There are many ways to make wine in Iowa, but one of the biggest differences among the state's wineries is the degree to which they use Iowa grapes. The three wineries in the Riverssance wine garden will give festival-goers an opportunity to sample the results from across that spectrum.
Riverssance attendees 21 or older can purchase a commemorative wine glass for $10, which includes nine samplings as well as Olive Garden appetizers. Proceeds from the tastings will support MidCoast art programming.
Baldwin-based Tabor Home Vineyards & Winery makes estate wines, meaning that the company grows its own grapes. That's unusual in Iowa, said winemaker Paul Tabor. The trouble is that grapes grown in Iowa "need to be winter-hardy enough" to survive the Midwestern winter.
Tabor opened his winery in 1997. He got his start in the wine business after taking care of a friend's grape crop for a summer in Indiana. "He gave me the crop that year," Tabor said, and he brought the grapes to Iowa. "They did very well."
The winery is best known for its Barn Dance Red ("a very soft Merlot style," Tabor said) and its Moonlight White ("very much like a Pinot Grigio").
Tabor will be joined at Riverssance by two newer wineries, both of which use Iowa grapes only sparingly. Michael Langer opened the Daly Creek Vineyard & Winery in Anamossa earlier this year. "I was looking for something different to do," said Langer, co-owner and CEO of Daly Creek.
Langer mostly buys grapes from California and Pennsylvania, and blends them with a small amount of Iowa grapes. Langer said he feels it's important to use Iowa grapes, but he wants to make wines with the characters of grapes from the eastern and western U.S. The winery's output includes a cabernet franc, a cabernet sauvignon, a chardonnay, a blush, and an "oktoberfest" featuring Niagra grapes.
In the case of Little Swan Lake Winery in the northwest corner of the state, Iowa grapes are hard to come by, said owner Scott Benjamin. "Iowa grapes are almost impossible to find," he said. "The grapes are basically spoken for" by other wineries.
So Benjamin makes due with grapes from the eastern United States, although that's also tenuous right now, he said. "Almost everything on the shelf right now comes from New York," he said, but bad weather "has shut down grapes for two years." Little Swan Lake's most popular varietals are a rosé, a Riesling, and several fruit wines.
Benjamin started his own wine business after visiting a winery on vacation in New Mexico. "You don't quit your day job," he said. "You've got a lot to drink, but if you want to eat, you've got to work."
Riverssance attendees 21 or older can purchase a commemorative wine glass for $10, which includes nine samplings as well as Olive Garden appetizers. Proceeds from the tastings will support MidCoast art programming.
Baldwin-based Tabor Home Vineyards & Winery makes estate wines, meaning that the company grows its own grapes. That's unusual in Iowa, said winemaker Paul Tabor. The trouble is that grapes grown in Iowa "need to be winter-hardy enough" to survive the Midwestern winter.
Tabor opened his winery in 1997. He got his start in the wine business after taking care of a friend's grape crop for a summer in Indiana. "He gave me the crop that year," Tabor said, and he brought the grapes to Iowa. "They did very well."
The winery is best known for its Barn Dance Red ("a very soft Merlot style," Tabor said) and its Moonlight White ("very much like a Pinot Grigio").
Tabor will be joined at Riverssance by two newer wineries, both of which use Iowa grapes only sparingly. Michael Langer opened the Daly Creek Vineyard & Winery in Anamossa earlier this year. "I was looking for something different to do," said Langer, co-owner and CEO of Daly Creek.
Langer mostly buys grapes from California and Pennsylvania, and blends them with a small amount of Iowa grapes. Langer said he feels it's important to use Iowa grapes, but he wants to make wines with the characters of grapes from the eastern and western U.S. The winery's output includes a cabernet franc, a cabernet sauvignon, a chardonnay, a blush, and an "oktoberfest" featuring Niagra grapes.
In the case of Little Swan Lake Winery in the northwest corner of the state, Iowa grapes are hard to come by, said owner Scott Benjamin. "Iowa grapes are almost impossible to find," he said. "The grapes are basically spoken for" by other wineries.
So Benjamin makes due with grapes from the eastern United States, although that's also tenuous right now, he said. "Almost everything on the shelf right now comes from New York," he said, but bad weather "has shut down grapes for two years." Little Swan Lake's most popular varietals are a rosé, a Riesling, and several fruit wines.
Benjamin started his own wine business after visiting a winery on vacation in New Mexico. "You don't quit your day job," he said. "You've got a lot to drink, but if you want to eat, you've got to work."
