Iowa vacation turns out to be winery exploration
When you think of wine vacations, a few destinations likely come to mind – Europe, California, Washington, Oregon.
You probably don’t think of Iowa. But our cousin got married in Iowa last month, and we decided to make a vacation out of it. For us, no vacation is complete without stopping at some wineries. So, as we usually do, we found a Web site listing wineries throughout the state and found a couple that were close to where we would be traveling.
It turned out the only two wineries close to our destinations were two near Dubuque, close to the Illinois border.
We first stopped at Park Farm Winery in Bankston, Iowa, (www.parkfarmwinery.com), which is west of Dubuque. It’s a new winery, just three years old, and it was clearly built to be a place people want to visit.
Since we were there in October, the scenery was beautiful. The leaves were changing on the trees that cover the hills of eastern Iowa (yes, Iowa has hills!), and they served as a colorful backdrop to the vineyards, which still had some grapes on the vine. There was a nice, large tasting room as well as an area that clearly could be used for receptions or other large gatherings.
Although it is still a young winery, Park Farm already has two estate wines, which means the winery grows the grapes for those wines itself. Both were decent wines. The white – Fume LaCrosse – is a varietal we had never had before, but had recently heard about from the wine experts at Purdue University, as a hybrid grape we can expect to see more of in the future.
Even though most of the wine is not estate wine, the winery strives to make its wine with Iowa grapes. In fact, 75 percent of the wines are made from Iowa grapes. That’s a commendable achievement. While we respect those wineries that use grapes from California or anywhere else in the country, we also think it’s great when wineries make good wines from grapes grown in their own backyard, so to speak.
Park Farm’s wines were pretty good, and we suspect they will only improve as the winery matures. We brought home a Traminette, which is a varietal also made by several of our favorite Indiana wineries.
After we left Park Farm we headed to downtown Dubuque where we visited the new tasting room for Stone Cliff Winery (www.stonecliffwinery.com). We first had Stone Cliff when Krista’s mom bought a bottle of a limited edition red blend the winery had made for a festival and were amazed by its depth and complexity. This came from Iowa? A year later we found a bottle of their Cabernet Sauvignon at Sid’s LP Gas and Wine (no kidding) in Dubuque, and again couldn’t believe this rich, lush wine was from Iowa.
While we’ve been through Dubuque a couple times since we first tried Stone Cliff, we never had a chance to drive to Durango to visit the winery. But now the winery has moved downtown, to the former Dubuque Star Brewery at the Port of the Dubuque, making it much easier.
Stone Cliff opened in 2001 in Durango, Iowa, just north of Dubuque, and its popularity quickly took off. It now sells more of its White Zinfandel in Dubuque County than Beringer and Sutter Home combined.
Stopping at the tasting room was a great experience. It was a great atmosphere and even kid-friendly, which is always a bonus. The staff, in addition to being friendly, was clearly trained. Our server was new to the winery, but when she didn’t know an answer to one of our questions, she found someone who did. We appreciate that.
We each tried five wines and found them all to be good. The Spiced Apple is a great option for fall, and the Sweet Raspberry would be good any time of year. We also liked the Chardonnay, which had real fruit flavors instead of the artificial taste of too many Chards. Our favorite continues to be the Cabernet Sauvignon, which is far better than most Midwestern Cabs and better than most Cabernet that sells for less than $15. The Stone Cliff Cab sells for $11. Turns out, most of the grapes for their Cab are from California, but they blend them with their own, Iowa-grown grapes for added complexity. It works.
We realize you may not be traveling to Iowa anytime soon, but we hope that wherever you travel you take some time to research wineries before you go. It’s one more way to make your trip enjoyable and create some special memories.
Cheers!