I know this blog was initially started to share my adventures on the Nebraska wine tour, but I have to share my brief jaunt into the South Dakota
This past weekend, I ventured north for one of my college friend, Amanda’s wedding. I had been doing a little research on vineyards in the area that I could potentially visit when I discovered that there was a vineyard/winery in Vermillion the entire time I was going to school there and I didn’t even know it! I also found out that there was a winery in Hinton , IA
How serendipitous this all was!
I talked my friend, Jamie, and her boyfriend, Kelly, into coming with me for a tasting at Valiant Vineyards Winery in Vermillion. Neither of them had ever done a wine tasting before so I was ready to share my knowledge and experience with them. As we approached the tasting room, I realized that I had known it had been there the entire time. I had probably driven past it a hundred times the 4 years I spent in Vermillion, but since I did not really start drinking wine until I moved to Kearney after graduation, it really held no appeal to me…. until now.
Valiant Vineyards Winery is the oldest winery in South Dakota
When we walked in, there was already a group doing a tasting so we wondered around the gift shop until they were finished, then we stole the barstools and commandeered the lady behind the bar’s attention. She started us out by giving us a wine list and introducing us to the wines they had to offer, which was surprisingly a lot.
Another surprising part of the visit was that the tasting was FREE!!! Six samples for nothing! When I asked about it, the lady who was helping us said that the owner didn’t see a reason to charge people for the tastings when they would hopefully purchase bottles of wine that they liked during the tasting.
Jamie and Kelly seemed to be a little overwhelmed so I tried talking them through the various wines on the list and what a tasting was all about. I asked if any of the wines jumped out at them. They said that they would go with whatever I picked… no pressure or anything.
I started with my usual routine of picking some dryer reds before moving to sweeter wines but I got distracted and lost my train of thought. So we just went with a random selection of whatever sounded good… which included a taste of rum that they made at the vineyard.
Rum is not a good color on me.
I chose the first four wine choices with Jamie and Kelly trying the same ones, but I finally handed them the wine list and told each of them to pick a wine they wanted to try and then we would all swap glasses so we could try what the others picked. Something that Jessi and I do all the time so we get more bang for our buck. Kelly wasn’t too fond of the wines that he picked out but he seemed to enjoy the ones that I chose. Jamie liked her choices, including the drier red that I did not like.
Valiant had a few fruit wines to choose from, including a blueberry wine that wasn’t too bad. They also have an elderberry honey wine called Buck Naked which is one of their best sellers but my favorite wine that I tried was the Rushmore White. It is a sweet white very similar to an Edelweiss wine (it is made with Edelweiss grapes that grow very well in the Midwest ).
Overall it was a very fun experience doing a wine tasting with two people who had never done one before and sharing the little knowledge that I have gathered during my own adventures.
Valiant Vineyard Winery Specs:
6 tastings for FREE
Fun wine related items available in gift shop
Souvenir wine glasses available for $5
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