Des Moines Register
08-26-06
Join the party, plunge into a glass of Iowa wine
Times are ripe for vineyards in the state, as they celebrate their art and try to
keep up with the demand for grapes.
By DAWN SAGARIO
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
If you've never filled your glass with wine made right here in Iowa, you'll have
your chance to have it overflow today at the second annual Iowa Wine Festival.
The event is a chance to explore just several of the dozens of Iowa wineries that
have cropped up in the last several years.
The number of licensed wineries in the state has exploded since 2000, when
there were just 13 wineries; now, there are 63, said Mike White, viticulture and
field crops specialist with Iowa State University Extension.
A new winery is being licensed in the state about every two weeks, White said.
More than 325 vineyards in Iowa now cover 650 to 700 acres.
White said the boom is a result of a confluence of wine-friendly forces in Iowa:
Worldly baby boomers are returning to the state, more wine varieties that can be
grown in the Midwest have been developed and support for the wine industry has
grown from the state government.
"All cylinders are hitting for this to happen in Iowa," he said.
Jean Groben, with Jasper Winery in Newton, also attributes wine's popularity with
the lifestyle and social aspects associated with it, as well as people's curiosity in
the intriguing art of wine-making.
"It's fun and interesting," said Groben, who opened the winery with her husband,
Paul, in 2003. "It's a wine culture. It's not just drinking wine - it's food and wine,
food and wine pairing."
The industry is growing so rapidly that vineyards can't keep up with the demand,
Groben said. While they grow their own grapes (called French-American
hybrids), they also use those from about five other Iowa vineyards, as well as
grapes from Nebraska and New York state to make their wine, she said
Groben said in the next five years she'd like to see their winery use Iowa grapes
exclusively. "That is our goal - to have every grape grown here in Iowa."
Nevres Sehic, store manager at Ingersoll Wine & Spirits, said beginners in wine
will like the Iowa blends because they're "fruitier."
"I think that catches the public's eye right away," said Sehic, who noted that the
store has been carrying Iowa wines for at least three years.
While Iowa's climate prohibits the growth of grapes like cabernet sauvignon and
pinot noir, Sehic said Iowa wines can provide something similar, as well as
unique.
"It's really something that you can grow here in Iowa, and it's pretty nice," he
said. "Yes, some are good, and yes, some are not so great. But you really kind of
have to try and see which one you like."
Ted Herselius, owner of Fleur Wine & Ale, expects the growth and popularity of
these wines to increase for the next several years.
"Quality-wise, they have seemed to improve," Herselius said. "I think they get
better every year."
Herselius says patrons buy that first bottle of Iowa wine out of curiosity. While
people seem to like them, he said, they've remained a tough sell because of the
cost.
Prices, which range from $11 to $13, are a deterrent for repeat customers,
Herselius said.
"The price points are a little bit prohibitive," he said. "There's such a glut of wine
from Australia and Spain that are pretty high quality and very reasonably priced
in the $7, $8, $9 range; that's where the Iowa wines should fit in."
Ron Mark, who owns Summerset Winery in Indianola with his wife, Linda, said
events like their "Reds, Whites and Blues" Sunday afternoon concerts help keep
a flow of visitors coming to their winery.
"It's one of our major marketing tools to actually get people out here to try the
wine," said Mark, whose winery opened in 1997. Summerset's wines are now
sold in 100 stores in Iowa.
The winery stays busy year-round as a location for murder mystery dinners and
Halloween balls, "things to attract people here in the off-season," Mark said.