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The vision at Morgan Creek Vineyards has always been to build an agricultural practice that sustains appreciation of life expressed in the science and art of fine winemaking. With the Marti family's professional musician background, their accomplishments are celebrated through seasonal events incorporating music and food as the centerpiece of their work. Their Gourmet Cooking Series: Celebrating Food and Wine, and annual Winemaker’s Dinner, is a testament to this commitment.
Their unique labels all reflect an aspect of the Morgan Creek Story. The German term Zeitgeist translates as Time Ghost or roughly as Spirit of the Times . . . a great term for their tenth anniversary celebration.
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Morgan Creek Vineyards has begun a multiple year process of converting three acres of grapes and working with their growers to develop organic/ biodynamic viticulture practices. Efforts include registration in the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute CRAFT program to develop these skills and to gain the technical assistance necessary to initiate a program that will lead to the creation of a line of organic wines.
During visits to Morgan Creek, Vintage Ventures staff experienced the excitement of German celebration weekends among crowds of people. On another visit we enjoyed the slower pace of the wine tasting and visiting with Georg.
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Zeitgeist was the first commercial offering of the Minnesota varietal, La Crescent. It has represented a new grape, a new wine, and a new era. For it's public unveiling, Zeitgeist was served at the dignitary dinner held by the city of New Ulm, celebrating its 150 Anniversary. Georg Marti’s family heritage connects the emblem of the deer, taken from the original insignia on the Karl Schell family home in Durbach, Germany where he was a forester. The deer as depicted on the wine label came with August Schell to the United States in 1856 and has been used as the Brewery logo for all of
their products known as Schell’s Deer Brand Beers.
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Relativity celebrates the occurrence of the bonus grape Frontenac Gris. This grape was discovered in the University vineyards as a mutation from the dark red berry of Frontenac to the gray grape of the gris version which led to the release of an additional varietal by the University Grape Breeding program. The label depicts the chemical change of dark to light pigment in the skin and represents the research numbers of both varietals on the label. The release of their inaugural vintage of Relativity (the first commercial release of Frontenac Gris in the world) happened at the 2005 Nobel Conference at Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter. It was served at the Nobel Banquet and Ira Plato of Science Friday, National Public Radio, moderated the evening. He shared with the audience his love for the wine!
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