Tassel Ridge Winery–June 11, 2010
If you are having trouble seeing this e-newsletter, copy this link into your web browser www.tasselridge.com/newsletter06-11-10.htm
Test Your Wine Knowledge
How much wine will the grapes from one acre of vineyard produce?
- 500 bottles
- 900 bottles
- 2400 bottles
- 5100 bottles
(answer at end of this e-letter)
Tassel Ridge Winery Events
Sunday, June 20—Father's Day Lunch
12:00 p.m.
Price: $30 for adults, plus tax; $15 for children 6–12, plus tax; children 5 and under are free (Includes 2 glasses of wine per adult 21 and over, winery/grapemobile tours, and gratuity)
Winery Tours: Conducted on the hour
Grapemobile Tours: 12:00 p.m.; 2:00 p.m.; & 3:00 p.m.
Treat Dad to a relaxing day at Tassel Ridge Winery with a spectacular buffet lunch served under a tent overlooking our beautiful vineyards. Enjoy a mixed green salad, beef brisket with specialty barbeque sauces, roasted garlic baby reds, fire roasted corn and red peppers, and a glass of your favorite Tassel Ridge wine. For dessert, a decadent dark chocolate molten lava cake with fresh berries and raspberry sauce will be paired with Tassel Ridge Oskyfizzante® Pink. After lunch, enjoy a tour of the winery and/or a Grapemobile tour through our vineyards (weather permitting). Advance reservations required by Wednesday, June 16.
Sunday, June 27—Super Pairing Sunday
1:00–3:00 p.m.
Price: Advance Reservations $12.50 per person, plus tax/At the door $15 per person, plus tax (includes 1 glass of wine and gratuity). Without a reservation, it's first come, first serve. To guarantee your place, be sure to make a reservation in advance by Thursday, June 24.
At this Super Pairing Sunday, come and enjoy classic Margherita flatbread pizza paired with Tassel Ridge Pizzeria & Pasta Too!™, served with a mixed green salad and a gourmet cookie.
Friday & Saturday, June 18 & 19—Winefest Des Moines
6:00–9:00 p.m.
Location: Capital Square/Nollen Plaza, 3rd & Locust, Downtown Des Moines
Cost: Sips and the City, $40 per person; The Grand Tasting, $65 per person
Join Tassel Ridge Winery at Winefest Des Moines and enjoy fine wines, gourmet food, and urban culture. Attend Sips and the City on Friday, and/or the Grand Tasting on Saturday. For event information and tickets, visit www.winefestdesmoines.com.
Saturday, June 19—Adel All Iowa Wine Festival (Formerly Raccoon Valley Wine Festival)
4:00–9:00 p.m.
Location: Adel Stage and Pavilion, Corner of 10th & Main Streets, Adel
Price: $10 per person (includes a commemorative wine glass)
Join Tassel Ridge Winery at the All Iowa Wine Festival for great wine, food, and music. We will be sampling and selling a selection of award-winning Tassel Ridge wines. For event information, visit www.alliowawinefestival.com.
Friday, Saturday, & Sunday, July 2–4—Celebrate the 4th of July with a Picnic at Tassel Ridge Winery
Friday 9 a.m.–6:00 p.m.
Saturday 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
Sunday 12–6 p.m.
Begin July with family and friends with a picnic lunch at Tassel Ridge Winery on our beautiful lawns overlooking the vineyards. If you don’t have time to load up your picnic basket, we’ve got you covered! Our gift shop offers a selection of Iowa meat and cheeses, bread, sodas, chocolates, and wine by the glass and/or bottle. Complete your picnic fun with a 4th of July “Frosty Flag” frozen wine drink featuring Tassel Ridge Red, White, & Blue®. Sample and take home Tassel Ridge wines perfect for July barbeques. No reservations required.
Saturday, July 3—Heart of Iowa Wine Trail Passport Holders Ride the Tassel Ridge Grapemobile Free at Tassel Ridge Winery
Heart of Iowa Wine Trail Passport holders ride the Grapemobile free at Tassel Ridge Winery the first Saturday of each month June through September. Call the Winery at 641.672.WINE 
(9463) the day you plan to visit for tour times and to make sure the weather that day or the day(s) before hasn’t closed the trail.
The 2010 Heart of Iowa Wine Trail Passport is available for purchase at Tassel Ridge Winery. This Passport is the ticket to exciting experiences visiting wineries in Central Iowa (all are within about 60 miles of Des Moines). Each winery is different. Some offer tours and most offer wine tasting. Some have gift shops, places where you can sit and enjoy a glass of wine, picnic grounds, vineyard tours, and entertainment. The Passport devotes two pages to each of the fifteen wineries that are members of the Heart of Iowa Wine Trail.
Saturday, July 3—Artist Joyce Wathen Exhibition at Tassel Ridge Winery
12:00–4:00 p.m.
Visit the exhibition of works by Joyce Wathen at Tassel Ridge. Joyce loves black and white portraits and illustrations. She works with graphite pencil as her main medium, adding some color for enhancements. Her passion is portraits of people, celebrities, and children at play. Whether a child’s soft image or a hard line of an Iowa barn, her style and trademark are in the fine details, textures, contrast, and shading. She has won many awards while exhibiting in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, and Tennessee. Joyce has her work printed at the Pella Town Crier and divides her time between her home in Mt. Pleasant, IA, and her husband’s work in Missouri. Her work can be viewed in her on-line gallery at www.pencilworksbyjoyce.com.
Tassel Ridge Wines Win Four Bronze Medals at International Eastern Wine Competition
Four Tassel Ridge wines won bronze medals at the 34th International Eastern Wine Competition. They were Candleglow® White, American Dry Riesling, Iowa White Blossom, and Iowa Prairie Snow.
Competition was tough. There were nearly 1600 entries in this competition. They came from the U.S., Canada, and all over the world. The judges all had wine judging experience and were selected from leading markets in the East. They included marketers, educators, winemakers, and wine writers. The competition was conducted in Watkins Glen, NY.
—Bob Wersen, President
Twilight Still Available at Tassel Ridge Winery
While we are talking about great wines, a few cases of the Tassel Ridge Twilight are still available. This wine was made entirely from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes we brought in from California in 2006. It has now been in the bottle for more than two years and it is yummy. The problem is that Twilight is almost gone. We have about 14 cases left at the Winery and it is priced at $20 per bottle. This is a great dry red wine for meals that feature roast beef or almost any grilled meat. I am struck by the fruit notes because they help the wine add so much to big meals. I’ve seen a few bottles lurking on shelves at retailers but if this wine is for you, you may have to schedule a visit to Tassel Ridge Winery soon. We won’t be making more Cabernet Sauvignon because we now have our own grapes from which we can make an Iowa wine.
If you can’t get to the Winery, we can ship this and other wines to your address in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and California. Click here to go to our on-line store.
—Bob Wersen, President
Our Hours:
In June and July 2010, we are open seven days a week, including the entire July 4th weekend for tours, tasting, and wine and gift shop sales:
• Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–6 p.m.
• Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
• Sunday, Noon–6 p.m.
Our Location:
Tassel Ridge Winery is easy to find. It is just south of State Highway 163 on 220th Street in rural Leighton. From Des Moines and Pella, drive southeast on Highway 163 and turn right at 220th Street. From Ottumwa and Oskaloosa, drive northwest on 163 to 220th Street and turn left toward Leighton. Drive west on 220th about 0.7 miles from the Highway and right into the Tassel Ridge Winery parking lot. view maps
Wine knowledge: answer
2400 bottles. In most years, we expect to harvest about 3 tons of grapes per acre. Each ton produces about 160 gallons so the total amount of wine from one acre’s grapes is about 480 gallons. One bottle is 1/5 of a gallon so the grand total is about 2400 bottles. There are variations from year to year and variations between varieties. The yield on iced wine is about 1/3 of the yield on still wines.
E-mail Jody Brockway at info@tasselridge.com to sign up a friend for our e-newsletter.
