The Minnesota Grape Growers Association lists 29 registered wineries and vineyards in Minnesota. Maloney said there is a camaraderie and respect among wine growers and producers in the state.

“It’s a pretty close-knit community,” she said. “Because it’s kind of a small industry too, we kind of keep tabs on what everyone else is doing.”

Because Minnesota’s wine industry is not very large, its main draw is a trend called agritourism. According to the Agriculture Marketing Resource Center, “family-owned wineries are popular tourist attractions in certain regions of the United States. These wine-producing vineyards host visitors for educational tours and wine tasting.”

Cannon River Winery is part of the Three Rivers Wine Trail, comprised of six Minnesota wineries located within the St. Croix, Mississippi and Cannon river valleys. Wine lovers are encouraged to explore the different wineries and taste a variety of Minnesota-produced wines.

Maloney said that they have many loyal customers in the area as well as people who come from out of state. They rent out their space for weddings, corporate dinners, fund-raising events and more, along with bringing in people for tours and bottling events.

“It’s a niche market… it’s a niche business, but we’re just attracting people from all walks of life,” she said.

On the day of the GoGo Red release, this was evident as people young and old strolled in and out of the shop and chatted about their love of this particular wine. The Quam sisters, who were raised in Cannon Falls but have since moved, spent last Saturday catching up over glasses of GoGo. One of the sisters, Deanna, lives in Montana and said that her other two sisters bring her wine from Cannon River Winery when they come to visit.

“Of course, whenever I come back, we always come and pick up a few bottles,” she said. “It’s really good wine.”

Because it is a small business in a small community, many family members and friends help out. In the bottling line that day were Maloney’s son, father-in-law and great uncle. Maloney said they pay the kids younger than 21 years old, but the adults generally work in exchange for wine. The winery employs about eight part-time workers depending on the season and a “world-class” winemaker, Vincent Negret, who Maloney said came to Cannon River Winery through “divine providence.”

Despite all of the challenges and the amount of work it takes to run a successful vineyard and winery, “I’d still rather have my own business than be working for someone else,” Maloney said.

“I’m very proud that we have created a viable business, that we are able to contribute back to the economy, the industry and our family,” she said.