Welcome to another episode of the Makers of Minnesota podcast, where we introduce you to cool people doing cool things. Today, we have a special guest, Josie Boyle, from Mousse Sparkling Wine Company based in Jordan, Minnesota. Josie shares her journey of working in the wine industry for over 15 years, including her experience at a Michigan winery specializing in sparkling wines. Discover how her passion for sparkling wine and her desire to work with Minnesota-grown grapes led her to establish Mousse Sparkling Wine Company. Josie also talks about the unique concept of their tasting room, which offers sparkling wine and cider. She explains the importance of the acidity in Minnesota grapes and how it complements the bubbles in sparkling wine. Lastly, Josie introduces their delightful advent calendar, aptly called the "12 Days of Bubbly," which allows customers to enjoy a variety of sparkling wines and ciders throughout the holiday season. Prepare to be inspired and uplifted by Josie's story and the beautiful wines and ciders she makes at Mousse Sparkling Wine Company.
FULL TEXT OF THE PODCAST FOLLOWS:
Stephanie [00:00:12]:
Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Makers of Minnesota podcast. I'm Stephanie Hanson. I'm your host today. And on this podcast, we talk to cool people doing cool things, and something popped up in my feed this week. And it was a company I had never heard of, And it makes something that is one of my favorite things. So I was like, hey. I need to talk to these people. I am here today with Josie Boyle, and she is with Moose Sparkling Wine Company.
Stephanie [00:00:38]:
And, Josie, you are in Jordan, Minnesota. And how did I just find out about you today?
Josie Boyle [00:00:47]:
You know, we're a a pretty small winery. We've been open for about 3 years, little over 3 years. And, I don't know. I guess, we just need to get on more people's radars.
Stephanie [00:00:59]:
Yeah. Because you are doing 2 of my favorite things. You're doing cider. That's my 3 of my favorite things. Hard cider, sparkling wine, and using all Minnesota grown grapes.
Josie Boyle [00:01:11]:
Yes. Yep. Exactly. So, well, where should I begin?
Stephanie [00:01:17]:
All of it. Tell me.
Josie Boyle [00:01:21]:
Yeah. The the sparkling wine really came about, because I well, I've been working in the industry for about 15 years. And, I got my start, early on. I worked in Michigan at Mabee Vineyards, which only makes sparkling wines. So I worked there a few years, and, you know, that's where I learned the Process of making sparkling wines and, you know, all of that, because it is very technical. It uses different equipment. You know, when you add bubbles to a liquid and try to package it, A lot of things can go wrong, and there's a lot a lot of factors to consider. So, so that's why, you know, most wineries Don't also do sparkling wine.
Josie Boyle [00:02:16]:
It's it's a very specialized, type of winemaking. So, so I I worked at Mobby for a few years, and then I got homesick and moved back to Minnesota where I grew up. And this this was my dream to open Moose one day. So
Stephanie [00:02:33]:
So tell me about your, do we call it a a tasting room? Because we don't because you're doing cider too. So it's not are you a citery? Are you a tasting room?
Josie Boyle [00:02:45]:
Are you all the above? Kind of all the above. Yeah. I we're a tasting room. Yeah. But one one thing that's different about us also than other wineries is that we're actually right downtown Jordan. We don't grow any of the grapes ourselves. We we buy from local growers around Minnesota. But you're not gonna come to us and and frolic among the vineyards, because we're we're just right in downtown.
Josie Boyle [00:03:15]:
And that's kind of the feel that I wanted, to well, to convey sort of, we're more like a wine bar, kind of feeling. And we have a nice patio outside too, so it's beautiful, you know, on the nice nice summer days.
Stephanie [00:03:32]:
When you look at a state like Michigan, the terroir is somewhat similar to a Minnesota climate and Topography. So do your tastes run more towards those types of grapes? And Those types of grapes, I think, tend I don't know a ton, but I know a tiny bit, tend to be sweeter and maybe lend themselves more to a sparkling situation.
Josie Boyle [00:04:00]:
Well, it's really it's really more of In Michigan, we were using, mostly European varieties. The Traverse City area is right on Lake Michigan, so, you get the lake effect. They don't get quite as cold in the winter. So they can grow varieties like Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, And even, like, some Merlot. But So I was really using the European varieties. What drew me to Minnesota varieties and, like, coming back to Minnesota to to make wine was really because our grape varieties here, have higher acid. And the higher acid is can be really hard to deal with. And, you know, you you can struggle to make, like, a nice Dry wine when the acid is really high.
Josie Boyle [00:05:02]:
But in sparkling wines, You actually want a little bit higher acid because that acid will balance the bubbles really nicely. Like, bubbles and acid go go well together, in a wine. So so when I moved back to Minnesota, that's why, you know, another aspect of, like, making wine in Minnesota, I really really wanted to make sparkling wines because of just the the chemistry of our our grapes here.
Stephanie [00:05:32]:
So one thing that attracted me to you was this press release I got. I'm somewhat obsessed with advent calendars. I don't know why, but I just feel like they're so fun. And you have an advent calendar that really incorporates all of your products. Can you tell us about it? Because it's so cute.
Josie Boyle [00:05:52]:
Yes. So, so this this is a lot of fun. Like I said, we've been open for A little over 3 years, and we've actually done an advent calendar every year since the beginning. And I have I you You know, if you're watching the Zoom, we have an example from last year. This is last year's, box, but it comes in a little, like, fun gift box. But the idea is what we call it 12 days of bubbly. And it's it's a case of half bottles. And, basically, it's kind of it's a range of all of our sparkling wines and ciders that we make throughout the year.
Josie Boyle [00:06:30]:
So, you know, since last, basically, December or January, I've been putting bottling and putting away Half bottles for our 12 days of bubbly advent calendar, that we're gonna be releasing here, in November. But yeah. It's just it's a lot of fun. It's just a way to try a bunch of different types of sparkling wines that we make. Because since since we specialize in sparkling wines, we do, you know, Everything from maitre d' champenoise or the champagne method where it's bottled, fermented, and aged. We do Prosecco style wines. So those are tank fermented to create the bubbles. And then we also do some forced carbonated wines as well.
Josie Boyle [00:07:19]:
So and then we have a a hard cider in there. So yeah. It's, you know, people love it. It's it's fun to, like, open each line every day or every other day and, Get it get something new to try.
Stephanie [00:07:35]:
It's so smart too because, like, I don't know. Gimmicks work. Right? Like, I've never heard of you guys, and I was like, b, This headline color is real cute. B, it's a local company that I've never heard of, and they're making my favorite product. How did this happen? So when you look at your how did you get the marketing idea? Just
Josie Boyle [00:07:56]:
Well, just, You know, since I love advent calendars too, like you know? And and you have the Costco wine advent calendar that's super popular. And, you know, all kinds of things. You can get one for perfume and chocolate and and everything. And, you know, even as a kid, when you're You're opening the little door to get a little toy or whatever. I mean, everybody loves advent calendars. So it was just, Something that I I, yeah, thought of that 1st year and and, you know, I just I I love making them, and I it's it's fun to to release them every every holiday season.
Stephanie [00:08:35]:
Yeah. I think that's why I like it too because it As an adult, the holidays become sort of joyless sometimes. Like, it's more about, like, you gotta buy all these gifts, and you're trying to pack all the family stuff in and spend time with everybody. And I feel like the Advent Calendar is just like A small moment of your day that just gives you that little joy of surprise and delight that is really what the holidays are about. And when you're adult, you miss that a lot.
Josie Boyle [00:09:05]:
Right. Exactly. Yeah. It it the holidays, like, as an adult, they they can fly by so fast. And it's it is a time of joy. And like, it can be a time of just having having fun in it and enjoying the snow and enjoying the cold and cozying up inside. So it's, yeah, it's nice to have something to look forward to. You know? At the end of the day, you can open your your bottle of wine.
Josie Boyle [00:09:29]:
And and it's not a full bottle, so, you know, it I feel like the half bottles are a manageable size. So even if you're, like, by yourself Or, you know, you have a your husband and a wife or partner or friend or whoever you can, like, share it with, and, it's not overwhelming. It it's not an overwhelming amount of wine. Right.
Stephanie [00:09:50]:
Okay. So let's pretend that you are working for the Travel Bureau of Jordan, Minnesota. And you're gonna try to, like, create a fun day or outing for us to come to Jordan. If it was you and you were with a gal pal or your spouse or whatever, what would be, like, a fun, full day of things to do in Jordan, Including yours, of course.
Josie Boyle [00:10:15]:
Yeah. Yeah. Of course. So stop at Moose, of course. But we actually have a lot of of good stuff, and this is a great time to come to Jordan because we have, a couple of pumpkin patches. Down here, we have Minnesota harvest, which is a really great, apple orchard that, just, the Ferguson family just took it over a couple years ago, and so they kinda made, You know, made it all brand new. So the apple orchards, a lot of fun. We have Minnesota's largest candy store There you go.
Josie Boyle [00:10:50]:
Right down the road. So that's that's a big draw. And that's like even if you don't like candy, it's like it's just a sight to see. And then, of course, in downtown Jordan, we have some really nice boutiques. So if you are coming in with your, girlfriends, Bluff Creek Boutique, Sassy Cat, and Neon Orchid, and even the Vinery Floral. There's a nice florist that that has a little gift shop. So, there is some fun shopping to do for sure. And, and I should mention that we're For the deer opener on November 4th, we are, the the downtown businesses are having a little event.
Josie Boyle [00:11:33]:
So if you wear your blaze orange, You can, get some deals, for yourself. So you can make a day out of it, really. And, yeah, we have a lot going on.
Stephanie [00:11:44]:
Well, thanks. It was a pleasure to meet you, Josie. You sound like you know your way around to Sparkling, so I'm excited about that. And the Advent Calendar, this Podcast is gonna post on November 3rd so people can how do you want them to order it from you, and what are your socials so they can follow you and learn more?
Josie Boyle [00:12:03]:
Yeah. So our website is moose winery.com. That's spelled m o u s s e winery.com. And we have a special webpage on our site just for the advent calendars. So if you want, the best way to do it is just preorder. So you can either order for a pickup in our tasting room or you can ship it. Yep. And then, we are on Facebook at Moose Winery And Instagram at Moose Winery.
Josie Boyle [00:12:31]:
So Alright. We'll
Stephanie [00:12:33]:
put all of the links in the show notes here. And I just wanna say happy fall, happy harvest, and what a great idea. It's nice to see you. I hope to come to your taproom soon.
Josie Boyle [00:12:44]:
Yes. Please visit.
Stephanie [00:12:45]:
Okay. Thank you. Bye bye.
Mousse Sparkling Wine Co. (Season 5 Episode 34)