Tassel Ridge Winery

Tassel Ridge Winery–September 2007

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New Wines:

2006 Candlelight

Our new 2006 Candlelight is a very fruity and slightly sweet Chardonnay with lots of citrus and green apple on both the nose and palate. Made from grapes grown in the Central Valley of California, this wine has had no malolactic fermentation nor oak aging. It is all fruit and it pairs very nicely with many mild flavored foods. Tuna and swordfish work very nicely. An Asian stir-fry would be a very nice compliment to this flavorful wine. Chicken would also be a nice food pairing. 

See our full wine list: www.tasselridge.com/wines.htm

Picnic at Tassel Ridge Winery

September is a great time to picnic at Tassel Ridge Winery. Bring some friends, select a bottle of wine (we offer our whites already chilled and ready to open), some cheese, and fresh bread, and stake out a table on our terrace overlooking grape vines in one direction, with corn and beans in the other. We have bocce ball and croquet to entertain the kids (both big and little). 

Tassel Ridge Winery wins Ten Medals at Tasters’ Choice Competition

The Tasters Guild judging, which took place in Washington, D.C. this year, awarded Tassel Ridge Winery a total of ten medals as follows:

In a letter that accompanied the announcement, the Tasters Guild noted that there were 600 entries and that only 17 Double Gold Medals were awarded. We were certainly pleased to win one of these medals. 

We have good supplies of all of these wines at the Winery

Check out our recent successes at www.tasselridge.com/wine-awards.htm.

Van Harden of WHO Radio Does Live Broadcast from Tassel Ridge Winery

Van Harden, the congenial and well-liked co-host of WHO Radio’s Van and Bonnie in the Morning Show, came to Tassel Ridge Winery on Friday, August 31 to do a live broadcast. Many of his fans came in to pay their respects. On several occasions, people said that they were really happy they came to the Winery and that they just couldn’t believe that there was a Winery like Tassel Ridge making such good wine in Iowa. Most people took a tour and did some tasting. Some spent some time on the terrace just relaxing or chatting with friends. Click here to visit the Tassel Ridge Winery website to see photos taken at this event.

What’s Happening in the Vineyard?

We started harvest on August 14 with our Edelweiss and then proceeded to harvest the Sabrevois and the St. Croix. We followed with St. Pepin, Foch, and Frontenac. At this point, we have yet to harvest the La Crosse, Steuben, Norton, and experimental blocks of GR-7, Seyval Blanc, Chardonal, and two New York varieties. 

Our fruit quality is really good but the quantity of some varieties like Edelweiss is disappointing. The severe frost we experienced around Easter really damaged buds at a time when the vines were very tender. 

We received 17 inches of rain in Mahaska County during August. Although the rain heavily impacted the number of days we could harvest, it doesn’t seem to have negatively influenced grape quality. The rains gave us a chance to see first hand how good a job we did in grading our new vineyard on the east side of Oskaloosa. We are making some changes based on damage caused by run-off. 

What’s Happening in the Cellar?

We are crushing grapes on a regular basis now. Our cellar team has started fermenting several wines and has actually started fining our Edelweiss. 

We set up our new crush line on Tuesday, September 4. It consists of an elevator-conveyor, a destemmer-crusher, an auger for the must pump, and the must pump itself. This equipment allows us to handle grapes without having to lift Macrobins more than about four feet in the air. It feeds the grapes slowly into the destemmer-crusher so that this equipment can do a thorough job of removing all of the stems and jax from the berries. We expect to make better wine under safer conditions for our cellar team. You can see this equipment on our crush pad when you come to visit the Winery. 

Our first fruit from California is Syrah that will arrive during the weekend of September 9. This is very early; however; they’ve had continual hot weather in Lake County, California this season. 

We will have a few days between batches of grapes that we can use to do some bottling during September. 

Gift Ideas:

When you are selecting a hostess gift, consider giving a two bottle set with one dry red and one semi-dry white. Our recommendations are:

2005 Twilight is our beautifully balanced dry red wine made entirely from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes grown in Lake County, California. It was aged in American AND Eastern European Oak for 14 months and then blended and bottled. This wine displays jammy fruit and vanilla on the nose with plum and spice on the palate. Serve at room temperature. Store at 55º-60ºF. Great with fully flavored foods such as steaks, prime rib, and spicy pasta dishes.

Price: 2005 Twilight  in 750 ml bottle is priced at $20.00.

2006 Candlelight is our fruity semi-dry white wine made from Chardonnay grown in the Central Valley of California. Because it has not had a malolactic fermentation nor any aging in or with oak, the fruit is right up front. With citrus and green apple notes on the nose and palete and nice acidity, 2006 Candlelight will complement Asian stir fries, fish, and chicken. It will also work very successfully as an aperitif. 

Price: 2006 Candlelight in 750 ml bottle is priced at $13.00. 

Tassel Ridge Wines Now Appearing in Retailers Near You

For a complete list of retailers, click here.
Selections of Tassel Ridge Wine are now available at the retailers and restaurants listed below. Note that most retailers do NOT offer all of our wines, but rather focus on those wines that sell the best. Ask your retailer or contact us directly for other wines.

If you have a favorite retailer where you’d like to purchase Tassel Ridge wines in the future or a restaurant where you’d like to consume Tassel Ridge wines, please e-mail me at bwersen@interpower.com and we will arrange to contact them. 

 

Upcoming Events:

Log Cabin Days Festival: Saturday, September 29, 12 noon - 5 p.m. Indianola, Warren Co. Fairground Hwy 92W

The Autumn Festival: An Arts and Crafts Affair: Tassel Ridge wines for available for sale and sampling October 5 - 7, Fri. 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. / Sat. 9 p.m. - 7 p.m. / Sun. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Iowa Events Center: Hy-Vee Hall, Des Moines, IA

Wine and Food Pairing Dinner, Details and menu coming soon Sunday, October 14
7:00 p.m. Tassel Ridge Winery

Corks, Cooks and Chords, A Wine, Food, and Music Festival Saturday, October 20
Noon - 5:00 p.m. Iowa Speedway, Newton, IA

Wine Tastings in Retailers

Adela's, September 7, 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. Fairfield, 301 S Main
Bonaparte Pottery, September 15, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Bonaparte, 411 1st Street
Northern Prairie Chevre', September 16, 12:00 - 5:00 p.m. Woodward, 1247 310th Street
Hy-Vee Wine & Spirits, September 17, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Davenport, 2351 W Locust
Hy-Vee DrugTown, September 21, 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. Ottumwa, 1140 N Jefferson
Bradley Hall, September 29, 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. Centerville, 519 Drake Ave

Complete list of local wine tastings

Our Hours:

Effective September 1, 2007, we are open for tours, tasting, wine, and gift shop sales as follows:

We are now open seven days per week!

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