We planned to pick Petite Pearl on Tuesday however 0.75 inches of rain on Monday forced a delay. First, the wet vineyard floor won’t support the harvester and related equipment. And second, we were worried that the rain might have diluted the juice in the grapes. We
Read more →If extinct species interest you, you’ll find the woolly mammoth skeleton at the Environmental Learning Center in Oskaloosa very interesting. The first bones were discovered by a Mahaska County landowner in 2010, and a dig supervised by the Mahaska County Conservation Board was conducted from 2012 to
Read more →Processing the grapes includes weighing them in, lifting the macrobins filled with fruit and dumping the grapes into the hopper-elevator. The fruit is metered into the destemmer-crusher where each grape is gently broken open. Grapes that will be made into white or rosé wine will be pumped
Read more →Harvest is everything right now. The week began with the Marquette harvest. This is a nine acre vineyard block so we allowed most of two days. The good news is that it only took one long day. The bad news is that because of the very dry
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Perfect for grilling, game watching and tailgating…Marinated Chicken Breasts with Harissa Sauce and Iowa Edelweiss. Marinated Chicken Breasts with Harissa Sauce and Tassel Ridge Iowa Edelweiss are a perfect combination. Harissa is a flavorful but strong seasoning, and Tassel Ridge Iowa Edelweiss, a semi-sweet white wine with
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Iowa Edelweiss is a fruity, semi-sweet white wine that offers orange, pear, and pineapple hints on both the nose and palate. It is great served chilled and simply sipped. And, it enhances spicy Asian stir-fry or a traditional family dinner of glazed ham studded with pineapple. All of
Read more →We started with LaCrosse last weekend. Since the grapes were warm, we put them in a reefer trailer which we have rented for harvest again this year. The LaCrosse was chilled and then processed on Sunday. Because we have a lot of Edelweiss (17 acres), we harvested
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Pair Blackberry Sangria with Hot Weather, Long Weekends, Game Watching, & Tailgating! Tassel Ridge® Blackberry Sangria, made with Tassel Ridge Blackberry Wine, is the perfect blend of blackberry and orange flavors with a touch of sweetness.
Read more →Everything is ready! The machines are all clean and lubricated. The crush pad is clean and ready for action. We are just waiting for the grapes to get fully ripe. Actually, last week we did harvest about 700 pounds of Itasca, a white grape that was developed
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Grilled Coffee Chipotle Steaks and Chilled Iowa Silky St. Croix…perfect for Warm/Hot Evenings! Tassel Ridge® chilled Iowa Silky St. Croix, a semi-sweet red with cherry notes on the nose and palate, is a perfect pairing for the very flavorful spice rub on Grilled Coffee Chipotle Steaks and
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