Midwestern Magic: Iowa’s Home-Grown Innovators

Could there be a more unlikely spot for me to ask you wine lovers to cast a gaze upon? Hey, a scant seven years ago, Iowa was home to only a dozen wineries, making mostly fruit wines. But in 2009 we can count 80 wineries producing 600 wines. (Lest those numbers invite comparison to California in 1970, we are still only talking a state-wide total of 100,000 cases.) Yet for the adventurous connoisseur, those ranks include some of the most interesting, well made, and flat out delicious wines on the continent.

Yeah, right. But hear me out. The can-do attitude of Iowa’s new generation of farmer vintners has deep regional roots. The Amana Colony, once reclusive pioneers seeking a quiet corner in which to build their utopia, started growing wine in 1852. They emerged a century later as a household synonym for quality, innovative kitchen appliances, including the first microwave, that famous technical leap of questionable culinary pedigree. Iowans have always been up for an out-of-the-box technical challenge. The corn-into-fuel homegrown energy scheme for decreasing our foreign oil dependence has set convention on its ear, sparking debate among both physicist and politicians.

And there you have it. Ingenious, home-grown, and fighting for acceptance. Yet we have all learned to respect Iowa’s smarts. This is where America turns every four years for the intense populist grilling of our aspiring Presidents. Now Iowa again demands our attention, this time from the connoisseur.

The renowned Maytag Farms Blue Cheese is an Iowa appellation classic.The decline of the family farm is something Iowans take seriously. The economics of GMO corn just don’t pencil out unless you’re talking thousands of acres. So small farms have turned to top end luxury goods – Maytag Blue Cheese and America’s only acorn-fed prosciutto (unbelievably delicious). But boutique wine production had trouble making it, despite perfect summer weather. European varieties couldn’t survive Iowa’s brutal winters. Worse yet was the legal stranglehold of the three tier system, which forced local producers to duke it out with the likes of Kendall Jackson for spots on the tony wine lists of Des Moines. Uh, good luck with that.

Yet outside Snootsville, local wineries were quietly building a following. Trouble was that there was no legal way to distribute. So in 2001, the Iowa legislature took action, passing the Native Winery Bill, which provided for direct sales to consumers and earmarked taxes for Iowa State University to teach them how to make wines worth crowing about. The minute the rules changed, Iowa’s winery boom exploded.

Imported Sage Makes Wines That Age
I.S.U.’s next move? Kidnap Murli Dharmadhikari. Say what? Well, folks, just ask any Midwest winemaker from Missouri to Tennessee, and they will tell you that the most important enologist in America is Murli D., or Murli Doktari, or simply Doctor Murli. This diminutive and unassuming New Delhi import has quietly led a Midwest winegrower revolution over the last 20 years, which has transformed the landscape between the Appalachians and the Rockies
An Iowa State University map of wineries in the state shows the surprising proliferation of the Iowa wine business.and given birth to upwards of a thousand wineries, the best of which have begun to trounce California in competitions.

How does he do it? Simple. When a small farm wants to look at winegrowing, Murli is there, gratis, courtesy of the State program. Job One is to look at the terroir and figure out which varieties are most likely to survive the winters and the marketplace in a particular site. Charming and unintimidating, Murli puts his clients through a crash course in basic viticulture and, later on, basic winemaking. There is equipment to pick out, recipes to create, and lab skills to learn.

Because of his belief in basic fundamentals, the wines of Murli’s clients bear his stamp of simple purity: clean, varietal and always well balanced, wines that succeed by not trying too hard. And they have been taking the fairs by storm, first in Ohio, then Nebraska, then Missouri, and now in the Hawkeye State.

These wines are not an acquired taste. Designed to lure first-time tourists away from Budweiser and Pepsi, they are long on varietal fruit and zesty acidity, with every sugar level from bone dry to sticky sweet. Another great spin-off of the short growing season is that, for all their rich flavor, Iowa alcohols clock in at a civilized 10 – 12 percent. Prices are easy on the wallet. For adventuresome wine lovers tired of the under-fruited, over-stylized trends now plaguing more established regions, Iowa may just be tonight’s perfect choice.

Upper Meets Lower Midwest: The Two Varietal Strategies of Iowa
Besides needing a short growing season and the ability to ward off mildew in its humid summers, varietal choices in Iowa have less to do with climate in the growing season than with winterkills survival [pdf] , which requires a wood hardening that most vinifera can’t manage. Iowa’s viticulture is thus divided into two subregions: 1) cold, and 2) friggin’ bone chilling. The Arctic winds of January blow down off the Canadian Shield through Minnesota, plunging Northern Iowa to -30°F in a bad year.

Two grapes capable of withstanding cold-climate Upper Midwest conditions, a new white and a venerable red of long standing, have emerged to lead the pack as Iowa’s signature varietals: the aromatic Minnesota-bred charmer Edelweiss and the venerable French/American hybrid Marechal Foch, whose unique attributes have created a devoted cult following. Other cold-hardy whites include La Crescent, La Crosse, Brianna, Petite Amie, and St. Pepin, and the red list is topped by St. Croix, De Chaunac, and Frontenac. [Check out APPELLATION AMERICA’s detailed Grape Index for information on these and other mentioned varietals.]

By the time the winter gales reach the southern part of the State, they have warmed to a nice balmy -10°F, warm enough for the traditional hybrids now popular in New York and Missouri – familiar dry whites such as Seyval Blanc and Vidal Blanc, the recent sensation Chardonel, the delicious Riesling-like Vignoles, the perfumey Traminette, and the popular fruit-bomb rosé Catawba. Reds include the rustic, high acid Baco Noir, the perfumey, Burgundy-like Chambourcin, and the big Rhône-style native American grape Norton.
Click here to view map.If you grew up on the grape bubblegum “foxy” fruit of Concord, you can find Native American Vitis labrusca broadly represented in a variety of sweetness levels under Cayuga, La Crosse and Niagara for whites, and Concord and Steuben as reds. It’s common to find a tiny regional signature of grapiness throughout Iowa wines, more charming than alarming. The pungent marigold “untypical ageing” character, formerly mistaken for hybrid varietal character, turns out to be a mildew contaminant, and today the best wines are free of it.

Curious? So now you need a road map. For starters, Murli D. and his tireless assistant Pandora Lamar have helped us create the interactive vineyard map, which shows what’s grown where. (Click on the map at left to access.)

Admittedly, not every wine in this young region is without problems. You have to pick and choose. That’s why panelists Michael Havens, Richard Peterson (who hails from Iowa) and I tasted through eighty wines and picked out some of the appellation’s best efforts. Our Best-of-Appellation™ picks are categorized below according to their use. For specific wine info, refer to our detailed tasting notes.

Whites for Every Taste
Crisp, dry whites In the same category as Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio, these are light palate cleansers without dominant aromatics or foxiness. The Iowa versions can be counted on for freshness, distinctive floral aromas, and ample acidity.
Park Farm Winery 2006 Fumé LaCrosse $15.95* (* suggested prices listed when available)
Summerset NV Seyval $12.00
Danish Countryside NV Twilight White (Brianna)
Grape Escape 2006 Simply White
Prairie Crossing 2006 Windswept White $14.00

Full bodied whites with oak influence
Jasper 2007 Seyval Blanc – a convincing KJ Chardonnay knockoff. $14.00

 Aromatic dry and off-dry whites

Edelweiss hands you rich pineapple accented with an understated foxy perfume. Use them as you would a nice racy Riesling.
Breezy Hills NV Edelweiss
Snus Hill 2007 Edelweiss $10.00
Summerset NV Edelweiss $13.00
Tassel Ridge 2007 Edelweiss

Aromatic semi-sweet whites
Vignoles is rich; easy to mistake for Mosel Auslese – fragrant, oily, lush and long. St. Pepin is rich in grapefruit or Mandarin orange, with great acid to balance sweet styles. La Crosse has lower acidity and a mild melon flavor. These are great starter wines, crowd pleasers which require no connoisseur training to experience love at first sip.
 Summerset 2008 Vignoles $13.00
Snus Hill 2008 Boule de Poils (St. Pepin) $16.00
John Ernest NV Morning Dew (St. Pepin) $13.00
John Ernest NV Dusty Road (La Crosse) $13.00
Summerset NV LaCrosse
Tabor 2006 Real Sweetie (unoaked) $12.00
Tabor 2007 Real Sweetie (toasty vanilla oak this vintage) $13.00

Versatile rosés
Fresh, well balanced pink wines, good with a wide range of foods.
Jasper NV J.W. Rosé (Chancellor, dry)
Engelbrecht Family Winery 2007 Farm House Bella (Marechal Foch, dry)
Jasper 2007 Front Porch (off-dry) $12.00

Red State Reds
Light, fresh picnic-style reds

Jasper 2007 “Behind The Shed” Red $14.00
Summerset NV Swenson Red
Tabor 2008 Nouveau Foch Nouveau
Eagle City 2007 Eagle City Red (Foch/Frontenac) $15.00

Serious Burgundian styles
The pearl of great price is a Chambourcin or De Chaunac reeking of violets, graced by French oak, with velvety texture and racy minerality. Wines like this can sometimes turn on even the most jaded Francophile. Frontenac also shows its Pinot Noir parentage, being generally on the lighter side and full of cherries, oily perfume and driving acidity. The star is Marechal Foch, reputed to be “Burgundian,” though I do not see it, but there are wildflowers, cocoa, allspice and leather carried by a soft rusticity.
Park Farm Winery 2006 Chambourcin Vintner’s Reserve $15.95
Park Farm Winery 2005 Vineyard Select Marechal Foch $18.95
Summerset NV Frontenac $13.00
Summerset NV Iowa Foch

Manly reds
St. Croix makes wines of rich ruby color and generous, complex flavors, which are sometimes finished sweet. Norton, because of its high acidity and moderate winter resistance, is a more marginal fit for the region, but when it hits, you get richness and complexity to rival Chateauneuf du Pape.
Deja Vine 2007 Pinicon Red (St. Croix, dry) $12.95
Jasper 2007 Norton

Silly reds These fresh, grapey sweet wines make a fine alternative to soda-pop with burgers and pizza and are darned hard to hate.
Danish Countryside NV Danish Arbor (Concord, 5% RS)
Engelbrecht Family Winery Farm House Hombre (Marechal Foch, off-dry)
Fireside 2008 St. Croix (off dry) 

Dessert wines With a clear future in ice wines, Iowa is at present producing a number of other quite yummy stickies. My nomination for the best Port knockoff in North America goes to Park Farm Winery’s sweet fortified Frontenac, and Tassel Ridge’s Botrytised Vignoles will surely give the sommeliers of Des Moines something to surprise the skeptics.
Tassel Ridge NV Prairie Snow (Botrytised Vignoles) $29.00
Park Farm Winery 2006 Frontenac Dessert Wine $18.95/375 ml

Bringin’ It All Back Home
Iowa Tasting rooms are currently where the action is for these wines. Summer visitors to Iowa Wine Country are blown away by its natural beauty, and in most cases, the winemaker is behind the bar. Once you’re back home, direct shipping is available to several states, and in a few, wholesale channels are setting up so that out-of-state restaurants and retailers can play, too. Amazon.com’s entry into direct-to-consumer wine sales should soon help make Iowa’s best available all over the country.

OK, that’s it. If I haven’t got you curious by now, I give up. If I have, I hope you’ll use the comments section to report on your experiences with these remarkable wines. Hey, dig in!