Tucked inside a charming historic brick building in Jordan, Mousse Sparkling Wine Co. is giving well-known wine regions like California’s Napa and Sonoma a run for their money. Set in a valley of its own — the Minnesota River Valley — Mousse is changing the game for Midwest vino with founder and award-winning winemaker Josie Boyle’s specialty sparkling wines made exclusively from Minnesota-grown grapes. Alongside her husband and business partner, Micah Lennox, Boyle has created a tasting room that pairs an impressive variety of bubbly with a welcoming, community-driven gathering space. Here, Boyle shares what makes Mousse Sparkling Wine Co. a standout sip and a must-visit destination for wine lovers.
Photography provided by Mousse Sparkling Wine Co.
How does Mousse Sparkling Wine Co. stand out among other wineries?
Mousse is the only winery in Minnesota dedicated specifically to sparkling wine, and I think that focus allows us to do things differently. My philosophy has always been to make the best wine possible from Minnesota-grown grapes, and I personally believe that some of the most interesting wines you can make from our climate are sparkling. We use several different methods to make our bubbly, which provides a lot of room to experiment. For me, Mousse is really about showing people what Minnesota grapes can do and not taking yourself too seriously when appreciating and learning about wine.
What should everyone know about Mousse?
If you’ve never had our sparkling wines, they might surprise you. Adding bubbles changes it completely. We pick our Minnesota grape varieties a little earlier than we would for a still wine and use different techniques to create pours that are bright, fresh and balanced with the bubbles. The result is something very different from other wines you may have tasted from Minnesota. I love introducing newcomers to our sparkling wines because there’s often a moment when they realize, “Oh, I didn’t know Minnesota wine could taste like this!”
And I would love for people to think of sparkling wine as an everyday wine, not something you have to save for a special occasion. A Tuesday night is a perfectly good time to open a bottle of bubbly.
How did you get into winemaking? What do you love most about it?
My early interest in the French language led me to an appreciation for good wine and fine food, as the French do both so well! In college, I studied the language and anthropology because each encompass so many subjects: culture, social relationships, cuisine, history and more. I loved that there was always something new to learn and explore. When I eventually discovered winemaking, I realized it had that same kind of breadth. It combines chemistry, microbiology, horticulture, cuisine and creativity. It turned out to be a pretty perfect fit for the way I’m wired.
I’ve always been the type of person who does my own thing and doesn’t follow the crowd, so carving my own path and making something that few of my peers are making is totally my style. And my favorite thing about sparkling wine is that every bottle you open feels like a little celebration.
What has been the most fulfilling part about your journey with Mousse?
When I launched Mousse, I was focused on sharing locally-grown sparkling wines with my fellow Northerners, but I didn’t fully understand how much the winery would become a place for people to gather, celebrate and make memories. One of my favorite examples of this was our Passport Dinner Series, where we paired a wine with a themed dinner each month throughout the summer. It was so much fun to see guests return each month. Those evenings captured what I hoped Mousse could be: a destination that gives people a reason to slow down and enjoy being together. Looking back, I think the biggest surprise has been realizing that the community of customers and employees we’ve built throughout the past six years are just as meaningful to me as the wine itself.
How did Mousse Sparkling Wine Co. get its name?
When I started working at a winery in Michigan, I realized that someday I wanted to start my own. I began thinking about what I would call it, and eventually landed on the French term for the bubbles that rise to the surface of a glass of sparkling wine. I also liked that mousse is a homonym for moose, which feels very fitting for a winery in Minnesota. Moose are such an iconic part of our beloved region, so the name brings together two things that are important to me: sparkling wine and our northern home.
Do you have a personal favorite wine on your menu?
I love our 2024 Sauvage. It’s one of our traditional-method wines, which means it’s fermented in the bottle to produce the bubbles and then aged for more than a year. I love making Champagne-style wines because, while they require the most time and work to produce, they result in the most complex and interesting wines. For an everyday sip, my go-to is our Dry White Bubbly. It’s crisp, clean and versatile, and it’s the kind of wine that works with dinner or simply kicking off an evening with friends.
