Tassel Ridge Winery

Tassel Ridge Winery–August 2008

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August is Pink Catawba Month

American Pink Catawba from Tassel Ridge Winery is a great sipper to enjoy on warm summer evenings. It is refreshing, semi-sweet, and is best when served chilled. This wine presents pineapple and other tropical fruit aromas with green apple and citrus flavors on the palate. The price is $13.00 per bottle plus tax. Available at the Winery and at many of our retailers.

Tassel Ridge Winery Wins
Awards for Wine Excellence

In the Long Beach (California) Grand Cru Wine Competition, three Tassel Ridge Winery wines won medals as follows:

2007 American Dry Riesling—Chairman’s Best of Class
2007 Iowa Steuben—Silver
Sweet Roxie Red—Bronze

In the Mid-American Wine Competition in Ankeny, ten Tassel Ridge Winery wines won medals as follows:

2007 Iowa Steuben—Gold, Best of Class
Finalé Premier Red—Gold
Twlight—Silver
Candleglow White—Silver
Candlelight—Silver
Red, White, and Blue—Bronze
Sweet Roxie Red—Bronze
Prelude—Bronze
Granfinalé Chocolate Dessert Wine—Bronze
2007 American Dry Riesling—Bronze

In the International Eastern Wine Competition, one Tassel Ridge Winery wine won a medal as follows:            

In the Dark—Bronze

In the 2008 Lone Star International Wine Competition in Texas, three Tassel Ridge Winery wines won medals as follows:

Oskyfizzante Red—Silver
Pink Catawba—Silver
Prelude—Bronze

Finally, in the Indy International Wine Competition, six Tassel Ridge Winery wines won medals as follows:

2007 Steuben—Silver
Twilight—Silver
Sweet Roxie Red—Silver
Finalé Premier Red—Silver
Pink Catawba—Bronze
Granfinalé Chocolate—Bronze

These medals are major achievements for a small Iowa winery. Most of these competitions receive a thousand or more entries from all over the U.S. and in some cases, from foreign wine producers. Winning a single award is an accomplishment but winning Chairman’s Best of Class and Gold medals provide us with gratifying endorsements from wine experts that we are making great quality wine. 

All of these wines are available in our tasting room where you can taste before you buy. Note that a full case (12 bottles, mix or match) earns a 10% discount. Or, check with our retailers.  A complete list is on our web site at www.tasselridge.com/retail.htm. 

Join us at the Winery for
our Wine and Food Pairing Dinners

Saturday, August 16 – Wine tasting at 7:00 p.m., Dinner at 7:30 p.m. Mexican Steak Dinner

Let’s take a culinary visit south of the border with a four course dinner that starts with mini burritos and warm tortilla chips to dip in spicy salsa and guacamole, followed by a Mexican salad, chili-rubbed skirt steak, and cinnamon, dark chocolate cheesecake. Each course will be accompanied by a different Tassel Ridge Winery wine including: Oskyfizzante, Overture, Twilight, and Finalé Premier Red dessert wine. Reservations accepted through Thursday, August 14.  Price is $60 per person plus tax.

Sunday, August 24 – Wine tasting at 6:00 p.m.
Dinner at 6:30 p.m. Seafood dinner catered by Waterfront Seafood Market, West Des Moines

Des Moines’ finest seafood market, Waterfront, is back by popular demand! Watch as the freshest seafood of the season is grilled to perfection on our terrace by Mark Andrews and his staff. The menu and dinner pricing will be determined by seafood market price and availability at the beginning of August and will be posted on our web site. Reservations accepted through Thursday, August 21. Note: Waterfront dinners sell out quickly. 

Jaguar and Porsche Clubs of Iowa Show and Shine at Tassel Ridge Winery

The Jaguar and Porsche Clubs of Iowa will travel to Tassel Ridge Winery for their “Show in the Vines” on Sunday, August 17 from 1:00 p.m.– 5:00 p.m. Come out for the afternoon to see vintage Jaguars from the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s and vintage Porsches from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. Admission is free.

St. Croix Wine Released,
August 2–3

Tassel Ridge Winery introduced our first wine made entirely from St. Croix grapes grown in our Mahaska County vineyards. Our 2006 Iowa St. Croix shows hints of leather, tobacco, and minerals with a soft mouth feel. It pairs well with beef or pasta dishes with tomato-based sauces. It is best when served at room temperature. The price is $18 per bottle. 

Mixed Salads Make Great
Hot Weather Dinners

My idea of a great summer dinner is a mixed salad with many different ingredients. I start with hearts of romaine that I slice up into bite-size pieces. I almost always add one or more sliced tomatoes and some kind of canned beans like garbanzos or red kidney beans. After that, it is different every time I make a salad. Here are some of the candidates for other ingredients in my summer salads:

I like an Italian-type dressing on my salads.

And, because I want at least some carbs, I get partially baked baguette bread from the local Hy-Vee and I have it finishing at 375º F while I put my salad together.

So, what kind of wine goes well with my summer salad and freshly baked bread? The vinegar in most salad dressings makes wine pairings tricky. I suggest a white wine with at least a hint of sweetness. Tassel Ridge Winery Prelude and Candlelight will both work well. If you are really partial to dry red wine as I am, try our Twilight for a nice combination. 

See Tassel Ridge Winery at the State Fair, August 7–17

We will participate in the Iowa Wine Growers Wine Tent at the Iowa State Fair. We will be pouring eight of our wines including Red, White, and Blue; Blackberry; Steuben; Twilight; Sweet Roxie Red; Prelude; Candleglow White; and Candlelight. In addition, we will be offering our wine-a-ritas which are a great way to cool off. 

Tassel Ridge Winery personnel will work the entire Fair.

We will be joined in the Iowa Wine Growers Wine tent by eleven other Iowa wineries so you can be assured that you will be able to taste wines from all over the State. 

The Iowa Wine Growers tent is located just south of the Bill Riley Stage. We look forward to seeing you there.

Treat Yourself to Wine & Prime
at the Iowa State Fair

The Iowa Wine Growers Association teams up with the Cattlemen’s Beef Quarters to provide you with a prime rib dinner at the Iowa State Fair. Select your wine at the Iowa Wine Garden and walk over to the Cattlemen’s Beef Quarters where you will enjoy
hand-cut choice beef along with a crisp garden salad, baked potato, and a tempting dessert. Guests will be seated at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Each seating is limited to 18 couples. Wine and Prime is $75 per couple.  This price includes a bottle of wine and two prime rib dinners. Reservations are required and can be made online by clicking the Wine and Prime icon at www.whofarm.com.

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 that are priced at retail plus shipping unless club members pick the shipments up at the Winery. In that case, there is no shipping charge. The average price of each shipment with shipping is $45. 

We offer two wine preferences:

Re-orders of full case quantities of the Harvest Club selections are always priced at retail value, less 20% when orders are placed within sixty 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 wine and food pairing dinners for club members only, special tastings with the wine maker, and opportunities to see how wine is made all of which are designed to make the experience of consuming Tassel Ridge Wines especially enjoyable. 

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

Consider a Tassel Ridge Harvest Club membership as the perfect gift for a person who enjoys wine. One year gift memberships are available.

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.    

Heart of Iowa Wine Trail 2008 Passport

The Passport is your ticket to fifteen different Iowa wine country experiences. You can take advantage of the fact that there are now fifteen wineries within a 60 mile radius of Des Moines and each offers different wines. The Heart of Iowa Wine Trail Passport guides you to each of the wineries while providing you with a list of amenities. Purchase your passport at any member winery for $25.00. As you visit each winery, you will have the appropriate page in your passport stamped. When your passport is full, one page is removed and exchanged for two elegant commemorative wine glasses.

Purchase your 2008 Heart of Iowa Wine Trail Passport at Tassel Ridge Winery. Price is $25.00, the experience is priceless!

For more information about the Heart of Iowa Wine Trail, visit the website at www.heartofiowawinetrail.com.

Custom Labels are a Great Way to Recognize Success and to Celebrate an Accomplishment

Most Tassel Ridge Wines are available with custom labels that allow you to celebrate a big zero birthday, recognize a friend’s special achievement, or to thank the person who already has everyone. Provide us with a photo and some guidance as to what you want on the label and we will do the rest. We have a one case minimum (12 bottles) and we charge a $10 fee for label set-up. Custom labeled wine does NOT qualify for the case discount. Check our notebook of special wine labels to find ideas for your label.

Do You Want To Ship Wine Out of State?

We can now ship to the following six states: 

If you would like to be able to ship wine to other states not mentioned above, please let us
know and we will investigate what kinds of licenses and permits we need to ship there.

What’s Happening in the Vineyard?

For the past month, it has been a real struggle to mow, apply herbicide, fungicide, occasionally a little insecticide, and then mechanically remove some big weeds that are too big for Round-Up, while focusing on shoot positioning and combing out vines that are really vigorous. We think that we are just about caught up when we suddenly realize that we have a new task that is going to take 5 work-days to complete.

Fruit has formed very nicely on most varieties and crop loads look reasonable. In most blocks, it looks like we should achieve somewhere in the neighborhood of three tons per acre. Of course, a lot can happen between now and harvest.

The big event that is about to happen for most grape varieties is veraison. Veraison (pronounced ver·asian) is a French word that marks the beginning of ripening and sugar development. It is at this point that the grapes change from hard, green berries to soft and colored fruit. Red grapes have been green up to this time and they now begin to develop a red color. Green grapes become translucent and take on a yellow hue. This is starting to happen with Frontenac in our vineyards. Other varieties will reach veraison in the next few weeks.

We have had rain about every week now that we have reached our “dry” season so the ground is wet enough that irrigation is not necessary.  

What’s Happening in the Cellar?

We are now focusing on getting all of our equipment cleaned up and ready for harvest and crush. We are planning exactly how we will use all of our fruit. And, we are reviewing our recipes and tweaking processes we used last year to improve the wine we make this year.

Our cellar staff members are taking their vacations now because once fruit starts coming in, everyone will be busy processing fruit, making wine, and working on many cellar operations.

Our big challenge is that we made too much wine last year so many of our tanks are full. We may have to rent some tanks just to handle the fruit we have in our vineyards.

If you have not visited the Winery for several months, you may be surprised to see a new building just to the west of the crush pad. It is our new 3,000 square foot equipment shed. It will house vineyard equipment and some of the Winery equipment that we do not use all year around.

New Retailers:

Tassel Ridge Winery in Restaurants:

You can now enjoy Tassel Ridge wines with your meals at several Iowa Restaurants:

Waterfront Seafood in Clocktower Square, West Des Moines at West University and 28th Street is our newest restaurant. They offer Candleglow White, Prelude, and Twilight. These wines pair very well with their menu that includes shellfish, sushi, and boned fish such as tuna, swordfish, and halibut. The Twilight pairs well with their steaks.  And now, enjoy Waterfront Seafood in Ankeny just south of Tones Spices.

Our Hours:

In August 2008, we are open for tours, tasting, wine, and gift shop sales seven days a week 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 towards Leighton. From Des Moines and Pella, 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

Email Brian Babcock at info@tasselridge.com to sign up a friend for our enewsletter.

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—Bob Wersen, President