Monday
The harvest of the 2017 grape crop began on Monday in the Soldier Creek Vineyards and in the Cooper Vineyards. We grow grapes on 10-acres, but we do need to supplement with local grapes– Cooper Vineyards are 10-acres and also located in the Fort Dodge area.
Monday morning started and finished with the harvest of Brianna in both vineyards. The harvest is usually started very early in the morning and completed by lunchtime or early afternoon.
tuesday
An entire day to press! We had 12 macrobins of Brianna to change from grape–> juice.
processing
1. fork/scoop grapes into the hopper of the de-stemmer/crusher machine
2. pump the crushed grapes to macrobins while they wait to be pressed
3. get all the juice from the crushed grapes in the press
4. move juice to stainless steel tanks to begin fermentation
5. repeat until all 4.4 tons of brianna are in tanks
Well. I can see how it took all day (until 10:00PM) to process all of those grapes!
next up
We will be harvesting St. Croix on Sunday! Any volunteers?
with midbest love,
Meg
It’s here.
Guys. Harvest. We’ve made it! It feels like we were just looking at our little bud-lings yesterday:
But, here we are… mere days away from the onset of harvest:
what’s next?
We will start getting our grape processing equipment ready to go.
We clean out the harvest bins and get the macro-bins ready to go.
Anne continues to test the grapes to see what the pH and Brix levels are, so that we harvest them at exactly the right time. Grapes can change their flavors, pH, and sugar levels in a matter of hours/days once they are at their peak, so it’s important to be ready!
I’ll keep you updated
We have a few more days before harvest begins *officially*, so I’ll keep you updated via Facebook/Instagram. Keep your eyes peeled and fingers crossed for a fantastic harvest!
with midbest love,
Meg
Greetings!
I’m back! With a new “how to” for you:
How to plan a party at Soldier Creek Winery!
it’s really a simple process
What kind of party are you having? Whether it’s a cozy, small group or a large celebration we’ve got you covered:
Showers
Birthdays
Fundraisers
Anniversaries
Corporate Events
Holiday Parties
Social Events
Vineyard Wedding Ceremonies
Small Wedding Receptions
So, now that you know what kind of party you’re throwing…what do you do now?
get your details in order
Then, contact our event coordinator, Amanda, through this contact form! Amanda will respond to you with more questions, but it’s good to know the following information about your event:
- type of event
- expected number of guests
- preferred date (and have a backup or two, just in case!)
- which wines you want served at your event
- if you need linens for your event
- the number of hours you need for your event, including set-up and tear-down
- who the contact person is for your event
consider the following limitations
We want to be as accommodating as possible for everyone, but we do have limitations!
- Our tasting room seats 90 people for a seated dinner.
- For a lecture where people are standing or seated, we can provide space/chairs for 120 people.
- We cannot, at this time, serve spirits.
- Alcoholic beverages are limited to Soldier Creek wine, Shiny Top beer, and the bottled beer we have on hand.
- We do not provide food, but we have a working relationship with Infinity Restaurant Group (and they make delicious food!) You are welcome to bring your own food, as well.
- Events must take place before or after our business hours. Our business hours are: Fri 4-8p, Sat 1-6p, Sun 1-5p.
- Wedding ceremonies are only available outdoors, near our vineyards– you will be responsible for the rental, set-up, and tear-down of any decor, chairs, tents, etc for your event.
- Small wedding receptions may take place indoors– talk to Amanda for more details.
people pleasers
That’s what we are. We want your event to be beautiful, perfect, and exactly what you were hoping for. Gather your event information and contact us today for your perfect party at Soldier Creek Winery.
with midbest love,
Meg
Woah. There’s a lot of bottle types here.
What makes one better or worse than the other?
It’s true, we have 13 styles of wine packaged in 5 types of bottles:
- Green bottles
- “Dead Leaf” bottles
- Clear bottles
- Blue bottles
- Thin Green bottles
That’s only the color differences. You may have noticed they are all different shapes, as well. Thick around the bottom, medium build, tall and skinny…
So.. What gives? Why are they all different?
The short answer: Because I like a variety. 🙂
The long answer: Ok, you asked for it.
Bottle COlors
You may have heard somewhere that colored bottles are better for the wine. This is true. As a winemaker, my main goal is to make sure the wine tastes the same from when I bottle it to when you drink it. One of the major changes that could take place (under the worst circumstances) is oxidation. Our usage of screw caps helps prevent oxygen from getting into the bottle during storage (explained in a previous post), but the bottling process isn’t perfect, and the bottle will have some oxygen inside just from the bottling process. Luckily, wine has natural antioxidants which help to remove the threat of this oxygen. But…. these hero particles are degraded by sunlight. SO… colored bottles are used to help prevent the sun from destroying the antioxidants.
TL;DR: Color prevents destruction of antioxidants, antioxidants prevent oxidation of wine.
“Wait…. you have clear bottles at Soldier Creek, too!”
You’re right, we do. Oxidation doesn’t happen immediately, it happens over many many months, or years. The wines we have in clear bottles… well… let’s be honest. I don’t store those on the shelf at home long enough to worry about oxidation (*cough* Paragon Pink :). In this case, I much more care that you see the mouth-watering color of the wine, rather than protect it from sunlight over long-term storage.
Bottle Shapes
The different bottle shapes at Soldier Creek Winery are influenced by traditional shapes used in traditional, European winemaking areas.
At Soldier Creek, we use 3 shapes:
- Bordeaux: This is a stately, elegant, straight bottle with broad shoulders. We also chose to have a significant punt for our Bordeaux bottles. The style originates from the southwest of France, and was traditionally used for bold Bordeaux reds. The New World wine industry has used this bottle style for a large portion of red wine varieties, and we are no different. In this bottle style, you can find our Foch, Marquette Reserve, Frontenac, Rubra, Marquette, and Geneva Red 7 (in green), and even our Paragon Pink and Frontenac Gris Rosé (in clear).
- Burgundy: Also originating from France, the Burgundy bottle is a bit thicker in girth with sloping shoulders, and a significant punt. In the wine shop, you might see Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays in a Burgundy bottle. At Soldier Creek, you can find our La Crescent and St. Pepin (both whites), and our St. Croix (red) in a Burgundy.
- Hoch: This is the tall, skinny bottle with dramatic (almost nonexistent!) shoulders. It originates from Germany, Land of Rieslings. In fact, hoch translates to “high” in German. Riesling from the wine shop? In a hoch bottle. Brianna or Goldenrod from Soldier Creek Winery? In a hoch bottle.
- There are many other bottle styles found around the world that you can’t find at Soldier Creek. You may have seen a Champagne, Chianti, or Port bottle to name a few. Or maybe even a saxophone?
Seems simple enough.
We like to change things up a bit. If everything looks the same, it’s hard to tell the wines apart (we learned our lesson with the labels… maybe a future blog topic). Having a variety of bottles helps us and you keep track of what’s what. Now go home and enjoy emptying those bottles!!
cheers,
Anne
The wine industry is very young in Iowa. We aren’t a thousand-year-old industry with tried and true methods of production and marketing tactics. Instead, our industry is only about 150 years old, and most of that 150 years contains ups and downs of wine production.
A *very* brief history of iowa wine
1860’s-1880’s: We made a lot of wine.
1920’s: Prohibition decapitated the Iowan wine industry.
1970’s: Some winemaking pioneers put the foot forward to try to sell wine again.
2010’s: Our industry is still growing. We have 103 wineries and over 1200 acres of vines.
Contributing to our industry’s slow reemergence is the antiquated laws surrounding our industry after prohibition. There have been changes, but they were pieced together, creating a messy list of do’s and don’t’s that are hard to follow.
For instance, Iowa wineries are allowed to sell beer by the glass in our tasting rooms (as of 2009).
However, if you’ve been to an Iowa brewery, you may have noticed that you cannot order a glass of Iowa wine. What gives?? This is an example of the unequal privileges for different types of alcoholic beverage producers.
Enter HF607, a House bill voted on March 28, 2017, that sought to make this law reciprocal:
On April 17, the Iowa Senate voted 50-0 to approve the bill, and Governor Branstad signed the bill on May 9, to take effect on July 1, 2017.
What does this mean??
In a nutshell, this means that breweries and taprooms in Iowa can now sell Iowa wine! All your favorite breweries, including ShinyTop in Fort Dodge, can now serve Iowa Wines beginning THIS SATURDAY! ShinyTop specifically will be serving our Goldenrod, Rubra, and Paragon Pink.
Thanks, Iowa lawmakers!!!
