To the Mac's

September 30th
Stop #13: Mac's Creek Winery and Vineyard

When the hot summer days began to cool off, I realized that Katherine and I needed to have another wine weekend before winter set in. We were lucky in our timing - I discovered that one of our favorite vineyards was having their harvest party on the weekend we had taken off.

In my very first post, I described my cork ritual. I try to keep the corks from all the bottles I've enjoyed. I recently had to upgrade to keeping them in a bigger vase because the old vase was beginning to overflow. As I was transferring the corks, it became obvious that I've enjoyed more bottles of wine from Mac's Creek than from any other vineyard. My first taste of Nebraska wine was from Mac's Creek.

I even crashed a Christmas party there a couple years ago.

Laughing about our shenanigans at the Christmas party, Katherine, our friend Jenna, and I set out to experience Mac's Creek again. Mac's Creek is located in Lexington, about a thirty minute drive from Kearney. There were already several groups of people there, so we didn't get a seat around the new fire pits. We were able to grab one of the last picnic tables, which had a nice view of the band, and we each got our first taste of wine and some hors d'oeuvres.

 Mac's Creek in Lexington, NE

The Kearney-based two-man band played music from several genres, and almost everyone sang along at some point. A few people stared at our table as we joined the band in singing Sweet Caroline. Formerly Three put on a great show... but while Katherine, Jenna, and I came up with a few theories, we never did figure out what their band's name meant.

 Currently Three.

The harvest celebration had a great turn out. Two new wines were debuted that evening: Pinkys 2010 and Frapple 2010. A third wine, Manzanas Dulces, was supposed to make its debut as well. Unfortunately, the labels were not delivered on time and it hadn't been bottled yet. Max MacFarland, one of the owners of Mac's Creek, came out and poured wine for his guests. The rest of the MacFarland family each did their part to make their guests feel welcome as well.

 Max MacFarland serving up some Buffalo Wallow.

After an evening of great wine, music, and friends, we headed further west so we could visit a few more vineyards the next day.

Favorites: River Valley Red & Buzzard's Roost

Mac's Creek Winery and Vineyard's Website

A Grape Experience

August 27th
WindCrest Winery

Since visiting WunderRosa Winery, I have been interested in experiencing harvesting first-hand. My intention was to help out at WunderRosa, but as harvest season began to peak, I started to worry that I would miss out if I didn't jump on the next opportunity that arose.

Many vineyards reach out through social networking sites when they need extra help for harvesting. Dale at WindCrest advertised his need for help several days in advance, so I quickly volunteered. The last weekend of August must have been a busy one - as the week progressed a few other vineyards also reached out. On Friday, WunderRosa contacted me about helping, but since I had already agreed to help Dale, I politely declined, asking them to please keep my contact information for next year.

Typically, vineyards only get a few days' notice when the grapes become ready. This is because they need to monitor the fruits' Brix level, which is a measurement of the grapes' sugar development. When the Brix count reaches the desired level, the grapes need to be harvested quickly,

While I usually sleep in a bit on Saturdays, I woke up at 5:30 the day of the harvest. Instantly, I was taken back to the many summers my friend Tosha and I picked sweet corn. We woke up early and were in the fields before the sun was up. The mornings were usually foggy, and the field was wet with dew and dense with mosquitoes. In an attempt to wake up, we would sometimes hit each other with corn stalks, and chat away until my mom would yell "Less talking, more picking!"

Remembering my experiences in the cornfield, I put on jeans, an old T-shirt, and most importantly, a light waterproof jacket. Sure enough, as I drove to Raymond at 6:00 am, a heavy fog clouded the country, and I knew the field would be wet.

When I arrived at WindCrest, I filled out half a page of paperwork. Pickers could choose to be paid or volunteer - I chose to be a volunteer, because I mostly just wanted the experience. Each picker was given a group number, shears, and a bucket. After a short orientation, we split into our groups and began harvesting.

Once we filled a bucket, we'd take it to the guys on the four wheelers.

Although we had been instructed in the orientation to take our time, be efficient, and essentially pick everything, many of the paid pickers took off at a run to gather the easy bunches. The paid pickers were getting paid by the bucket, so they took off and grabbed all the easy clusters to fill their buckets faster.

As a volunteer, I took my time and cleaned up after those who ran ahead. The paid pickers may have picked double and triple what I picked, but I feel that the volunteers worked harder. There were a few paid pickers who followed directions, but for the most part the volunteers did the more difficult tasks. I spent most of my time inside the vines, harvesting grapes that were more difficult to get to.

 From beneath the vines.

After we had been picking for about half an hour, a rooster started crowing. At that moment, I decided I was going to have chicken for lunch - I was drenched in dew and tangled in vines before the rooster was even awake. As the morning progressed, I forgave the rooster for reminding me of my lack of sleep. It felt good to be back in the field.

Each time I was ready to dump a full bucket, I gave the WindCrest staff my group and number (mine was 2-13), so they could keep track of how many buckets we filled. The buckets had to be absolutely full, because that's how they kept track of the grape tonnage. I personally picked three and a half buckets, which amounts to about 70-75 pounds of grapes.

I did try a grape straight from the vine, and I definitely understand why Edelweiss is my favorite wine. The grapes are very sweet, much more so than any you can buy at the grocery store. I was so excited when I found out we would be picking edelweiss, and I wasn't disappointed.

Edelweiss, edelweiss...

Eighty-seven pickers helped with the edelweiss harvest that morning - there were hardly enough buckets to go around! Altogether, we picked a little more than 14,000 pounds of grapes.

That's more than an elephant weighs.

Because of the huge turnout, we were done by 11:00 am. I turned in my shears and bucket, peeled off my drenched jacket, and sat for a moment, feeling accomplished. I was able to chat with interesting people, learn new things, and gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the work that goes in to every bottle of wine.

It was a grape experience.

Full of Hot Air

August 13th
Nebraska Balloon and Wine Festival

My good friend Alysia came back from San Francisco for the summer for an internship, so we made it a point to stock up on girl time and to catch up. There was no better way to bond and beat the heat than to relax in her brother's pool and sip wine.

Alysia always seems to know about upcoming events, and thankfully she always invites me along to the ones that pique her interest. After spending a good portion of the summer listening to me talk about Nebraska wine, she knew that I would be interested in checking out the Nebraska Balloon and Wine Festival in Omaha.

We spent most of our Saturday walking around Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo, because the Balloon and Wine Festival didn't start until evening. Seven hours at the zoo wasn't enough time to see everything, but we were able to see the main attractions, including my favorites, the Lied Jungle and the Cat Complex. It was the last weekend of freedom before school started, so the zoo was pretty packed.

Every time I go to the zoo, I feel like I've been dropped into somebody's Zoo Tycoon creation. My zoos were always pretty awesome, but it's hard to compete with the reality of our own Henry Doorly Zoo. It's only missing dinosaurs.

After we had pretty much wore ourselves out at the zoo, we headed over to the Balloon and Wine Festival. There were several food vendors, business booths, and about a dozen different vineyards in attendance. Alysia made me feel like an actual wine connoisseur by listening to my suggestions about which wines to try, and I managed to sample a few new ones as well. At dusk, the balloons light and launch.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to stay for the hot air balloon launch, because Ribfest was going on back in Lincoln and we wanted to check out some BBQ-y goodness as well. The ribs were awesome, but next year I'll make sure to go to each event separately so I can get the full experience.

Nebraska Balloon and Wine Festival's Website

Wild Colleens

Aug 10th
Stop #12: Deer Springs Winery

Back in May, when we first began our wine tour, Katherine and I had tried to make Deer Springs one of our first stops, because it is located right outside of Lincoln. We were disappointed to discover that they were closed, and resolved to try again another time.

On our second visit, Deer Springs Winery was not only open, it was packed. In a side building, several people were hard at work bottling wine. In the tasting room, there were several small groups of people enjoying wine and picnic baskets. A few groups took their picnics outside - it was a beautiful day out. I, however, didn't quite feel like becoming a picnic for the mosquitoes, so we enjoyed our tasting inside. We didn't get much time to talk to Jennifer, one of the owners, because she was busy pouring for her guests.

Deer Springs had attended the Wine Under the Pines event at Kimmel Orchard the day before, and I tried their Traminette because it was a wine I hadn't crossed before. The Traminette became an instant favorite, as well as several other wines including their Bianca, Wild Colleen, and Brianna. We loved the name Wild Colleen, which means "wild Irish girl" - although I'm a bit more Irish than Katherine, we're both wild about wine.

Katherine and I followed our usual routine, each picking different wines from the list and then sampling each other's. This is the best way to sample all the wines, instead of limiting ourselves to choosing only five or six.

This is also the best way to catch mono, according to my mom. But her advice never deterred my habit of sharing drinks in high school, and some things just don't change.

Wine is meant to be shared.

As we were doing our tastings, we debated whether or not we wanted to share a picnic basket. Our inner Yogi Bear won out, so we each bought a glass of wine after we'd finished our tastings and shared a basket. The basket included cheese from the UNL Dairy Store, locally made summer sausage, a baguette, and a few pieces of Baker's chocolate. The picnic basket was the perfect snack, and Deer Springs was the perfect end to our weekend.

Favorites: Traminette & Wild Colleen

Deer Springs Winery's Website

Celebrating the Wine-ter Holidays

If, like me, you weren't crazy brave enough to go shopping on Black Friday, you may still have a few people to cross off your holiday shopping list. Throughout my wine tour, nearly every stop has had a gift shop full of great presents for wine lovers. There are always shirts, glasses, wine charms, gift baskets, and wine bottle holders, but a few locations had unique items that would make any wine lovers' Christmas a little brighter. Here are a few of my favorite gift ideas:

Glacial Till's Ginormous Bottle of Wine

Ginormous is not an over exaggeration. The "Magnum", as the Murman's refer to it, is a six liter bottle of wine. Six. Liter. It's a great gift for hosts of holiday parties, or anyone who loves wine - a lot. The Ginormous (because I like the word and only get to use it so often) can be purchased in select varietals at the Ashland Glacial Till tasting room.

You had me at "Hello."

The Wino's Favorite Accessory

Wine-inspired jewelry can be cute, but the wine glass holder necklace is functional and practical. Katherine and I have often found ourselves awkwardly shuffling glasses, pens, tickets, and paper around because we couldn't hold everything and taste wine at the same time. This necklace holds most sizes of wine glasses, and would be perfect to have at the next Wine and Jazz Festival. We found these at Cedar Hills in Ravenna.

If only it came with rhinestones...

Why Should Beer Drinkers Get All the Fun?

I actually discovered Woozies at Barb's Hallmark in Lincoln. Woozies are coozies designed to fit wine glasses and keep chilled wine cool. They are adjustable and come in fun colors and designs. Plus, "woozie" is fun to say.

The also have a great slogan.

Finally, if anyone is wondering what to get this particular wine lover, I think my new apartment could use one of these.

*hint hint*

Happy Shopping!

Glacial Till's Website
Wine Glass Holder Necklaces
Woozie Website
Wine Rack

A Passing Zephyr

August 10
Stop #11: Glacial Till Tasting Room

On our way back to Lincoln, Katherine and I decided to stop in Ashland to visit Glacial Till's tasting room. We had already gotten our passports stamped at their vineyard in Palmyra, but because of our great previous experience, we wanted to drop by their second location. So maybe this should actually be "Stop #10 1/2" or "Stop #2.2"...

Since we had already tried most of Glacial Till's wines, we didn't do another tasting. Instead, I was excited to try their newest wine, named "Zephyr" after Tim's smiling dog. I was so confident that I would enjoy the Zephyr, based on my fondness for all their other wines, that I didn't even ask for a sample before ordering a glass.

I wasn't disappointed.

Zephyr, as its name implies, is a crisp white wine. It reminded me of autumn, and I think it will be a perfect fall wine. I had imagined that it would be a touch sweeter, but I still enjoyed it very much. As we were sipping our wine, Katherine and I went upstairs to look around the art gallery. The pieces were unique, and as I always am, I was drawn to the photography.

After we had wandered around upstairs, we went back downstairs and watched a slide show of photos from Glacial Till. A friend of the Murman's, who was running the tasting room, answered our questions about the pictures.

I was amazed to learn that Glacial Till went from making about 7,000 bottles when they first started to making around 30,000 bottles - a huge leap in such a short amount of time.

Now that their wines are some of my favorites, they'll have to bottle a couple more.

Another favorite: Zephyr

Glacial Till's Website

Time Flies

August 10th
Stop #10: Soaring Wings Vineyard

The previous night's thunderstorm may not have ruined our evening, but the booming of thunder and the intense lightening woke me up several times throughout the night. I also had a stand-off with Wendy's evil cat, which I eventually won. I came away unscathed (barely), but still, it was a small victory, and I woke up unrefreshed after a restless night.

Coffee and a breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and sausage revived me, and I plotted our day's plan of action while we waited for the vineyards to open. At noon, we thanked Wendy for the great day, waved goodbye, and headed north to Soaring Wings Vineyard in Springfield.

The building we approached was huge - so huge, we were discussing what it could be, not yet knowing that it was our destination. It was a beautiful day outside; the heat from the previous weeks was finally beginning to subside. Several people were enjoying glasses of wine outside as we went in for our tasting.

Soaring Wings in Springfield, NE

Soaring Wings is named for owner Jim Shaw's background in aviation. Jim was a pilot in the Air Force and for Delta Airlines before he began to seriously explore wine making. He and his wife Sharon have recently began brewing, and have just released a number of craft beers. Unfortunately, the beer wasn't quite ready when we stopped by. Many of their creations, both wine and beer, follow the theme of aviation with their names.

The two wines I was most excited to try, Red Phoenix and Blushing Hawk, were sadly sold out. They flew from the cases and into fellow wine lovers' glasses. I'll have to remember to try some sooner next year.

On a side note, a bit of advice: Don't eat a grape off the vine before it's ripe. Blech.

Good for photos, bad for tasting.

Favorites: Sunset Red and Ice Falcon

Soaring Wings' Website