Iowa's Premier Wine Publication
This wine is nearly opaque, and a deep rich, red color with vibrant highlights. It displays strong legs when swirled in the glass. Smoke and toasted oak are evident on the nose, along with an earthiness and some spice. Dark cherry and licorice can also be noted. In the mouth this is well balanced and displays a harmony of flavors. It could be served by itself or alongside a hearty meal.
5/5
Very fine bubbles coat the edge of the glass and sit suspended on the surface of this wine. The wine itself is a nearly opaque tone of red with just a hint of a purplish hue. The edges appear slightly faded and tawny. On the nose there is smoke and wood with a generous touch of spice. Hints of blackberry can be found as well. In the mouth there is very little acidity, strong flavors of smoke and butter. Additionally there is a coppery, metallic tang.
3/5
This is an interesting small-batch wine, which may be difficult to get your hands on. The bottle we tasted came from a 23 gallon batch, so there isn’t much to go around.
The wine is sweet and floral, with tropical fruit notes and flavors which can only be expressed as being ‘rich’. There is a nuttiness to this wine as well, which in some cases may indicate a flaw, but it seems to complement the fruit rather well. The acidity is nearly masked by the sweetness of the wine, but overall it is well balanced.
4/5
Have you ever wondered if you could make wine? It might be easier than you think.
It’s possible that you know someone who has tried to make their own wine. I’ve met plenty of folks whose Grandfather made wine in the basement – and a good majority of them wished it had stayed there. But with a few basic tools you should be able to make a very respectable wine that you can be proud to call your own.
First, I would recommend that you read several books on wine-making at home. This will give you a good solid understanding of the process, then you’ll be ready to get into the knitty-gritty.
You can start with as little as two, one gallon jars, airlocks for the jars, some juice and sugar. You’ll have to purchase some yeast and I would recommend getting a hydrometer (a device to measure the amount of sugar in the juice), to determine the correct sugar level in the juice. The last thing you’ll need is a piece of clear 3/8ths hose to transfer the juice from one container to another (in wine-making terminology, this is called racking) and you’re in business.
There are two things to remember about making wine. The first is sanitation. Always keep everything sparkling clean. Never use chlorine but some other cleanser. The second is to keep the outside air from touching the wine. Always use airlocks on all your vessels, and make sure they are filled as close to the brim as possible. This will eliminate the danger of oxidation.
When I began making my own wine, I didn’t need to spend too much money. I started out with a primary fermenter which was a food grade 5 gallon bucket. I had 2 carboys (large glass jars) and 2 airlocks. I used a floating hydrometer and some used wine bottles. I bought some corks and an inexpensive corker. I purchased yeast at the local liquor store which handled wine-making equipment and supplies. I placed my equipment on a two shelf cart which could be moved with little effort. The first wine I ever made was a superb cherry wine. It didn’t take much effort and it had surprising complexity for a fruit-forward wine. I followed that up with a rhubarb wine which wasn’t too bad.
After that, I was hooked. I have tried many grape varieties and juices. Some were good and some were used to clean the drain. But I have had fun experimenting with mixtures and flavors that you will never be able to find at your wine retailer or even at a local winery.
If you’re looking for juice, ask around and try to find a vineyard in your area and see if you can buy a few gallons. Most will have a few grapes or juice that you can try and usually they’re more than willing to talk to you and lend a bit of advice. And, of course, bringing them a bottle of your finished product should help put you in their good graces so you’ll be first on the list to purchase juice for next year. Let them know several weeks (or even months) before harvest that you are interested. Some vineyards may even let you pick some of your own grapes.
Here are some books that I recommend to get you started.
Micro-Vinification – A Practical Guide to Small-Scale Wine Production by Murli Dharmadhikari and Karl Wilker, Missouri State University.
Wine Making by Stanley Anderson, Dorothy Anderson, Harcourt Brace
Home Winemaking by Jon Iverson, Stonemark Publishing
Of course, there are a number of great resources on the internet as well. And if you’re looking for a local vendor for supplies, there are a number of wine making stores and grocery stores now carrying basic supplies for the hobbyist.
It is incredible to be able to craft your own delectable drink. If done correctly – with love and attention – it will always taste better when you make it yourself. And unlike those folks whose horror stories we hear all too often about Grampa’s basement wine – you’ll have something to be proud of.
Lucas McIntire was Iowa Decanted’s first featured winemaker in our inaugural issue in September. Now that the season has changed and the chill has set in, we decided it would be fun to get in touch with Lucas again to see what exactly is going on at Kirkwood Winery during the colder months of the year.
Iowa Decanted: What are your primary duties in the winery during the winter months?
Lucas McIntire: As for winter duties at the Winery, My primary focus right now is getting out to the stores and performing wine tastings to help move and promote our product. It’s always great to talk and share with the public and educate them about our wines and what’s going on at Kirkwood. As for the 2013 vintage, the wines are ready to be “racked” or transferred off the sediments again. Next I will be fining the white wines with bentonite to remove positively charged proteins that could cause hazes in the wine. By the end of December we will “cold stabilize” all the wines by exposing them to our winter temperatures. The goal will be to achieve an internal wine temperature of 28’ Fahrenheit for a minimum of 72 hrs. This process helps to precipitate out the tartaric acid or specifically the potassium bi-tartrate ions. This helps to lower the total acidity of the wine and make sure these “crystals” will not form in the bottle when left in the back of your refrigerator.
ID: What about the vineyard? What considerations do you need to take during the cold season?
LM: As for the vineyard, we finally removed the bird netting as I was very busy in the winery after the harvest was done. The vineyard can now go to “sleep” until spring, or until I begin dormant pruning in March.
ID: What are your plans for the upcoming season?
LM: As for the next season, I am planning out which varietals to plant. We need more red wine, so I am looking to obtain more Petite Pearl. I also plan to add some extra Frontenac. Finally, I might try taking some cuttings from 2 vines in my row of Geneva red. There were two vines that had markedly different grape morphology that I believe “might” be NY71-or-NY73. That said, we will certainly get to “play” out in the vineyard this spring.
ID: Do you have a favorite drink for the season?
LM: We just “disgorged” our 2012 Sparkling La Crescent in early November. This is part of the process for making traditional method bubbly. We invert the bottles and freeze the yeast in the neck of the bottle (about a 1’ plug of ice/wine), then bring the bottles to an up-right position (45-60’ angle) and remove the crown cap on the bottle. The Ice plug shoots out at 60mphr! It’s exciting! We now have about 180 bottles of bubbly to sell for the Holiday season. So my drink of choice right now is Sparkling wine! I am addicted! So I’ll be drinking a lot of Korbel or Kirkwood bubbly when I can afford it. Note: Always look for the wording “fermented in this bottle”.
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 package active dry yeast
4.5 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
stick butter, for pan
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Salt crystals/pretzel salt
Combine the warm water, sugar, salt and yeast in a bowl and whisk vigorously. Allow to sit for several minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and mix until well combined. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead for several minutes. Place the dough back into the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Use the stick butter to coat the surface of two large baking sheets. Set aside.
Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.
While the water and baking soda is coming to a boil, divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Set aside.
Place the pretzels into the boiling water, individually for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula and place them on the baking sheets. If they are excessively soggy you may pat them dry with a paper towel. Brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool and serve. These taste exceptionally good with a cheese fondue to dip them in.
The Iowa Wine Trail is one of five established trails in the state, but is the only one whose members reside within the only federally recognized viticultural area in Iowa, the Upper Mississippi River Valley AVA. Through the collaborative nature of the wine trail, visitors are encouraged to travel to each member through a number of incentives, including themed weekend events which create unique experiences for participants. ‘Around the World with Iowa Wines’, which was held on November 2 & 3, is one such event. Thanks to the generosity of Dr. Paul Tabor of Tabor Home Winery & Vineyard in Baldwin, Iowa Decanted was given the opportunity to attend and partake in the unique pairings of Iowa wine with international cuisine.
Soft golden light spills from the windows beneath the iconic brick arch of the Brick Arch Winery in West Branch, Iowa. It plays along the sidewalk and draws in the passerby, enchanted by the hospitality they catch a glimpse of through the glass.
“It’s cozy and elegant,” said owner and winemaker Ilene Land, of the atmosphere of Brick Arch. “Some people find it intimidating to look at, but it isn’t at all, it’s very comfortable, and the most common description is it’s warm, like being in somebody’s house.”
Contributing to the comfortable atmosphere and the way the business seamlessly fits in with the rest of the West Branch Main Street, are the historic roots of the winery building. The current building is a reconstruction of a 1907 post office, which was later turned into a gas station and retained that function until Lande and her husband bought the property. The building next door to the post office/gas station was a millinery shop and served as the inspiration for the design of the building that currently houses the event space.
Construction came with difficulties, however, and the building collapsed and slid into a hole which had been created for a new cellar, becoming entirely lost.
“It could’ve been worse,” said Lande. “The only casualty was the porta potty.”
Despite the damage, and the further challenges the setback created, the winery opened in March of 2011. Remaining as a reminder to Brick Arch Winery’s historic roots is the original Post Office sign, the keystone and brick from the original building, which help to form the backdrop of the stage in the winery’s event space.
Lande said the new building fits into the entirety of the historic street and also fits in with the legacy of the original building.
“A lot of people, if they don’t look at the new keystone, think it’s the original,” she said.
Brick Arch Winery provides a place for numerous community groups to meet throughout the year. They host many events, and have live music every Sunday. Due to customer demand, Brick Arch has also expanded their food offerings and have a full menu on Friday nights, some food options during the live music Sundays, and pizza on Wednesday nights.
“We try to be a gathering place, and we’re pleased to be part of the small town life,” said Lande. “I think it must be inherent in our nature that food and wine and people go together and always have.”
Lande said being a gathering place for the community is her goal for Brick Arch Winery.
“We’ve tried to make it so that it’s a comfortable place to be and talk to one another. As opposed to a bar where the music is too loud to talk, here the acoustics are designed so even when there is music, you can still talk to each other.”
This atmosphere has proven attractive for a whole new group of customers: single women.
“It’s a safe, comfortable environment,” Lande said. “Someone will always invite you to join them.”
Opportunities for community are everywhere you look in Brick Arch Winery.
“Strangers here are just friends you haven’t met yet,” said Lande.
It’s no secret that Americans are fascinated with the idea of a ‘self-made-man’, someone who has pulled themselves up by their bootstraps out of the dredges and, through hard work and perseverance, has deposited themselves at the top of the social heap. It’s an archetype which has been ingrained into the very fabric of our social understanding, and we eat it up.
But it may not be as accurate as we think.
Sure, hard work and intelligence can take a person far (that much goes without saying), but success is also dependent on a number of factors which we rarely acknowledge, including the opportunities available to a person (or organization) according to their circumstances. A person rarely succeeds purely as a result of his or her own efforts. Do you think Steve Jobs would have been as successful as he was had he not grown up surrounded by the electronic revolution that was occurring during his youth in California? If he hadn’t met Steve Wozniak, do you think he would have gotten so far in life? Probably not. His intelligence would have gotten him far, I’m sure, but without the opportunity afforded him because of his particular circumstance, he most likely would not have enjoyed such enormous success. In other words, success isn’t just dependent on grit and intelligence – there must also be opportunity.
So what does this have to do with wine?
Believe it or not, these are the formative years of Iowa’s native wine industry. The wine industry in Iowa is young, to say the least, particularly when compared to the producers of the West coast and the Old World (Europe). It has an incredible amount of growth potential. Now is the time when producers and industry-members will set the trend for years to come. Decisions made today will impact the future of the industry, for better or worse.
I have always felt that the future of the Iowa wine industry depends on the level and quality of collaboration its members engage in. By working in a cooperative manner, solid foundations can be formed upon which future generations can build an even more vibrant and profitable industry. Through industry-wide efforts, development can occur at a much faster rate.
In other words, by working cooperatively, industry members can create opportunities which will allow for innovation and growth. Why wait for opportunities to arise tomorrow when we can work together to create them today?
The alternative (which could be described as an ‘every-man-for-himself’ approach to business) can only deteriorate the growth the industry has enjoyed over its short lifespan. It would erode trust, increase short-term solutions, sabotage practical solutions for long-term growth, and create a frenetic and disjointed industry. That is not what we want at all.
Cooperation is the key. It results in better opportunities, higher quality, and greater return.
Luckily, there are a number of cooperative measures already taking place in the state which are creating incredible opportunities and impacting the industry in a favorable manner. The Iowa Quality Wine Consortium’s certification program is one such cooperative measure. The IQWC was established through a joint effort of the Iowa Wine Growers Association and the Midwest Grape and Wine Industry Institute at Iowa State University. Not only does the program offer a particular standard for the quality of Iowa wine, but it offers educational programs for industry members to further develop their skill set.
The cooperative nature of this program allows wineries to benefit from the experience and knowledge of a wide range of industry-members, and offers them the invaluable opportunity to receive feedback and earn a mark of quality. Other industry members can benefit from the opportunity to enhance their sensory analysis skills. And, of course, this accumulated knowledge can be passed to the consumer, increasing brand awareness and market-share for the industry as a whole.
You can see why I like this program.
The truth of the matter is, we can achieve a higher level of success if we continue to work together to create the opportunities that drive growth. When we do that, we all win.
I encourage everybody to support cooperation throughout the Iowa wine industry. It can come in numerous forms. It can be as simple as encouraging the visitors of one winery to visit another close by. It can be a bit more comprehensive, like directly supporting a program like the Midwest Grape and Wine Industry Institute and the Iowa Quality Wine Consortium.
Whatever you chose to do, remember that connection and collaboration will always lead to incredible opportunity. And where there is opportunity, there is always success.
Cheers,
Nick Thornburg
founder, Iowa Decanted
Adam Creager is a native of Mt. Pleasant and a longtime wine enthusiast. He is a strong supporter of the wine industry of Iowa, and a great friend to us here at Iowa Decanted!
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