Grapeful Wine Bar set to bring new gathering space to downtown Owatonna

Grapeful (adj): the intense feeling of gratitude when enjoying great wine with close friends.

A new gathering space will be coming to downtown Owatonna this August.

With a hopeful opening date of Aug. 1, Stacy Hanson will launch the Grapeful Wine Bar with the help of her husband, Jeff Hanson, and son, Thomas Hanson.

After a 30-year marketing career and spending the last three years working for a start-up at the University of Minnesota incubator, Hanson decided it was time to open her own business. “Spending three years in a room of entrepreneurs gave me that itch,” she said.

“That’s where the idea of the Grapeful Wine Bar came from was just me wanting to build a business on my own and create something special where people could come and gather,” she added. “I (wanted a place where I) could share my experience and my preferences in wine and help people develop their own wine profile.”

Opening the Grapeful Wine Bar allows Hanson to combine a number of her passions to offer the Owatonna community a unique, new social space.

“I have a life long passion for wine and I love food and I love social gathering, so all three of those combined are going to be what’s in this space for Grapeful Wine Bar,” Stacy said. “I’ve always had that dream of owning my own business…building my own brand. This just gives me the opportunity to bring all those things I love together.”

When it opens, Grapeful Wine Bar will offer a large selection wines and other beverages, as well as a small food menu. Wines will be available to purchase in flights, by the glass, or by the bottle. Beer and seltzer will also be available alongside non-alcoholic wine and other non-alcoholic drink options.

“We’ll have just a small menu: small plates, food and wine pairings, things that go well with wine, more snack type items,” Hanson said.

The Grapeful Wine Bar’s wine selection will be sourced globally, but it will also feature a local wine each month.

“Our first feature will be from Four Daughters out of Spring Valley,” Stacy said. “We’ll be featuring one of their wines in August (and) also serving their Loon Juice, as well.”

Beyond food and drink, Grapeful Wine Bar will also offer a wide variety of seating options to customers. The seating options will include high-top tables, a large table that could host “a book club or small corporate gathering,” a lounge space, French bistro style seating, and a bar. There will also be outdoor seating made accessible by a garage door that is being installed to “bring the outdoors in.”

Even with all of its seating options, one of the most unique parts of the Grapeful Wine Bar will be the “grapeful tree” that is being painted inside. Patrons will have the opportunity to write what they are “grapeful” for and hang it on the tree.

After living in Owatonna for nearly 30 years, the Hansons are excited to bring a new option for social gatherings to town.

“We’re just ingrained in the community, so this will just make us such a bigger part of the community,” Stacy Hanson said. “The rebuilding of this space and making it a fun hub for the community…is exciting for me.”

Grapeful Wine Bar will be located in downtown Owatonna at 306 N. Cedar Ave., and more information can be found at grapefulwinebar.com.