A Full Dozen: August 7, 2011

We finally got to visit Deer Springs Winery in Lincoln the second time we tried. The first time around, we were still new at the whole wine touring thing and hadn’t checked to see what hours they were open.

The tasting room is in an old farm house that was built in 1874. It has been restored and is now a lovely space of open rooms and light coming in through the large windows.

The larger area closest to the bar was occupied by a large group of twenty-somethings, so Jessi and I got our first tastings and moseyed to a small table in the next room next to a window that offered a great view of the yard and gazebo. We did not get a chance to really chat with the lady behind the counter like we enjoy doing, but we were reaching the end of our whirl-wind weekend and I think we were both rather tired. Sitting at an out of the way table, quietly drinking our wine was something that I think both Jessi and I were in the mood to do.

When we went back up for our third or fourth sample, another lady had arrived and talked us into getting a basket of goodies designed to eat with wine. It had a loaf of fresh French bread and locally made treats like summer sausage, cheese, and Baker’s Meltaways (a favorite chocolate candy of my family’s made in Greenwood, NE).

Jessi and I quietly finished our wine tastings and as we went up to pay and purchase our souvenir glasses, we ran into a group of four who had just arrived. We were delighted to find out that they were also doing the Nebraska Wine Tour but they had started in the west and were working their way east as opposed to us starting in the east and working our way west. We traded tips and stories about the places we had been to and gave suggestions on wines that had to be tried.

Personally, I was happy to see that two of the four were guys and they seemed as enthusiastic, if not more so, about the tour than the two girls in the group. See, guys like wine too! *hint, hint*

Overall, I enjoyed our quiet and uneventful trip to Deer Springs. Looking back at the wine list and notes I have, it looks like I have a three-way tie of high scorers: Wild Colleen is a sweet red, Firefly White is, as the name suggests, a sweet white and an award winning wine for Deer Springs, and finally, Bianca which is a Hungarian style wine. Bianca sticks out the most in my mind, probably because it was slightly different than any wine I had tried thus far and the fact that it was a Hungarian style (I’m always up for trying something from the motherland) endears it to my heart a little.

Plus, Jessi finally got to try Baker’s meltaways, something every chocolate lover should do!

Deer Springs Specs:

      5 tastings for $5

      Locally made meat, cheeses, and treats available for purchase

      Souvenir wine glass for $3.

The numbers all go to 11: August 7, 2011

Our visit to the Glacial Till tasting room in Ashland was probably our shortest stop. Since we had already sampled all the wines that we wanted to, we made this stop just to try out their newest vintage, Zephyr. The lady who was working there was helping another couple so she suggested Jessi and I check out the art gallery upstairs. There were some really awesome pieces by local artists on display. By the time we were done looking around, the other couple had left so we had the place to ourselves. We just got a glass and claimed a table to enjoy the wine (which was very good, by the way).

Since the place was empty, we struck up conversation with the lady working who was a close friend of the Murmans (the owners of Glacial Till). We told her about our trip out to the vineyard back in May and she shared some stories that she had of the vineyard. She then started a slide show that she had full of photos of the vineyard, renovations at the Ashland tasting room, and the Murman’s trip to wineries around the world.

While it was a different atmosphere than the vineyard, I’m glad we made the trip to the Ashland location. We got to try their new wine and learn more about one of our favorite vineyards.

“X” marks the spot: August 7, 2011

Out of all the vineyards that we have been to so far, I was least impressed with Soaring Wings Vineyard outside Springfield, both the wine and the atmosphere.

I was blown away by the view of the vineyard from atop the hill where the tasting room sat. The tasting room itself was very nice and full of fun wine themed knickknacks but the greeting let much to be desired. A lady behind the counter quickly explained that we could do a tasting, using the five tickets provided, from the wine list but two were sold out and unavailable. She handed us a wine list, took our money, and left. We were slightly out of sorts as we made our way to a table near a window to decide on our first choices.

After we had made our first choices (two very dry reds…not our forte) we made our way back up to the bar where a twenty-something year old poured our first samples. We tried to engage him in conversation every time we went up but he was not the chatty type, denying Jessi and I the opportunity to find out all we could about the vineyard.

As we worked our way through the wine list, I began rating them from 1-10, something I have been trying to do at every place we stop so I have a better idea later on what my opinion of the wines were. Ice Falcon 2009 got my highest rating of the stop at an 8, but even then, I thought it was too high. Most of the wines were rather tart with a slightly bitter end.

After we finished with our 5 tastings, the cashier said we could wander through the vineyard so we took her suggestion. We moseyed our way down the hill to get a better look at a few rows of grapes and enjoyed the view.

While we may not have had a good time at Soaring Wings, it was a very busy place, exemplifying the fact that not everyone has the same taste in wines.

     

Soaring Wings Vineyard Specs:

                  5 tastings for $6

                  Glass of wine $5

                  Food and wine-related items for sale

                  Souvenir wine glass included with tasting

9 off the vine: August 6, 2011

Our third and final stop for the day was to Slattery Vintage Estates in Nehawka. This was the place that Wendy had actually suggested to us since they were having a musician perform the night we were going to be there. We ventured straight to Slattery from Kimmel Orchards and Jessi and I were completely blown away from the sight before us. The main building was huge and absolutely beautiful, practically a castle in the middle of the Nebraskan countryside. We found a place to park near the rows of vines and walked to the main entrance to the courtyard, still in awe of our surroundings.

We paid our $5 entry to a very friendly lady (who later I found out was Barb Slattery, she and her husband, Mike own SVE) and gawked at the beautiful house and landscaping while we made our way to the tasting room, which was a beautiful set of rooms that was tucked under the Slattery’s home (the aforementioned castle). The tasting room was exactly what I would want if I had a wine cellar. There was a dark wood bar, overstuffed chairs, polished cobblestone floor, and a full on wine cellar alcove tucked into one wall complete with a barred entryway.

The room was full of people taking advantage of the air conditioning before the musician began so Jessi and I parked ourselves at the bar, trying to stay out of the way of the bustling servers. We nabbed a wine list (a four or five page menu, I kid you not) and started flipping through. When the bartender had a spare moment, we asked if we could do a tasting. She kindly explained to us that they stopped tastings at 5:30 on Saturday evenings when they had entertainment. We had missed it by a half an hour! We explained that we were doing the Nebraska wine tour and she said that if we bought some wine, she’d stamp our passports anyway.

Woohoo!

So I overruled Jessi and ordered a bottle of Glacial Till’s Frontenac Rose for us to share (she agreed if she could pick out the second bottle that we knew we would need). We got our passports stamped and purchased probably one of the most unique things that I’ve seen on the tour… sandwich bags full of wine corks. LOVE IT! Jessi and I both got one and it had a wide variety of corks from around the U.S… and they were only a buck!

Jessi and I took our wine and joined the rest of our group at a picnic table to melt in the heat that sometimes strikes Nebraska in the summer and wait for the music to start. We ended up ordering food (the shrimp pizza was awesome, baked in their outdoor stone oven) and more wine while listening to the music, but as we sat there, the wind picked up and blew in a storm. I felt safe, sitting at a table with three paramedics/EMS (I can’t remember what the difference is right now or where any of them were in their training) who were getting updates from people who were watching the storm approach.

Eventually Barb came up to us and told us that they were shutting down the music due to the approaching storm but we were more than welcome to move up to the tented area and enjoy the rest of our evening. We jumped at the suggestion and moved up the hill to the empty tables under the tent before anybody else could.

Jessi and I were finishing our second bottle, Moon Shine from Prairie Creek, when I heard the ladies at the table next to us discussing what wine they would try next. They mentioned Mac’s Creek in Lexington, a vineyard that I’m very familiar with. I couldn’t help myself, I jumped in and suggested they try Buzzard’s Roost, Mac’s Creek’s signature wine. That opened the door to bonding with a table full of older and slightly tipsier wineauxs.

Even with the storm, our visit to Slattery was very fun. Their grapes got hit with a hard frost a few years ago and they lost a lot of their vines. They have not been able to make any of their own wines since. I would love to go back when they get back into production and have their own vintages to sample. We will probably venture back so we can enjoy the entertainment and events they have during the summer and fall. (check out their calendar and other info at www.svevineyards.com)

Slattery Vintage Estates Specs:

5 tastings for $6

Wines and Beers from around Nebraska and the U.S.

Food and lodging available

Souvenir glass for $1 with tasting

Wine tasting in SoDak: September 3, 2011

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 wine scene.     

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… the town where the wedding was taking place.

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. The tasting room is in a huge converted barn. It also houses a gift shop, bed and breakfast and event room.

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

Wine under the Pines: August 6, 2011

Remember when I said that if you are doing the wine tour with a friend, make sure one of you is really good at finding out times and events to make your experience better? Well this is a great example of that and why Jessi is the perfect planner for our quest.

She had found out on Kimmel’s website, I think, that they were having grape stomping the day that we were planning on being there! How freaking awesome would that be?! We could recreate one of the most iconic I Love Lucy moments ever! Our original plan was to dress in peasant tops and skirts complete with head scarves so we could really get into the part but we could not find the clothes necessary in time.

Well, the grape stomping turned out to be on of the offerings at the event that we discovered while we were at Arbor Day Farms.

Wine under the Pines is a fundraising event at Kimmel where they invite vineyards, wineries, and breweries from around Southeastern Nebraska to raise money for various organizations. This year all proceeds went to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief to help with all the flooding that they had been fighting in the area.

After our tasting, we ventured back outside where we paid our $10 donation and got a wristband, 4 tickets for tastings, and another glass. They were just finishing up the wine and food pairing demonstration when we got there so Jessi and I (Wendy and company came later) wandered around and got our first tastings. Mine was a beer from a local brewery (I know, I know, it was supposed to be a wine weekend… but I really wanted a beer) and Jessi got some wine. We settled ourselves down on a straw bale to await the grape stomping and the arrival of my sister.

Wendy found us right around the time that the grape stomping began. They had a large cattle tank set up on a platform and they had fastened thin cedar planks to the outside to make it look like a barrel. The organizers called for any kids who wanted to stomp to come up first, but none showed up so one by two, adults jumped in. Jessi and I primed our cameras and waited for a spot to open up so we could join in on the fun.

We also played photographers for this fun couple who later returned the favor for us. Wendy finally joined us as we were jumping in the tank so we passed off the cameras (one to her, one to the couple) and squished our way into Lucy-dom. The grapes were cool, sticky, and tended to explode when we stepped on them.

It. Was. AWESOME!

Jessi had to pull me out to give some of the other people a chance, but she promised that we could get back in later. She was such a trooper. She scratched the hell out of the top of her foot on one of the cedar planks but she made good on her promise. We did go in later… after a few more wine tastings.

8 Crazy corks: August 6, 2011

After a quick stop back at Wendy’s house to eat some real food and get our poop in a group, we headed out to Kimmel Orchard & Vineyard, the place that started it all.

Last summer, Jessi and I had ventured to Nebraska City to visit Wendy and she took us out to Kimmel because Jessi wanted to pick an apple. As we wandered around the grounds (and picked our apples), we ventured into the main building to check out what they had to offer, we were also after apple doughnuts because Wendy said they were awesome. We were attracted by a bar set up at one end of the building so we moseyed over to check it out… and discovered wine tasting. As we were told about the tastings and wine, the nice gentleman behind the bar told us about the Nebraska Wine Tour. We took passports, with our very first stamp in it, and made a goal of attempting the entire tour the next year when we could start as early as possible.

Full circle.

So, Jessi, Wendy, and I parked ourselves at the bar once again and got down to business. Kimmel had many of the same wines as Arbor Day Farm but there were enough for us to pick mostly new choices and extra tastings of the ones we enjoyed. The lady behind the bar had just started out at Kimmel and we had fun telling her about our experiences so far with the tour and giving her some tips on different wines that she might like.

I enjoyed most of the wines that we tried with my favorite being the Vignoles, which seems to be showing itself as one of my favorite types of wine.

After we finished with the tastings, we wandered around the shop a little (still haven’t gotten any of those apple doughnuts) before heading out to the event that we had found about earlier in the day.

Kimmel Orchard & Vineyard Specs:

      4 tastings for $5

      Apples and other fruit products for sale

      Fruit picking and vineyard tour

      Souvenir wine glass included with tasting