SIMPLYExtraordinary Midwest wines from Tassel Ridge Winery Fall 2012 HolidayENTERTAINING PAGE 4 TAILGATING DONE RIGHT PAGE 10 2012 Grape Harvest at Tassel Ridge Was Very Small PAGE 14 All Aboard the Gigantic... for a Good Time! PAGE 16 Gigantic Tassel Ridge Winery Events PAGE 25 The Cheese Maker’s Inn PAGE 19 Holiday Entertaining Recipes PAGE 4 Red Wine 09-12 9/27/12 5:18 PM Page 1 Turn your Meals into Fine Feasts wih Tassel Ridge® Red Wines 2012 Iowa Nouveau is a light, fruity red that is nice with vegetable and beef stews and soups. Pizzeria & Pasta Too!® is a dry red that is spectacular with spicy pizza and pasta with spicy tomato-based sauces. Zinfull Red is a dry red made from Zinfandel grapes that works superbly with grilled meats. American Syrah is a mellow, dry red that complements grilled meats. In the Dark is a big, full-bodied, dry red that pairs 2008 Iowa St. Croix is a dry red that showcases steaks and other wonderfully with beef and other full-flavored meats. grilled meats. 1681 220th St Leighton, IA 50143 between Pella and Oskaloosa on Hwy. 163 641.672.WINE �9463� www.tasselridge.com Winery Tours and Tasting: Mon�Fri, 9 a.m.�6 p.m. Sat, 10 a.m.�6 p.m. Sun, Noon�6 p.m. Tassel Ridge wines are sold at the winery and over 400 retailers in Iowa. For a complete list of retailers visit www.tasselridge.com/retail. Order wine by telephone at 641.672.WINE �9463�. We offer shipping within Iowa and to select states. Adult signature required for receipt of wine. The red wines of Tassel Ridge…Simply Extraordinary® www.tasselridge.com Red Wine 09-12 9/27/12 5:18 PM Page 1 Contents Turn your Meals Departments 19 2 Meet the Tassel Ridge Team into Fine Feasts Merriah Meisner & Mike Dolejsi wih Tassel Ridge® Red Wines 3 From the Editor 4 Featured Recipes Holiday Entertaining & Tailgating Done Right 25 Tassel Ridge Winery Events Fall 2012 26 Tassel Ridge Winery 4 Restaurant & Retail Locations 28 Retailer Spotlight Oskaloosa Fareway & Get Funky Gifts & More 29 Test Your Wine Knowledge 2012 Iowa Nouveau is a light, fruity red that is nice with vegetable and beef stews and soups. Featured Pizzeria & Pasta Too!® is a dry red that is spectacular with spicy pizza and pasta with spicy 10 tomato-based sauces. 4 Holiday Entertaining Zinfull Red is a dry red made from Zinfandel grapes that works superbly with grilled meats. American Syrah is a mellow, dry red that complements grilled meats. 10 Tailgating Done Right In the Dark is a big, full-bodied, dry red that pairs 2008 Iowa St. Croix is a dry red that showcases steaks and other wonderfully with beef and other full-flavored meats. grilled meats. 14 2012 Grape Harvest at Tassel Ridge Was Very Small 1681 220th St 15 Tassel Ridge Winery Wins Awards Leighton, IA 50143 in Three Competitions between Pella and Oskaloosa on Hwy. 163 16 All Aboard the Gigantic... 641.672.WINE �9463� for a Gigantic Good Time www.tasselridge.com Winery Tours and Tasting: 16 The Cheese Maker’s Inn Mon�Fri, 9 a.m.�6 p.m. 19 Sat, 10 a.m.�6 p.m. Tassel Ridge Catalog Sun, Noon�6 p.m. 20 2012/2013 Tassel Ridge wines are sold at the winery and over 400 retailers in Iowa. For a complete list of retailers visit www.tasselridge.com/retail. Order wine by telephone at 641.672.WINE �9463�. We offer shipping within Iowa and to select states. Adult signature required for receipt of wine. The red wines of Tassel Ridge…Simply Extraordinary® www.tasselridge.com www.tasselridge.com Fall 2012 1 Meet the Tassel Ridge Team Merriah Meisner Merriah is one of our Sales Merriah’s personal favorite is Iowa Representatives, responsible for the LaCrescent, for its “fantastic nose.” A Central Iowa/Des Moines metro favorite pairing is the Oskyfizzante® area. She began her career at Tassel Pink with our Chef Linda’s Molten Ridge Winery as a part time tasting Chocolate Cake. Ambassador in May of 2011. She enjoys being a part of the wine industry and Prior to joining Tassel Ridge Winery, meeting new people. She remembers Merriah earned a degree in Business the day well when she “landed” her Management from the University first account all on her own. This new of Iowa and has worked in human account, AJ’s Liquor, in Ames also held resources as well as a harvest intern in a class in which Merriah was able to California. It was her time as a harvest teach their staff about the wines that intern that unlocked her passion for the they carry. wine industry. Mike Dolejsi Mike is our Sales Representative who favorite white and red wine. His favorite serves the northeast part of Iowa; Tassel Ridge white is Candlelight and mostly north of Interstate 80 and east Tassel Ridge red is In the Dark. He enjoys of Interstate 35. He has been a Sales pairing In the Dark with our Chef Linda’s Representative with us since January Cajun burgers. of this year and has really enjoyed Prior to joining Tassel Ridge, Mike developing relationships with his received a Marketing degree from Iowa accounts. One of his most memorable State University and worked as a Sales moments was when he made his first Associate for Cities Edge Motorsports in sales call with a brand new account; Shakopee, Minnesota. the meeting went so well that it resulted in an order of five cases! Needless to say, he was thrilled! Mike has both a 2 Simply Extraordinary www.tasselridge.com From the Editor all is the time when people find SIMPLY many reasons to get together and Fentertaining goes into high gear. Extraordinary Recognizing that a growing number of Midwest wines from Tassel Ridge Winery people are choosing to drink wine, we created six recipes with suggested Tassel Editor in Chief Ridge wines that we are sure will delight Bob Wersen your guests. Writers And, with fall comes football and Kari DeBruin Bob Wersen tailgating. With the five recipes included in our article on tailgating foods and the Photographers wines that complement them, people Jene Cain Kari DeBruin may attend the game for your food and not the action on the field! These recipes range from simple finger foods Design Ann Drummond to food ideas that will take more time to prepare. But boy, are they good! Deb Hamilton The first question most people ask this time of year is “how was the Contributors harvest?” We provide the whole story on page 14. Ann Drummond Hannah Pothoven Our 2012 catalog will start on page 20. It will provide you with ideas for Amelia McGrath holiday giving centered on Iowa wines. Sharman Wersen Tassel Ridge has been busy winning medals over the past few months and Publisher on page 15, we outline the awards we’ve won. Tassel Ridge Winery Our murder mysteries are VERY popular. On page 16, we offer an article Address 1681 220th Street describing a spectator’s perspective of the event in July. She and her Leighton, IA 50143 husband had a great time and judging from the feedback we get from Fax attendees, they aren’t alone. 800.409.0082 The Cheese Maker’s Inn in Pella is the object of our article on page 19. E-mail Several of the guests at our dinner events have mentioned that they wish [email protected] they’d planned to spend the night close to the Winery so we are featuring places that we think are appropriate. Simply Extraordinary is published quarterly by Tassel Ridge Winery 1681 220th Street, Leighton, Our events program for fall 2012 is on page 25. We scaled back our events Iowa 50143. Issue 7, Fall 2012. All content program temporarily to give us an opportunity to get better organized and to improve the program. We will have a small number of events on © 2012 Tassel Ridge Winery® and may not be an interim basis and these will be announced in the Tassel Ridge Winery used, reproduced, or altered in any way without e-letter. You can subscribe to the e-letter by going to tasselridgewinery.com prior written permission. and clicking “Join Our E-list Today!” in the lower right corner of the page. Periodicals postage paid in Ames, Iowa and Our list of retailers beginning on page 26 has passed the 400 mark and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send our coverage of Iowa is getting better all the time. If your favorite retailer change of address to: Tassel Ridge Winery, doesn’t carry Tassel Ridge wine, ask the manager to give us a call. Michele 2900 SE 5th Street, Ames, IA 50010. Smothers, the Tassel Ridge Winery Retail Sales Coordinator, can be reached at 641.673.5000 and she will be happy to get the ball rolling! For subscription information: Finally, give your wine knowledge a test on page 29. Subscribe online at www.tasselridge.com/join, provide your name and address by fax 800-409-0082 or email [email protected], Best regards, or mail your information to Tassel Ridge Winery, 2900 SE 5th Street, Ames, IA 50010. Bob Wersen, CSW Tassel Ridge Winery Founder and Owner www.tasselridge.com www.tasselridge.com Fall 2012 3 Recipes HolidayENTERTAINING What gets a party off to a great start? Outstanding wines paired with just the right appetizers stimulate good conversation and lead to memorable events. Fall is the perfect time to talk about holiday entertaining and here we have six easy-to-make appetizers with Tassel Ridge wines that have been selected to make them all taste better.