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Wednesday - Saturday
11:00AM to 6:00PM
Sunday
12:00PM - 5:00PM
515-232-2747
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Prairie Moon Edelweiss
April 2011
Imagine crisp, cool mountain air enveloping your body and scents of fresh
flowers tingling your nose. Visions of goat herders and lederhosen must have
crossed Elmer Swenson's mind when he named this sweet grape. Enjoy this
white wine outdoors on a playful picnic or around a cozy fire. |
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Our Grapes
It has been our goal to select a variety of grapes well suited to the environment and the tasters palate. Combing these two has lead to a well-rounded selection of varieties both well known and others that we believe will break through into the market of Iowa grown grapes in the making of fine wines.
The varieties we have selected include the following:
Cabernet Franc: This is a classic French variety that is part of most dry red wines in California and France. We are trying to grow this in Iowa but not without major effort. The main issue is the winter temperatures. Anything below zero will damage this grape so we have to cover the Cab with blankets. We think that producing a high quality Iowa red will be worth the effort.
Chancellor: This is a red hybrid grape that is used mostly in blending. We have yet to grow a good crop from this grape because of a disease called black rot. We are tying some new and more aggressive organic practices to control it this year; we hope it works.
Chelios: This is a red French hybrid that has good structure for blending. This is a variety that also appears to be disease succeptable.
Concord: This classic American grape is the basis of our popular Honeymoon wine.
Frontenac: This is a University of Minnesota hybrid grape that is very winter hardy. It has a very cherry aroma and is used as a component of our Half Moon Red.
 Marchael Foch: We have over 7 acres of this grape planted and it is a mainstay of most of our dry red wines. It is cold hardy and has good yields. Its fault is that it buds early and late frosts can damage the new shoots. We have sprinklers on about 1/2 of these grapes that protect against these late season frosts.
Niagara: This grape is the white concord that is the basis of our Moonbeam White wine.
Pinot Noir: This French variety is hard to grow and needs all the same care as Cabernet. We are unsure we can get this grape to produce....we will try again this year.
Prairie Star: This is one of many varieties developed by an Elmer Swenson of Wisconsin. Elmer spent most of his life breeding cold hard grapes that are used extensively in the Midwest. This grape is a white one that is used mostly for blending.
Seyval Blanc: This French hybrid is our mainstay white grape. This is a very versatile grape that can be used in a variety of white wines including our Prairie Sauterne and the Seyval Blanc reserve.
St. Pepin: This hybrid is another Swenson grape that has a very aromatic nose. 2008 should be the first season we have enough of this grape to make a varietal.
Swenson Red: Another Swenson grape that is a pink but is used to make white wines.
Traminette: This is a Cornell University hybrid that can be used in a standalone variety. 2008 will be our first vintage of this grape.
Valvant Muscat: This is another Cornell release that is a cold hard Muscat variety. This smells and tastes very different and can be used to make a very high quality dessert wine sometimes called Muscato.
Vidal Blanc: This grape is used to make both our Ice Wine and is used in the Prairie Sauterne. The claim to fame of this grape is that it mature late in the fall and it has a very thick skin. It therefore can be left on the vine until winter comes and not raisin-up. So we wait till late November of December and pick them for ice wine.
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