Chankaska Creek Ranch and Winery

Great selection of wines available. The food is also very good considering it is not the main focus. The pizza is excellent with its Neapolitan style. The atmosphere is wonderful with the big outdoor patio. They often have musical guests each weekend. I enjoy the midnight mix musical group. More enjoyable to visit when it's warm because of the area outside. The inside of the place is quite small and gets crowded. Wine bottles are about $15-25 each. The landscape is also very beautiful so it's fun to walk around the grounds. This is a place where you can stay for three hours sipping on wine, listening to music and enjoying the outdoors.

Chankaska Creek Ranch and Winery. . .
We stopped over at Chankaska Creek Ranch and Winery on our way to a concert of all things.   Now we have been to a few local wineries in the past.  I haven't liked much of the MN wines that I have had.  We do however like the vibe we get at the wineries.  I got to say we loved the wines at Chankaska winery.  We grabbed a flight of their reds, and then a glass of our favorite red, for their patio.  Later we got a bottle for home patio.  We really liked everything. . .
5 stars for the wine and the winery!

It is true the grounds are gorgeous, the atmosphere is beautiful and the food is pretty great.  Unfortunately, that is where the pleasantries end.  First, when you walk in there is little to no order, it's not clear what you should do, should you sit at a table, should you approach the bar area... it's not clear. We browsed the items for sale for several minutes as we were waiting for friends to arrive anyway, then someone from behind the counter eventually yelled, literally, "welcome" to us.  A few minutes later the same staff approached asking what we were interested in today, explaining that we could do a table top tasting of wines they choose for us for $15 each or for $7 each we could choose 5 wines we wished to taste at our leisure.  We chose the later and were given a glass (not to keep) with our first wine taste selection and 4 poker chips each to give one at a time as we made our wine selections.  Seems like a reasonable idea, except that each time you're ready to taste your next selection you must go to the counter and wait to be waited on... it really draws out the whole experience and made it somewhat unpleasant, especially when sitting out doors.  Food is also ordered at the same counter and you are given a buzzer to alert you as to when you should go back inside and retrieve your food.  We ordered a cheese trey with fruit and nuts, I was surprised to be given a buzzer but figured it would be a short wait for a non cooked item.  Not the case, 40 minutes later our buzzer went off and a meat trey was retrieved... not what we ordered, it was returned, and made the correct thing on the spot, which was great, despite the unpleasantries the wait staff and cook staff exchanged.  The other thing that was bother some was the cleanliness, there was visible dust on in the shopping area, the ceiling fans near the food prep area were covered with very thick dust and we had to bus our own table.  Although, as 8:30 approached suddenly wine glasses and food plates were whisked away from us as a staff member leaned across my husband for an uncomfortably long time in her rushing about.  All this and the wine was nothing to write home about.  Not likely to return.  Sad for a place with so much potential.