The Wines of Summer '24

Our Summer wine list is live! Enjoy these tasting notes, introductions, and pairing suggestions for each selection, as put together by our buyer and resident wine-nerd, Taylor Kline. And make sure you check out our Wine & Jazz night: Each Thursday from 4-8pm wine is 25% off by the bottle, with specials by the glass, and from 5:30-7:30pm, our haus jazz quartet the Hounds (or another select jazz group when the Hounds are busy) performs exquisite live jazz—the perfect pairing for any wine.

SPARKLING

Les Bulles Nordiques. Mousse Sparkling Wine Co. Jordan, MN. 2023.

Grapes: Itasca
$15 btg /$46 btb

Tasting Notes: pear, gooseberry, honeydew melon, bread

Haus-pairings: salamini, Cold Turkey, Gorilla, Sitka Sushi

2023 Itasca Pét-Nat is a delicious dry wine with beautiful notes of peaches and pineapple, made from 100% Itasca grapes, hand-harvested and gently whole-cluster pressed. The wine was bottled right from the tank during the first fermentation in order to capture the fresh, fruity flavors from the fruit and the natural bubbles from the fermentation.

Josie Boyle is the winemaker/owner of Mousse Sparkling Wine Co based in Jordan, Minnesota. She is the first in Minnesota to make a pét-nat style wine, short for the French term, Pétillant-Naturel, where secondary fermentation takes place in the bottle creating CO₂ (the bubbles.)

WHITE

Big Salt. Ovum Wines. Willamette Valley, Oregon. 2023.

Grapes: White blend- Riesling, Muscat, & Gewurztraminer.
$12 btg / $38 btb

Tasting Notes: honeysuckle, white flowers, kumquat, sea salt

Haus-pairings: Great Summer Caper w/ Lox, Bánh Faux Mì, Cedar’s Secret, Spring Roll

2023 Big Salt is dry, aromatic and zippy. Oceanic, citrusy mandarin and pineapple leap out of the glass. Fully native fermentation, no subtractions or additions, except for SO₂: All of this is done in neutral barrels of acacia and oak, as well as cement egg and Austrian cask.

Established in 2011 by Ksenija and John House, Ovum was founded in hopes of producing Oregonian white wines that are honest reflections of time and place. Their low intervention production method is a commitment to letting the vintage and vineyard shine, not the vintner.

Lieu Dit. Santa Ynez Valley, CA. 2022

Grapes: 100% Sauvignon Blanc
$13 btg / $42 btb

Tasting Notes: lime zest, sage, minerals

Haus-pairings: Spring Roll, Big Dipper, Fuzzy Bunny, Italiensk

Founded by Eric Railsback and Justin Willett, Lieu Dit has rapidly risen to prominence in Santa Barbara County's vibrant low-intervention winemaking landscape. Their distinctive approach combines tank and neutral barrel fermentations. Their 2022 Sauv Blanc is sourced from the Happy Canyon Vineyard within the Santa Ynez Valley—their terroir boasts a rich diversity of soils, including sand, shale, gravel, clay, chert, and serpentine rocks.

Lieu Dit “Said Place” capitalizes on Santa Barbara County's micro-climates and marine-influenced soils, ideal for cultivating these grapes.

Adèle Blanc. Éric Texier. Rhône Valley, VDF. 2022.

Grapes: Clairette (90%) with a splash of Marsanne (10%).
$14 btg / $44 btb

Tasting Notes: green apple, white flowers, almonds

Haus-pairings: Slammin’ Gordon, NWS Salad, Cajun Finn, Clubhaus

An homage to the heroine of a French historical fantasy comic book, Adèle Blanc-Sec, this wine lives up to its namesake (the surname literally translating as White-Dry) and takes you on a whirlwind journey. This wine is fermented with native yeasts in a cement tank for 6-8 months.

Eric Texier made the unprecedented leap from nuclear engineer to winemaker in the early 1990s. In keeping with his rigorous academic background, he studied oenology in Bordeaux. While learning the ropes in the Mâcon at Verget by day, he burned the midnight oil reading handbooks and manuals from the 19th century to learn about long-lost styles and vinification techniques.

Mae Son “Vino Orange”. Matteo Furlani. Alto-Adige, Italy. 2022.

Grapes: Muller Thurgau
$13 btg / $42 btb

Tasting Notes: fresh apples, mountain flowers, dried apricot

Haus-pairings: Slammin’ Gordon, Squealy Dan, Club Mariner, Bánh Faux Mì

Furlani Mae Son Orange is a natural wine made from Muller Thurgau. The grapes are hand-harvested at the start of September, then de-stemmed by hand. They undergo a long period of skin contact for 20-25 days, after which they are left to spontaneously ferment in open-top steel vats.

Matteo Furlani, a fourth-generation winemaker, is the dedicated custodian of his family's vineyards above the alpine city of Trento in the Dolomites at over 700 meters. His approach to winemaking, honed not through formal study, but through the knowledge passed down from his father and grandfather, emphasizes a deep connection to the land and a commitment to natural methods.

ROSÉ

Una Lou. Scribe Winery. Sonoma, CA. 2022.

Grapes: Rosé of Pinot Noir
$13 btg / $42 btb

Tasting Notes: watermelon, white peach, passion fruit

Haus-pairings: Cold Turkey, Sitka Sushi, Pork Loin D-Luxx

Una Lou is a rosé composed from family owned and sustainably farmed Pinot Noir in Sonoma, California. Husband & wife, Andrew Mariani and Lia Ives, of Scribe Winery have dedicated Una Lou to their daughter.

The winery–founded in 2007 on a property that pioneered pre-prohibition Sonoma Valley winemaking–is managed by fourth-generation California farmers and brothers, Andrew and Adam Mariani. Andrew and Adam believe that the best wines are a result of a healthy relationship between human and nature, and that a vineyard managed in harmony with the greater ecosystem results in more site-specific wines that represent a sense of time and place.

RED

Gaspard. Loire Valley, FR. 2022.

Grapes: 100% Pinot Noir
$12 btg / $38 btb

Tasting Notes: fresh dark berries, savory herbs, pepper

Haus-pairings : Hedonist, Silence of the Lambwich, Cold Turkey, Hardhat

“Gaspard,” a traditional French boy’s name that means “bringer of treasure,” is a private wine label made for NY natural wine importer, Jenny & Francois.

Pinot Noir grapes are sourced from growers who work sustainably or organically (no herbicide) across different vineyards in the Loire Valley, are fermented with native yeast, spend a couple of months on their fine lees and then undergo only light filtration and fining. Carefree and fruity! Gaspard is a compelling light red with delicate tannins and plenty of dark fruit flavors that’s perfect with a charcuterie plate, pâté, or lighter red meat dishes.

Vino da Sete. Tenuta iL Nespolo. Piedmont, IT. 2022.

Grapes: Red Blend- Barbera, Freisa, Sangiovese.
$12 / $48- 1L bottle

Tasting Notes: currant, ripe strawberries, fresh leather

Haus-parings: Squealy Dan w/ salami, Italiensk, Hardhat, Gorilla

“Vino da Sete,” translating to “wine of thirst,” this vibrant red wine exhibits a medium-ruby hue and offers a lively palate. A red blend comprising Barbera, Freisa, and Sangiovese, this wine embodies a harmonious blend, showcasing the unique terroir and winemaking techniques employed in its creation.

Luca Amerio is a youthful man whose quiet demeanor belies his inventive winemaking style. His family’s ancestral lands are situated in Moasca, a tiny village resting on the southern flank of the province of Asti, the heart of Piedmont.

Wiley Wines. Mendocino, CA. 2022.

Grapes: 100% Carignan.
$13 btg / $42 btb

Tasting Notes: dried cranberry, licorice, baking spices

Haus-pairings: Silence of the Lambwich, ‘06, Big Dipper, Clubhaus

100% Carignan organically farmed in Mendocino, CA. Planted in the 1940's in deep white sandy clay and loam, these dry farmed bush vines are self rooted. The grapes are farmed by the Graziano’s, once the oldest grape growing families in Mendocino. The grapes were fermented whole cluster in an open top fermenter then barrel aged in neutral French oak. Bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Since 2019, Minnesota-man and Wiley’s founder/winemaker, Phineas Fittipaldi, has worked to marry ancient tradition and modern technology. Guided by their love of wine, nature and California surf culture, they use techniques from the earliest days of winemaking, fused with a 21st century approach, to create wines that are bright and fun to drink while maintaining depth of flavor, texture, and minerality. All of their wines are single vineyard, single varietal, and made with minimal intervention.

Have a Gift Card?

For a little over a year now, we moved to a pick-up and delivery model here at our humble little deli. It has had its challenges and we work to stay in front of those as fast as you can say “One Cajun Finn, please”.  Many of you have wondered, “Can I use this gift card burning a hole in my pocket if I can’t come inside the deli?” YES! Yes you can!!

But first, let's determine what KIND of gift card you have. We have two varieties here at The Smokehaus: the online "gift card" (really an online coupon) and physical gift cards (see picture below.)

The online gift cards are for orders placed in our nationwide shipping mail order department. Sending someone from out-of-town a little love from MN? This is where you would use this. The second species of gift card is a physical card that you would normally use at the register... normally. Except that things aren't the normal we used to know.

To order for pick-up or delivery using your gift card:

1. Call us to place your order. (218-724-7307, Option 1)

2. Let us know you’re paying with a gift card and take note of the numbers on the back because they are extra tiny. We’ll ask you for those numbers to process the payment.

Need a last minute gift for your friend that you haven’t seen a year… because Covid? We’ve got you! Call us on the phone and we’ll treat that gift card just like a sandwich order and coordinate with you on a pick up here at the deli.

Reflection- A Year at NWS, Pandemic Edition

These days, it’s not uncommon for any of us to reflect on the past year and be wide-eyed and possibly fatigued at how much has changed in our worlds. The past year at Northern Waters certainly wasn’t anything we could have anticipated nor did we have a map to navigate what would come to be a new way of doing business for the foreseeable future. On March 11, we shut our doors to in-deli customers but remained open for pickup and delivery orders. “It was the slow season”, we said. “We’ll be okay”, we said. “We’ll make it work.” While our internal affirming statements came true, we really had no idea what was in store and the challenges we would collectively overcome. 

“The business coming in, it’s not going to last,” we said, as people stayed home and we watched our favorite eating establishments forced to close up. We were so wrong. Suddenly it was summer. And it lasted. And it lasted and it lasted some more. Our customers all showed up by supporting our business with local pickups for our smoked salmon or deliveries of sandwiches to new home offices and socially-distant cubicles.

Meanwhile up on the third floor, our usually-sleepy-in-spring mail order department started looking more like the holiday season. Boxes of smoked goodness lined our hallways waiting for the big brown truck to come. Was this December all over again? What is happening? 

We adapted by the second. We expanded our delivery zones. Our HR manager and owner would run deliveries. The culinary crew in the smokehuas proper would grab a delivery going to Gary or Deep Congdon. We juggled the phones and the online orders. The response from our customers was incredible.

The small eating area inside our deli transformed into a staging area for pickups and deliveries in March of 2020. Photo courtesy of Derek Montgomery Photography

We tried to plan for the time being only to discover we needed to tweak the plan. And then make a new plan. And then another. And maybe some more adjustments here… or there. And suddenly we are over a year into life in a pandemic world. And guess what? We are still adapting. It’s not a reflection of our inability to commit, rather, learning from all of our customers on the best way to deliver our products and quality service. The Smokehaus is a place of a constant effort to get it right. 

I write this post with much gratitude for all our customers who helped keep The Smokehaus open for business. I would be remiss if I also didn’t acknowledge the incredible group of people I get to work with everyday. They took on the challenges in such admirable, whatever-it-takes attitudes. It was remarkable.

There have been times over the last year where I would pause and wonder what the magic was that helped us come together to accomplish what we have this past year. A lifelong student of studying team and workplace cultures, it was fascinating. Some of my coworkers nerd out about music, some over fishing, some over food. I nerd out about what makes people come together to do remarkable things. We have great people with great character that work here. They are people committed to their craft and each other. But we have something a lot of places don't: Eric Goerdt.

Eric, our founder and owner, is responsible for this magic. He is the secret sauce. He brings a relentless level of energy and positivity to each department-- every. single.day. It is difficult for me to eloquently describe Eric's effect on this business and after trashing five paragraphs trying to describe this, I realized someone much more skilled with pen and paper has already done so. Steve Hoffman wrote a piece on The Smokehaus back in 2018 for The Growler. He says:

In Eric Goerdt’s vision, we live in a world where it is possible for a tiny deli counter, with next to no seating, in a mixed-use warehouse building in Duluth, to sell enough carefully made, world-class salumi, smoked fish, and cured meats each year to reliably employ 43 Minnesotans on an ongoing basis. All it takes is virtue.

What that virtue consists of, in Eric’s case, is a relentlessly cheerful insistence that employees be treated well, so that they are content in their jobs, so that, in turn, they stay around long enough to become knowledgeable, so that they will take informed and attentive care of their customers. As a result, those customers keep coming back, because they never get a single hint from the other side of the counter of rote, fast-food sullenness.

Eric Goerdt (right) and employee Steve Mann (left) decide on what orders they were going to be delivering Wednesday, March 18, 2020 in Duluth, Minn. as our regular dining area was converted to a space to organize delivery and carryout orders. The previous day, on orders from governor Tim Walz, all restaurants were ordered to cease dine-in services as part of efforts to combat the spread of the coronavirus. Immediately, Northern Waters Smokehaus owner Eric Goerdt went to work on a new business model to reflect the new reality facing the business with the goal of continuing to employ every worker who would normally be working. Photo courtesy of Derek Montgomery Photography.

As we prepare for the busy summer season ahead, we know we are not past the challenges we've faced this past year. If we've learned anything, we know there will be more. But we know that we have a crew of people ready to find ways to make sure you can still experience The Smokehaus with the same enthusiasm and attention that you received when you used to be able to walk through our front doors and gaze into our deli cases full of products we are so proud of--- because behind all of us is a guy named Eric who humbly and enthusiastically gives us the best of himself everyday.

5 Things: Leap Day Eve 2020

Welcome back, friends and foes alike, to our weekly dish. Due to some time mismanagement, this week's 5 Things™ will be an exercise in speed-blogging, and is brought to you by fish oil capsules, two bags of this tea, and Patricia's Chocolate Chip Cookies.

You certainly have a busy Friday ahead of you, whether it's a day at work, a promise you've made, or just 100% doing you, so without further ado, here's the goods.

We're hiring again.

A few folks moved to Seattle, a handful of us have enjoyed vacations, and the weekends (plus select weekdays) have been busier than anticipated, and as such, we've come to find some spots that need filling in our fairly barebones operation.

If you're looking for part time deli or dishing work (12-20 hours to week, which will grow into more hours closer to Summer) at the coolest spot in Duluth, shoot Greg (our H.R. guy) a résumé at greg@nwsmokehaus.com or drop one off in the deli. We're especially looking for weekend availability at this time.

Benefits include competitive wages with annual raises, a free meal with every shift*, a sweet employee discount, cool coworkers, lots of snacks (y'know how I'm always talking about the fun new food I get to eat—this blog barely scratches the surface), and much more that doesn't fit into my speed-writing regimen.

*Easily one of the best parts of working for this company, as you may come to discover.

The All Things Traditional sale is coming to a close.

Tomorrow (2/29/20) is the final day of our 10% off mail order sale on any item featuring Traditional Smoked Atlantic Salmon.

The discount is applied to your pre-shipping cart, and is not tied to orders shipped during the sale dates. Plan ahead for your Trad-loving friend's birthday, or a holiday of your choice, and save money by placing your order before midnight on Saturday.

Cajun Finn shirts are going on sale!

For the entirety of March, our Cajun Finn t-shirts are $15! That's $5 off! Best purchased in multiples, so you and the squad can match, these shirts (and all of our merchandise) get you a lifetime 10%-off when you shop in our deli while wearing them.

You read that correctly—stroll into our deli carrying an NWS tote, wearing a hat or T-shirt, and get 10%-off at the register. Forever. Word of mouth advertising (and the odd television spot, and magazine feature) built our deli into what it is, so consider it a token of our gratitude for your marketing help.

A handful of designs that live right by my "desk"

New merchandise is in development.

This coming Monday, the marketing team and any staff who have ideas, are meeting to design and pitch the next wave of Smokehaus swag. From what I've heard, people have already put in a bunch of work on their designs and ideas, and within the next few months, we'll be seeing some awesome new merch in the deli. That's in addition to an awesome piece of Duluth Pack-made Smokehaus gear that we'll be introducing to the world right before Summer.

New and exciting ways to snatch that 10%-off discount are forthcoming.

What type of NWS apparel have you always wanted? Let us know in the comments.

New meat snacks are also forthcoming!

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of sampling a tester batch of Maple Bacon Jerky and Hot Dogs (I don't know how we're branding them yet, so I just capitalized the first letters).

For now, I will just say that both of those meat snacks were already quite tasty—even in these early stages—so I can't wait for the rest of you carnivores to try them.

Keep your eyes on our social media platforms and we'll let you know the day they appear in the deli.

Speaking of the deli, I'm just about due for an opening shift there. Enjoy the photos that Zac adds to this blog, and have a pleasant rest of your day.

We love you forever.