CROSBY, Minn. — September 23, 2026 (Minnesota Nice News)
The Cana Wine Bar fashion show on Tuesday, Nov. 3, puts a CAbi runway, appetizers from Chef Peter Lowe and a lineup of paired wines under one roof from 6 to 8:30 p.m.
Cana is calling the evening A Taste of Fall: Fashion, Food, Wine, & Friends. Calling Nov. 3 fall is a bit optimistic this far north, but the calendar is on Cana’s side. Organizers are billing it as a girls’ night out, and the invitation is simple: round up your friends, watch the fashion show and let somebody else handle the appetizers.
What to expect at the Cana Wine Bar fashion show
The evening centers on a CAbi fashion show. Chef Peter Lowe is preparing the appetizers, and each one comes paired with a selected wine.
Lowe is head chef and a co-founder of Block North Brew Pub in Aitkin, which opened in 2019. The Aitkin native spent about 15 years cooking for film crews in the United States and 13 other countries, including the casts and crews of “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” and “At World’s End,” before coming home to open a restaurant. He calls his cooking “city food,” which in practice has meant walleye smoked and served with mustard beurre blanc and a poached egg instead of battered and fried. Anyone who has fed a film crew on a Caribbean island can handle appetizers for a fashion show in Crosby.
Early November is the last stretch before the parka takes over lakes country wardrobes entirely. By Thanksgiving, most of us will be choosing outfits based on what fits underneath one. This is a night for the rest of the closet while it still gets a vote.
Two and a half hours is enough time to see the show, try the pairings and still hold the friend who promised she was only staying for one glass to her word. Or not. Nobody is keeping score.
About Cana Wine Bar
Cana (pronounced KAY-nuh) shares its name with the village in the Gospel of John where Jesus performed his first public miracle, turning a large quantity of water into wine at a wedding feast. The bar is owned and operated by Mark and Kolly Hudrlik, longtime Crosby residents whose wine habit started years ago. The couple traveled to wine tastings in different parts of the world and hosted Wine Wednesday gatherings at their Crosby home before Mark decided to open a wine bar and share it with the rest of town. Wine Wednesday, in other words, outgrew the living room.
The bar runs on self-dispensing wine machines, so guests build their own tasting one pour at a time. Visitors get a card at the door to use at the machines, and each pour is measured so the charge matches only the amount poured. An attendant is on hand to demonstrate. The Hudrliks describe the place as a spot for seasoned wine drinkers and casual ones alike, and for making friends as much as sampling wine.
A self-serve wine bar in Minnesota does raise one practical question, which is how anyone ever gets a pour with everyone standing at the machine saying, “No, you go ahead.” Presumably the Hudrliks have worked that out. At least nobody has to turn water into wine first.
On the regular menu at Cana
Outside of event nights, Cana serves small plates and desserts alongside local, regional and international wines. The sharables, meant for two or more, include a caprese salad, a goat cheese board with jam, candied pecans, dried cranberries and hot honey, and a bruschetta of roasted tomatoes, basil pesto, fresh mozzarella and shaved Parmesan with balsamic glaze. The house line on the bruschetta is that you come for the wine and come back for it.
The Grazing Board brings artisan cheeses, nitrate-free cured meats, crackers, olives, nuts, fruit and chocolate, which makes it the church-basement relish tray’s well-traveled cousin. Smaller bites include Spanish and Kalamata olives, sea-salted mixed nuts and garlic-herb bagel crisps. Dessert is Villa Dolce gourmet ice cream in dark chocolate or raspberry cheesecake. Gluten-free bread and crackers are available.
Wines by the bottle
The red list by the bottle runs from Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon, including Dunn Howell Mountain and Spottswoode Estate, to Willamette Valley pinot noir, Argentine malbec, Lodi zinfandel, a Chateauneuf-du-Pape, a 2015 Rioja Gran Reserva and a blend from South Africa. Rosés from Provence, Lodi and Argentina round it out.
On the white side, chardonnay comes from Washington, Argentina, Napa Valley, the Russian River Valley and Oregon’s Willamette Valley, plus a Kistler from Sonoma. There are pinot grigios from California, Germany and Italy, sauvignon blanc from Chile, New Zealand and Spain, plus a Sancerre, and rieslings from Washington, Germany and Alsace. The menu’s “interesting whites” shelf holds a Picpoul de Pinet and an Austrian Gruner Veltliner. Moscatos from Italy and Israel sit at the sweet end for the aunt who insists she doesn’t really like wine, and the sparkling list includes a Spanish brut and an Italian Prosecco.
Every bottle carries a sweetness rating from SS1, dry, to SS9, sweet. That spares a Minnesotan the risk of tasting something unexpected and having to say “Well, that’s different.” The list changes regularly, and the self-dispensing machines rotate their own by-the-glass lineup on top of it.
Tickets and location
Tickets for the Cana Wine Bar fashion show are $50 per person. Register online through Cana’s sign-up page.
Cana Wine Bar is at 64 First Ave. SW in Crosby, just east of the Brainerd Lakes Area. Readers coming from Brainerd or Baxter are in for a short drive. Reach the bar at 218-772-0086 or canawinecrosby@gmail.com. Groups of up to 50 can book through Cana’s reservation agent at avignieri.canawinebar@gmail.com
More on Cana’s fall calendar
The fashion show is the headliner, but Cana’s calendar stays busy on the way there. Music Bingo starts at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25, and Eric Whitson plays from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26. Andy Fischer takes a turn from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3. Music Bingo returns at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, finally giving everyone who knows every word to a 1980s chorus something to show for it. A fall wine pairing dinner follows Thursday, Oct. 29, with sign-up details still to come. Updates go out on Cana’s Facebook page.
For more happenings around lakes country, browse the Community Calendar.
Have an event we should know about? Reach the Newsroom.
Writing By: Gregory Moyer | Editing by Jodi Moyer
EDITOR’S NOTE:
SOURCES:
Event details
Brainerd.com Community Calendar, Cana Wine Bar venue listing — event name, date, 6 to 8:30 p.m. time, CAbi fashion show, Chef Peter Lowe appetizers with paired wines, $50 price and the 64 1st Ave SW address.
Cana Wine Bar, Events — sign-up page for fashion show tickets
Chef Peter Lowe
Brainerd Dispatch, Craft beer rises: New brew pubs spring up in Aitkin, Little Falls — Lowe as co-founder and head chef of Block North, his 15 years cooking on film sets, work in 13 countries, and his “city food” description.
Lake Country Journal, World Traveling Chef Peter Lowe Comes Home to Aitkin — catering for “Dead Man’s Chest” and “At World’s End,” and the smoked walleye with mustard beurre blanc and poached egg.
Block North Brew Pub, Home — Lowe’s current role at Block North.
Yelp, Block North Brew Pub — Block North’s 2019 opening.
The name
Bible Gateway, John 2:1-11 — the wedding at Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine, described as the first of his signs.
Cana Wine Bar
Cana Wine Bar, About — self-service, self-dispensing wine machines, the card given at the door, pour-based charging, the on-site attendant who demonstrates, KAY-nuh pronunciation, owners Mark and Kolly Hudrlik as longtime Crosby residents, their wine travels and home Wine Wednesday gatherings, Mark’s decision to open the bar, and its pitch to both seasoned and casual wine drinkers.
Cana Wine Bar, Menu — sharables, small bites, Grazing Board contents, bruschetta and goat cheese board ingredients, Villa Dolce ice cream flavors, gluten-free bread and crackers, local, regional and worldwide wine selection, address, phone and email.
Cana Wine Bar, Red Wine & Rosé Menu — bottle list including Dunn Howell Mountain, Spottswoode Estate, Willamette Valley pinot noir, Argentine malbec, Lodi zinfandel, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, 2015 Rioja Gran Reserva, South African blend, rosés from Provence, Lodi and Argentina, the SS1 to SS9 sweetness scale, and the rotating by-the-glass selection.
Cana Wine Bar, White Wine & Sparkling Menu — chardonnay from Washington, Argentina, Napa Valley, Russian River Valley, Willamette Valley and Kistler Sonoma, pinot grigio from California, Germany and Italy, sauvignon blanc from Chile, New Zealand and Spain, the Sancerre, rieslings from Washington, Germany and Alsace, Picpoul de Pinet, Gruner Veltliner, moscatos from Italy and Israel, and the Spanish brut and Italian Prosecco.
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