SOLDIER CREEK WINERY RECOGNIZES PATRICK FLATTERY DURING NATIONAL APPRENTICESHIP WEEK

 

FORT DODGE, IA— Soldier Creek Winery officially enrolled in the Iowa Wine Growers Association’s Registered Apprenticeship Program in October 2016, taking part in the first state association sponsored registered apprenticeship program of its kind in the nation for cellar workers and wine makers. Patrick began employment with Soldier Creek Winery in October 2016, and has since been receiving related on-the-job training that will account toward his total hours required to complete the program.

To date, there are eight wineries and five apprentices already enrolled in the IWGA registered apprenticeship program. The new apprentices are off to a great start with their on-the-job training and the association hopes to ramp up enrollment in the coming months and years.

“The wine and grape growing industry here in Iowa is continually evolving,” said Nicole Eilers, marketing director for the Iowa Wine Growers Association. “We see this registered apprenticeship program as a means to support and grow our industry for future generations by providing a resource for qualified workers.”

Apprenticeship is an “earn and learn” training model that combines work-based learning with related classroom instruction or educational hours using the highest industry standards. The IWGA registered apprenticeship program combines on-the-job learning for an enrolled apprentice at an Iowa winery (or multiple wineries), with the education hours to be designed and administered through the Midwest Grape & Wine Industry Institute on the campus of Iowa State University, or other approved educational institutions. Apprentices are able to complete the Cellar Worker program’s 2,000-hour combined education and on-the-job learning requirement before moving on to the Wine Maker portion of the program. Upon completion of one or both programs, a certificate is received and the apprentice officially becomes a highly qualified – and sought after – journeyman worker in the wine industry.

The United States currently has approximately 375,000 apprentices working with more than 150,000 employers. Currently, more than 8,100 Iowans are working in registered apprenticeship programs statewide. Iowa has added about 100 registered apprenticeship programs each year for the past three fiscal years.

“The goal of the National Apprenticeship Week is to educate businesses and leaders about the importance of registered apprenticeship programs. These programs can lead to great jobs that also help positively impact our economy. In our case, the vast majority of wineries and vineyards in Iowa are located in rural areas, so our industry greatly impacts small towns and rural communities across the state,” said Erin Norton, education and outreach coordinator with the Midwest Grape & Wine Industry Institute, and a member of the IWGA registered apprenticeship training committee.

To learn more about the IWGA Cellar Worker and Wine Maker Registered Apprenticeship Program, visit www.iowawinegrowers.org/apprenticeship. To learn more about Soldier Creek Winery, visit www.soldiercreekwinery.com.

 

About Soldier Creek Winery:

The Vineyards surrounding Soldier Creek Winery lie on property that has been in our family farm operation for over 50 years. After an unfortunate barn fire in 2002, the Secor family reflected on the business and decided to diversify by plant cold-hardy grapevines.

 

In 2007, the now-cleared location of the barn fire became bustling with work as the family planted the 6.5 acre vineyard on their Iowa farm. Bill and Rob selected 9 cold-climate varieties equipped to deal with Iowa’s harsh winters. The family members and their willing friends erected the trellis system and planted the vines.

 

Once the winery construction began in 2012, there was no turning back. Although it wasn’t Bill and his wife Tammi’s original intention, the operation uncovered an unexpected benefit: the entire family relocated back to the Fort Dodge area. All children and their spouses reunited at the farm to develop careers in the winery and vineyard.

Bill and Rob tend to the vines, Anne produces the wines, Amanda and Megan handle marketing, events, and sales, and Tammi works part time in the tasting room and full time in the vineyard.

 

About National Apprenticeship Week:

National Apprenticeship Week is an opportunity for the apprenticeship community to tell the story of apprenticeships and is an invitation to business and industry, education, career seekers, community based organizations, students, and workers to learn about the real world advantages of developing careers through adoption of the apprenticeship model.  Apprenticeship is for those who aspire to be great, lead in innovation and creativity, strive to innovate in business and industry, and recognize the value of combining paid on the job learning coupled with a substantial educational component to build generational greatness in careers and commerce. National Apprenticeship Week is Nov. 14 – 20, 2016.

About the Iowa Wine Growers Association:

The Iowa Wine Growers Association is a nonprofit organization representing the more than 100 wineries and 300+ vineyards operating in the state of Iowa. Established in 2000, the Association provides support and education to encourage sustainable viticulture practices and promotes the creation of quality wine from grapes grown in Iowa.

 

We are so happy to have Patrick on our team!

Until next time, with Midbest love,

Meg

The holidays are upon us.

Instead of talking about getting together with your family (and the inevitable political debate your uncle will bring up), let’s talk about food and wine pairings.

Pinterest…

As you may already know, we have a “Wine Pairings & Recipes We Love” Pinterest Page (here: https://www.pinterest.com/soldiercreekwin/wine-pairings-and-recipes-we-love/)  but we also have a “Thanksgiving Wine Pairings” Pinterest board.

 

Some of you may be wondering

“Does it really matter that much?”

“Oh my gosh I haven’t even thought about what wine I will have!!!”

Fear not. It doesn’t really matter, it’s up to the drinker—does it taste good to you? Then it’s a good pairing for you! My suggestions are based on the flavor profile of the wine and the typical flavor profile of the dish. Also, these are generalized, use them however you like!

 

We also have a special Thanksgiving Wine Pairings Pinterest board, because one can never have too many enough Pinterest Boards : https://www.pinterest.com/soldiercreekwin/thanksgiving-wine-pairings/

something new

I don’t know about you, but I’m always open to new ways of making something traditional. But, don’t get me wrong, I love traditional Thanksgiving meals! Thinking of a classically baked turkey is making me drool RIGHT. NOW. But, I’ve been obsessively looking at perusing epicurious.com and their Thanksgiving recipes and I just have to share them with you!

Epicurious features a ton of different menus for Thanksgiving and I thought I would dissect their Indian menu and add some wine pairing suggestions along the way. Enjoy this!

 

An Indian Inspired Thanksgiving

*All photo and recipe credit to epicurious.com*

*Click on photos to see recipe*

http://www.epicurious.com/holidays-events/an-indian-inspired-thanksgiving-turkey-menu

 

Tandoori Turkey: slow roasting and long marinating will give this turkey a richly spiced flavor. The best part? The delicious gravy that you will get from this turkey. Pair our Marquette ’15 or Maréchal Foch ’15 with this turkey.

PAIR WITH: MARQUETTE ’15 OR MARÉCHAL FOCH ’15

Rice Pilaf with Almonds & Raisons: Just the right side for Iowans, I would say. Not too grand and just plain enough. A perfect complement to the Turkey and the rest of the sides. Because of the almonds, the Marquette ’15 and Maréchal Foch ’15 would taste lovely with this side next to your bit of turkey.

PAIR WITH: MARQUETTE ’15 OR MARÉCHAL FOCH ’15

Caramelized Cumin Roasted Carrots: Earthy and fragrant, again this will marry so well with the Turkey and Pilaf. Again, Marquette ’15 and Maréchal Foch ’15 will create the happiest place in your mouth.

PAIR WITH: MARQUETTE ’15 OR MARÉCHAL FOCH ’15

Scalloped Potatoes with Coconut Milk & Chilies: Don’t worry, the coconut milk will tame this down a little. But, I will say, this doesn’t look like it’s for the faint of heart. However, with everything on the menu, you can’t go wrong with throwing a little bit on a forkful of turkey and carrots! (Plus the next side is guaranteed to help you if you can’t take the heat.) Again, the Marquette ’15 & Maréchal Foch ’15 will go perfectly with everything in this menu thus far.

PAIR WITH: MARQUETTE ’15 OR MARÉCHAL FOCH ’15

Traditional Indian Raita: This dish is traditionally made to help you out if you can’t “handle the heat”—so treat this like your sour cream on your baked potato, yo! Keep washing it all down with healthy sips of Marquette ’15 or Maréchal Foch ’15.

PAIR WITH: MARQUETTE ’15 OR MARÉCHAL FOCH ’15

Sweet & Sour Tomato Chutney: Instead of cranberry sauce, try something new! I can attest, this is delicious and if you don’t use it all for Thanksgiving—put it on your turkey sandwiches later instead of mayo or mustard. You won’t regret it. I hope you still have some Marquette ’15 or Maréchal Foch ’15 left in your glass. You don’t? Fill it up!

PAIR WITH: MARQUETTE ’15 OR MARÉCHAL FOCH ’15

**Dessert** Fragrant Indian Brittle: A new take on the old-style peanut brittle—substitute peanuts for cashews, pistachios, and almonds and throw in a little cardamom for a delicious warm, autumn feel.

PAIR WITH: LA CRESCENT ’15 OR BRIANNA ’15

Well, that was fun wasn’t it?

 

Until next time, with Midbest love,

Meg

As the dust settles after the wild hours of another completed grape harvest it may seem like a time for a *sigh* of relief, but the real work is just getting underway! I’ll save all the gory details, but in short:

• de-stem/crush grapes
• put in stainless steel tanks
• ferment in tanks
• age in tanks or move to barrels for aging
• filter
• bottle
• label bottles
• RELEASE 2016 VINTAGE

 

 

While that may seem like a short list—it all takes many human hours. It takes testing, testing, and more testing. Our apprentice, Patrick, has been learning how to do all the testing from our winemaker, Anne—and, honestly, I would not have the patience to do what they do! And here I sit blogging about it instead…

 

Winery

This week has already been a busy week of measurements—and sometimes the rest of us get a complimentary whiff of the future good stuff. Don’t tell anyone, but Amanda and I got to put our sniffers amongst the beautiful aromas of a future ICE WINE! Wondering how you can get a bit of that in and around your mouth before the rest of the public? Have you heard of this pretty cool club “Paragon Wine Club”? I bet you have. Here’s a link: http://soldiercreekwinery.com/paragon-wine-club/ One of the (many!) benefits of being a member of the “club” is that you get to taste pre-released wine—talk about VIP service!

 

Events

It does actually seem that we have more time to devote to you, our dear dear customer, than we have in the past—partly because we’ve split the jobs that two people have been doing among three people instead! And with that comes more fun parties for you all:

 

 

 

• Vinyasa in the Vineyard: (inside during the cool months) our newest monthly event!

We will have our inaugural event on November 19 at 1:30. It is an hour of yoga with

certified professionals and then a wine-d down =) Light snacks will be provided.

 

 

 

• Craft Night with Annie- Snowmen: We have expanded this to another night!

Tuesday, November 15^th still has *a few* spaces available—with your registration

fee you get to make 2 of your very own Snowmen and you get 2 glasses of your

favorite Soldier Creek Wine!

 

 

 

 

• Holiday Open House for Small Business Saturday: We will have extended hours

that day—from 1-8PM, local crafters will be at the winery from 1-6PM, we will

be providing complimentary cookies from Creative Cakes and our

Signature Glühwein (mulled wine) to show our customer appreciation.

We will also be having a bottle sale: buy 4 bottles, get $8 off.

 

 

It’s already been a whirlwind of an Autumn, but, boy do we love it!

 

Until next week, with “Midbest” love,

Meg

It’s beginning to look a lot like veraison
Everywhere we look.

Veraison is one of the phases of grape maturity where the individual grape berries change color from green to a dark purple (if the variety is red).

Veraison is also the time when the vines deposit most of the sugars into the bunches. These sugars are converted to alcohol during fermentation.

The bird netting will be draped over the grapes very soon to prevent the birds from eating the grapes. Watch for posts in the future showing how we put on the net.

 

Bud break is finally here! This is the exciting time of year when the vineyard comes out of its winter dormancy and becomes green and luscious once again. Beginning in mid to late April, the buds open up and little leaves and shoots begin emerging. This tends to be a very exciting time as it is the very first glimpse of what is to come in the season and for the coming vintage!

Our vines all follow their own schedule depending on the variety. The earliest variety to break bud is Maréchal Foch,which was around April 22 this year. The latest is Brianna, which is just beginning its bud break.

Bud break typically begins after 5 or 6 days in a row in the 70s. However, the earlier the bud break, the greater the frost risk. Nighttime temperatures did drop below 32º this past week, but luckily, the Maréchal Foch was the only variety leafing out at the time. A small bit of damage was done, but because the temps were only below 32º for an hour or two, the vines should be just fine.

The grapes are off to a great start for Vintage 2015!