Tassel Ridge Winery

Tassel Ridge Winery–February 2009

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Get Ready for Superbowl Parties! 

Wine A Ritas and Peach Bellinis make perfect party drinks! Our mixes are combined with Tickled Pink and Oskyfizzante White wines respectively and make fun treats for party guests.  The only equipment needed is a blender. You will need ice, the appropriate mix, and wine. One bottle of wine and a bag of mix will make two batches and each batch produces five servings.

Tickled Pink is priced at $10.00 for a 750 ml bottle plus tax

Oskyfizzante White is priced at $14.00 for a 750 ml bottle plus tax

Wine a Rita Mix is priced at $11.00 plus tax

Peach Bellini Mix is priced at $11.00 plus tax

Oskyfizzante Red and White are great fizzy wines for football. And, they are both made right here in Iowa.

Oskyfizzante Red appears to be the sweeter of the two wines. It is very fruity and will work well with pizza and other football weekend food. It is made from a blend of Zinfandel and Muscat grapes grown in California.

Oskyfizzante White is a great white bubbly wine that will pair well with hors d’oeuvres and it will stand on its own as an aperitif.

Oskyfizzante Red is priced at $14.00 for a 750 ml bottle plus tax

Oskyfizzante White is priced at $14.00 for a 750 ml bottle plus tax

Thursday, February 5 – An Evening of Wine and Chocolate at Tassel Ridge Winery

6 – 8 p.m.    No Charge

Find the perfect Valentine’s gift for that special someone in your life while enjoying samples of chocolate delights, from sweet to savory, all paired with Tassel Ridge wines. Our experts will be on hand to assist you in selecting a romantic wine gift for your sweetheart. Or, create your own special gift basket with our fine wines, chocolates, and wine-related items. 

Friday, February 6 – Heart of Iowa Wine Trail Tropical Wine Festival

6 – 9 p.m.

Price is $25 for advance purchase tickets and $30 at the door, per person. Admission includes a commemorative wine glass.  2009 Heart of Iowa Wine Trail Passport holders will receive a 10% discount off the admission price.

Location: Des Moines Botanical Center, 909 Robert D. Ray Drive, Des Moines

Tropics in the middle of an Iowa winter???? Plan to wear your favorite Hawaiian shirt and leave the cold outside. Enjoy an evening or hors d’oeuvres and wine tasting with wines from all fifteen of the Heart of Iowa Wine Trail wineries, including Tassel Ridge Winery. We will all be sampling and selling wines. Purchase advanced tickets at Tassel Ridge Winery, at any other Heart of Iowa Wine Trail member winery, or at the Southern Hills Winery shops in Valley West and Jordan Creek Malls.

 

Saturday, February 14 – Valentine’s Dinner at Tassel Ridge Winery

Wine Tasting: 7:00 p.m.; Dinner Seating: 7:30 p.m. 

Cost is $60 per person plus tax

Celebrate Valentine’s Day by treating your sweetheart to an exquisite dinner at Tassel Ridge Winery. This five-course dinner will feature Prime Rib and Chocolate Créme Brûlée, along with other delectable items. Each course will be paired with a Tassel Ridge wine chosen specially to enhance the flavor of both the food and the wine. Advanced reservations are required by February 11. (Note: this event is nearly sold out. Please make your reservations soon).

Wednesday, February 18
Wines of the World Class – France 2

6:30 – 8:30 p.m.  

Cost is $35 per person plus tax.

This is the second class in the Wines of the World series. Steve Richardson, Tassel Ridge Winery’s Vineyard Manager and Certified Wine Educator, will guide you on an educational journey through the famous French wine regions of Bordeaux and Burgundy. Enjoy a light meal as you learn about the Bordeaux Classification of 1855 and the evolution of the fragmented but fascinating world of Burgundy. Become familiar with the confusing but intriguing geography of arguably the two greatest wine regions in the world and learn to identify the grape varieties of these regions. Taste the wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy and compare them with wines made in Iowa at Tassel Ridge Winery. Call Tassel Ridge Winery to reserve your seat by Monday, February 16.

Friday, February 20 – Des Moines Opera Wine & Food Showcase

5:30 – 8:30 p.m. 

Cost: Tickets for the Grand Tasting Wine & Food Showcase are $50 per person ($35 per person for groups of eight or more). Tickets for the Maestro’s Tasting are $125 are $125 per person and include admission to the Wine & Food Showcase. To order tickets, go to www.desmoinesmetroopera.org, to the calendar of events, and then to special events. You can order tickets on line at this site.

Location: Downtown Des Moines Marriott, 700 Grand Avenue, Des Moines.

Tassel Ridge Winery will be sampling a variety of our wines.

Note: this event is a benefit for the Des Moines Opera.

Did You Receive Your Winter 2009 Events Program in the Mail?

If not, it means that we don’t have your postal address. Please go our web site at www.tasselridge.com. In the lower left of the splash page, you will see the link to our e-mail list. Please sign up again but this time, please include your postal address and we will take care to see that you receive the Events Program quarterly in the future.

2009 Heart of Iowa Wine Trail Passport Is Your Ticket to Iowa Winery Experiences

A 2009 Heart of Iowa Passport makes a perfect for people interested in wine or simply interested in learning about wineries located around Des Moines. The Heart of Iowa Wine Trail includes fifteen wineries located within about 60 miles of Des Moines. Each winery offers a different experience, different wines, and a different and very interesting story. The Passport recipient presents his/her passport at each of the member wineries and it is stamped with that winery’s special stamp. A full passport earns the passport owner a set of two engraved Heart of Iowa Wine Trail wine glasses. Get prepared to enjoy the pleasures of the Heart of Iowa Wine Trail wineries. By the way, a Heart of Iowa Wine Trail Passport is a great gift for Valentine’s Day because it offers an implicit promise of fun times on outings in the months to come.

2009 Heart of Iowa Wine Trail Passport - $25.00 plus tax

Tassel Ridge Winery Harvest Club

We are pleased to announce the formation of the Tassel Ridge Winery Harvest Club. Members receive four shipments of Tassel Ridge Wine each year in March, May, September, and November. We have picked those months because they are usually temperate enough that we can ship wine without excessive heat or cold to damage it. Each shipment contains two bottles of wine which are priced at retail plus shipping unless club members pick up their shipments at the Winery. In that case, there is no shipping charge. The average price of each shipment including shipping is $45.

We offer two wine preferences:

Re-orders of full case quantities of the Harvest Club selections are always priced at retail less 20% when orders are placed within 60 days of the original shipment.

Harvest Club members have the first opportunity to purchase limited edition wines before they are offered to the public. They are also offered special tasting opportunities when they visit the Winery. In the future, we plan to have Harvest Club Members only wine and food pairing dinners, special tastings with the wine maker, and opportunities to see how wine is made. All of this is designed to make the experience of consuming Tassel Ridge Wines especially enjoyable.

The Tassel Ridge Harvest Club is open to people 21 years of age and older. Shipments are paid for with a credit card that is kept on file.

This is a great way to stay up-to-date on our new wines. Because some of our wines are never sold through retailers, you may not see some of these wines unless you visit the Winery regularly or are a Harvest Club Member.

Consider a Tassel Ridge Harvest Club membership as the perfect gift for a person who enjoys wine. Call 641/672-WINE (9463) for more information.

Interested in Pairing Specific Foods With Tassel Ridge Wines?

Are you interested in suggestions of foods that pair well with specific Tassel Ridge wines?  We’ve put some suggestions on our web site under Recipes and Food Pairing Suggestions.  You can link directly to this page at www.tasselridge.com/recipes.htm.

New Sales Representative Will Focus on Greater Des Moines Area

Deb Newell has been our only Sales Representative since the beginning of 2007. With 139 accounts scattered mainly in Eastern Iowa, she has been stretched thin. Beginning in early January, we added an additional Sales Representative, Stevie Nelson, and she will focus on just the Greater Des Moines Area. She will be setting up new retailers and working with existing retailers to make it easier for them to sell our wine.

If you can’t find our wine at your favorite retailer, please ask the manager to carry our wine.  If they already carry Tassel Ridge wine but not the variety you want, ask the manager to bring in your favorite. As a consumer, you have far more influence on the wines your store carries than we, as a supplier, have. Thanks in advance for your help.

Last Call on Wines About to Run Out

We are nearly sold out of the following four wines:

We have small quantities of each of these wines available at the Winery on a first come, first served basis. Case discounts of 10% on twelve bottles of any of our wines apply.

What Is Happening In the Cellar In February?

We are focused on finishing wines and getting them bottled. Finishing the wines involve fining to remove solids and undesirable flavors. We will also be cold stabilizing wines so that when you put them in the refrigerator, they don’t form tartrate crystals in the bottle. This process involves getting the temperature of the wine down to no more than 30°F and holding it at that temperature for a few days. Then, we filter the wine through our Pall Cross-Flow Filter. The filtration removes any particles bigger than .45 microns. Living organisms like yeast cells are therefore removed.

Then, we bottle the wine using our nine-head filler and in-line labeler. Although the bottling line is rated for production at 1500 bottles per hour, we usually run it a little slower at 1350 bottles per hour, assuming that we have a full crew of at least four and preferably five cellar workers.  One person is unloading clean and empty bottles from cartons. Jim Carmichael, our Cellar Technician, makes sure the machinery is all working right. Two people load full and labeled bottles back into cartons and put labels on the cartons. One of these people runs the full cartons through the top taper and will generally load the full cartons on a pallet. A fifth person is the “pinch hitter” and will help out where needed when he or she isn’t driving the fork lift to bring up pallets of empty bottles or take away the pallets of full bottles. This person also runs the stretch wrapper.

Before we start bottling and after we finish a run, we spend at least an hour cleaning the bottling equipment. We hook up the absolute filter to the mono-bloc filling machine and then run live steam through the entire system. We monitor the temperature on the filling heads and when that temperature reaches 180°F, we set the boiler to run for another 20 minutes. At that point, we are reasonably assured that we have killed any organisms in the filling system. We will repeat that process when we finish. Cleanliness is essential to making good wine.

What Is Happening In the Vineyards in February?

Our vines are all dormant now and the cold climate varieties we grow are not damaged by cold temperatures down to about -25°F, particularly if we have six inches of snow cover. Since we haven’t had any temperatures that low yet this winter, we think our vines are getting along just fine.

So, while we are not out in the vineyards at this point, we are getting organized to undertake all of the steps involved in growing high quality grapes. With 57 acres of grapes now, we have to be organized in order to get all of the work done on schedule.

We are making a major effort to get our equipment ready. We’ve purchased two new tractors for delivery this spring. We’ve built a new wire jenny to help install wire in vineyards that we are replanting. We will also be building two trailers that we will pull behind the tractors during harvest. Our grape harvester will pick the grapes and then drop them into bins on the trailers that move right along with the harvester but in the next row over. When all of the bins on one trailer are full, that tractor will pull out and take the grapes to the Winery while the second trailer pulls into place. We estimate that it will take about 40 minutes to fill all of the bins on one trailer. We’ve also invested in electric pruners and will be pruning with a six person crew. Four people will prune while two people tie any vines that have come down to the trellis. This is especially important now that we will be machine harvesting. The people will rotate tasks so that everyone does all tasks. We developed detailed maps of all of our vineyards. One person, usually the Vineyard Manager, will scout the vineyards by driving every row looking for things that need attention and then marking the maps with the appropriate information. These include the presence of insects, fungus, weeds that need to be removed, grass that needs to be mowed, and vines that need to be tied up (a big problem after high winds).

 

Our Hours:

In February 2009, we are open seven days a week for tours, tasting, wine, and gift shop during the following hours:

Our Location:

Tassel Ridge Winery is easy to find. It is just south of State Highway 163 on 220th Street in Leighton. From Ottumwa and Oskaloosa, drive northwest on 163 to 220th Street and turn left toward Leighton. From Des Moines and Pella, drive southeast and turn right at 220th Street. Drive west on 220th about 0.7 miles from the Highway and right into the Tassel Ridge Winery parking lot. view maps

—Bob Wersen, President

Email Jody Brockway at info@tasselridge.com to sign up a friend for our e-newsletter.

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