Eagle City Winery- Email Newsletter #63 (February E-Newsletter)

Hello Wine Friends!

It's official, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and predicts 6 more weeks of winter!  The good news is that there are only 6 more weeks of winter, but the bad news is there are still 6 more weeks of winter remaining. Either way, the brighter warmer days are coming soon!

Every year around this time many of us start to feel a little stir-crazy, house-bound, and the cabin-fever gets too much. This is the perfect time of the winter to plan a day or weekend away to visit your favorite wineries.  We'd love for you to stop by soon!

Visit us! Make sure to stop by the winery soon to try our wines and spend some time sipping wine and relaxing in our gathering room, wandering in our vineyard, and checking out our latest gift shop items. We're open Tuesday-Saturday: 10am to 5pm; Sunday: 1pm to 5pm; and closed Mondays. 

See you soon!
Ken & Carolyn

FUN WINE FACTS: There are so many interesting things to learn about the history of wine, winemaking, and winegrowing. Here are a few fun wine facts:

• Humans have been cultivating grapes for 8,000 years - since before recorded history. Archeologists believe the first grapes were grown in Eastern Europe and the fruit spread from there.

• The Romans are believed to be the first to call different grape varieties by different names.

• There are more than 8,000 grape varieties known to scientists, and more than 1,300 varieties are currently used to make wine around the world.

• The grapes at the supermarket - known as table grapes - have much thinner skin and far more seeds than the varieties used to make wine.

• Vineyards cover roughly 7.5 million hectares (almost 18 million acres) across the globe, with Spain, China, France, Italy, Turkey, and the United States being the top grape growing countries.

• The largest wine producers, however, are France, Italy, Spain, the U.S., and Argentina. France produced 1.2 billion gallons of wine in 2014, according to statistics from The Wine Institute, a trade group. The U.S. produced just over 830 million gallons.

RECIPE - LOADED TATER TOT SKEWERS:  Looking for a fun, tasty and easy-to-make treat?  We've got you covered!

Ingredients:

• Bag of Tater Tots

• 8 slices of bacon, chopped

• 1 cup of cheese, grated

• 1 tablespoon ranch seasoning

• Skewers

Instructions:

1. Cook your tater tots according to directions until golden brown in color. Ours was in a 425 degree oven for 20-30 minutes.

2. Once you pull them out of the oven, let cool for approximately 2-5 minutes until you can skewer them onto the skewers. I suggest 6-7 per skewer.

3. Once on the skewers and on the pan, sprinkle ranch dressing over each of tater tots.

4. Then sprinkle the bacon and then the cheese.

5. Into the oven for an additional 10 minutes until the cheese is fully melted and golden in color.

6. Remove from oven and serve.

Serve as a part of your appetizer line-up with your favorite Eagle City Winery wine.  Cheers!

KEN ON CAMERA:  The Wine Diamonds documentary film team visited us late last winter and filmed an interview with owner/winemaker Ken Groninga and then afterwards shot a short web series episode called, "on the road."  Click here to watch the short video: https://youtu.be/w_djLgueJOg - learn more about the film project by visiting: www.winediamondsfilm.com\

The Wine Diamonds documentary will be screened at the Iowa Wine Growers Association's annual conference in Ames, IA on Monday, February 6th (4pm) and is Free and open to the public. Register for your free tickets here: http://bit.ly/2k60y9e

You can find Eagle City wines at many Iowa locations:  http://eaglecitywinery.com/pages/ - click on the Retail Outlet tab.

ONLINE STORE:  Have you ever wanted to send a gift bottle or case of Eagle City Winery wines to your family and friends living out of state?  Good News!  We currently ship our wines to 20+ states across the US. 

We can ship Eagle City Winery wines to these states: Alaska, Washington DC, Florida, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Special Process Shipping to: Alabama and California

Give your family and friends a taste of Iowa by sending them a bottle or case today!  Check out our online store: https://www.vinoshipper.com/wines/eagle_city_winery

ASK FOR QUALITY WINES.  Eagle City Winery is proud to report 18 of our 20 wines are IQ certified!   What does that mean? 

Quality Wine Assurance - To increase consumer awareness of Iowa's wine quality the Midwest Grape and Wine Industry Institute has assisted the Iowa Wine Growers Association (IWGA) to establish the Iowa Quality Wine Consortium (IQWC).To be awarded IQWC status, wines submitted will need to pass both laboratory chemical analysis and sensory evaluation to be recommended by the Wine Institute Director and approved by the Iowa Quality Wine Consortium (IQWC) board.

PARTY SPACE?  Do you need a special gathering place for 2017?  Are you looking for a location for your wedding?  Need a venue for your upcoming special event, business retreat, reception, reunion or party?  Eagle City Winery has facilities and space available to rent.  Please visit our website: www.eaglecitywinery.com or call 641-939

EC WINES IN IOWA:  Does your favorite wine store carry Eagle City wines?  You can help us find new homes for our wines, simply by dropping us a note winemaker@eaglecitywinery.com or posting a note on our Facebook page. 

GIFTS AND WINE SUPPLIES - Our gift shop, inside our tasting room, is filled with a wide variety of gifts and supplies for the wine lover in your life.  We've got a fantastic selection of functional and attractive wine racks, wine supplies and tools, and cork cages where you can keep your collection of wine closures. 

DID YOU KNOW?  You can save 5% at the winery on your Eagle City wine purchase when you buy six or more bottles?

RETAIL OUTLETS.  Eagle City Winery wines are available across Iowa at many retailer locations. Wonder if we're near you?  Visit: www.eaglecitywinery.com and click on "Retail Outlets."

FACEBOOK - We're on Facebook and post regularly.  If you haven't yet, please "Like" us on Facebook, share your memories and photos.  Feel free to ask any wine-related question and we'll do our best to answer them promptly.  Find us here:  www.facebook.com/EagleCityWinery