Tassel Ridge Winery is located in Leighton, Iowa, which is somewhere between where I live now and the city I grew up in. I've watched the grapes grow off of highway 163 for many years. They were the first winery in Iowa that I was aware off. Someday I plan to ride my bicycle there and visit.
Iowa is not renown for wine. It is a relatively new industry. Some say the climate is not suitable for quality grapes and thus Iowa wine suffers. Yet the industry is growing and I have found a few that I enjoy and will purchase again and again.
Two things attracted me to this bottle. First, the sales rep was extremely short and cute. I felt sorry for her having to stand behind her display and hope that people would feign interest and hope even more that said interest was enough to trigger sales. I already had two bottles of my standard issue $5 on sale favorites but I had to walk by her again. guilt is want ran over me. Had to help her out. Perhaps make her day.
The other factor in picking this one was the use of Catawba grapes. I have consumed its fermented juices before.
Catawba is a red American grape that is grown in the Eastern States as well as in the Midwest. In the early days of America it was one of the most import grapes for wine making. It is a late harvest grape. It is also used for juice, jellies and jams. Light on tannins. A sparkling wine from New York was the first non-Californian to win the California State Fair.
My previous experience with Catawba is epic. My friend got enough of the grapes from a previous pressing and fermented a 30 gallon barrel of the wine. Because it was second pressing the wine was a golden color. After drinking about 4 mugs of his home brew beer he suggested that we try this wine. It was his first taste of it. It was wonderful. It was nectar. And because we had been drinking beer we drank the wine in mugs and at a beer consuming rate.
After about 4 mugs of the wine we stepped outside to smoke cigars. While Sam was wondering why his would not light I was doubled over making a bird feeder. "The damn cigar would not light. Then I realized it was raining. Raining hard. We never noticed it. And you were dieing. All I could do was laugh and let you finish." Thanks.
Lesson learned. Sam's wine is powerful stuff. Do not over consume. But Sam got greedy and let it ferment more and the result was paint thinner. Truly awful. He ruined a 30 gallon barrel of wine. He'd try to pass it on while camping and gatherings but the taste and the bird feeder story scared people off. We tried to cut it down with mixers but it still was bad. It became a "manliness" test to drink it. He offered me the barrel but I declined. It was dumped out in his garden. I may have a gallon of it in my cupboard. Wine of last resort.
So the 4 foot 6 inch bae showed me her wares. Never having a dry Iowa wine I asked if she had one. No. She had about 8 varieties of sweet wines. The first was the Pink Catawba and my mind was made up but I let her finish her spiel before initiating purchase. Seeing that Catawba was available from a professional wine maker sealed the transaction. I had an overwhelming desire to drink this.
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| This was how the bottle got home. The manifest of this trip includes a 15 lb bag of dog food, 9 lb pork loin, 2 other bottles of wine, 2 lb of bacon, quart of half n half and some other stuff. |
Sure enough. It was delicious. A semi sweet red, best served chilled. The fruity tastes rolled through my mouth like a sunny day. The color was light like a light rose. One of Iowa's finest. I will buy more.
