Winehaven maven Kyle Peterson is a nice a guy as you’d want to meet, friendly, earnest and soft-spoken, with an easy smile. But he tends to be serious when talking about wine, or at least his wines.

“We just could not be more pleased about this,” the attorney-cum-winemaker told me a few months ago, after Winehaven was awarded a patent for a grape it had developed called Chisago (after the winery’s home base). It became one of only 120 grapevines patented in this country, and was the culmination of 15 years’ worth of research and development.

Grapevines that work in these parts need to be cold-hardy down to about 40 below zero; cabebet and chardonnay would perish about 10 times over in an average Minnesota winter. So the Peterson clan — Winehaven is truly a family operation — has been “mating” European vitis vinifera varieties such as pinot noir with the cold-hardy native vitus lambrusca grapes, through many multiples of iterations.

That’s how the U of M has developed its grapes, not to mention the redoubtable Elmer Swenson.

The Petersons have been using the Chisago grape to make their Deer Garden wine, which won several medals in competitions on both coasts. It’s also part of a red ice-wine they just started making called Slippery Slope. (The white Slippery Slope is absolutely delicious, maybe the best dessert wine made in Minnesota.)

Anyway, there’s a great opportunity to taste all the Winehaven juice this weekend at the winery’s  11th Annual Raspberries and Wine Festival. It runs from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and noon-5 p.m Sunday. The winery’s just off Hwy. 8 at 9757 292nd St. Call 651-257-1017 for more info.

For what it’s worth, the scenery and the wines are both worth the drive to Chisago City — if anyone needs an excuse for such a trek on a gorgeous Minnesota summer weekend.

The good stuff just keeps on coming out of South America. Hitting Twin Cities shelves during the past month have been some really tasty wines from Chilean winery Casas del Bosque.

I was especially enamored with their $18 carmenere, which started tart and then turned soft to form a beautifully integrated mouthfeel and finish. The Gran Reserva cabernet was dry and leathery, with a good bit of smokiness and that always-welcome eucalyptus nose.

The $22 pinot noir had darker-than-expected fruit and great acidity. I haven’t had many Chilean pinots, much less ones this delicious, and was surprised that the same property could handle pinot as well as the two sauvignons (blanc et cab). Pinot’s Burgundian mate, chardonnay, also fares well there; the Gran Reserva had Puligny-like notes and great harmony, especially for a $17 wine.

These wines are a welcome addition to an ever-growing local repertoire from our neighbors to the (way) south.

So I was all set to do a post about the latest Minneapolis restaurant to waive corkage fees: Morton’s the Steakhouse. “All you have to do is ask,” a manager told me Wednesday night.

Well, the deal’s off. Everything’s off at Morton’s, which closed on Thursday. In the process, we lost not only a great no-corkage opportunity but also the Twin Cities’ best cheeseburger. (If you told me they used ground New York strip for this killer burger, I would not be in the least surprised.)

A dramatic dropoff in corporate business had been nailing Morton’s, a source told me. At 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, about 10 percent of the tables were occupied.

It’s a totally different climate out there, folks, and that’s all the more reason that more restaurants should do what Morton’s had done with its corkage fees, even if it was too little, too late.

Restaurants are struggling mightily and need to get more customers in seats. Some of them have tumbled to the fact that one way to do that is to make their places more friendly to those who want to bring in wine that’s not on their list. Customers who want to take advantage of that should offer a pour for their server and/or the chef, and perhaps buy a glass or bottle from the restaurant.

A ton of eateries already have deals going (see the link for half-price wine nights on the right-hand side of this page). And we’re going to see more reduced or waived corkage fees, and more alliances beween restaurants and retailers such as the France44-Crave and Cellars-Lake Elmo Inn deals I’ve written about.

Can’t happen soon enough, I say. I’m just sorry I never got a chance to tote an A. Rafanelli zin to Morton’s to have with that burger. Homer Simpson yummy sounds would definitely have ensued.

No explanation provided, alas, but this picture is worth … well, not as much as the wine.

I thought last summer would be torrontés’ time in the Twin Cities. Oh well.

So I’m not going to predict that this year Agentina’s distinctive white grape will catch fire, either. There are so many great whites coming out of Italy, Spain, southern France, South Africa, etc., that it’s folly to predict what the next one to “take off” will be. 

All I really know is that there are some nice exemplars of 2007 torrontés out there, including these two — one of which might have been Gov. Mark & Senorina Maria’s sipper during their sundry assignations:

Michel Torino Cafayate Valley Don David Reserve Torrontes: A lovely floral/fruity nose portends the aromatic flavors to come. Light and lively on the palate, it finishes lean and clean. The ‘06 was one of my first Wines of the Week, and the ‘07 is just as tasty.

Andeluna Torrontés Tupungato Winemaker’s Selection Torrontés: This is a slightly richer wine with a touch of sweetness on the palate and then a dry-ish finish. Grilled garlic shrimp would rock with this.

The winner: Well, the Michel Torino is slightly better, but it’s also about $2 more ($15-$17). So let’s call it a draw.

In an America where banks and other businesses are “too big to fail,” it’s nice sometimes to turn our attention to the little guys, the smaller wineries and retail outlets that are trying to make their marks. Or just make it, period. The other day, I visited such a place, a new store in Plymouth called Vinifera.

What a delightful surprise. Shoehorned into a nondescript strip mall (is there a strip mall anywhere that is non-nondescript, and if so, would that make it “descript”?), the store is a narrow but very welcoming space. There’s one rack apiece of craft beer and spirits, but the focus is definitely on wine. The selection is beautifully chosen, the prices more than fair. Several wines scattered around the store proffered some nice sale prices.

The father-son tandem of Christian and Dave Nesheim maight have taken on a Sisyphusian task, but their store is a soothing oasis near the bustling interesdection of Hwys. 6 & 101.

St. Cloud wine educator Kent Benson wrote an incisive article about wine terminology for a recent edition of Wines & Vines. This local wine watchdog does a good job of keeping me on my toes on this and other oenological matters.

***

Add Papa’s Deli in North Minneapolis to the list of local restaurants with half-price wines a couple of nights a week, on Monday and Tuesday.

Also, the Lake Elmo Inn is waiving corkage on bottles purchased at the Cellars as long as the wine is not on their list. You’ll need to bring along the receipt from the store.

***

One of the great quaffing events of the summer, Haskell’s Beer & Wine Cruise, boards at 5:30 p.m. sharp on July 14 at Harriet Island in St. Paul. Cost for the 14th annual event is $50 for Bacchus Society members, $55 for non-members. Call 612-342-2437, ext. 921 for more info.