The Harvest Is On

The harvest has begun at Tassel Ridge Winery in Leighton, Iowa.

Leighton, Iowa – The harvest for 2013 is underway, as Tassel Ridge Winery, near Leighton, has begun the process of harvesting this year’s crop.

With a quick five minute drive west of Oskaloosa, one can enjoy watching this working vineyard in action as the harvester works it’s way up and down the rows of Edelweiss vines, shaking the fruit free from the more than nine-thousand vines and placing the berries into large tubs to be transported to the crushpad where the juice is extracted.

Once the tractors have delivered the large hoppers of grapes to the crushpad, the cellar crew quickly goes to work extracting and preserving the juice for processing into a variety of wines.

This years weather has been much better for the grapes located at the vinyard, compared to last year where they struggled to gain juice.

Even when the harvest is over, the winery offers free tours of its facility. The tours are free and available during normal business hours. The website for Tassel Ridge Winery says:

“You will experience an adventure in winemaking as your tour guide highlights the steps from vine to bottle. Learn about the history of grape growing in Iowa, the vineyard planting and harvesting process, and the processing, fermenting, blending, and bottling of wine.”

You can also taste some of the wines at the Winery’s tasting room. Many visitors enjoy tasting the wines and selecting their favorites after the tour.

If you want to learn more about Tassel Ridge Winery, you can visit their website HERE – http://tasselridge.com/ and visit their events page HERE – for even more fun events going on at Tassel Ridge.