Bethpetersen
We toured wineries in Waconia for my birthday and had such a great time. The food truck was good. The girl that did our tasting was super cool and knew what she was talking about. Good value $10 to taste 7 wines. Beer tastings aren't available on Sundays so the guys were bummed. Pretty setting on the lake, new tasting room is huge and the game area looked fun.
Hammer09
Visited Schram Vineyard on a beautiful September day. The vineyard is located on a gorgeous rural site overlooking a lake and fields. The wine (7 wine tasting) was well made and very consistent in quality. Three of the wines were made with grapes sourced on the property while the others were blends. This is a "must visit" for anyone really interested in high quality wines made from cold hardy grapes.
christineh78
This was our second stop on a friends wine tour. My husband was most excited about this place because it is also a brewery. The grounds are beautiful and I suspect it will be even better once the wine house gets built. Right now the wine and beer are all housed in one small shed, so you can tell they are still working on developing the site. That was ok with us.The wine was ok, I thought the Blossom was the best. A few of the beers were the hit though. The Mocha Monkey Coffee Ale was the best and each of us traded in some of our wine chips to get a pint of that. My husband also enjoyed the Red Ale, but did not like their IPA or Double IPA. He wished the brewers were there as he likes to talk shop about that since he brews at home. Disappointing that all of the staff were not that knowledgeable.We went on a horse wagon ride which was fun, just wish it was longer. They have bocce courts that looked fun. We really enjoyed ourselves, but agreed this place was still in the making and it has a lot of potential. We are rooting for it!
OhMissO
My husband and I stopped in on a Saturday afternoon for a tasting, we are both really into the local wine and craft beer scene and was excited to go to Schram. The staff was knowledgeable and friendly, and the place is in a scenic location on a hill overlooking a lake in Waconia. I hate to be blunt, but the only good thing I had there was the nachos from the Filius Blue food truck. They advertise themselves as being the only combination brewery and winery in the state. I see where they are trying to go with their business by tapping both the wine and craft beer markets, but my advice to them would be to pick one or the other and develop a good product. The wines were mediocre, nothing that was worth picking up a bottle for home. After our tasting we each ordered a pint of their beer. I ordered the Red Baron Ale and it was flat. I had my husband try it and he agreed with me. Swing and a miss, maybe in a few years I'd go back.
Ole46
For a relatively new winery, they seem to have their act together pretty well. Everything is outdoors until fall when they expect to open their new indoor tasting room etc. They were out of Barnstormer which is one of three reds I was anxious to try. The Marquette was quite good. White isn't my favorite, but a couple of them were very good. I was not impressed with the "Bumbley" varieties of bubbly or sparkling honey wines.The staff on hand was fun and friendly and knowledgeable regarding the operation. Beer is also served but I had to drive too far to imbibe in those offered. If I lived closer, I would return for sure when they move indoors. The outdoor setting was fine (great view) on the beautiful day we were there, but questionable weather will come and the building will be appreciated.
nicsie1
Just went out again to Schram to taste there beer! They have 8 total but already sold out on 4 by the time we got there. Little disappointing but since they only make small batches right now, it goes fairly quickly. The 4 we did taste were all amazing!! I highly recommend taking a afternon drive out to Schram!
troys58
My wife and I frequently visit Schram. We have fallen in love with the environment of the winery and have become friends with several locals including the owners! Most would say MN wine is difficult to make enjoyable...well, come out to Schram for an amazing glass/bottle of Marquette! Once you stop you will surely meet Aaron, Ashley, and their wonderful children. They will be eager to show you the facilities, teach you about their wine, and share a story or two of their journey. The environment is very relaxed and welcoming. They have done a fantastic job selecting local food trucks on the weekends and developing unique events that will have you making return trips! (Cigar rolling, yoga, fashion trucks) They have recently added craft beers to their menu. All of their beers are small batch that are made on the winery (YES, MN's 1st!). They range from Blondes to Smoked porters. Join the Schram family, it's an event you don't want to miss out on.
311shaylar
My friends live across the street and brought me here with a strong recommendation! I immediately was impressed! The staff was so kind and helpful and the wine was fabulous for a MN WINERY! I'll be back for multiple occasions! A MUST SEE!
lori730
This is a must watch winery, vineyard and brewery. They will be one of our favorite Minnesota wineries as soon as they finish there inside tasting building! This will stretch there tasting season. We enjoy the whites and red wines. They also have a bocce court to use while you linger over a bottle of wine. Or just take in the lake view while sitting under the big trees.
frozen-in-MN-US
We stopped on a whim on a Friday evening, having wanted to check out the 3rd winery in Waconia since last year.Their small signs on highway 5 now said it was a winery and a brewery, which was a surprise to us. First, we enjoyed it - the staff was very friendly and the pieces they have in place are well done. They've got a nice open-air pavilion, some nice table and chair placements with plenty of shade, and two very nice bocce ball courts. There is a huge new building going up which I assume will take the place of the existing pavilion, since it completely blocks the view from the pavilion. Hopefully it will also have bathrooms, since there are only porta pottys in use now.The site is situated on a nice hill overlooking Reitz Lake in the distance. But unlike other wineries we've been to, there is a residential feel to the area, rather than a feeling of an 'estate'. There appears to be nearby homes next door and the view is really of the front yards of the houses lining the lake down below. The main impression this left me with was that I'd love to own this place myself, but I'd hate to be one of the neighbors. Hopefully this won't be an issue for them in this endeavor.The seating overlooking the bocce courts was very nice, with many of the tables occupied, one by a couple who brought their own food - a good idea. There were quite a few little children ambling around - I'd guess at least some of them belong to the owners. A childrens playset was built up the hill and I'm guessing it's probably available for use by visitors too.As mentioned, the feeling is a little bit of walking into a family get together, but that's really not a bad thing when done right. If you can't tell who's family and who's just a regular, things are going pretty well I'd say.So we visited without even having any wine. Instead, we did the beer flight ($10 for 4 6oz glasses), since some of the beer varieties interested us.My wife liked the wheat beer best - very light which matches her tastes. I started with the smokey porter, which was smokey, but not all that flavorful I thought. We both then had a Mocha Monkey Coffee Brew, which I envisioned would be dark and thick, but which was way lighter than I expected. It would be better done as a Stout I think.Overall, the beers were drinkable, but I've enjoyed beer from various other local breweries more and $6 a pint may be a bit too much for these. We'll be going back to sample the wine and check on the construction progress for sure. We're hoping their business keeps growing.
StaceyinMN
Hi Stacey,Thank you for coming to visit us and for taking the time to provide your feedback on your first visit to our winery. We are so glad you liked the wines, beers, and setting, but sorry that you felt you had "dropped in on a family event." Our goal is to make every guest feel special and like part of our winery family and I'm sorry that was not the case with your visit. I believe your visit did coincide with several out-of-town friends and families visiting the winery over the holiday weekend so the particular timing of your visit may have been filled with more familiar chatter than is usual and at a very busy time. And while we are a family-run business, many of our customers have come to feel like family to us! We love to interact with our guests, meet new people and would love nothing more than to share our passion, story, and process with you on your next visit! Thank you also for the feedback on the tasting sheets. With the additon of some new wines and the beer recently released, we had just updated the menu prior to this weekend and apologize there were not enough to go around--it was one of our busiest weekends to date and we now know how to better prepare for that. We hope you will come back to see us soon and we would love to give you more of the experience you were looking for, which is something we love to do! Coincidentally, we received a very positive Yelp review the same day you posted yours (7/5/14). Our goal is for you to have that same level of satisfaction and service on your next visit. Thank you again, Stacey, for the feedback. It helps us improve our new and growing business! We look forward to your next visit.
MinnScooter
This was our first visit to Schrams and will NOT be our last..the people were very friendly and we had a new person ( first day) doing our tasting ..when the owner saw that we knew about Minnesota wines he came over and chatted with us about the wines..most were very good esp for such a young winery. They are building a new building for the winery with an upper lever for food and events..they expect to have that by mid summer and also have a brewery that will be in production in July.. We also got a honey wine called Bumbley it's carbonated and come in Raspberry ( the sweetest) , Blueberry ( the next sweetest) and Cherry-tart & dry..we got the Raspberry it'll be like a spritzer over Ice this summer. Looking forward to a visit in the fall.
beaker13_13
Schram is the smallest and newest of the three Waconia area vineyards, but they have some of the best wines of the three! Wines range from light, fresh white's all all the way to a pretty big, tasty Marquette that is quite close to a Pinot Noir. It's a small, family run operation that's just starting out (I think this is their first year open) - grounds are still a work in progress but so far they've got bocce ball, firepits, nice places to sit and soak in the view of the vineyard and the lake, with "Shoe Shows" and on site Cigar rolling depending on the weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing this (and the other vineyards as well) grow into something really cool for MN (no pun intended). Give them a try. Super friendly folks doing some really great wine making - great way so spend a Saturday/Sunday afternoon! It's not really kid friendly as it really doesn't have kid's activity areas (but is that really a bad thing?) :>A lot of the Minnesota Grape Growers/Vineyard pages still show them as "Gentleman Farmer VIneyards" but they had to change that name due to some overbearing Califohnia winery having a claim to the name.. lol It's also a bit difficult to spot their signs - look for little teensy signs about the size of garage sale signs along hwy 5 just east of Waconia. Probably something to do with regulations, or maybe just $$$ since they're so new.