Got Wine?

[Tiny Tim]

Sunday Dad and I went for a nice drive through the rolling hills of our state, on kind of a wine tour.  Started out at a winery in Arcadia, IA that you apparently have to make an appointment to visit, then we headed to Carroll for some gas and to head to Willey for another one that turned out to be closed.  Made our way down to Highway 44 and over to Panora before heading down to a winery just North of Stuart.  This one happened to be open, and after being greeted by a Schanuzer who looked like he was drunk, we went inside the One Room Schoolhouse that served as the tasting room for the winery.  Tasted 5 different wines, and surprisingly, I liked 4 of them, even though they were all fairly dry.  We ended up buying a case of wines (2 bottles of each of 6 varieties) to sell in our liquor store.

Next, we headed South to Interstate 80 to head over to Adel to another winery.  We made our way up Highway 169 and into town, but came across a road closure due to flooding.  Got over to a gravel road and decided to get directions to the winery as it was very close to their closing time.  Travelled about 6 miles on gravel getting around the flood waters, and back down 169 to the winery...which closed before we got there.

Supper time was approaching, so we started getting closer to home.  We decided to see what was open in Lake View, so we headed that direction.  The main place we wanted to go was pretty full, so after driving past a couple more that weren't open, headed for home to do some grilling.

Sounds like the weekend of the 4th, we're going to close the store on Saturday and try to hit the wineries in the Amana Colonies in Eastern Iowa and possibly a few more along the way, as I counted 15 of them on the map on an easy route.

[Wildcat]

Sounds like you had fun.  Back in the spring when we went to Chatanooga, TN we went to 2 spots (purchased a total of 3 cases), and hit the Jack Daniels distillery.

[Gizmo]

Tiny, I am surprised you only came across one road that you had to detour around.  I have had contact with a few folks (relatives and friends) from Iowa and there seems to be a lot of "lake view" property.  Good to hear the waters are starting to receed a bit.

In November (13th to the 15th), the Mrs and I are going to the Wine and Food Festival here in San Diego.  She is going for the wine, I am going for the food. :D

[Consiglieri]

I'm liking the fact that you're finding the wine in spite of weather and twisters, etc.   

I'd tell you that if you guys really like to pair food and wine, and could find a good date, that we might be able to put together a California wine tour and see if we could invite some food related vendors too (ahem, Bradley, Williams Sonoma, Cabella's, etc).  Don't know what might happen, but if we could muster a good weekend (probably one months away) and enough interest, it could be a good opportunity to link a few faces and recipes. 

The people down South of me have put together quite a few successful potlucks.  This one could be open to a much broader audience (although Owrstrich would have to smoke an acre's worth of prime rib).  I don't know what the price points (or scenery points) are yet.  But if we can get enough interest, I'll see what I can find food/wine tour package.  Let's set an initial interest point of 30 before I start researching.

I can say aye for 2 (well, baby on board too probably)

[Gizmo]

If my calandar is open for the dates, the Mrs. and I are in.

Here is a link to the one in San Diego.

http://www.worldofwineevents.com/

[Consiglieri]

In order to do this correctly, I'm thinking we have to aim just after crush, or for spring.   I'm thinking spring would provide best options, but let's see who's interested first.   

[Tiny Tim]

As much as I'd love to, there's no way I could hit California.....unless my numbers come up tonight.

I'd be willing to try to set something up here in Iowa though...probably for next spring so it's a little drier.  We did actually run into one other detour, but it didn't count as it didn't cost us any miles.  This one was right before we got into Lake View...the State Highway that goes around the East and North sides was detoured onto a County Highway that pretty much goes through the town.