Tassel Ridge Winery

Tassel Ridge Winery–September 2008

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Try Our New Oskyfizzante White


Come to Tassel Ridge Winery this weekend to try the new Oskyfizzante White, a fizzy slightly sweet wine. It is made entirely from Muscat grapes that were grown in Lake County, California. The Muscat grapes give this wine a distinctly floral character with enough acidity to pair nicely with many foods, especially spicy cuisine. Some knowledgeable wine tasters have compared it favorably to a Prosecco.

We will be serving the Oskyfizzante White straight up or as a Peach Bellini. Our Peach Bellini has been called an “adult slushy.” It makes a great accompaniment to a relaxing 30-minute pause on our terrace.

We will be tasting the Oskyfizzante White and serving Peach Bellinis all day on Saturday and Sunday, September 6 and 7.

Price: Oskyfizzante White is $14.00 for a 750 ml bottle plus tax

September Is American Dry Riesling Month


Tassel Ridge Winery’s American Dry Riesling won the Chairman’s Best of Class Medal at the Long Beach, California Grand Cru Wine Competition. It is a refreshing, dry, white wine with green apple, citrus, and peach on the nose and green apple, citrus, and melon on the palate.  Serve chilled with shellfish, fish, chicken, and green salads.

The American Dry Riesling should be served chilled at 55°F.

Price is $13.00 per 750 ml bottle plus tax.

Tassel Ridge Winery Wins More
Awards for Wine Excellence

Tassel Ridge Winery won twelve medals, three of which were GOLD, for its wines in the recent Taster’s Guild Wine Lover’s Competition in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The winning wines were:

Finalé Red Raspberry—Gold
American Pink Catawba—Gold
Fruit Stand Cranberry—Gold
Prelude —Silver
Steuben—Silver
Red, White, & Blue—Silver
Granfinalé Chocolate—Silver
Finalé Premier Red—Silver
Fruit Stand Blackberry—Silver
Candleglow White—Bronze
Oskyfizzante Red—Bronze
Candleglow Red—Bronze

All of these wines are available at 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.

Take A Trip to Italy For Our First “Taste of Italy” Wine and Food Pairing Dinner

Saturday, September 13 – Wine tasting at 7:00 p.m.
Dinner at 7:30 p.m. Taste of Italy

Stimulate your senses with tastes of Italy. The appetizers include bruschetta and tortellini skewers with marinara sauce paired with Oskyfizzante Red. Veal piccata with lemon caper sauce and risotto will be paired with St. Croix, an all-Iowa red. And, tiramisu will be paired with Finalé Premier Red. Reservations accepted through Thursday, September 11. Price is $65 per person plus tax.

Savor the Flavors of France at our French Food and Wine Pairing Dinner

Sunday, September 28 – Wine tasting at 6:00 p.m. Dinner at 6:30 p.m. French Cuisine

Savor the flavors of France. The appetizers include Florentines and mini quiche Lorraine paired with American Dry Riesling. The entrée is steak au poivre vert (steak with green peppercorn sauce), garlic mashed potatoes, and green bean almandine. Dessert will be special for chocolate lovers: pot de crème paired with Finalé Premier Red. Reservations accepted through Thursday, September 25. Price is $65 per person plus tax.

Try a Different Beverage at Your Next
Tail Gate This Fall

Tassel Ridge Winery offers Wine Glacé mixes that allow you to make your own
Wine-a-ritas and Peach Bellinis. One of our customers called them “adult slushies!” Both of these beverages make a nice contribution to any Fall sporting event. Either can be made in a blender and both require ice, Tassel Ridge Winery Tickled Pink or Oskyfizzante White respectively, and the appropriate mix. One bag of mix and one bottle of the appropriate wine will make two batches of beverage with each batch making five portions of about eight ounces each. 

Prices:

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. 

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.    

Consider a Tassel Ridge Harvest Club membership as the perfect gift for a person who enjoys wine. Call for more information.

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?

Harvest is in full swing. We started on Friday, August 22 with Brianna. This is our first Brianna harvest and we are planning to make a dry, white wine from these grapes. We started picking our Edelweiss on Tuesday, August 26 and our La Crosse on Saturday, August 30. We had weather interruptions that have slowed us down but we expect to finish picking the Edelweiss and then move to St. Pepin and La Crescent. This will finish up all of our early ripening white wine grapes.

We will move to reds starting with St. Croix, Foch, and Frontenac early next week.

Harvest quantities are well above forecast and we are very happy with fruit quality. Weather has slowed us down emphasizing the importance of investing in a mechanical harvester for next season. We can pick about two acres per hour with a harvester. This amounts to about six tons per hour, which will keep our cellar staff hopping. In addition to being able to bring our fruit in quickly, we can also pick around the clock if weather makes that desirable. This is a serious investment so we will be looking closely at our needs as compared to the specs on the harvester. I hope to place the order within the next 2-3 weeks.

 

What’s Happening in the Cellar?


We are making wine in a big way! The Brianna has now completed its alcohol fermentation and we are about to start its maloactic fermentation. We’ll start the fermentation on the La Crosse tomorrow and on the Edelweiss next week.

On the days that we are picking grapes for white wines, our cellar team is crushing and pressing fruit. Our theoretical capacity is about four tons every two hours or about 12 tons per day. The new conveyor, destemmer-crusher, and must pump are terrific contributors to our effectiveness. They allow us to work our cellar operation with just three people.

In addition to making wine and processing grapes, we are also out in the vineyards taking samples of grapes for evaluation in our lab. We check for Total Acidity (TA), pH, and Sugar and make a decision as to when to harvest based on those factors plus a sensory evaluation of the juice and even the seeds. The balance of these factors varies depending on the variety.

Last Call on Wines About to Run Out

We are nearly sold out of the following three 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.

New Retailers:

Tassel Ridge Winery in Restaurants:

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

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 Jody Brockway at info@tasselridge.com to sign up a friend for our enewsletter.

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—Bob Wersen, President