Business : 42° North Winery - Wine Tasting and Entertainment this Saturday September 30

Vinton-Shellsburg FFA came to assist with the grape picking from 42° North Winery's growing vineyard.

It's wine bottling time at 42° North Winery

On Tuesday, David and Mary Paustian along with their son Garrett, coordinated their days off to work together in bottling wine. The wine that they are bottling will be there for you to enjoy...next year. The 160-gallon tank full of "Slinky" wine, a Moscato which Mary explained is the sweetest of all their wines, will fill about 800 bottles and take approximately six steady hours of work for the three to complete.

The bottling machine draws the wine out of the tank and fills four bottles at a time. The wine is then corked, labeled and sealed right there at the winery. The family works together like clockwork. Mary on the bottle filling, son Garrett probably had the hardest workout during this part of the wine-making process corking each of the bottles, and David labeled the bottles, then sealed them before placing them back in the cases and stacking them for storage.

David explained that wine goes through what is called, "bottle shock." This happens as the wine travels from the tank to the bottle. By next year it will have settled and aged before it is sold.

The family will be taking a couple of varieties of grapes out of their vineyard and replacing them with both Itaska and Varona. The Varona is a red grape that has the highest tannin content.

Following the derecho of 2020 there was a lot of damage that couldn't be seen. So in the following years there had to be a lot of pruning of the vines done. As a result, the production of the St. Pepin grapes doubled this year and the Pearl grape production also increased by about one and a half times.

The winery has been present at Vinton's Farmers Market and will be at the Anamosa Pumpkin Fest on Saturday, October 7, 9 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Farmers Market then they will travel on to the Des Moines Holiday Boutique. They will be at the Robins Winter Market (this schedule can also be seen in the photos, but it runs October through December). There are several listed events where you can grab a bottle or a case. Just click HERE to view ALL of their upcoming schedule.

The winery is open most Saturdays from 1-4:00 p.m. for customers to stop in and get a jump on their Christmas shopping, or holiday entertaining...or just to enjoy.

THIS SATURDAY

The 42° North Winery will be holding a wine tasting for guests to sample and purchase their favorite flavors. You can come on out to 42° North Winery and spend a relaxing afternoon. September 30th from 4-6:00 p.m. You are invited to bring your lawn chairs and picnic baskets to enjoy snacks along with music performed by Rachel Darling who will be entertaining guests with her singing.

The winery is located at 2894 61st Street Lane, Vinton on the county home/Oak Grove Chuch road.

Private tastings are available in the evenings and on weekends by request.

Here's a bit of trivia about 42° North Winery and wine:

-First Winery in Benton County

- The 160 gallon tanks used for winemaking, produce 800 bottles of wine

- The grapes are grown on an acre and a half of land

-The first vines were planted in 2010 when the couple made wine just as a hobby.
-Local FFA students help to pick the grapes and earn their black and gold hours for helping

-The first year the winery produced 500 gallons of wine and the next two years they produced 1000 gallons.

-Hard Apple Cider is also in the plans so stay tuned!

The business offers the following wine selection:

• Hootie- dry white table wine
• Green Frog- dry white, Viognier
• Dog Days- semi-sweet white, St. Pepin
• Blowfish- sweet white, Frontenac Blanc
• Slinky- sweet white, Moscato
• Wingnut- sweet red, blend
• Tatanka- dry red, blend
• The Pearl- barrel aged dry red, Petite Pearl