My wife and I were greeted by an employee who was happy to spend nearly an hour with us. He opened several bottles of wine for me to try, and since it's clear that Riesling remains at the top of my list went into detail about the different Rieslings available. I tried several different bottles of Riesling, from Auslese to Spatlese to others I won't try to pronounce.
He also gave me a quick education in Riesling wine-where it comes from, how it's grown, and what makes the difference in "sweetness". He pulled out a map of the river along which German Rieslings are grown and showed me the differences in the Rieslings at various points along the river.
So, to make a long story short, I walked out with 16 bottles of wine-several different Rieslings, a 2006 Rose, a couple other random flavors to try, and a few bottles from local wineries.
He did state that most of the local Iowa wines would lean toward sweet-I found that interesting. I understood that it has something to do with the type of grapes (but don't remember the details).
They have wine classes that I thought might be interesting. My wife looked at me and mumbled something about "Christmas Present".
I also discovered through them that there is a winery just a stones throw from where I live. That will be on my list to visit soon as well (grin).
So, now I guess I have to start looking for a wine rack. After all, I can't have all that wine just sitting in an old cardboard box, can I?
