Welcome to


Who are we?

The Purple Foot is a club of amateur winemakers, dedicated to helping our members appreciate wines of all sorts, and to produce better wines of their own.  We are based in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St Paul, Minnesota.  

2025 Nouveau Wine Competition

The Nouveau Wine competition was held at the May meeting. This competition is specifically for wines made within the past 1 year except for Rhubarb where any vintage of rhubarb is permitted. It's a great competition to see how your youngest wines, which may not even be bottled yet, are coming along.

There were 8 wine categories plus Rhubarb judged and the winners are posted in the Club Competition page.  The Best of Show was awarded in a separate judging of the Category winners.

Jim Strezishar won the Rhubarb category!

Joe Heiland’s Marquette won Best of Show.

Congratulations Joe and Jim!



Winemaker Magazine 2025 Wine Competition Results

Winemaker Magazine conducts the largest competition for home winemakers in the world.  They evaluated and judged 1,382 wines in 50 categories by wine makers from 6 countries and 46 states. 2025 is the 22nd year of the event. The UC-Davis 20-point wine scale is used to evaluate appearance, aroma, taste, aftertaste and overall impression and 4 Purple Foot wine makers were awarded 6 ribbons.

White French-American Hybrid

Gold – Kent Nienaber – 2024 100% Estate Brianna

Silver – Kent Nienaber – 2024 100% Estate Frontenac

Sauvignon Blanc

Silver – Kent Nienaber – 2024 100% Sauvignon Blanc

Cabernet Franc

Gold – Chris Kutac – 2022 100% Cabernet Franc

Silver – Pete Meulepas – 2020 82% Cabernet Franc, 15% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon

Apple or Pear Varietals or Blends

Bronze – Mike Little – 2022 100% Minnesota Apple

Congratulations Wine Makers!!

2025 Minnesota State Fair Wine Competition

Registration is now open for the Minnesota State Fair Ag-Hort-Bee competitions which includes wine.

Registration is required and must be completed online no later than 4:30 p.m. on the dates below. Unregistered entries are not allowed in the competition.

Thursday, Aug. 7: Ag-Hort-Bee Registration Deadline for wine!

Please read the rules and regulations prior to submitting your entries.

Winter Wine Competition Best of Show

The February meeting main event was the Winter Wine Competition. There were 8 wine categories judged. The winners are posted in the Club Competition page.

The Best of Show was awarded in a separate judging of the Category winners.

Mike’s 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon

won

Best of Show.

Congratulations Mike!



Club Calendar

Featured member

The Purple Foot is a 501(c)7 non-profit organization.  

Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software